Author: Harmony Weavers Guild

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Weaving a Green Future: Exploring the Intersection of Textiles and Sustainability

Eli Akerfeldt-Howard will present a program/workshop on May 11, 2023.

This presentation will aim to lay the foundations for what sustainability is, who is responsible for it, and how we can contribute as fiber artists. Some of the topics that will be covered include:

    • How to define sustainability as it relates to the fashion and textile industry
    • The emergence of sustainable discourse in North American culture
    • A closer look at corporate social and environmental responsibility
    • Who is responsible for making sustainability “happen”?
    • The Maker Movement and topics of scale and locality in relation to sustainable discourse
    • The intersection of fiber arts and sustainability
    • How sustainability has shaped my practices at Hemma Textiles thus far
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Mayan Backstrap Weaving

April 13 @ 10:00 a.m.
Mayan Backstrap Weaving presented by Kedron Thomas

Kedron Thomas, University of Delaware

Kedron Thomas is a cultural anthropologist who studies the way clothes are made and worn in diverse parts of the world. She teaches courses on fashion, culture, environmental sustainability, labor rights, and indigenous rights at the University of Delaware.

She began her career by studying the weaving traditions of indigenous Maya people in Guatemala and the production of knockoff fashions in Central America. Her more recent work examines the efforts of fashion industry professionals in the United States and United Kingdom to make clothing more environmentally sustainable.

She is currently involved in a collaborative partnership with other scholars, policy experts, and industry leaders to develop a circular textile economy for the Delaware region.

For her presentation, Kedron will demonstrate the backstrap loom and bring an assortment of textiles. She will also share a bit about the history and current context of Mayan weaving.

Learn more about Kedron Thomas’ research interests and publications.

April’s Program — Zoom and in-person

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Deflected Double Weave presented by Natalie Drummond

March’s Program — Zoom and in-person

March 9 @ 10:00 a.m.
Deflected Double Weave presented by Natalie Drummond

Deflected Doubleweave Natalie DrummondNatalie Drummond is an educator and fiber artisan from Fremont, Indiana.
She learned to weave from a Fort Wayne Weaver’s Guild instructor 2017. Fine Arts instruction in Craftmanship and Design from Purdue (Fort Wayne) University followed in 2015. She expanded her weaving knowledge with classes at the John C Campbell Folk School, The Mannings, Red Stone Glen, Island Fiberwork Retreats, Midwest, MAFA, and Convergence conferences.
She was awarded a MAFA fellowship in 2019 and has been studying and working with Deflected Doubleweave ever since. She was featured in Handwoven magazine in November/December 2021. Her work has been featured in area exhibitions in Indiana.
Her handwovens have been exhibited in the Orchard Gallery of Fine Arts in Fort Wayne as part of the Georgia: Color: Classic to Contemporary Exhibit, as well as at First Gallery, the History Center, and Crestwoods Gallery.
Natalie will be presenting a talk with slides of her work to illustrate her use of color and weave structure. These were developed within her weaving journey; and, may hopefully give us insights into her process for mixing fibers and colors with the Deflected Doubleweave weave structure.
Natalie weaves on an 8-shaft Macomber loom. She has effectively proven that wonderful designs are possible with four or eight shafts by good use of color, fiber, and block arrangements. She also writes a blog with excellent photos and commentary on color pooling – see https://www.nataliewoven.com/blog