History

Fiberforum was founded in 1974 by Mary Mabry, Pat Brown and Julie Harrison. Their goal was to create a group of like minded artists to share information and ideas as well as to encourage the use of fiber media as an art form in addition to its more traditional uses. Although it was often disparaged as "women's work,” fiber as an art medium at this time was exploding onto the art scene worldwide, becoming a recognized form of art.

The three artists connected through Mary who was teaching at Bowling Green State University. Pat was Mary’s independent study graduate student. Julie was teaching art in the Toledo Public Schools and Mary had placed student teachers in Julie’s classroom. From these three women Fiberforum began to grow, with other fiber artists being invited to join the group.

Fiberforum hosted workshops that were open to the public. A couple of the early workshops included one on felting and another on silkscreening on fabric. In 1983 Fiberforum received a grant from the Ohio Arts Council to experiment with a computerized loom, which was new technology at the time. This two month experiment ended with a demonstration open to the public. We displayed our weaving samples and written results in Dallas, Texas, at the Handweavers Guild of America’s convention, Convergence, in 1984.

Fiberforum has had group shows throughout Ohio. We have shown our work in Columbus at the Ohio Craft Museum as well as various venues in Toledo, Maumee, Rossford, Perrysburg, Bowling Green, Findlay, Defiance, Lima, Van Wert, Bluffton and Archbold.

The purpose of these activities has been to show people that fiber is a recognized art form and an exciting art medium. Individual and collaborative works help members grow as artists. Over the years members have come and gone, but the core purpose of the group has remained the same: to explore and promote fiber as an art form.