Day Meeting	September 9, 2024
Evening Meeting	September 10, 2024

In-Person Meetings

Day & Evening Meeting Presentations

At the September meetings we will celebrate our 60 years as a Guild. We'll share the history of the Guild and honor those who have been in the Guild for its entire time! (Plus we'll enjoy some treats!) We'll have exhibits from our study groups so members can gain familiarity and see if they want to join any of the specialized groups that meet monthly. We invite you to bring items you have made for a super show and tell called "look what I made this summer!"

Guild Workshop Show-And-Tell

Programs will have a table where you can show off anything you’ve made at, or as a result of, a Guild workshop. We've hosted so many great classes such as split shed weaving, twined weaving, iridescence, felted slippers, art yarn, eco printing and more! Bring your work to share and make sure to include a tag stating where you learned the techniques.

Also at September Meetings
In-Person HGB Fiber Art Show & Sale Assistance
Standards Review – Sale Tech – When To Work – Publicity

Back to Top

Day Meeting	October 14, 2024
Evening Meeting	October 15, 2024

In-Person Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: Fiber Arts: Explorations in Handmade Paper with Native Plants

Rhiannon Alpers has been working with native plants in her handmade paper and paper sculptures for over twenty years. Join us as she takes us on a captivating journey, delving into the experiments, collaborations, exhibitions, artist books, and community projects that have fueled her passion for fiber arts. Learn about the process and the element of discovery that each batch and site location brings to the finished paper. This is an exploration not just of art, but of the connection between humans and the natural world, where each sheet of paper tells a story of transformation and the ever-changing world around us.

Evening Meeting Presentation: Fieldwork: Artist Books and Early Women Naturalists

Join Rhiannon Alpers as she takes you on a journey into the enchanting world of natural curiosities and early women naturalists through her recent artist book editions. Through her artistic process and personal experiences, Rhiannon sheds light on the perspectives of these remarkable women, blending historical and personal narratives with scientific documentation. This approach allows Rhiannon to create artist books that not only tell a story but also immerse the audience in a world of found, curated, and constructed curiosities. It is in this process of unfolding, unearthing, and untangling that we discover the connections between science and art, and what propels Rhiannon to create artist books.

Rhiannon Alpers
Artist

Rhiannon Alpers, is a Denver-based papermaker, letterpress printer, and book artist. Rhiannon's passion for the fiber arts started at a young age, thanks to her creative mother who introduced her to sewing, quilting, basket weaving, natural dyes, and more.

Rhiannon holds both a BA and an MFA in book and paper arts. Her limited edition and one-of-a-kind artwork have been showcased in exhibitions around the world. She shares her expertise nationally, teaching academic courses and adult workshops, and works from her letterpress and papermaking studio, Gazelle and Goat Press in Denver.

Rhiannon's work delves into the wonders of the natural world and early women naturalists. Through narrative, imagery, fiber art, and book art, she invites us to explore the curiosities and remnants of nature.

Visit her website at rhiannonalpers.com for more information and samples of her work.

RhiannonAlpers.com

Rhiannon spoke about the Bark Rhythms show at Niza Knoll Gallery in Denver. Learn more about North American Hand Papermakers and the show here. The NAHP Conference will be held on Oct. 17-19, 2024 at the University of Denver and at select locations in the Santa Fe Arts District. Many events are free. NAHP Event schedule.

Books, Textiles and Bookmaking Fusion with Rhiannon Alpers

Discover the fusion of artist books, textiles, and boxmaking in this unique 2 day workshop with Rhiannon Alpers!

Explore the process of creating an untraditional winged accordion book structure which showcases students samples of paper, fabric and textiles in a flexible and dynamic binding.

Participants will create a sculptural winged accordion book complete with flexible panels, pockets and secret openings. Using templates and pre-cut panel pieces, students will combine provided pieces with their own fabrics, textile samples and handmade papers to fill the folded and winged panels of the accordion. Students can fuse the panels together with stitching, adhesives or fusible webbing for their desired effect.

Students will bring their individual themes, color and pattern ideas to life, resulting in a stunning array of accordions unique to each person.

To house our accordions, students will be creating a lidded box with prepared components. Each participant will build, cover and line their boxes from scratch with provided papers and bookcloths with the options to create small details to match their books’ themes and colors.

Please note that because of the large group and limited time students will be working with prepared sizes and some materials for the course. A detailed list of samples, suggested tools and additional materials will be provided prior to the class.

This course welcomes participants of all levels, from weavers and textile artists to book artists and makers. Basic sewing and gluing skills are required, including knowledge of folding, sewing, gluing, measuring, and cutting.

• Date: Saturday, Nov. 2 - Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024
• Time: 9:30am-4:30pm
• Location: Goodhue Farmhouse

  Boulder County Carolyn Holmberg Preserve

  2240 S. 104th St., Broomfield

• Class size: 10
• Prerequisites/Experience: Beginning and intermediate sewing skills. Review the event listing/registration for more information.

Workshop fee: $110 for members, $120 for non-members. $18 materials fee. 

Payment method is online only with a credit card. If you would like to pay by check or cash, you must contact programs@handweaversofboulder.org to register for the workshop.

Registration is open. To register online, click here. 

Back to Top

In-Person Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: Tales of Textile Intrigue: The Secret History and Creative Possibility of Wool Waste

This is a presentation based on Shell’s book Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags The history of modern-day old clothes recycling begins with a thing called shoddy. Starting in the early 1800s, shoddy was the name given to a new material made from reclaimed wool, and to one of the earliest forms of industrial recycling. Old rags and leftover fabric clippings were ground to bits by a machine known as “the devil” and then re-used. Usually undisclosed, shoddy-also known as reworked wool-became suit jackets, army blankets, mattress stuffing, and much more. Shoddy is the afterlife of rags. And Shoddy, the book, reveals hidden worlds of textile intrigue.

Evening Meeting Presentation: Old Clothes, New Lives

Stories will be told, new relationships and ways of talking about textiles created. Please bring to the meeting a favorite article of clothing either acquired secondhand, handmade, or that has had a “long life relationship” with you – additionally – bring an old piece of cloth or textile that evokes some kind of memory to you. This will be a speaking, conversation, and meaning making program.

Hanna Rose Shell

Author, Artist, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder

Hanna Rose Shell studies aesthetics, textiles, and the interface of art and science; her scholarship takes the form of text and film. Shell’s 2020 book, SHODDY: From Devil's Dust to the Renaissance of Rags (University of Chicago Press), examines recycled textiles as transformative media forms through the lenses of aesthetics, material culture, history, and critical theory. It dovetails with a series of experimental documentary shorts and a textile installation in the Czech Republic on the subject of waste, recycling and old clothes.

Shell’s book on camouflage, Hide and Seek: Camouflage, Photography, and the Media of Reconnaissance, published by Zone Books in 2012, has since been translated into French (Zones Sensibles) and inspired her own and others’ multimedia works.

Shell has published widely in scholarly and popular journals on subjects including taxidermy, waste processing, and the history of chronophotography. She served as co-editor for a volume on science studies published Princeton University Press and previously released an edited reprint of The Extermination of the American BisonTechnology and Culture, her scholarship has appeared in the publications Journal of Visual Culture, Configurations, History and Technology, Bidoun, Technology and Culture, Natural History and Cabinet among others.

Her films and media works have appeared worldwide, at art and film venues including The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Machine Project, Slamdance, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, Machine Project, the Zimmerli Art Museum. Prior to her arrival in Colorado in 2018, she was Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before which she was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Shell also taught previously at the Rhode Island School of Design. Jointly appointed in the Department of Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts and the Department of Art & Art History, she teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses.

HannaRoseShell.org

Back to Top

In-Person Meetings
Holiday Celebration Buffet and Ornament Exchange

The celebration starts with food - of course!

• Bring-A-Dish Buffet - All are invited to contribute a ready to serve and easily shared food item to the buffet - along with any utensils required for serving
• Tote along your own dinnerware, utensils and napkins to reduce waste

Day Meeting: 9 a.m. Set-Up

Evening Meeting: 6 p.m. Set-Up

The HGB Holiday Celebration includes a handmade fiber-art-related ornament exchange, each participant brings one wrapped handmade fiber related ornament.

The ornament exchange is a long-standing tradition leading to many laughs and a few quick steals! Come join in the fun - or watch the commotion! The choice is yours!

Ornament Exchange

Do I need to participate in the Ornament Exchange?

I'm new to the Guild. Can I still come to the December meeting holiday celebration? 
What should I bring? 

Back to Top

Day Meeting	January 13, 2025	Zoom
Evening Meeting	January 14, 2025	Zoom

Zoom Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: Peeta Tinay’s Journey From Antique and Contemporary Woven Furniture Restoration to Contemporary Basketry Forms

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

Evening Meeting Presentation: The Nuts and Bolts of Peeta’s Basketry Weaving Techniques and Woven Furniture Restoration

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

Peeta Tinay
Basket Weaving Artist

Peeta Tinay grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. From 1990 to 2000 Peeta worked at The Caning Shop in Berkeley, CA. mastering the techniques involved in the restoration of antique and contemporary wicker furniture. Since 2008 Peeta has focused on constructing large scale, intricate baskets. She exhibits at juried fine art shows around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. She teaches beginning and intermediate level basketry workshops both nationally and internationally. 

TinayStudio.com, Instagram @tinaystudio

Back to Top

Workshop

January 25, 2025

Pine Needle Basket Weaving

In-Person Workshop: Pine Needle Basket Weaving with HGB member Rachel Courtney This is an easy-access craft as all you need is waxed linen, pine needles and a sewing needle. Join Rachel for step-by-step instructions, demonstration and information. Date: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 Time: 1 to 4 p.m. Location: Mountain View Methodist Church, Boulder, Room 207 Class size: 20 Prerequisites/Experience: None Workshop fee: $55 payable on registration Please email Rachel Courtney if you have any questions. Registration is open. Payment method is online only with a credit card. If you would like to pay by check or cash, you must contact programs@handweaversofboulder.org to register for the workshop. To register online, click here.

Zoom Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: A History of Fiber and Textile Art and Its Relationship to the Art World

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 will examine key figures in this movement, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Lenore Tawney, and Sheila Hicks. It will also explore how their work has been received in the art world and how mainstream institutions today are re-evaluating fiber art after decades of dismissal.

Evening Meeting Presentation: Textile and Fiber Art: A Survey of Contemporary Practitioners

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 will explore 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.

Julia Halperin

Writer/Journalist

Julia Halperin is an arts and culture journalist, editor, and co-founder of the Burns Halperin Report, the largest report of its kind tracking equity and representation in the art world. She is a contributor to the New York Times, W magazine, and the Financial Times, among other publications. She also serves as editor at large of CULTURED magazine and a contributing editor to The Art Newspaper, where she writes a monthly column about changes and challenges in American art museums. 

In September 2023, she wrote Fiber Art Is Finally Being Taken Seriously.

Long caught in the liminal space between craft and something more prestigious, works of thread and fabric are reaching newfound institutional recognition.

She will share with us the history of fiber art and highlight several artists she covered in her article.

X.com/JuliaHalperin

Back to Top

February Workshop - English Paper Piecing with HGB member Isabel Suhr

Workshop

February 8, 2025

English Paper Piecing

In-Person Workshop : English Paper Piecing with HGB member Isabel Suhr 

Learn the traditional hand-sewing method of English paper piecing by making a 3-D Moravian star as a decor piece or to give as a gift. English paper piecers Isabel and Almeda will demonstrate the construction of a Moravian star and guide you through trying each part of the process. We will also show off some other things you can do with English paper piecing!

It generally takes 6-7 hours of sewing to complete a Moravian star, so we won't finish during the workshop, but we will make sure you have seen and practiced all the techniques you will need to finish at home. All supplies to create one Moravian star are included in your registration.

• Date: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025
• Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
• Location: Mountain View Methodist Church, Boulder, Room 207
• Class size: 20

Prerequisites/Experience: None

Workshop fee: $55

Please email Isabel Suhr with any questions about the workshop.

Registration is open.

Payment method is online only with a credit card. If you would like to pay by check or cash, you must contact programs@handweaversofboulder.org to register for the workshop.

To register online, click here. 

Day Meeting	March 10, 2025
Evening Meeting	March 11, 2025

In-Person Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: The World of Beads Part 1

Evening Meeting Presentation: The World of Beads Part 2

Jake will take us on a journey around the world of the places he sources beads, how he chooses them and he will teach us about the beauty of the materials he sources, works with and sells. Bringing an exceptional collection of historical beads from the Roman period, Islamic period, the European expansion (1490’s-1700’s) as well as some extraordinary tribal beads, members will be able to examine and touch the beads. Conversation on the use of beads in textile arts. Bring for show and tell any projects in which you have used beads.

Evening meeting: if time allows, Jake will demonstrate for us how to make a tassel with thread and beads.

Jake March, Nomad Beads

Jewelry Designer, Owner of Nomad Beads, and Expert on all things beads

Nomad Beads has been a Boulder institution for more than 30 years. Known as the best bead supplier in Boulder County, the company was started by Jake and his mother, a former HGB member. All of the staff are avid jewelry designers and the store is stocked with the highest quality gemstone beads because the staff wants to use the best for their work as well! Everyone on staff at Nomad has a passion for the jewelry arts and are available to assist you.

An owner of Nomad Beads, Jake is a spiritual and bohemian soul who infuses his kind, care-free energy into everything he creates. He was born in Sante Fe in 1968, the time of the "authentic hippy" (as he calls it) and was constantly surrounded by art and color. Jake attributes this part of his upbringing to his aesthetic, but was also influenced by summers spent on his grandmother's 350-acre farm and commune, The Rochester Folk Art Guild. These early days were steeped in craft, arts, theater, philosophy and spirituality. His interests lie in art, textiles, masks, jewelry and spirit.

He makes this clear in how he describes his role: I am one of the owners of two beautiful stores here in Boulder - Nomad Bead Merchants and Adorned by Nomad. These stores would not be possible without my indispensable business partners and the unbelievable family that makes up our team.

NomadBeads.com

Back to Top

Day Meeting	April 14, 2025
Evening Meeting	April 15, 2025
Workshop	April 12, 2025

In-Person Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: Adventures in Brioche Knitting

In this talk, Lesley will focus on her background and design story. She will then go into specifics about her designs. This program will include time to get a close up look at her designs and samples as well as ask all those questions you may have about brioche knitting.

Evening Meeting Presentation: Designing in a Sea of Designers

This program dives into a bit of Lesley’s background and how she started designing. She will also offer some advice on anyone who wants to design.

Lesley Anne Robinson

Brioche Knitter

Lesley Anne Robinson is the knitting pattern designer behind Knit Graffiti Designs. She loves to create knitting patterns that focus on modern style with a flair for something different. After graduating from the College for Creative Studies (located in Detroit, Michigan) with a degree in Interior Design and a minor in Fiber Design in 2006, she moved to New York City, where she spent several years there working as a commercial Interior Designer for Spin Design. She started knitting in college, but in 2015 began self-publishing knitting designs. Brioche knitting is her main passion. She fell in love with the technique and just hasn’t gotten sick of it yet. Lesley loves to teach others how to knit those beautiful brioche stitches, and spends her days swatching out new brioche stitch patterns. Lesley is currently living in South Texas with her husband and two boys, designing in her small home studio, where she also films her online classes. You can find Lesley on Ravelry as @knitgraffiti and Instagram as @knitgraffiti.

KnitGraffiti.com

Back to Top

April Workshops - Brioche 

Workshop 1	April 12, 2025	Beginner Bulky Brioche
Workshop 2	April 12, 2025	Fixing and Finishing Brioche
Workshop 3	April 13, 2025	Elegant Brioche

Register here
Workshop fee discounts if you register for two or more workshops!

• $75 for one workshop
• $135 for two workshops ($15 savings)
• $190 for three workshops ($30 savings)

In-Person Workshop 1: Beginner Bulky Brioche

Brioche is meant to be a fun and engaging stitch pattern! I want to take away all the fear and uncertainty surrounding brioche knitting. Grab some bulky yarn and circular needles to knit my super popular Funfetti hat pattern! Two-color brioche is very fun, and it can be easier to see the anatomy of brioche stitches, so we will be focusing on this during the class. Yarn choices and color will be briefly discussed. You will learn my favorite cast-on and bind-off techniques to use with brioche knitting, the basic brioche setup, and work on something you could take home to keep practicing!

• Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
• Time: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Location: Mountain View Methodist Church, Boulder, Room 207

• Class size: 20

Prerequisites: Knowledge of knitting and purling, knitting in the round

Materials the attendee must bring: 

• Homework:
• Purchase pattern before class, on Ravelry or knitgraffiti.com (also offered for free). Cast on stitches for desired size and work the ribbing for brim.
• Supplies:
• Funfetti hat pattern (available for free from KnitGraffiti.com/shop/funfetti-knitting-pattern-pdf/)
• 2 balls of Super Bulky yarn in high contrasting colors. See pattern for more material info. I used Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick
• 16” / 40.5 cm long US 10 / 6 mm circular needles or DPN’s, whatever you prefer using for working in the round

Workshop fee: $75

In-Person Workshop 2: Fixing and Finishing Brioche

Gain confidence with your brioche knitting by learning how to fix mistakes, pick up dropped stitches, place lifelines, and add those finishing touches to your brioche projects! Feel free to bring any of your brioche projects you might want to fix or finish, or you can sit back and treat this as a lecture!

• Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
• Time: 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• Location: Mountain View Methodist Church, Boulder, Room 207

• Class size: 20

Prerequisites: Knowledge of brioche knitting in any form

Materials the attendee must bring: 

• Homework: 
• Bring in a brioche project or swatch, preferably with mistakes or unfinished (optional).
• Supplies:
• tapestry needle for weaving ends
• crochet hook for picking up dropped stitches
• locking stitch markers
• 20” length (or longer depending on project) of smooth yarn for adding lifelines

Workshop fee: $75

In-Person Workshop 3: Elegant Brioche

Take your brioche knitting to the next level with Elegant Brioche! In this class, you will learn the most commonly used two-color brioche increases and decreases needed to create gorgeous brioche fabric with twists and turns that will delight and inspire! We will briefly go over basic two-color brioche for a refresher, as well as how to choose the right yarn for your projects! Together we will be knitting a swatch to learn the 5 most commonly used brioche increases and decreases. This will prepare you to knit almost any brioche project of your dreams!

• Date: Sunday, April 13, 2025
• Time: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Location: Mountain View Methodist Church, Boulder, Room 207

• Class size: 20

Prerequisites: Knowledge of even brioche knitting

Materials the attendee must bring: 

• 2 balls of DK or Worsted weight yarn in high contrasting colors; solid or semi-solid / tonal yarns recommended.
• 24” / 61 cm or longer US 5 / 3.57 mm circular needles. Interchangeables are fine.

Workshop fee: $75

Registration is open.

Payment method is online only with a credit card. If you would like to pay by check or cash, you must contact programs@handweaversofboulder.org to register for the workshop.

To register online, click here.

Day Meeting	May 12, 2025
Evening Meeting	May 13, 2025

In-Person Meetings

Day Meeting Presentation: Woven Climate Datascapes

Tali will share her decade-long project transforming climate data into woven and coiled abstract landscapes. The talk will include insights into her process, materials, and research. Those registering for the 2-day workshop are strongly encouraged (but not required) to attend this talk. 

Evening Meeting Presentation: Text/ile: The materiality of language and the language of material

Tali will share multiple bodies of work that draw on weaving’s manifold connections to language, from etymology and computing to materiality and myth.

Tali Weinberg (she/they)

Multi-Disciplinary Artist

Talli Weinberg creates weaving, sculpture, and drawing in response to worsening climate crisis, tracing relationships between extraction and illness; personal and communal loss; and corporeal and ecological bodies. She combines plant-derived fibers and dyes, petrochemical-derived medical materials, climate data, and abstracted landscape imagery to explore the inextricability of ecological and human health. Weinberg’s work is in the collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and the Georgia Museum of Art.

She has participated in exhibitions at the Griffith Art Museum (Australia), Zhejiang Art Museum (China), 21C Museum in Oklahoma City, University of Colorado Boulder Art Museum, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (PA), Center for Craft (NC), Dreamsong (MN), and Form & Concept (NM), among others.

Her artwork has been featured in the New York Times, National Resource Defense Council’s on Earth Magazine, Surface Design Journal, Ecotone, and The Journal of Data Visualization and will be included in the upcoming Fifth National Climate Assessment.

Honors include an Illinois Artist Fellowship, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Serenbe Fellowship, Windgate Fellowship to Vermont Studio Center, SciArt Bridge Residency for cross-disciplinary collaboration, a residency at New York’s Museum of Art and Design, and grants from the Puffin Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, and Oklahoma Arts Council. She has taught at California College of the Arts and Penland School of Craft. Weinberg received her MFA from California College of the Arts and an interdisciplinary MA (Textiles & Social Theory) and BA (Peace Studies) from New York University. She currently lives and works in Champaign-Urbana, IL.

TaliWeinberg.com

Back to Top

Workshop

May 12-13, 2025