Annual Fall Exhibition and Sale Exhibitors

Denise Atkinson

Having a mother who sewed beautiful, exotic clothing for her family and an aunt who wove house-hold textiles Denise Atkinson spent her early years learning to knit, crochet, sew her own clothing which lead to studies in the field of textiles, tailoring and pattern drafting and eventually to work in the wardrobe department of the National Art Centre where she spent many opera and theatre seasons as the breakdown artist painting and dying costumes to the designer's specifications by day and spinning, weaving and otherwise exploring her interest in textile related art forms by night.  A keen desire to create three dimensional objects lead her to explore the field of basketry and building furniture from wild materials.  Finding some limitations in these materials she studied and explored concrete, plastic and wire.  With wire she feels that she has at last found a home.  As wire resembles fibre many fibre techniques can be put to use with it: weaving, spinning, basketry, wrapping.  It can be used to incorporate wild, and found objects both enormous and small.  For Denise for now wire of all sizes and materials from steel to gold serves her purposes of drawing whimsical three dimensional wild creatures from fish to fowl.

Shirley Auprix

From farm to fashion! That is the motto of Hidden Touch Natural Yarns, a joint venture by independent farmers who raise llamas and alpaca. Begun as a “spin-off” from the farming operations, Hidden Touch Natural Yarns takes raw fibres through the various stages of yarn production to spun and plied yarn, including specialty yarns like bouclés and slub for the hand-craft market. Shirley Auprix turns the yarn into socks, insoles, bootliners and a variety of garments.  The focus is on a high quality, unique, Canadian-made products. Hidden Touch will also take the specialty fibres and wool of other producers, process it and return it as yarn or hand-woven scarves or throws. They also offer an alpaca fibre exchange for socks. See: www.hiddentouchyarns.ca

Loretta Bluher-Moore

Loretta Bluher-Moore designs rugs, chair pads, wall hangings and pillows. She hooks them in the traditional way using woolen fabric and clothing that she has hand-dyed and cut. She also loves to introduce people to this art form by demonstrating at shows and teaching classes. Contact her at lbmc@videotron.ca

Shirley Browsky

Shirley Browsky is a Shepherd, Master Spinner, weaver, and dyer who creates her fashions literally from the ground up. Using the fibres from her sheep as well as silks, mohairs, novelty yarns, and, with her sound knowledge of yarns, colours, design and weave structures, she creates specialty handwoven skirt, jacket and coat fabrics. Her work has been exhibited in Ottawa, Kingston, Guelph, Toronto, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Her one-of-a-kind garments have been sold to clients in San Francisco, New York, Memphis, Atlanta, Japan, Germany and across Canada. See: www.canaanmohair.ca.

Mary Donnelly

Mary Donnelly comes to weaving with a background in teaching and dressmaking. She began her weaving career by taking two weeks of spinning and weaving lessons in 1984 at the Bellwood Schoolhouse with Marilyn Leonard. In the 90’s she studied for her Weaving and Spinning Certificates, obtaining the Spinning Certificate in 2000 from Sir Sanford Fleming College. In 2003 she joined the production weaving group as one of The MERA Schoolhouse Weavers. She has been weaving and selling shawls, rugs, tea-towels, placemats and bags ever since. Mary has taken part in several weaving shows and sales each year, specializing in rag weaving and triangular shawls and items with heritage influences.

Mary is also a member of The Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners Guild and the Wednesday Afternoon Study Group where the group is finishing up a calendar of overshot samples. Mary enjoys the process of expressing her creativity in the articles she makes.

Ellen Good

Ellen established her home studio in Ompah, ON in 1981 after receiving a BFA in Textile Design from Rochester Institute of Technology and has been producing one of a kind and limited production textiles ever since. She has worked extensively with specialized dye techniques such as Ikat and loom controlled Shibori. Since 2001 her interest has shifted from production to education and community involvement. For the past six years she has been coordinator of the MERA Heritage Weaving Program in MacDonalds Corners, Ontario, Canada, and has given workshops at local schools and guilds. She is author of the book Fabrics of Pioneer Life: Tools of the Textile Arts which was published in Sept. 2007.

Marianne Heggtveit

Marianne (Mandy) Heggtveit has been weaving for over 30 years and specializes in creating functional fashion items, home accessories and custom yardage for apparel and interiors. Although some pieces are woven in small series of up to six, every individual item is unique and is never reproduced. In collaboration with Dini Moes, Heggtveit co-authored in 1993 No Common Tread, a handweaving sample book that sold around the world from North and South America to Japan and Australia and has since become a collector’s item.

Judy Kavanagh

Judy Kavanagh is a spinner, dyer, knitter and spindle maker. She buys fleeces from local shepherds and dyes them with natural and commercial dyes, producing rich, colourful fibre for spinners and unique yarn for knitters. She also delights in spinning and knitting yarn from dog and cat fur from pets. Her knitted hats, mittens, and scarves and socks will keep you warm throughout the winter. Or, if you like, Judy can teach you to spin on one of her hand-turned spindles in about 30 minutes at the show. See http://jumaka.com/spinning/.

Pat Lemaire

My creativity stems from an innate desire to marry my quilting heritage with my love of different fibres and textures. Sources of stimuli vary from day to day – gardening, listening to the radio, or conversations with friends and family. I allow my daily interactions with nature to influence the works I create. The results provide me with a sense of peace and deep satisfaction as I am able to capture those moments with fibres and quilting, each piece a testament of the unique blend of the two approaches.

Lise Loader

Lise started weaving in 1988 in Toronto with Tyrell Ryan, a red-haired knowledgeable teacher and basket weaver. In 1990, Anna Willson took over the teaching  at Cedar Ridge Centre in West Hill and for many years Lise learned just about everything to know about weaving, draughting, dyeing with vegetables and plants. In 1995, she took a 5 day workshop with Lucille Crighton at the Haliburton College of Art. With 10 weavers they wove 5 scarves and 5 samples of scarves with draughts. It was a lot of work but so much learning and fun. In 1997, Lise took a 2 day course with Judith Welbourne at the Cedar Ridge Centre making ‘marble paper’ in order to make book binding and paper art. In 2000, she took a ‘tapestry‘ course with Thoma Ewen in the beautiful Gatineau Hills.

 In 2007, Lise and her husband moved to Perth and joined the ‘Mera weavers’.  She is also a member of the ‘Kingston Weavers’ where she is part of the ‘study group’.  Lise’s mantra... ’weaving is a perfect medium to play with colours and fabrics in order to express oneself’.

Florence McGuire

Florence McGuire first introduction to weaving was in 2001 when she attended a Beginners Weaving Class lead by Ellen Good at the MERA Schoolhouse in McDonalds Corners.  It was indeed love at first pick. She has continued with the group, The MERA Schoolhouse Weavers and has also joined the Kingston Handweavers and Spinners Guild (KHWS).

So far her work has been mainly with cotton, wool and a bit of linen yarns producing placemats, tea towels, rugs and a few other miscellaneous items.  She is looking forward to experimenting with silk, bamboo and other exotic yarns.

A better pastime she cannot imagine.

Ann McElroy

Ann McElroy is a felt maker and teacher. Using ancient and modern techniques, she creates the fibre and the form at the same time. She uses wool and silk to craft one-of-a-kind Scarves, shawls and hats. Her hats often have a whimsical feel.  Ann also uses nuno-felting and Japanese-dye techniques to make unique scarves and wraps for indoor and outdoor use. New this year are felt flower broaches for hat or scarf. The very popular felted soap will also be available again this year.

Mary Morrison

Mary specializes in textiles for the home. Whether it is table linens, cushions or a wall decoration, Mary uses colour to create an attractive palette to add something special to every object. “Even tea towels need not be dull and uninteresting. It is a pleasure to be surrounded by colours that help to lift your spirits.” she says.

Genevieve Noel

Francesca Overend

Francesca Overend is a weaver who focuses on the complexity of design and the use of colour. For fashion items, Francesca uses silk – which she dyes or paints before weaving in complex, multi-harness designs – or linen – which she also uses to make table linens. The common thread in all her work is a love of fiber and fabric, of texture, of color and of technique, and the joy of combining them together to obtain an end product that is unique, distinct and intriguing.

Judith Rygiel

Judith Rygiel creates hand-painted and hand-woven silk scarves and stoles. She draws her inspiration from nature and from her research into 19th century textiles. A master weaver, textile historian and dye specialist, Judith hand-paints her warps to create complex colour arrangements. She has operated a weaving studio for more than thirty-five years, and has written and taught courses in weaving, spinning, dyeing and textile-history. Recently she curated an exhibition of early 20th century Acadian wedding textiles.

Dorothy Sheppard

Having learned to knit as a young child, Dorothy Sheppard has always been passionate about yarns and hand-made clothing and accessories. After retiring from full-time employment, Dorothy had the opportunity to move to a farm and acquired her first llama. Before long, that llama had somehow morphed into a fair-sized herd. Not too long afterwards, a small herd of alpacas was added. Thanks to the contributions of these amazing camelids, Dorothy now has a source of natural yarns from which she creates lovely hand-woven and hand-knit products including scarves, shawls, throws etc. in addition to the yarns. Products are available at the Vankleek Hill Farmers’ Market from September through May, at select regional exhibitions, or by appointment. Dorothy is looking forward to meeting kindred spirits at the fall Exhibition and Sale.

Heather Sherratt

Heather weaves timeless and classic designs that allow the fibres and weave structures to speak for themselves. The result is woven wearables in exciting fibres, both new and old.  Luxurious mohair and alpaca, traditional wool, silk and cotton, and new bamboo fibres and soy blends give texture and colour to one-of-a-kind garments and accessories.  See: www.elphinfarms.com

Studio Three Fibre Arts

Roberta Murrant, Jean Down and Anne Rombeck are three like-minded weavers who came together to further indulge themselves in a craft they hold dear. They are committed to producing quality, unique, hand-woven clothing, textiles and fibre art using only high quality natural fibres, including silk, wool, linen, alpaca, llama and cotton. Their textiles can be computer designed, woven on multi-harness looms or made as reproductions of historical patterns on traditional four-harness looms. By integrating old and new skills, Studio Three Fibre Arts hopes to show that hand-weaving has a bright future. See: Studio Three: www.studio3fibrearts.com

Edwina Sutherland

Edwina Sutherland works in wool fibre and uses the processes of wet felting and needle felting to create her unique pieces of art. Each whimsical figure has its’ own unique character, high relief wall hangings tell their own stories, while each felted bag is a small work of art. Edwina says: “My fascination with textiles and form are what lead me on my artistic journey. I seek to explore story and character through the art I create and bring that story to the viewer, who may see their own story within the piece. This, too, becomes part of the story of my work.” Edwina’s award-winning work has been featured in numerous national magazines and two books; she has also been featured on TV’s “Regional Contact.” Contact her at edwina@edwinadolls.com. Web site: www.edwinadolls.com.

Linda Tait

Linda Tait creates yarns from many sources locally and Canadian raised  fibre sources. While making traditonally spun yarns, she also enjoys the more unusual "art" yarns. She wants to share the excitment of creating yarn with unusual and unique batts, locks and other interesting fibres. All dyed with commercial dyes and processed by hand. Creating something beautiful and useful from recycled or unwanted materials is a pleasurable challenge

John Toft

John rekindled a childhood interest in basketry after his retirement as a teacher. Self-taught, John has learned by trial and error and by carefully puzzling out techniques and structures from basket-making literature – literature that often used different language depending on its origin. John began his exploration of basketry using rattan cane but has since discovered buff willow. His love affair with willow includes growing several varieties at his Kanata home as he continues to explore the characteristics and uses of each.

Wendo Van Essen

Wendo Van Essen has been a film animator for more than 20 years, giving her felted trophy heads and accessories a wonderfully whimsical quality. She has recently pursued her passion for sculpture as well as continuing to felt.

Janet Whittam

A self-employed textile artist, Janet Whittam has created an extensive line of hand-woven clothing and household linens. Her work is characterized by strong colour blends, many yarn choices and lots of texture. She also weaves baskets – she has studied with master basket-makers from all over the world. In 2002, Janet represented Canada at the World Summit On Sustainable Development in Johannesburg,South Africa, developing and coordinating the theme of the exhibit, Weaving the Fabric of our Common Future. A veteran of the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild Annual Exhibition and Sale, Janet has a “start-to-finish” relationship with every piece that she produces. See : www.handweaving.ca