The Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. (HGA) is excited to announce our new program for 2021: Textiles & Tea. Every Tuesday at 4 PM (EST) HGA will host a conversation with some of the most respected fiber artists in the field today. In our 45-minute discussion we will focus on their artwork and their creative journey. We will allow 15 minutes at the end of our conversation for questions from the audience. Make a cup of your favorite tea and join us as we talk about fiber, creativity, inspiration, process and so much more. January’s Featured Artists | January 5, 2021: Mary Zicafoose  “I strive to be an inspirational presence in the textile world.” Mary Zicafoose’s fiber journey began with ikat cloth she received as a gift as a child. Her undergraduate degree was from St Mary’s College and graduate work was School of the Art Institute of Chicago and University of Nebraska. In pursuing a more painterly approach to fiber she was drawn to ikat technique which took her on her 30 year journey. She is the co-director emeritus of the American Tapestry Alliance. She has recently published a book Ikat: The Essential Guide to Weaving Resist-Dyed Cloth. | January 12, 2021: Peggy Wiedemann  Peggy Wiedemann grew up in Long Beach, California. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles earning a degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis on drawing and painting. After college, she experimented in a variety of art mediums including oil painting, pen-and-ink drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics. Peggy found basketry and was hooked. Peggy uses a wide variety of materials and has a strong preference for natural fibers. To these natural materials, she adds metal, beads and “found” objects to form unique pieces. | January 19, 2021: Janet Phillips  Janet Phillips studied industrial textile design at the Scottish College of Textiles, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in 1972. After working in industry for three years she bought a 16-shaft Dobby loom and built up a career as a commission weaver, designing and weaving functional fabrics for private clients. From 1987 to 2004 she taught a one-day, weekly community education class in Oxford. In 2009 she stopped her commission weaving work to focus on teaching weaving and weave design from her studio in Somerset, UK. Janet is the author of The Weavers Book of Fabric Design, Designing Woven Fabrics, and recently published Exploring Woven Fabrics. |  Rebecca Mezoff is a contemporary tapestry weaver with a studio in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her work is drawn from the colors, open skies, and symbols of the southwestern United States. She hand-dyes all her own yarn to get the color gradations she loves, and she weaves most of her tapestries on her grandfather’s Harrisville rug loom. Her work is in various public and private collections and you can see some of the tapestries in the gallery on her website. |
Textiles & Tea takes place every Tuesday at 4:00 PM (EST) beginning in January 2021 and will be broadcast via Zoom. These broadcasts are free to view and open to all, but you can support our programming with a donation to HGA’s Fiber Trust. For more information about Textiles & Tea, our programs, and membership, visit www.WeaveSpinDye.org or call (678) 730-0010. Be a Textiles & Tea Sponsor Put your company in front of our audience with a sponsorship while helping HGA to promote the fiber arts and support the artists who create. Purchase your sponsorship online or call (678) 730-0010. Sponsors receive: HGA is an exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; EIN #06-08661. Our organization and programs are supported in part by generous contributions to HGA’s Fiber Trust. |
“I strive to be an inspirational presence in the textile world.”
