March guild meeting: The Red Dress

We will gather together at the Goleta Valley Community Center on March 1st, for a Zoom presentation with British artist Kirstie Macleod. She conceived of a project with an expansive vision, involving skilled artists from around the world who each contributed their embroidery skills to execute her award-winning global collaborative embroidery project. In the artist’s own words she says:

“Initially the project sought to generate a dialogue of identity through embroidery, uniting people around the world across borders and boundaries. However, over the 14 years it was created, The Red Dress also became a platform for self- expression and an opportunity for, often marginalized, voices to be amplified and heard, initiating vital dialogues on important and frequently uncomfortable issues.”

Stitch Circles

Continuing from our January meeting! Do you have progress to share on a piece you brought?

If you missed the January meeting, bring a project to work on at the meeting. Come with technical questions and we will match you with someone who has a skill to share; Come with an unfinished project that needs the input of others and you will find willing thought partners for an exchange of ideas to help you move to the next level with your project.

And you may find that you have unused materials at home that someone else could use for their project. Bring those materials with you to the February meeting and see if they are useful to others. Let’s see if this process over the course of a month or so can help us feel more connected, renewed in our excitement about fiber arts, and recommitted to making the Fiber Arts Guild a place for the exchange of ideas, materials and techniques.

We’re meeting at the Goleta Community Center; 9:30 am meet, 10:00 am call to order.

December guild meeting

We will be meeting on December 7th for a presentation on laking by Anna Bower, as well as some hands-on time afterward! Following Anna’s presentation, we will be having a potluck. Please RSVP for the potluck by emailing Robin or SBFAG1 @gmail.com. Bring brunch foods to share, and plan on labeling common allergens.

Introduction to Lake Pigments with Anna Bower

Have you ever wondered if there was a use for your leftover dye baths? Rather than pouring this precious liquid down the drain, you can “lake” your dyes and turn them into an insoluble, shelf-stable form. Lake pigments can be used to make watercolor, gouache (opaque watercolor), oil paint, tempera, ink, pastels, crayons, or for any other application with dried pigments such as paper marbling. Join Anna at our December meeting for a lake-making lesson and a chance to mull pigments prepared from the Guild’s 2024 Dye Day into watercolors.

Anna is the Assistant Curator of Living Collections at Ganna Walska Lotusland where she maintains records for all living plants on the property and runs the onsite nursery. She also tends a community garden plot filled with a variety of dye plants and a few vegetables.

November Guild Meeting: Presentation on “Chumash Basketry: Art in the Life of Native Californians.”

Jan is Curator Emeritus of Ethnography at the SB Museum of Natural History. Chumash baskets have been widely admired since the first days of Spanish exploration. As both functional artifacts and objects of art, they are prized in museum and private collections around the world. Jan Timbrook will present an overview of the cultural context and diverse roles of basketry in the traditional daily life of Chumash peoples of southern California. She will then discuss the characteristics of Chumash basketry – weaving techniques, materials, design layout and patterns – and note the changes in designs, shapes and function that began with European settlement in the late 18th century.

August Meeting is our Annual Natural Dye Day

This members’ only meeting will be at Tucker’s Grove Park on August 3rd.

Details will be emailed to all members who are signed up (there is a space limit for our site at the park) but plan to spend the day 9-3 outside under the shade of the oak trees. There will be multiple dye vats going, indigo, weld, cochineal, mushroom and red onion skins. This is always a fun event!

The photo above is from the 2023 Faulkner Library Group Show and is a compilation of dye samples created by members over the past two years’ Dye Days.

July Guild Meeting – the 13th !!

Guild member, Annie Guillemette, will give a presentation on embroidery on Saturday, July 13th, at the next Fiber Arts Guild meeting. Annie will share her knowledge of embroidery through a power point presentation that will survey a range of embroidery skills and designs including her own work. She also plans to teach some basic skills and give members an opportunity to begin a hands on project. Annie will supply needles and some materials but feel free to bring your own embroidery supplies. 

We will be meeting in Room 7 at the Goleta Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave, Goleta, CA.

June 1st Guild Meeting is a Get Together and Share

Goleta Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave, Goleta – Room 7

9:30 social, 10:00 Meeting and Presentation

CHANGE OF TOPIC!!! Unfortunately Jan has fallen ill and has to cancel her talk. She will reschedule when she is better. Jan was going to speak about Chumash Basketry and we look forward to her recovery! Check back on coming events for a new date currently TBD.

June 1, 2024 – Guild BYO (bring your own) Multi-crafts Get Together. Goleta Community

Center, 5679 Hollister Ave., Room 7. 9:30 Gather, 10:00 meeting call to order.

In the meantime, this Saturday’s meeting will be devoted to working together on portable crafts that you bring, and sharing our work and about ourselves, as well as Show and Tell and the Un-Raffle table