October 2018

Diablo Weavers Guild meets in Walnut Creek, usually on the third or fourth Friday of the month from September through June, 10:00 am until noon or a little later. We do not meet in July and August.

New members and guests are welcome.

In September, December and June we meet at a member's home. Other meetings are usually held at the Thurman Casey Library in Walnut Creek (Ygnacio Valley Library).

Thurman G. Casey Library

2661 Oak Grove Rd.

Walnut Creek CA 94598

See the link below or the second item on the side bar on the left for meeting dates and topics. As additional programs are developed for 2018-2019 updates will be posted.

Programs 2018-2019

Library location details and a map:

Meeting location

Membership:

Dues for the 2018-19 year, September - June, are $30 per person; $40 per family. If joining half way through the year, dues are $15.

October Meeting

Friday, October 26, 10:00 am at the library

Stephany Wilkes will be our speaker

Stephany, a local sheep shearer and author, will be talking about her experiences in becoming a sheep shearer. Her book, Raw Material, Working Wool in the West, has recently been published by Oregon State University Press.

http://osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/raw-material

We have dates for meetings and programs through November and others are being planned.

Programs 2018-2019.

If you have ideas for a presentation or workshop please contact Reba. She is coordinating program topics and dates, but looking to members for ideas and help in developing programs.

For Sale

AVL Loom for sale

40 inch, 8 Harness AVL Loom with side tie up

4 Reeds 6, 8, 10, 12 dents per inch

$700

Contact Mary Giammona: 925-299-1854

Local Events

Classes at San Francisco Fiber in Oakland

Updates from Charlene Woodcock about the Jolom Mayaetik weavers

I scheduled my annual trip to Chiapas to coincide with a conference of cooperatives organized by the Jolom Mayaetik weavers to bring public attention to the rampant copying of designs from indigenous artists and artisans now facilitated and exacerbated by the Internet. It attracted representatives from cooperatives in Oaxaca, Puebla, Guerrero, Yucatan, Michoacan, and from Argentina, Guatemala, Uruguay, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Colombia. The discussion panel included a newly-elected woman senator from the winning Morena party, a woman federal deputy, an anthropologist, and two members of the federal human rights commission to discuss the problems of intellectual and cultural property rights and the theft of indigenous designs, which has increased significantly in the past several years.

Seated next to me in the photo is Celerina Ruiz Nuñez, a past president of Jolom who is wearing a gorgeous traditional huipil woven by Magdalena Lopez Lopez, whose 12-foot long tapestry was the centerpiece of our exhibition at the SF Airport Museum from September last fall to April this spring (see photo below).

We’ll have exhibition/sale events on four days this winter. I hope one of them will fit your schedule:

November 11 in San Francisco, the de Young Museum Textile Arts Council Ethnic Textile Bazaar, see below.

November 30 evening reception & 10 to 5 December 1 at the Hillside Club in Berkeley.

December 2 at my home in Berkeley, 10 to 5. Details to come.

The photo below shows the centerpiece of the SFO Museum exhibit. There is a small exhibit up at the Berkeley Public Library this month. And the link below connects to the University of Oklahoma Press webpage for Weaving Chiapas, the English language edition of the book of oral histories of the weavers who founded the Jolom Mayaetik cooperative. Copies will be available at these events.

http://www.oupress.com/ECommerce/Book/Detail/2302/weaving%20chiapas

Windrush Farm classes

Windrush Farm, in a lovely rural setting near Petaluma, has fiber arts classes in spinning, dyeing, carding and more. They encourage weavers to learn some of these skills.

There are classes in September and October and on during the year. They also sell roving and yarn. For more information:

Windrushfarm.wordpress.com

Museum of Craft & Design

ANCHOR IN TIME, a retrospective exhibit of work by DOMINIC DI MARE, is June 2 - October 28, at the Museum of Craft & Design, 2569 Third St, S.F.

Hours are 11-6, Tues-Sat, and 12 - 5, Sun.

Fees are Adults: $8 and Seniors: $6. First Tuesdays are Free.

Dominic's small mixed media sculptures incorporate dimensional weaving and cast paper, which serve as the inspiration for his current works on paper. He was one of Helen Pope's favorite artists. More information at sfmcd.org