Annual Fall Exhibition and Sale Exhibitors

Claudia Almansa

Claudia Almansa creates hand woven clothing and accessories including jackets, ponchos, shawls, scarves and handbags. She uses different techniques and fibres, but wool remains her favorite material. Inspired by the Amerindian Cultures of Latin America, the textiles of Claudia Almansa are a visual and symbolic universe in themselves. Fashionable, unique, colourful and wearable, Claudia’s textiles draw on her Columbian origins, her training at the Montreal Center for Contemporary Textiles and her life in Laval, Quebec since 1996. Her collection is rich in colour, motif and texture, fascinating to look at and wonderful to touch. Her traditionally made fabrics have a very contemporary allure. See: claudiaalmansa.tripod.com/textile

Denise Atkinson

Denise Atkinson’s sculptures are characterized by a mastery of the materials, techniques and tools that she uses to create unorthodox sculptural works that synthesize traditional ideas and new influences. Her work applies skills acquired during her years as break-down artist and dyer with the wardrobe department at the National Arts Centre and as a designer of hand-woven clothing. She draws on her travels in North and South America and Europe, and her observations of the material cultures of those societies, to make her unique works.

Shirley Auprix and Barbara Armstrong

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 and Barbara Armstrong then turn 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

Fatima Dias

Wool and colour have always been Fatima’s passion! In 1990 she mastered the art of weaving in her native Brazil. When she moved to Canada, she brought her loom with her. Now, after 7 years in Canada, she dedicates herself to colour. Using South American Corridale wool, Fatima spins, dyes and weaves it into colourful rugs and the bodies of hand-bags made by her spouse. See: www.fatimadias.ca

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.

Laura J. Fauquier

A weaver and photographer, Ottawa-born Laura J. Fauquier is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She recently completed a year of graduate study at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. Inspired by that experience and her photographs, Laura uses fine quality yarns and wools on a traditional loom to create scarves that reflect the interests, style or personalities of her clients, who have included Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean. See: www.laurajfauquier.com

Nancy Ingram

Tapestry weaving has been a particular focus of Nancy Ingram’s career, with an emphasis on transparent tapestry technique. Most recently she has also been exploring the medium of needle felting, creating a broad range of products ranging from tapestries to soft-sculptured Santas and other figures. Ottawa-born and trained in interior design at the Ontario College of Art, Nancy studied specialized weaving and spinning techniques in the Maritimes and in Ontario. Her pieces have won awards in juried exhibitions and are found in a number of private collections throughout Canada and overseas.

Judy Kavanagh

By day Judy is a web designer, desktop publisher and photographer. The rest of the time she is an artist, musician and mother of four cats. Judy has been interested in making traditional crafts since the 1990’s. She started with quilting and moved on to moccasin-making and beadwork, basket making, rug hooking and spinning. It is her work as a spinner that she highlights at the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild’s Exhibition and Sale.

Ann McElroy

Ann McElroy is a felt maker and felt 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 vessels and hats. Her vessels are often embellished with cut work and beads. Ann also uses nuno-felting and Japanese-dye techniques to make unique scarves and wraps for indoor and outdoor use. She also uses needle felting -- the newest felting technique -- to create flower and animals pins and felt balls for our feline friends. The very popular felted soap will also be available again this year.

Hope McLean

Hope MacLean is an anthropologist, author, and artist. Hope MacLean's art includes beautiful woven tapestries that illustrate visionary dreamscapes, set against the background of the landscape of the Gatineau Hills. Her work is inspired by twenty years of research with Huichol Indian shamans and artists in Mexico, a culture beautifully described in her recently published Yarn Paintings of the Huichol. Using a unique weaving technique learned from the Huichol, Hope also makes elegant pendant earrings and necklaces. She also markets Huichol art, including shamanic paintings made with yarn, woven bags, and beadwork. See more at www.hopemaclean.com

Ruth Mills

Ruth is a milliner who creates unique winter hats and hat brooches. Her knitted and felted hats and decorative brooches combine modern materials and styles with the elegance of traditional millinery. Trained in clothing and textiles at the University of Alberta and in millinery at the Richard Robinson's School of Haute Couture, Ruth brings to her creations over 20 years of experience researching and replicating historic costumes and textiles for National Historic Sites and 10 years of creating headwear for special occasions such as weddings and historic reproductions for re-enactors, interpreters and theatres. See: www.ruthmills.com

Loretta Moore

Loretta 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.

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.

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.

Karen Riches

Karen Riches has been spinning for 25 years and weaving for 20. In her weaving Karen studies the interlacement of thread, combining structure with colour to add new dimensions to her products. Weaving means she is always challenged and never bored. Her only problem is to find enough time to try even a small percentage of projects that she has imagined.

Rose Haven Farm Store, Picton

The Rose Haven Farm Store in Picton, Ontario, not only sells finished hand-made & custom items for consumers but also supplies for fibre artists – yarns, rovings, raw fibres, books and embellishment materials. It specializes in natural fibres and unusual, hard-to-get yarns including beaded silks; cashmere & silk; cotton paper & wool-wrapped, stainless steel;fur yarn; and many kinds of hand-painted and hand-spun yarns. See www.rosehavenfarm.net. To her business Rose Haven’s proprietor, Linda Swaine, brings training in architecture and the arts, an intimate knowledge of the fibre scene in Canada, and 20 years of producing prize-winning fleece & roving at Rose Haven Farm. She represents following fibre artists:

Maureen Harding

A veteran sheep and cashmere-goat breeder, Maureen creates unique scarves and wraps by manipulating texture and colour, by combining traditional felt with fabric and silk, and through the use of Japanese, shaped-resist dyeing methods. See: www.dreamspinfibres.ca

Cindy Cole

Cindy works in many mediums including jewelry design, fibre arts and toy-making. Inspired by the eclectic, found, colourful and coveted, she meshes function with the fantastic. Applying her fibre-arts skills, Cindy creates unusual handspun yarns, freeform crochet hats and accessories, and soft toys. Cindy teaches workshops in novelty spinning and free-form crochet, and publishes Studioloo Magazine. See: www.studioloo.com and www.studioloomagazine.com.

Pat LeClair

Pat loves colour and fibre. She expresses that love by creating hand-felted scarves, hand-dyed silk items, hand-dyed fibres for needle-felters and spinners, and handspun and hand-dyed yarns.. Her best days are spent felting or spinning or up to her elbows in dye baths. See www.dyeingforcolour.com

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.

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

Ann Suzuki

Ann Suzuki creates one-of-a-kind batik pieces – scarves, belts, jewelry, suits, dresses, jackets. All of Ann’s silk pieces are hand-dyed using a batik process. Areas of the cloth are impregnated with wax to form the design. The un-waxed parts accept the dye; the waxed parts resist it. Ann repeats this process as many times as is necessary to get the desired colours and pattern for each dress length or scarf. On occasion, Ann cuts the garment pieces before beginning the batik process, allowing her to place the designs precisely where she wants them to appear on the body. She also does all-over patterns focusing on bright, moving colours. Ann does designs with colour sequences that cannot be duplicated commercially because of the dye technique. The result is garments that make the wearer feel special while being comfortable. See: www.silksbysuzuki.com

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.

Pat Trudel

Pat is a fibre artist who has been working with fibre and textiles since her early teens. About four years ago she began concentrating on felting and, for the past two years, has been teaching felt-making for MASC – an organization that brings arts and culture to schools.

Janet Whittam

A self-employed textile artist, Janet Whittam has an extensive line of hand-woven clothing characterized by strong colour blends, many yarn choices and lots of texture. She also weaves baskets – a skill she perfected by studies with master basket-makers both local and international. 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. Each has her own personal touch. See : www.handweaving.ca