Colloquy 2009, Books and Friends

I have been invited to be the featured presenter at Colloquy 2009, which meets at the St. Meinrad Archabby Guesthouse (Indiana) from October 12-15, 2009. Originally established by Ken Colwell in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, it has been held for many years at the Archabby, where Brother Kim Malloy is the weaver. Kathy O'Neal is the contact person for information, and you can find her contact information in the sidebar of this blog. The gathering is small so if you are interested in attending you should sign up soon. I have heard wonderful things about this gathering from Laura Foster Nicholson who was a presenter in the past, and look forward to several days of intense conversation on textiles with others as equally obsessed as myself.

One of two new bookcases

Lucky me! Mark just finished building two new bookcases for our front room. Not only am getting the stacks of books off the floor of the office/guestroom, but there is actually space to add books. I have been quite good lately about not buying books (practicing fiscal responsibility) but I think those empty spaces are going to undue all my restrain. It is going to be fun for my tutorial students to go through my shelves. I suspect some of them will get tempted to sit and read at night rather than weave. Actually, it will be a good way for them to rest a bit, and get inspired at the same time.

Trudy Otis showing her twisting machine

I keep raving about Vermont in this blog, but that is because it is a terrific place and keeps surprising me with new wonders. Yesterday I hosted a small pot luck luncheon for some weavers who I thought would be interested in seeing my TC-1 in action. Ann Levy came from the northern part of the state, Dena Gartenstein Moses from the south, Edith House and Trudy Otis from north central Vermont, and Susan Rockwell, Dee Goulding, and myself from Randolph.  I first met Ann Levy (sorry, not shown in any of the photos because my picture-taking was poorly done yesterday) at the first North Country Studio Workshops in 1993. As soon as she heard I was moving to Vermont, she emailed me. She has been studying jacquard by going to The Centre for Contemporary Textiles in Montreal, working with the incredible artist and teacher, Louise Lemieux-Berube. She brought some of her work with her to show us, as did Trudy Otis. Trudy also demonstrated the twisting machine, shown above. I really want one of those! If any of you readers have one you aren't using, please send it to me. I hear they are sometimes available on e-bay but I don't have the patience to check that out.

Dena, Susan and Edith (left to right) watching Trudy

Besides having a wonderful lunch (and people were kind enough to leave enough for our dinner too), it is thrilling for me to find so many fine weavers in the state. New Mexico was also full of weavers, but most of them were tapestry weavers, following a different interest than mine. It feels as if there are more kindred weavers for me here. Trudy's scarfs are such a delight of color and structure and perfect finishing. To me the lunch was a mini-version of what I expect to find at the Colloquy.