All posts by Natalie Pinto

Black Sheep Handweavers Guild Meeting In-Person October 16, 2025 7-9 pm

Current Program, Programs, Upcoming Programs

We are delighted to welcome renowned tapestry artist Alex Friedman for our in-person October meeting. Alex is calling her presentation “A Journey Along the Warp.” She will share with us about how she fell into tapestry and the journey it has taken her on.

Alex Friedman has been weaving tapestries for over 50 years. She began her career by working in a NYC workshop on a set of shaped tapestries for a fleet of Pan Am 747 jumbo jets. Since then, she has created numerous tapestries including commissions for corporate, liturgical, and private clients. Her award-winning art, known for the dynamic colors and dimensional surface design, has been exhibited internationally.

Alex is active in many Bay Area fiber organizations, and she continues to promote tapestry through lectures and workshops. She has served as the President and Co-Director of the American Tapestry Alliance, and currently she serves on the Advisory Board of the Textile Arts Council at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

She maintains a studio at the ICB in the Sausalito, California and welcomes inquiries and visitors.  https://www.alexfriedmantapestry.com

If you would like to join some guild members for dinner before the program, Gail Blackmarr will let you know the details. We also need help with refreshments, sweet or savory. Tea will be available. Please label your food item.   

We look forward to seeing you in person at the Redwood City Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave., Redwood City, CA 94061 

World in Tatters, 2023 and Blue Meditation, 2024

Show and Tell October 2025

Show and Tell

Kimono and Scarf by Johanna Gelb

Some detail from Johanna: “The first one is my Kimono jacket made from a Summer and Winter with a Twist pattern from Handwoven.It is made of cotton. The second one is a wool scarf that was made for the demonstration at the Santa Clara County Fair in August, as a part of the Demo Sheep to Shawl event. It is a twill structure.”

Shawl by Lizzy Ten-Hove

Some detail from Lizzy: “This is a follow-up to last month’s write-up on the BSHG/Serendipity Spinners sheep-to-shawl demonstration at the Santa Clara County Fair: my shawl is finished! The structure is a two-block crackle using a draft by Susan Capehart in Handwoven Fall 2025.”

Basket by Ange

Some detail from Ange: “Ange took Barbara Shapiro’s basket class. The pattern is by Annetta Kraayeveld.”

Blanket and Table Runner by Stefanie Selck

Some detail from Stefanie: “What’s on my loom this month? I stepped up the intensity and took full advantage of my “herd of looms”. Two commissions and a new tapestry piece are in the works on three different looms. What fun to go back and forth and enjoy a completely different structure and material on each loom.”

Sampler by Laura Rhodes

Some detail from Laura: “I recently purchased Deborah Silver’s book, “The Technique of Split-Shed Weaving”. I am intrigued about the possibilities this technique provides for making pictorial weavings. I put on a narrow (6”) wide warp and made a sampler of the majority of the weaving structures in the book. The picture shows the polychrome 3-tie twill section of my sampler. There are two colors of yarn in each pattern pick which sometimes show singly and other times together.”

Programs

Programs

2025 – 2026 Program Schedule

Program schedule is subject to change

MonthProgram
September 18, 2025 (7-9pm)Digital textiles with Jaya Griscom
OctoberTapestry with Alex Friedman
NovemberShifted Weft Ikat with Gail Blackmarr
DecemberHoliday Party + Travelogues
January 2026Cotton – A Storied Crop Touching Southern Lives, Farms, Mills and Economies with Steve Brown
FebruaryDeflected double weave with Natalie Drummond
MarchRep weave and custom fabric with Kelly Marshall
AprilTBD
MayTBD
JuneCNCH Show & Tell, Stash Sale
JulyInformal Summer Program
AugustInformal Summer Program

Black Sheep Handweavers Guild Meeting In-Person Sept 18, 2025, 7-9 pm

Past Programs

We will be hosting the fiber artist Jaya Griscom for an informative talk on her textile art and journey. Join us for a lovely presentation. Jaya Griscom is an abstract figurative textile artist. She learned to weave as a young child and fell in love with the tactile experience of working with fiber, launching a life-long obsession that she’s nurtured through a traditional fine art education and professional practice. Jaya is currently a long-term artist in residence through the City of Palo Alto’s Cubberley Artist Studio Project and a visiting artist at Stanford Art Institute. Her recent work explores the human form and the sense of touch through digital jacquard weaving, using photographic imagery and 3D scans of the figure. Jaya will present on her artwork, process, and how she drafts her pieces for the TC2 loom.

If you would like to also join some members for dinner, beforehand, Lizzy will let you know the details. We also need help with refreshments, sweet or savory. Tea will be available. Please label your food item.

Looking forward to seeing you in person at the Redwood City Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave., Redwood City, CA 94061.

Show and Tell July 2025

Show and Tell

“Guardian” by Kathleen Dickey

Tapestry of person rowing boat

Wool & cotton tapestry 11” X 17”
Shown at Madrone Arts in Pescadero

Runner by Stefanie Selck

Photo of the completed runner

Some detail from Stefanie: “This is a runner with a white cotton warp and a bunch of recycled Sari silk cords I got on Etsy in the weft. It is quite colorful and was fun to weave. This is a 20S Lampas weave with random patterns I created on the go. “