1. Art and Diseño

THE ASSOCIATION OF GUILDS OF WEAVERS, SPINNERS AND DYERS
Reg. Charity No. 289590
Website: www.wsd.org.uk
Vice Presidents: Dot Seddon, Hilary Turner, Peter Penneck
Newsletter
President: Dr. Jenny Balfour Paul
Life President: Paddy Bakker
February 2015
Welcome to the first 2015 edition of our association Newsletter. I hope everyone has
had a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and fitted in lots of crafting.
AGM 2015
It would be greatly appreciated if all delegates could buy their train tickets well in advance, of the
AGM as tickets are far cheaper than on the day. As the Association pays for all delegates attending,
collectively this can be a huge saving.’
Calendar
If you would like a copy of the Association’s calendar 2015 please follow link
http://www.wsd.org.uk/calendar
Subscriptions
"Has your Guild sent in their bulk subscription for this year’s Journal? If not, you may risk losing
continuity. Application forms are on line at
http://www.thejournalforwsd.org.uk/subscribe_by_post "
The Journal
If Guilds let us know of their upcoming guild events - which some do ([email protected] this address is always on page 3 of the Journal) they are listed in
the Journal with no charge… there is a section in every issue ‘Talks, Guild Courses and Study
Days’.
The Guilds
York & District Guild welcomes members of other guilds to join us at our annual weekend away for 2015. It will be held
from 29 to 31 May at Cober Hill Conference Centre at Cloughton near Scarborough. There is a tutored session and a
do-your-own thing.
The tutor this year is Home - Rugmaker who will be teaching her techniques for making rag rugs. She will bring materials for purchase, but participants are encouraged to bring their oddments of handspun to use too.
More information and a booking form are available on our web site: www.yorks-guild-wsd.org.uk/ynl.htm#Cober
If any other guild wants me to send out details of their special events in this newsletter or
facebook or both please email me. (see bottom of newsletter)
The WEA
The WEA North West region provides stimulating and diverse learning opportunities for adults, often
targeted at some of the most deprived communities. Our courses dramatically improve confidence
as we re-introduce people to study and encourage active engagement with their own needs and
those of their community.
Some of the courses available:
Natural Dyes, Dyeing to discover - C3836698 Weekend Course) 11th and 12th April 2015 - 10.30—5 Saturday and Sunday 12—5 Venue - The Museum of Lancashire, Stanley Street, Preston, PR1 4YP Tutor - Rachel Dawson Cost - £40.30 or
free* To explore and experiment with a variety of materials wool silk, linen etc natural dyes using a variety of indigenous heritage and none indigenous a plants as a source material. To further explore the culture and history around the
natural dyes and utilise the resultant dyed materials into a sampler or sketch book.
Basket Case Willow Weaving Baskets and Bits - C3836696 (Weekend Course) 21st and 22nd March 2015 - 10:00am 5:00pm Venue - Offshoots permaculture project, Townley Hall and Gardens, Burnley Tutor - Joevanka Gregory Cost £40.30 or free* The student will need to commit over the two days as the processes will need time to fully develop.
We will provide as many ways for experimentation as possible, looking at different techniques of weaving, preparation
of willow for weaving, varieties of willow available and other weavable materials. In all aspects of the course the student is encouraged to become an active learning partner in the journey of discovery and will be supported in their experimentation.
Willow weaving - Bird sculptures - C38366705 (Weekend Course) 4 th and 5th July 2015 - 10:00am - 4:30pm Venue Offshoots permaculture project, Townley Hall and Gardens, Burnley Tutor - Joevanka Gregory Cost - £40.30 or free* In
this course learners will explore and experiment with willow, learn about its multiple uses and sculpt a Willow bird. At
the end of the course you will have a better understanding of willow weaving plus practical knowledge of willow and
willow sculpture. Check the website as courses as new courses added
WEA is a charity and has classes all over the country. Please see their website for further details. http://wea.org.uk/
British Alpaca Futurity is essentially Crufts for Alpacas, showcasing 400 alpacas and awarding
the best breeders and fibre producers in the UK. For the last 7 years BAF has been the biggest alpaca breeders' event in Europe. Attracting 1,000s of visitors from all over the UK and Europe. BAF
are adding a new design show element - The Futurity 2015 is proud to host p-LUSH British Design
and Fibre show hosted by the British knitwear designer Belinda Harris-Reid and theatre director
Rachel Vowles; promoting designers and makers, hand-dyers, people working in the world of fibre,
textile artists and companies selling exquisite hand-made objects and designs.
BRITISH ALPACA FUTURITY (‘Crufts’ for alpacas) champions the best of British alpaca breeding.
p-LUSH champions the British making and design industry.
WHEN: FRIDAY 27th MARCH (9am – 7pm) & SATURDAY 28th MARCH (9am – 5pm) 2015
WHERE: RICOH ARENA, Coventry, UK
TICKETS: Adult (1 day ticket) - £8.50 (in advance) £10 (on the door) | Concessions (60+; Full time
student; Registered disabled) - £7.50 (in advance) £9 (on the door) | Adult (2 day ticket) - £14.50 (in
advance) | Mini Groups (4 tickets; any person) - £28.00 | Group Booking (of 10 or more) - please
contact the organisers | Children/Young People: 0 - 16 – Free
More information from http://www.britishalpacafuturity.com/ http://www.p-lush.co.uk/
Requests for Participation
1: Le Sort, Destin, et l’auto-determination / Fate, Destiny and Self Determination is an international tapestry initiative
funded by the Ontario Arts Council. Weavers and non-weavers from all over the world are invited to participate. To date
166 people are participating from 18 countries so far such as Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, France, Belgium,
Argentina, and Peru as well as in Canada and the United States.
The tapestry installation is composed of three sections. Section one is composed of shapes, not greater than 10cm
(4”). Anyone who wishes to do so, can weave a shape the tapestry or rug technique of their choice, with whatever non-perishable material or fibre they like. Choose any hue (not a tint or shade) from the colour
wheel). Shapes will be accepted on an ongoing basis so that the installation will keep growing. Section two has been
woven entirely by my-self in my studio. Section three was woven on the Gobelin loom at the Toronto Weaving School in
Toronto.
Exhibitions are already occurring of this installation. It has been exhibited in Toronto, and Montreal to date. Upcoming
exhibitions now being negotiated, planned and discussed. All who have participated have their name included as being
makers of the tapestry installation. A video and slide show of the project is part of the exhibition with the final tapestry
installation.
**Enclosed are the shape(s) for the international tapestry installation. The shape may have to be reduced so that no
side is greater than 4” or 10cm. A person can also weave a shape of their country, state or province. You can look at
the Facebook page for the project to see how other people have created their shapes. www.facebook.com/pages/FateDestiny-and-Self-Determination-An-international-tapestry-project/ As shapes come in, I'll continue posting them to my blog
and FB along with your name and website and any information or thoughts you would like me to share with others. If
you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected].
Please invite other weavers to participate and feel free to send them this information sheet. They can email me to receive a shape (s) or they can create their own as long as it is not a circle, oval, square, or rectangle. W e are also looking for galleries and sites to exhibit the installation. If you have any suggestions, please contact me.
When you are ready to send your shape to me, please include any information you would like me to post on the blog
such as your website, if you have one, and your thoughts about tapestry and/or the project. Return the completed
shapes at your expense to:
Line Dufour
25 Beckett Ave
Holland Landing On L9N 1E6
CANADA
Thank you for participating and making this an exciting project!
Line
www.tapestryline.com
**Please mail myself or Line if you want the shapes as I am unable to attach them to the update
but can email the document to you
2: I am writing in relation to Woollen Woods – a community craft project that promotes the use of wool and aims to
engage people with Britain’s woodlands in a new and exciting way, inspiring more people learn new crafting skills and
re-discover old ones. As you may know Woollen Woods has been rolled out for the last two years by Eden Arts at
Acorn Bank and Sizergh Hall, you can see pictures of this here.
Eden Arts have now handed over the coordination of Woollen Woods to Voluntary Arts and in 2015 we plan to take
the project nationwide. We now have 5 sites confirmed for Woollen Woods activity, including National Trust properties and community woodlands in: Lancashire, Cumbria, Liverpool, Devon and the Isle of Arran with some more sites
tbc. You can read our announcement about this project here - http://voluntaryartsweek.org/woollen-woods/
Each site will have a signature flower accompanied by a crochet/knitting/felting pattern for people to download, make
and contribute to the project. We are also working closely with key craft groups local to each site to create themed
woollen artworks that will take up residency in the trees during Voluntary Arts Week, from 15 – 24 May 2015.
We plan to announce the 5 Woollen Woods sites and launch the project before the end of January – this will include a
press release, social media comms and details on the Voluntary Arts Week website.
It would be great to have your support with this project, in any way available to you. Support could include:
 Helping to promote Woollen Woods 2015 – featuring a link to Woollen Woods on your website/enews and connecting
with Voluntary Arts Week and Woollen Woods via social media.
 Profiling Woollen Woods at your events - encouraging your members/supporters to take part. We can provide publicity
materials for this.
 Donation of material – we are really keen to promote the use of 100% wool and would welcome any donations of materials or help you can offer spreading the word to your members/supporters.
 Donation of patterns – we are looking for any woodland themed woolly patterns that we can share through our networks
and supply to participating groups.
We are really keen to promote all supporters and will include your details on the Voluntary Arts Week website and
Woollen Woods publicity. I am open to discussing more engaged partnership working and any ideas you might have
as to how to raise the profile of this project – including how to involve your membership groups in Voluntary Arts
Week more generally.
You can contact me by email or on 0131 561 7333.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Cassandra Barron / Development Officer
The Creative Exchange, 29 Constitution Street, Edinburgh, EH6 7BS
tel 0131 561 7333 / mob 07818 039 864
www.vascotland.org.uk
RE The following request : please note that the Foreign Office currently advises against travel to
Afganistan. See https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/afghanistan. This request is not made by
the Association of weavers spinners and dyers but seems a worthy cause although it may be better
to wait until the country is safer.
3: DEAR ALL
I am hunting for a professional Spinner, skilled in tutoring, who would be interested in becoming involved in a project to train
women in Kabul to spin Afghan Cashmere.
The project, run by Qaria Ltd is supported by local NGO's and Cashmere Fibres International. The tutor would be provided
with flights, accommodation, visas, insurance, local travel and a negotiable daily fee to train up to fifteen ladies in Kabul over
two weeks.
I appreciate that this is an unusual request and I would be grateful for any help and advice that you or your members may
have. I would be extremely grateful if you would pass the word.
The aim of the project is to create a community of skilled craftspeople in Afganistan who could help develop a local Cashmere
textile industry.
I would of course give further information to anyone interested in learning more and would be grateful for your thoughts.
Kind Regards
Jane Mundy. [email protected]
ASSOCIATION OF GUILDS OF WEAVERS SPINNERS AND DYERS website:
http://www.wsd.org.uk
find us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com
If any guild wants to let me know about their upcoming events, speakers or guild workshops, please
email the information to [email protected]. Please note the subject box “for guild news”