Foothill Fibers Guild

**Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Brooke Sinnes - Dating Profiles of Natural Dyes:  Meet, greet and get to know natural dyes and the process.

Brooke is the owner of Sincere Sheep, a yarn brand focused on single-source, breed-specific, and custom-made yarns that are naturally dyed. She has been teaching natural dyeing, knitting, spinning, and weaving off and on for the past 18 years. Brooke finds it continually rewarding that through naturally dyed textiles we have an intrinsic link to our past and future. Like a thread throughout human history, dyes, colors and textiles have created a connection around the world to culture, geography, commerce and family.

 

Instagram  and website

**Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Heidi Leugers - Value Keys (Major and Minor)

Join Heidi Leugers, founder of Reclaimed Wool, as she shares how value keys influence the mood of a fiber project/artwork, including a garment.

Heidi’s studio, Reclaimed Wool, is a living exploration of sustainable expression; since 1998 she has ‘reclaimed’ all the waste created in her studio to make new items. Heidi’s zero waste practice is featured in the first series of academic texts to query a college art curriculum’s relationship to ecology, biology and materiality: Cycle-Logical Art – Recycling Matters for Eco-Art (Linda Weintraub, Artnow Publications, 2007).

    

Tens of thousands of her original designs have been sold at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the American Folk Art Museum, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Milwaukee Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, and Timberline Lodge, among hundreds of other museums, stores and galleries across the United States.

In 1996 Heidi shifted from knitting to hand spinning and embraced her true métier: wool! Her first task was to “unmask” wool yarn and reveal each sheep breed’s distinct qualities: wild, hairy, coarse, curly, soft, springy – by making miniature sheep from hand washed raw wool and recycled sweaters. Heidi has created functional and whimsical items from wool fiber, fleece, fabric, old garments, yarn and felt for 25 years. Utilizing her unique process for hand washing wool for lock integrity, Heidi once washed a black Navajo Churro lamb fleece for Deborah Robson, grown and raised by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts.

After earning a B.A. in both economics and French, Heidi trained as a stock broker in the North Twin Tower (WTC, Manhattan), then worked as an underwriter before returning to school to study printmaking, painting and art history at the Hartford Art School.

Reclaimed Wool website

**Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Elizabeth Williamson -  Executive Director of the Handweaves Guild of America

Elizabeth Williamson earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She began her career as a Publicist for the Hara Complex and then as a Talent Representative for Kismet Productions. In 2006 Elizabeth joined Columbus Children’s Theatre as Managing Director where she oversaw a turnaround in the theatre’s finances and set new records for program participation. As a result of her work, she was a finalist for Columbus Business First’s 2010 CFO of the Year program. In 2013 the Aiken Center for the Arts in South Carolina hired Elizabeth as Executive Director. While in this position, she formed the Aiken Cultural Leadership Consortium to unite and support the arts and cultural organizations of Aiken for the purpose of collaboration, advocacy and community. Since 2015 Elizabeth has served as Executive Director of the Handweavers Guild of America in Suwanee, Georgia. As Executive Director, Elizabeth has been responsible for leading the board through the development of a strategic plan, consolidating technology platforms for a better customer experience, and nearly doubling the organization’s Convergence^® conference attendance.

 

**Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Gretchen Hilyard Boyce - Fiber Travels to Portugal

Gretchen Hilyard Boyce will present photos from her travels to the Arraiolos region of Portugal this past summer with Threadwritten Textiles. Hear about the weavers, spinners, textile manufacturers, shepherds and artisans keeping Portugal's rich fiber crafts alive. Gretchen will share about the traditional way to make Arraiolos rugs, Portugal's palette of natural dyes, efforts to revive endangered sheep breeds, and the hidden symbols in the weaving patterns of the region. Come take an armchair trip to Portugal with Gretchen and gain some inspiration for your next fiber project!

        

**Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Alanna Wilcox - Color, Fiber and Dye

Are you a fiber enthusiast that is curious about color? Maybe you're even "dyeing" to learn more about how and when color is applied to fiber influences a project's visual outcome. In this lecture, Alanna will explore color perception, color theory, and how that can be applied to the projects we create as fiber artists. Alanna breaks down color theory in a very easy to understand way for the novice fiber colorist and then deep dives into the nuances that can be tapped into when one is aware of how human perception of color (and how that perception) can guide our choices in creating with fiber, yarn, and handmade fabrics.  

Alanna Wilcox is a fiber artist, professional educator, Master Spinner and color specialist with acid dyes. She loves empowering fellow fiber enthusiasts by helping them overcome their creative challenges, learn new skills, and achieve their fiber related goals through her expert instruction via online workshops and books. Alanna is constantly making things, especially projects that have to do with color and fiber to express her creativity. She earned the OHS Spinning Certificate with distinction in 2015 and the Master Spinner Certificate in 2017. She wrote and self-published the spinning book "A New Spin on Color" in addition to developing over 2,000 precision dye formulas to color match digital images and HEX colors. Her newest book "Color Alchemy: From Digital to Dye" will be available in a course she is developing for dyers and spinners that pairs the science of color with the art of dyeing. Working with fiber is something that she lives and breathes, sometimes literally.