Fibre Week 2010
Meet The Fibre Week Team
Fibre Week Coordinators
Otto Pahl - Olds College Coordinator
After
spending over 30 years as an educator in Alberta schools, Otto has been
enjoying his position as a continuing education coordinator at Olds
College. The rest of his time is spent on other activities such
as interacting with his four grandchildren and pursuing a variety of hobbies. He has recently published his second book entitled "Ere Their Story Die" which along with his first one, "The South Side of the Haystack", is attracting wide reader interest. He lives with his wife Karen on the
sunny side of a quiet street in Three Hills, Alberta.
Michelle Boyd - Fibre Arts Program Coodinator 2010/2011
Michelle Boyd is a Master Spinner and fibre artist living and working in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Trained as a graphic artist, she began working as a custom handknitter while at home with her small children. As her children grew, so did her passion for fibre and textiles, leading her to explore spinning, dyeing, felting and weaving. She now combines all of these techniques in her work, which has been exhibited in the VAAA Gallery in Edmonton and at the Gibson’s Landing Fibre Arts Festival. Michelle has also taught spinning and knitting workshops at a number of regional conferences and festivals and is currently designing a series of knitting patterns for handspun yarns. You can follow her fibre adventures on her blog www.whorlspins.blogspot.com
Leanne Sept - Alpaca Fleece Show Coordinator
Leanne grew up on a mixed farm just outside of Mayerthorpe, AB, after only a few years of living in the city she knew it was time to get back to the country.
In 1998, Leanne & her husband Kevin bought an acreage. Leanne began researching alpacas and it wasn’t long before they purchased their first animals and Sunnyhill Alpacas was born, www.twofarms-onevision.com . After a move to a larger farm just south of Rollyview, AB, Leanne & Kevin along with family members decided to take their business one step further, they purchased a mini mill to do custom fibre processing and in July of 2002 Twisted Sisters & Company Fibre Mill opened it’s doors for business. Sunnyhill Alpacas continued to add to their herd and Leanne realized that they needed an outlet to sell their own alpaca yarn and finished products; in 2004 Twisted Sisters Store opened its doors, www.twistedsistersmill.com. Leanne is an alpaca addict and is dedicated to the industry and volunteers wherever she is needed!
Helene Adolphson - Cashmere Show, Cashmere Spin-in Coordinator
I have been around agriculture all my life and graduated with a diploma in commercial arts. When I purchase my first Cashmere goats, and later on the entire Riversong cashmere herd, it allowed me to join my two passions, raising livestock and art into one. Although I am new in the fibre industry, I have been involved as a director of the Canadian Cashmere Producer's Association and chair of our national fleece show in 2008. I took on the presidencyof the CCPA in 2009 and have been working on promoting our Canadian Cashmere industry ever since. I have also been a member of the Valleyview fibre club since 2007, where I had my first taste of the wonderful world of natural fibres.
Lorraine Guyn - Llama Show Coordinator
Eagleview Farms, Calgary, Alberta
Lorraine and her husband, Lee, have been llama breeders for over 20 years at Eagleview Farms south of Calgary, Alberta. Lorraine has multiple titles for judging including being a Certified Alpaca/Llama Show Association (ALSA) judge for 15 years, a Certified Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) halter judge and an International Alpaca Judging School (IAJS) certified judge. Lorraine has judged throughout North America and has had the opportunity to view hundreds of llamas. Lorraine was raised on a cattle ranch and grew up understanding that whatever the species, herd selection to enhance ones breeding program is essential. The llama is a highly versatile animal and whether you raise your llamas for pack, carting, guard, companion, fibre or show correct conformation is essential.
Donna Rudd - Wool Show Coordinator
Donna studied Home Economics in her secondary education before owning and operating her own business where she obtained two of Canada’s highest designations: Canadian Accredited and Certified Insurance Broker.
Donna raised and showed purebred cattle for 20 years, importing and exporting worldwide. She has 4-H and Toastmistress public speaking training and has lectured in Canada, USA and Australia. She has been involved in the Fire Arts community for 20 years, spinning, weaving, felting and dyeing, she is a Alberta Approved Bench Show Judge where she judges fibre arts and foods at county fairs.
Donna is a International Suri Llama Keuring Inspector; a Certified Wool Judge (Olds College) and Canadian Angora Goat Judge; she has also completed the Olds College Camelid Fibre Sorter Certification program.
Donna has lectured and taught courses on Suri llama and alpaca fibre and is enrolled in the Olds College Master Spinner program.
Erynn Carney - Hospitality Lounge Coordinator
Erynn Carney lives in Kamloops, BC, Canadawhere when she is not busy spinning, dying, weaving knitting or creating books she likes to read, study tarot, learn new and exciting techniques, and keep her 2 cats occupied and out of her fibre!
With the loving support of her husband Chris, Erynn made the leap to full time artist in October of 2005 and is loving the challenge and excitement her work provides. Her Twist of Fate website is a showcase for this venture.
Judi Dixon – Volunteer Coordinator
Ever since learning to spin with a “door knob” spindle several years ago, Judi has been hooked on fibre. She has participated in a wide variety of fibre venues both as an organizer and as a volunteer. Always on the lookout for a new fibre adventure, Judi enjoys exploring the back roads of Alberta, photographing old barns, buying fleece, and looking for cheap eats. An online journal of her adventures can be found at www.sheepless.ca .
Instructors/Presenters/Judges
Morris Beauvais
Morris is a professional Wool Classer and has had an extensive career in the Wool Industry both in New Zealand and in Canada. Morris has in-depth knowledge in Wool Theory as well as practical experience as a Wool Classer and a Wool Judge.
Jen Black
Jen learned to knit at the age of 5 and quickly realized that she was able to collect an audience when she had needles and yarn in her hands. She completed the requirements for the Master Spinner Certificate in the spring of 2009. Jen’s in-depth study was designed to spin the most suitable cotton yarn to accentuate stitch definition in cabled hand knitting. This has resulted in an obsession for spinning cotton, in addition to her previous addictions to spinning other fibres and her well-known addiction to natural dying. Jen has taught spinning, spindling and dye classes for the Edmonton Weavers Guild and taught at Fibre Week in 2009
Ruth Blazenko
Ruth has been a Master Spinner for 6 years and has instructed Levels 1, 3 and 6 of the Master Spinners Program at Olds College. Alberta. She also keeps busy teaching dye workshops for weavers, spinners, rug hookers, and quilters as well as rug braiding, color blending for drum carding and introducing new spinners to the craft. She has taught at Hand Weavers Spinners and Dyers of Alberta (HWSDA) conferences.
Cat Bordhi
Cat Bordhi’s mission, according to Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee, “is to make you a more creative, free-thinking knitter who problem-solves and experiments with vigor and fearlessness. The best part? She can.” Cat teaches and inspires more than 1,000 knitters a year in her classes and retreats all over North America. Her Youtube knitting tutorials reach many thousands more and her innovative books, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, A Treasury of Magical Knitting, A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, and New Pathways for Sock Knitters have reached well over 10,000 knitters. She is also the author of an award-winning novel, Treasure Forest. Her newest book, Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters was released in Fall 2009. For more information, visit www.catbordhi.com.
Kathy Buse
Kathy has always liked to make things, from paper villages as a small child to knitting, dress-making, painting, print-making and pottery. She learned to spin and weave in 1980 and all other crafts have since fallen by the way-side. Kathy is a member of the Edmonton Weavers’ Guild and the Hand Weavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta. She teaches Beginner Weaving, Intermediate Spinning, and Dyeing for the Edmonton guild.
Sharon Costello
Sharon has been a fibre artist for twenty-four years and has been a full time, professional felt maker since 1995. She is well known for her prize winning needle felted art dolls and felted vessels. She has studied felt making in the US, Turkey, and Scandinavia and shares her knowledge of the craft teaching workshops through national and international conferences, fibre and doll guilds, art centers and colleges.
She also sponsors “Felters’ Fling”, a bi-annual conference that brings instructors from around the world to introduce new techniques to American felt makers. Sharon has produced two teaching videos; one on her felt doll making techniques and one on featherweight felting methods.
Her work has been featured in several books: Uniquely Felt (Storey Publishing), How We Felt (Interweave Press), 500 Handmade Dolls (Lark Books), Needle Felt (Felt Crafts).
She has written articles on feltmaking and been featured in several magazines such as Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot (Handweavers’ Guild of America), Fiber Arts, Spin-Off and Felt (Interweave Press) Echoes (International Feltmakers’ Association), North American Felters’ Network, Cloth Doll Magazine, Soft Dolls and Animals Magazine, Hudson Valley Magazine and a wide range of fibre guild and doll makers newsletters in the US and abroad.
Her work has been featured in one woman and group shows from New York to California, as well as on the Home and Garden Television Network.
Sharon is a member of the International Felt makers Association, North American Felt makers, Original Doll Artists Council of America (ODACA). Her felt making business, called Black Sheep Designs, specializes in kits and supplies for needle and wet felt making.
Sharon has a design degree from Syracuse University and an MBA from the State University of New York at Albany. See her website at www.blacksheepdesigns.com.
Dianne Cross
I began interpreting the imagery of the West Coast in hand-spun, hand-dyed fibre about 30 years ago, and have developed fibre preparation and spinning techniques which present perspective and light in graphic ways in my tapestries.
The need to control both texture and fibre colour in creating the colour and light values of the West Coast scene led me to Olds College in Alberta and their Master Spinner’s Program. I obtained my Certificate from the College in August, 1990. The training I received in the Program assisted me in developing the various techniques for yarns that I use. My thesis was a detailed account of the fibre preparation and spinning techniques that I employ in my tapestries.
Over 90 of my taperstries hang in collections in Britain, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, United States and Canada.
Since earning my Master Spinner's certificate, I have taught classes in B.C., Washington and Oregon in basic spinning, in fancy/novelty yarns and in the use of all fibres, both natural and man-made. I enjoy sharing my knowledge with spinners.
A new interest of mine is traditional rug hooking with special handspun yarns developed through a variety of fibre preparations and spinning techniques..
Jean Curry
I have always been inspired and surrounded by women who used fibre to make a statement – my grandmother and mother especially. I learned to sew and embroider and crochet as a child, but at my first contact with “weaving” I knew I had to learn how to do that! I changed my path from music to art and after receiving a Diploma in Fine Art from Cariboo College (Kamloops), in 1980 I graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design with a major in weaving/textiles.
My interests include weaving, spinning, dyeing, quilting and embroidery – manipulating cloth to make a statement. My work is mainly concerned with colour and texture.
Being passionate about promoting the craft of weaving, I have served the Hand weavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta as area rep, treasurer, vice president, president and past president. I have served on the board of the Alberta Craft Council. As a founding member of the HWSDA Weaving Certificate Committee, I wrote and delivered the module, Colour and Design for Weavers, and edited the Colour and Weave Module. I also served on the Association of Northwest Weavers Board for 3 years as Education Chair.
My husband & I have operated our own business and farm for 30 years and have two grown children. I enjoy singing and performing with local performing arts groups, yoga and travel to exotic places.
Dawn Gehman-Heim ( Flynx Heim)
I started spinning when I was 16 years old under the instruction of a lovely English woman named Fiona. We worked at the renaissance fair together 20 years. She taught me to drop spin as her mother had taught her. When I turned 30 I bought my first spinning wheel, a Louet S10. I won the Freddie awardwith my very first entry in the weaving class at the Maryland Sheep And Wool Festival. The vote was unanimous and earned me $100.00, their largest cash prize and my name on a plaque for six years. It was there I took Beginning Spinning from Judith MacKenzie McCuin.I won the Spin-Off magazine shawl contest angora runana 1st place for design three years later. I then started teaching fleece to finished yarn classes in my home which I still do to this day. I also offer free spinning demonstrations in my area for the local school and the home school organization. I am enrolled in the Olds College Master Spinners program, have earned my certification as a wool show judge and will be the 2010 Wool Show judge this year.
Wade Gease
Wade Gease is an AOBA certified alpaca judge, judge trainer, presenter and consultant. Wade has judged & presented throughout the United States and Canada. He is one of the few alpaca judge trainers in all areas of halter, fleece and performance. Wade is also a certified Camelid Fibre Sorter from Olds College Natural Fibre Centre, Canada. Presently he serves on the board for the Great Lakes Alpaca Association and AFCNA, Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America. He has been co-owner of LondonDairy Alpacas and Alpaca Threads gift store since 1997. Wade has been honored to be so involved with many different activities in the alpaca world: speaking for educational events, consulting for auctions, evaluating for private alpaca breeders and organizing eight past private trips to Peru.
Wade has worked to produce several blends of Alpaca & Bamboo fabrics. This has led to developments into the fashion industry and has become a broker of bamboo for blending with alpaca. Further exploration into making alpaca products a household name is underway. Wade is consulting with our nations fiber coop and has engaged national shopping magazines to possibly cultivate a National recognition of Alpaca products.
In his past he has been a certified flight instructor, chemistry instructor, co-owner of a retail gift store and has worked for pharmaceutical companies. Wade has earned an Associate’s Degree in Aeronautical Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry & a Masters Degree in Biochemistry.
Leslie Green
Leslie has been a spinner and weaver since the mid-1980s while living in Yellowknife, NWT. She began developing her skills through practice and through taking workshops. Correspondence with fellow spinners in Alberta led her to the Olds College Master Spinner’s Program, from which she graduated in 2007. Her area of study was qiviut, learning about bleaching it to obtain more pure colours while dying, as well as blending it with other fibres. Leslie has taught beginner and intermediate spinning classes and natural dye workshops. She also owns an environmental consulting company out of Calgary, Alberta.
Rosemary Harris
After far too many years as a research technologist Rosemary opted for early retirement and time for the important things in life. A knitter since a young age, in the 1990s she became captivated by llamas and their fibre, which led to getting a Master Spinner certificate and learning all she can about Camelid fibres. Rosemary now teaches in the Master Spinner program and is currently working on revising the student manuals. And she still has time to enjoy her llamas and their fibres.
Alison Irwin
Alison has been part of the weaving community on Vancouver Island for more than thirty-five years. Her formal introduction to it was a night school class at the high school in Duncan, BC. Back then she wove on a small Salish-style loom and spun with a drop spindle. Alison has taken weaving workshops at both guild and conference levels, and continues to expand her knowledge of textiles by playing with interesting techniques. Because the process is usually more important than the product, Alison has a great collection of samples! Some of her finished projects have appeared in Handwoven magazine.
Judith Klassen
Interests in all things fibre lead me to sewing, knitting and embroidery at an early age, but when I was introduced to weaving, it soon became my main fibre interest. I have been weaving for over 25 years, and while I love the structural complexities of weaving, I recently have begun an exploration into surface design techniques. Weaving provides as contrast to my other life as an instructor in geology at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
Tracey Kuffner
Tracey is a graduate of Olds College. She currently lives in Brooks, Alberta with her husband, two children, 150 sheep, and a handful of llamas. Tracey has been a felt maker for 15 years and has taught at Olds College for the past four years during Fibre Week as well as at the International Fibre Festival in Abbotsford BC. She has designed clothing for most of her felting years and most recently has published two children’s books which feature hand felted wool illustrations. Currently, she is busy touring schools across Western Canada teaching this art form to children and showing educators how to bring it into the classroom and apply it to their studies. See her website at www.woolmine.com
Lorraine Luyten
Lorraine is a long-standing and very active member of the Calgary Guild of Needle and Fibre Arts. Lorraine’s needlework interests are very diverse, and then came a very serious passion for beads. The passion for beads and needlework lead to learning to use different backgrounds for those beads. Using wool and silk are just natural extensions. Lorraine has taught embroidery, beading, felting, and making silk paper to various groups and stores in Calgary. She does not fee she has done her job unless she has converted at least half of her students to listening to the beads and heeding what they are saying.
Andrea Mix
Andrea
is an instructional designer in the Learning Enhancement Services department at Olds College. She received her B.Ed. from the University of Regina, and recently completed her M.Ed. through the University of Calgary, with a specialization in Workplace and Adult Learning. Her involvement with Fibre Week 2010 includes leading a two-day instructor skill workshop, where those interested in improving their teaching skills are given the opportunity to practice lesson planning and delivery in a safe and non-threatening environment. Throughout the year, Andrea is also involved with the editing and design of the modules used in the Master Spinner and Weaver courses. Although she really has no background in the fibre arts, Andrea has learned a great deal about spinning and weaving after editing the modules and working with the very passionate and dedicated writers! Andrea and her husband and their two young children reside in Olds.
Ellen Munro
Ellen was a member of the first class to receive their Master Spinners Certificate from Olds College. She has instructed in that program for a number of years since. She regularly instructs short classes at Provincial conferences and spinning retreats. Last year she instructed dyeing workshops at the Gibson's Landing Fibre Arts Festival and at Prince George. Last October she inaugurated the first US master spinner class in Davis, Oklahoma. Her greatest satisfaction comes from seeing her 13 grandchildren wearing her handmade creations!
Christine Muir
Christine had the good fortune to meet and study under the tutelage of Nel Steedsman one of the first Master Weavers of the Canadian Weavers Guild. A long-standing member of the GCW and the HWSDA, Christine became an area rep for the HWSDA and eventually worked her way up to President. Her involvement on the executive concluded as co-chair of the 2007 ANWG conference held in Red Deer.
She attended Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario where she took fashion designing and learned to sew with any fabric including fur and leather. Tailoring was one of her favourite classes.
Christine, a retired teacher, spends her time trying any new fibre technique that may cross her path.
She weaves, spins, dyes, knits, felts, braids, beads, quilts, sews, makes glass beads and jewellery with these, and carves wood. She makes baskets from commercial reed as well as the willow that grows in the area.
Coleen Nimetz
Coleen is a Master Spinner who has been spinning and dyeing since 1985. She has taught spinning for the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology, as well as workshops in the United States and Canada. Her work has appeared in many juried shows and has received numerous national and international awards. In 2006 she received the Saskatchewan Craft Council Award for Excellence in Textiles. Coleen and her husband make their home in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Birgit Rasmussen
Birgit Rasmussen is a Master Spinner and a Weaver living in Gibson’s, BC. She has taught spinning, weaving and natural dyeing workshops to groups and individuals in Alberta and BC, including courses in the Master Spinner Certificate Program at Olds College, at HWSDA conferences and at the Natural Fibre Festival on Salt Spring Island. She has also been involved in teaching projects in Kyrgyzstan, Asia and Bolivia. She likes to explore the use of exotic fibres and to experiment with natural dyes.
Dr. Joe David Ross
Dr. Ross, well-known to the Angora and Cashmere goat breeder’s communities, hails from Sonora, Texas. A third-generation Angora goat breeder, he still operates his family ranch primarily raising Angora goats, as well as American cashmere, hair sheep and beef cattle. He also maintained a large animal veterinary practice in Sonora for 14 years. He is also recognized for the many shows and workshops he has judged and conducted coast-to-coast. Not only is he nationally renown here, but internationally as well, having judged Angora goats and mohair events as far distant as Australia, England and Canada. Joe David Ross is the founding father of American Cashmere.
Joan Ruane
Ever since Joan returned from her one year visit in New Zealand in 1973, she has been demonstrating and teaching spinning classes throughout the U.S., Canada and New Zealand. She has owned and operated fiber art shops in both Florida and Arizona. Most familiar is Spin’n Weave, which she operated for 12 years in Tucson. Presently she writes articles and has produced an educational video called Cotton Spinning Made Easy.
As a member of the local and regional spinning and weaving guilds in New Mexico, Florida and Arizona she does “on the road workshops” around the country. Joan helped start Southwest Regional Spinner’s Retreat in New Mexico, began Southwest Corner in ‘89 which was a teaching retreat in Historical Bisbee, AZ, coordinated the Annual Bisbee Fiber Arts Festival for 17 years and was President of the Florida Tallahassee Weaver’s Guild before moving to Arizona in 1980. Presently Joan is teaching at the Bisbee Fiber Studio and supplying shops around the country with Easy to Spin cotton sliver that has been specially carded for hand spinners.
Margaret Sjostrom
Margaret has been knitting for 45 years, spinning for 35 years (Master Spinner Certificate, Olds College and weaving for 8 years. An avid enthusiast of all fiber arts, Margaret has realized a life dream in the operation of Celeigh Wool, a spinning, knitting and weaving equipment and supplies retail outlet. Sharing the many art forms through teaching and learning new things from others is an ongoing process. Promoting Canadian fibers with Rare Breeds Canada and other Canadian producers such as Silver Valley Fibres is a driving force in her shop. Margaret lives in Millet with her husband Grant, Shetland Sheep, Star the Guard Llama, Tia the Border Collie and two elderly cats Penny and Rob.
Caroline Sommerfeld
Caroline learned to knit and embroider when she was four, and has been fascinated by fibres and yarn ever since! She has BA degrees in both Archaeology and Sociology which provide the knowledge and skills needed to further her fibre studies, which are currently centered on cultural patterns of specialized fibre use and historical spinning tool design. She is currently completing the Master Spinner’s program and expects to finish in 2010. Caroline is an avid fibre artist and spinner who loves nothing more than to share her passion for fibres through teaching!
Gayle Vallance
Gayle has been a sheep breeder since 1976, maintaining a flock of purebred Corriedales on a small farm near Fernie, B.C. She has a special interest in dyeing, weaving, hand carding and spinning hand carded rolags using the long, unsupported draw. She is a Master Spinner (Olds College, 1991) and has a Certificate of Excellence in Spinning, Technical Level (Handweavers Guild of America, 1995). She has also passed the Basic Level of the Master Weaver Program (Canadian Weavers' Guild, 1992). She has been published in Spin-Off magazine (Summer 2002, Fall 2003) and has instructed in several venues including the Master Spinner Program, HWSDA Conferences, and the Northwest Regional Spinners' Association Conference.
Charles Vereschagin
Chuck, a carpenter and woodworker, lives and works in Drumheller Alberta. A graduate of the master spinning program at Olds College, he has been passionate about fibre arts, spinning, weaving, knotting and knitting for over thirty years.
Sharon Wickstrom
Sharon expanded a life-long enthusiasm for working with textiles when she learned to spin and weave in 1979. Her passion for textile crafts lead to participation in numerous craft markets, workshops, awards in fairs and art shows, and commissioned works for collections around the world. She has taught numerous workshops in sewing , spinning, weaving, cueing, felting, bobbin lace and quilting for various guilds, interest groups and community colleges throughout British Columbia, Her enthusiasm and hard-gained knowledge of creating unique textiles finally lead her into opening her own business, Homespun Haven, which she operates from her home in Armstrong BC. This 600 square foot shop is filled to the brim with yarns, fibres, tools, notions and Sharon’s favourite textile books!
