Video recordings from past HGB Presentations are available on the HGB YouTube Channel

Mandy Nash's Discovering Felt
Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

Mandy will talk about her love of feltmaking, how she encountered the technique and began her experiments with wool. During her twenty year relationship with this material, she has been constantly surprised by its versatility, infinite variations can be achieved by combining different wools, colours and patterns. She will explain her fascination with multiple resists and differential shrinkage to create texture and three dimensional shapes.

Watch the presentation here.

Julia Halpern's A History of Fiber and Textile Art and Its Relationship to the Art World
Monday, Feb. 10, 2025

From the early 1960s to the late ’70s, in a chapter of art history known as the fiber art movement, artists — predominantly women — across Europe and the United States began experimenting with thread and fabric, often pushing them into three dimensions and away from the wall. This program examined key figures in this movement, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Lenore Tawney, and Sheila Hicks. It also explored how their work has been received in the art world and how mainstream institutions today are re-evaluating fiber art after decades of dismissal.

Watch the presentation here.

Julia Halpern's Textile and Fiber Art: A Survey of Contemporary Practitioners

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025

In an age when we spend much of our time touching the flat surfaces of screens, fiber art feels newly seductive to makers and viewers alike as both a contrast with and a culmination of modern sensory experience. Today, a new generation of ambitious and experimental artists are embracing fiber and textiles for themselves. This program explored the work of a number of exciting contemporary practitioners in the fiber art space, including Tao Lewis, Marie Watt, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, and Melissa Cody.

Watch the presentation here.

Peeta Tinay’s Journey From Antique and Contemporary Woven Furniture Restoration to Contemporary Basketry Forms

Monday, Jan. 13, 2025

Peeta presented her journey from being a restorer of woven furniture to making the baskets she creates today. She showed how her work has changed and evolved over the past 5 years and where things are headed.

Watch the presentation here.

Peeta Tinay: The Nuts and Bolts of Peeta’s Basketry Weaving Techniques and Woven Furniture Restoration

Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025

Peeta discussed the weaving materials, dyes and finishing process she uses for basketry and restoration work. She also covered her weaving and construction techniques.

Watch the presentation here.

Leiko Uchiyama: Lacy Line Felt to Heavy Duty - Diversity of Felt

Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024

Felt making is so adaptable, it can be made into something very fine and soft or something strong and heavy. More than 1000 breeds of sheep in the world make this possible! Leiko will show us the materials and techniques she uses to make her many gorgeous items and will show us her technique called “pine needles” which creates lacy felt.

Watch the presentation here.

Leiko Uchiyama: My Felting Journey - the Red Thread of Fate

Monday, Jan. 15, 2024

‘The red thread of fate’ is an expression in Japan to explain the special connection with someone important to you. "I can see my felt red thread has been leading me to who I am today as an artist," she said. Leiko will tell us about how she has learned her craft and developed new techniques for felting.

Watch the presentation here.

Woolpunk: I'd Like to Teach the World to Stitch/Community Outreach and Activism

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024

Woolpunk has long focused on community to highlight the invisible work needed to better our planet. Getting a little closer will deep dive into inspiration and communal outcomes with fiber focused initiatives.

Watch the presentation here.