New works by Tapestry weavers south

| Laurie
Tapestry Weavers South Annual Exhibit , New Works 2022, is now on display:
The Studio Gallery
110 North Bridge Street
Elkin, NC 28621
June 3-August 21, 2022
Hours:
Friday 5-7
Saturday 10-2
Sunday 12-2
By chance or appointment. To schedule an appointment, contact Leslie Fesperman of the Yadkin Valley Fiber Center. Contact information is on the Fiber Center website. An appointment can also be scheduled by contacting the Foothills Arts Council whose contact information is also on their website. The Yadkin Valley Fiber Center and the Foothills Arts Council co-sponsor the exhibit.
Photos to be added to our web site soon!

President’s Column May 2022

| Laurie

Just when newsletter chair, Allie Dudley, had everything ready to send out on time and everything for the retreat and exhibit were in place, life happened. This newsletter is coming to you late due to circumstances that were unanticipated and beyond control of the board. These circumstances resulted in changes to the retreat and exhibit plans. Be sure and read the articles about
the exhibit and retreat in the newsletter from April Price and Leslie Fesperman. Thanks to Leslie, April, and other board members being flexible, new plans are being made.


Don’t miss the article by Betty Hilton-Nash about the exhibit planned for the Folk Art Center in Asheville in 2023. Betty has some fun ideas for the exhibit and the Folk Art Center is a wonderful opportunity to exhibit your work.


Hélène Crié-Wiesner has written an article about tapestry in France. This is a wonderful article. It points out how lucky we are to practice tapestry here in the USA. Hélène points out that tapestry art as practiced in the USA is very rarely done in France.


Always remember newsletter articles sent in by members of TWS are what make the newsletter a good read. It is encouraging to hear about exhibits you are in, tips for weaving, classes you are teaching or know about, or any other tapestry related news. Please always send your news to Allie Dudley, our terrific newsletter editor. They do a great job of putting together your news and creating an informative newsletter.


TWS has two social media opportunities for members to post their work and news. Facebook is one; Instagram is the other. If you post to Facebook, Hélène will see that it gets on Instagram.

All TWS board members are volunteers. Sarah Thomsen is our Membership Chair. Leslie Fesperman is our Exhibit Chair. April Price is our Retreat Chair. Deb Gottlieb is our Treasurer. Betty Hilton-Nash is Co-Exhibits Chair in charge of the Folk Art Center Exhibit. Hélène Crié-Wiesner takes care of our Facebook and Instagram accounts, and announced at our recent board meeting that the TWS Instagram page now has 800 followers. Laurie O’Neill helps with the website but is not on the board. Without these volunteers doing such a great job, we wouldn’t have the opportunities.


Contact your board members if you have suggestions. You can also be a part of the Board. We currently are in need of a Secretary and a Vice-President. Contact me if you would like to join the Board.


Happy Spring and Happy Weaving,

Terri

President’s Column February 2022

| Laurie

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is back to weaving tapestries for upcoming TWS exhibits. The first one coming up is in June 2022 in conjunction with the Annual TWS Retreat in Elkin, NC at the Yadkin Valley Fiber Center. After that, there is an exhibit in the planning stages to be at the Folk Art Center in Asheville and then moved to Elkin, NC that year. Members’ work has sold in both places. It will be wonderful to see the gorgeous work TWS members create for these exhibits. Betty Hilton-Nash, Leslie Fesperman, and April Price are working on exhibits and the retreat now. Be watching for information in upcoming weeks.

We just had our first 2022 board meeting; we do need help and only members can do these things. Please post works in progress on Facebook on the TWS page. Hélène Crié-Wiesner, who takes care of social media for TWS, can then post your pictures and comments to Instagram. Hélène has an article about social media in the newsletter. Please be sure to read it. Hélène reports that we now have 627 followers on Instagram.

Janet Hart, Historian for TWS, needs pictures, brochures, or any other material documenting our activities. She would like to have lists of participants in the exhibits as well.

We also need volunteers for the Board. Please contact us if you can share some of your time with TWS. TWS is all volunteer and it’s good to have new volunteers and rotate some of the other members off the board to help keep things fresh.

Newsletter Editor, Allie Dudley, needs your articles for the newsletters. TWS members are the source of newsletter content and the best part of the newsletter. Please share classes you take or teach, exhibits you have work in, tapestry tips, and/or any news and tips related to tapestry weaving. If you send pictures, please list who the people in the picture are. We are all spread out and don’t know everyone by face.

If you have questions, comments, ideas, or anything tapestry related, please let us know! Even if the pandemic news isn’t what we want it to be yet, we are making plans for activities. It will be wonderful to get back to “normal” if that comes. In the meantime, weave on.

Best wishes,
Terri Bryson

President’s Column, September 2021

| Laurie

What are you weaving? What is your favorite tapestry hint? Have you tried a new yarn, and what did you think of it? What are your favorite tapestry books? Do you have your work in a tapestry or other exhibit? What are the details of the exhibit? What else would you like to share about your work? Do you have a loom you want to sell? The TWS newsletter is about you, the members. The members’ news is the most interesting part. Please think about the newsletter between issues and share in the newsletter, Facebook, and Instagram.

TWS has an optimistic, energetic board. The board is looking forward to the next retreat and exhibits. We recently held our first meeting via Zoom. Currently, plans for the next exhibits and retreats are in progress. What a treat it is to see everyone even if on a computer screen! The next retreat in Elkin, NC will be the first weekend in June 2022. April is working on the retreat plans, and Leslie is planning tapestry classes to occur around the time of the retreat. Our annual exhibit will also be held in addition to our classes. The Elkin community is very supportive of the arts and the Fiber Center which makes it a pleasure to have events there.

Looking ahead, in 2023, TWS is invited to have an exhibit at the Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC. Betty Hilton-Nash volunteered to chair this exhibit. This is another wonderful place to exhibit since a lot of traffic passes through there. It’s also a beautiful venue. Be watching your newsletters for details.

Next year you may notice that your newsletters are arriving at a slightly different time. The board suggested moving the dates of publication back a month. This spreads out the time between the June and September newsletters so that everyone can get their articles written in a more timely manner between the summer and fall newsletters.

With all the opportunities for exhibiting your tapestry work, I hope everyone is working on weaving. This year’s exhibit is beautiful. Each exhibit seems to be more beautiful than the next.

Don’t forget that Laurie O’Neill is working on putting gallery pages on the website. There is no cost to you for adding your page and information. Laurie put some suggested guidelines in the Summer TWS newsletter that you can refer to as you think about what you would like for your page to look like. Be sure to let us know all about your upcoming exhibits in other places, classes you take, tips you may have, or anything tapestry related. Please also share your work on the Tapestry Weavers South Facebook and Instagram page.

Happy Warping and Weaving,

Terri Bryson

Tapestry Weavers South Retreat 2021

| Laurie

The Tapestry Weavers South retreat was held June 5-6 in Elkin, North Carolina, a sweet little town in the Appalachian foothills, at the Yadkin Valley Fiber Center. This also was a celebration of Tapestry Weavers South’s 25th anniversary.

The Yadkin Valley Fiber Center relocated along with the Foothills Art Center to the old Chatham Mill building at 321 East Main St. It is a lovely historic space that is a work in progress. Leslie Fesperman’s fiber arts center is a light-filled, spacious room on the second floor, full of looms and sewing machines and resources for all kinds of fiber arts. She hosts workshops by leading artist/teachers in this welcoming space all year long.

After establishing that everyone present was vaccinated and unanimously felt comfortable without masks, we joyously shucked them and were treated to each other’s smiling faces. There was plenty of room to spread out in the YVFC.

On both Saturday and Sunday, we had an open studio and show and tell. Members bought books, equipment, and yarn to sell and donate, and worked on small projects. The opening for our “New Works by Tapestry Weavers South” exhibit was at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the gift shop on the first floor, and several tapestries were sold. After the opening, Tommye Scanlin signed copies of and talked about her recently published book The Nature of Things: Essays of a Tapestry Weaver and her upcoming Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond: Planning and Weaving with Confidence.

On Sunday, we had a delicious brunch that was included in the retreat, and an informal members’ meeting in which we discussed our goals and challenges in moving forward as a guild.

Two classes were scheduled before and after the retreat: “Tapestry for Beginners” taught by Betty Hilton-Nash, and “Designing with Tapestry in Mind” taught by Tommye Scanlin. The guild plans to continue having an annual exhibit and classes for both beginning weavers and more advanced weavers in the future.

After our scheduled activities, members and their partners enjoyed meals and libations at several restaurants and brewpubs within walking distance of the center. It was good to see our creative friends in person again!

Photos courtesy of Ken Bryson. Thanks, Ken!

TWS Retreat, Exhibition Opening, and Workshop

| Laurie

Tapestry Weavers South is having their retreat and “Tapestry Weavers South – New Works 2021” exhibition opening June 5-6 in Elkin, NC at the The Yadkin Valley Fiber Center, and a tapestry design workshop with Tommye Scanlin is scheduled on Monday-Tuesday, June 7-8. There are a few seats left in the workshop if anyone is interested. Registration is being opened to non-members on May 16 if it doesn’t fill with members by then. If you want to learn beginning tapestry, Betty Hilton-Nash is teaching a tapestry class there June 3-4. Elkin is also hosting NC Trail Days June 3-6. Elkin, North Carolina is a lovely little town near Stone Mountain State Park. Check out https://www.nctraildays.com/ about the Trail Days and https://www.yadkinvalleyfibercenter.org/ for lots of fiber events and classes, including master weaving classes.

The tapestry exhibit will take place in the newly opened gallery space from 4 – 6 pm; 321 East Main Street Elkin, North Carolina 28621. Tommye Scanlin will be onsite for a book signing if you have one of her books. Please stop by, say hello, see the beautiful tapestries, and meet some artists whose work we will have on display through August.

President’s Column, March 2021

| Laurie

Happy Spring everyone!

Here we are in 2021 and we’re still in the middle of the pandemic. The vaccine is out. Businesses are open following the CDC and local guidelines for safety. It’s difficult to know how long this will continue. In the meantime, we’re working on finding ways to promote tapestry art.

First, many thanks to each member who submits articles and photos for the newsletter. Allie Dudley does a wonderful job getting the individual articles together for the newsletter. Sarah Thomsen, Membership Chair, keeps us up to date with reminders to get the articles to Allie. Their efforts are appreciated very much.

Leslie Fesperman and April Price are planning a TWS exhibit and retreat in Elkin, NC. There is hope and some members have already committed to entering work in the exhibit. If you haven’t contacted Leslie already to enter your work and wish to enter, please contact Leslie. Be sure and read her article in the newsletter for more information.

Leslie sees a partnership with TWS and the Yadkin Valley Fiber center as sharing their enthusiasm for tapestry weaving by having the annual “New Works by TWS” exhibit each summer. The YVFC plans to offer beginning to advanced tapestry workshops each year growing the offerings over time for tapestry weavers. This year they are planning a beginning tapestry class and a workshop with Tommye Scanlin following the exhibit opening.

What about the uncertainty of what will be happening in June? Many places have already opened exhibits with safety measures in place. The TWS exhibit will work the same way. CDC and the state of North Carolina guidelines for safety will be observed whatever they are at the time. Since no one knows what the guidelines will be in June please check back close to time for the exhibit and retreat.

TWS does need more help on the board. We need a Vice President, a Treasurer, and a Web Manager (Updated, March 27). All the work is done on a volunteer basis with no paid employees. If you have some time to help, please contact me at 2brysons@gmail.com. Volunteering is a good way to get to know other
members of the group as well as to promote tapestry art.

While the pandemic continues, may every member of TWS continue to pursue creating their art. Stay safe
and well.

Terri Bryson

President’s Column, December 2020

| Laurie

(From the Winter 2020 edition of our members’ newsletter, which is emailed to members and can be accessed by password on the Members Only page.)

At long last we’re seeing the last days of a year that won’t be remembered for tons of good things that happened. Like the rest of the world, I’m glad to see the last days of a year that has seemed short, long, distressing, and disorienting.

That’s not to say that everything that happened was bad. There have been some wonderful things to happen.

Now we can all look forward to 2021 with hope since we have predictions of vaccines soon, better treatments, and possibly cures for the Covid-19 virus. TWS is looking forward with some optimism. Leslie Fesperman and April Price are planning an exhibit and retreat for June that we may be able to see in person.

Thank you to each member who submits articles for the newsletter!! Your articles make the newsletter wonderful! It’s fun and enlightening to see your projects, hear about ex-hibits your work is in, and just get to know you a bit better. Your articles in the newsletter connect us to each other. Be sure and read their articles for a preview.

This year the holiday season will be different. Celebrations may be smaller and quieter. People may travel less. Maybe everyone will weave more during the holidays. There will be a different story for everyone. However you spend the holidays, may they be happy and healthy. Wishing all of you a wonderful weaving holiday season!!

Best Wishes,
Terri Bryson