Weavers gather in Prince George
The original industry is making a comeback.
The first articles made repetitively by humans were clothing. Before there was such a luxurious notion as fashion, clothing was personalized shelter, the first layer of defense against the elements. The Prince George Fibre Arts Guild follows the threads of these ideas at the Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds (ANWG) Conference, a convention currently blanketing the city.
In this era of big-box retailers and red carpets, concerns over sweatshops and catwalks, there is still a personal tie to the clothing we wear. Just like there is a 100mile diet movement, there is also an artisan economy.
The body of it is cloaked in hand-made textiles. That can pertain to clothing, towels, blankets, anything made from the fibers of our world.
“The fibre arts has meant so much to our culture,” said Laura Fry, local co-chair of the host committee that brought the ANWG to Prince George.
“It was one of the main thrusts of the industrial revolution. The spinning wheel was one of the first industrial machines. We take fiber arts so for granted in our society that we forget how deep it goes.”
The conference is in full sail at the Prince George Civic & Conference Centre, with events also at the Coast Inn and Marriott Courtyard hotels and the Two Rivers Gallery also involved. The Fibre Arts Guild is based at Studio 2880 where they have also gotten help and collaboration from other guilds and associations under the umbrella of the Community Arts Council.
This is the second time the convention has come to Prince George, the last time being 1995. The conference has grown greatly since then, said Fry, who, in that time, has also evolved into one of Prince George’s most successful professional fiber artists.
With an ambitious slate of workshops, design shows, seminars, and guest appearances by star spinners and weavers, this event is drawing hundreds of presenters and enthusiasts of fiber arts from all across Western Canada and U.S.
“Quite a few (of the presenters and workshop leaders) are local, too, so it’s important to point out how much talent we have right here in our own region,” said Fry.
The instructors and experts coming in from all over the world will help increase that local knowledge, said she and local co-chair Birthe Miller, another of the city’s veteran fibre artists.
“If you had this,” said Miller, holding out a handful of silky soft wool sheared from a Bluefaced Leicester sheep, “and alongside that you had synthetic fibers made in a factory, which would you most want against your skin?”
The answer needn’t be spoken. Your hand would naturally let go of the sheep’s wool reluctantly. It is a cloudy delight to the touch.
That, said the fiber artists, is why there is a comeback going on in the artisan community. People are rediscovering local, handmade, unique, high-quality products that stand taller when compared to mass-produced clothing and bedding.
“Our conference is not just for spinners and weavers,” said Miller. Interest comes also from those curious about how to run a boutique business, those interested in the hobbies associated to the fiber arts like knitting or dyes, those driven to make things by hand or make tactile art, and many other reasons.
Some of these topics bring the fibre arts back to cottage beginnings as simple as hand-carding the hand-sheared wool then hand-spinning it into long strands of yarn then used to knit, weave or crochet into practical items.
Some of these topics go in the opposite direction, as the fibre arts pushes forward into high technology with tools of the trade scarcely arrived from the pages of science fiction. The advancements in everything from looms to design software make the fiber arts a realm you can pursue in any direction.
“You can make it a business, you can keep it simple or make as complex as you are capable of, or you can just do it for fun,” said Fry.
The keynote speaker of the conference is Abby Franquemont, author of Respect The Spindle and “well known in the spinning and weaving world for her knowledge of Peruvian textiles,” said Fry.