Category Archives: Programs

Program for our annual Holiday party with 50th Anniversary Celebration !

Program for our Holiday party with the 50th Anniversary Celebration of our Black Sheep Handweavers Guild on 12/12 !

* This time the holiday party is one week earlier than our regular meeting date. *

Black Sheep Guild will be having our December In-Person guild meeting at
Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave, Redwood City, on
December 12th at 7:00 p.m. Come to meet and greet fellow guild members! We
are hoping for good attendance so, if you need a ride, please let us know so we
can hook you up with someone coming from your area.

Our guild is celebrating its 50th year, and to honor it Sarah Aaron and her daughter
have put together a special presentation to celebrate our half century! We will
view the presentation, and marvel at our long history of creating gorgeous fiber.

Following the presentation, we hope others will also chime in with their own
special memories. We encourage you to bring something for Show & Tell that
reflects some aspect of your history with the guild, as well as any recent work. We
will share a celebratory piece of cake, hot teas and sparkling apple juice for the
occasion.

Please join in our evening of merriment, and bring an edible finger food, sweet or
savory. Please label your contribution with name and ingredients for those with
dietary restrictions.
If you would like to help with set up/decorations, please come early around 6:15
to lend a hand.

There will also be our customary give away table for items you would like others
to have, but please plan to take any items not selected home at the end of the
meeting.

We did decide to not have the gift exchange due to the time needed for the 50 th
anniversary celebration.

Hope to see you there!

The program will be at Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave, Redwood City. The program will start at 7pm, but the room will be open at 6:30 for those who want to visit
beforehand.
COVID note: Masking is optional, but please wear a mask if you have any respiratory symptoms, even if it’s probably just allergies from everything that’s blooming.

Program for Thursday, November 21st, 7 pm on Zoom

Program for Thursday, November 21st, 7 pm on Zoom

If you ask Suzie Liles who she is, she will tell you she is the mother of 4 wonderful children, a canine parent to her beloved and always present Maltese dog, Buddy (the ETC shop puppy), grandmother of 9, weaver, teacher for over 35 years, and as most of us know,
the owner of Eugene Textile Center and co-owner of Glimåkra USA with her daughter, Sarah Rambousek.

Suzie has an MFA in Fibers from the University of Oregon in Eugene, is a member of the Handweavers Guild of America and is a regular contributor to
Handwoven Magazine with wonderfully fun projects.

Suzie loves teaching and has taught both children and adults across North America, including co-teaching with Madelyn van der Hoogt and the Weavers School in Coupeville, WA for 30 plus years. In the last several years, in her spare time, Suzie has become a tour leader for textile tours in Sweden, and Japan with Opulent Quilt Journeys, and to Egypt with her own tour company.

She will share with our Black Sheep Guild her journey from her first exposure to weaving to
present day via Zoom at our November 2024 guild meeting.
The Zoom will open at Nov 21, 2024 06:30 PM Pacific Time and the meeting will start at 7:00
pm

In Person Program for Thursday, October 17th, 7 pm

In Person Program for Thursday, October 17th 7 pm

Kathleen Dickey will be the guest speaker for the October
program, talking about weaving in community: different models
of weaving together, including apprenticeships, coops, and
virtual communities. She apprenticed with three weavers over
the years, and most recently was a founding member of the
Madrone Arts Cooperative in Pescadero. She might be called an
emerging artist if those who are emerging from retirement are
included…

The program will be at Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455
Madison Ave, Redwood City. The program will start at 7pm,
but the room will be open at 6:30 for those who want to visit
beforehand.
COVID note: Masking is optional, but please wear a mask if you
have any respiratory symptoms, even if it’s probably just allergies from everything that’s blooming.
We will meet for supper before the program at Karakade Thai Cuisine, 5:30. 593 Woodside Road, cross street Hudson https://maps.app.goo.gl/eaQZyrGLDW8ifVou5
Please RSVP to Ally Kraus, allison [dot] m [dot] kraus [at] gmail [dot] com

Upcoming Programs 2024/2025

Upcoming Programs 2024 / 2025

*The information provided is preliminary and might still change *

  • 09/19, In-person Meeting featuring Ally Kraus sharing about her work.
  • 10/17, In-person Meeting featuring Kathleen Dickey sharing about her work and Madrone Arts Collective. 
  • 11/12, Zoom Meeting featuring Suzie Liles of Eugene Textile Center.
  • 12/12, Holiday party and Guild 50th Anniversary Celebration
  • 01/16, Zoom Meeting featuring Judith Shangold, “Weave, Knit, Wear&quot”
  • 02/20, Zoom Meeting featuring Kris Bruland of Handweaving.net
  • 03/20, Zoom Meeting featuring Natalie Drummond, Deflective Doubleweave
  • 04/17, In-person Meeting = Round Robin with guild members: Lynn Curry, Barbie
    Paulsen, tbd
  • 05/15-In-person Meeting Bahira: Miko Kami dolls
  • 6/18-In-person Meeting CNCH show and tell

In Person Program for Thursday, September 19th, 7:00 pm: Ally Kraus

In Person Program for Thursday, September 19th, 7:00 pm:

From Text to Textiles with Ally Kraus

The speaker for our September meeting is our own Ally Kraus. She will be discussing her journey into art, her current work, and her future plans. Her website is https://www.allykraus.com/
Ally Kraus is a fiber artist – weaver, sewist, and dyer – based in San Jose, CA. Originally an instructional writer and designer, Ally left her corporate job in 2022 to focus on
textiles full-time and apply her professional skills to a creative setting. She spent a year visiting craft schools across the United States before returning to the Bay Area with plans to open a textile hub in Silicon Valley.
Ally is the Vice President of the Black Sheep Handweavers Guild, on the Leadership Team of genets Silicon Valley, the Administrative Editor of Complex Weavers Journal, and a textile instructor at Maker Nexus. Her work has been shown at Bay Area galleries, including the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, Sanchez Art Center, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Pacific Art League, Works/San José, and Noble Gallery.

Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave, Redwood City. The program will start at 7pm, but the room will be open at 6:30 for those who want to visit beforehand. If anyone would like to bring something finger-edible to share, that would be lovely. We don’t send around a signup sheet for monthly snacks any more. COVID note: Masking is optional, but please wear a mask if you have any respiratory symptoms, even if it’s probably just allergies from everything that’s blooming.

In Person Guild Meeting on Aug 17th – Bring a Friend!

In Person Program for Saturday, August 17th 10am – 1 pm

For August, we’re having a Summer Social meeting. It takes place on Saturday, August 17th from 10am-1pm in our usual room at the Senior Center (1455 Madison Ave, Redwood City, CA 94061).

Come when you can, stay for as little or as long as you like. New members are especially invited!

Friends, family, and prospective guild members are welcome to attend.

Non-guild members can RSVP with this form: https://forms.gle/rF1RBNhRX6ZQ3383A (not mandatory but very much appreciated so we know how many folks to expect).

This meeting will be an informal social event. Bring a fiber project to work on and chat while your hands are busy. You are also encouraged to bring a project for show-and-tell – we’ll set up a little gallery along the windows.

Ally will also create some signage about our programs, library, study groups, etc., for non-members – get in touch if you’d like to help (allison.m.kraus at gmail.com).

Thursday, June 20th 2024, 7 PM In-Person Guild Meeting: Cata Gomez

In Person Program for 7:00 pm Thursday, June 20th


This month we will feature guest speaker, Cata Gomes, an indigenous elder, activist and expert basket maker. Cata has documented lineage from three tribes in Central California and is a Rammaytush from the Timiktak Village along the Calera Creek, which is currently known as Pacifica. She is the founder and executive director of Muchia Te’ Indigenous Land Trust, a woman-led organization with majority of Rammaytush descendants on their board of directors.


Dedicated to the rematriation of her ancestral homeland, the land trust is named in honor of the family matriarch from whom Cata is descended. The Muchia Te website is https://muchiateilt.org/
Cata will share one of their many cultural revitalization programs, focusing on their Basket Circle and the making of pine needle coil baskets.
Please plan on attending this informative presentation Thursday, June 20th from 7-9 pm, at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center. Following the program, we will have the new board elections — your vote is important to the guild!
As we no longer have a hospitality coordinator, we appreciate if you can bring a sweet or savory item to share. Hot tea will be available. See you soon!

Thursday, May 16th 2024 In-Person Guild Meeting: CNCH Impressions

Topic: Sharing of recent projects from CNCH Conference and recent personal projects and any other conferences attended.

Come join us for an In-Person guild meeting to share what you have been up to lately in the area of fiber! We look forward to welcoming each of you and seeing your beautiful works!
If you attended CNCH, let us know about the workshop you attended and your new learnings, as well as any completed projects done then. If you did not attend the conference, we would still love to see you and bring something you have recently completed or share what you are in the process of completing.

Perhaps you have a recent travel adventure to share or a workshop you can recommend.
We will need help with refreshments, so please bring something to share, sweet or savory! Hope to see you soon.

— Barbie, Barbara, Ann and Johanna, Programs Committee

April 18th 2024 Guild Meeting: In Person Program

Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave, Redwood City. The program will start at 7pm, but the room will be open at 6:30 for those who want to visit beforehand.
Our program will also bring us back “home” with four of our own guild members speaking about their different paths that took their lives out of the realm of “hobby” weaving.
Our moderator will be Johanna Gelb

Our panelists will be:
• Barbara Shapiro, internationally exhibited basketmaker and weaver, conference and
workshop teacher https://www.barbarashapiro.com/
• Ulla de Larios, internationally exhibited weaver https://www.ulladelarios.com/
• Jodi Paley, weaver of commissions and pieces for gallery and craft fair booth sales
@stitchfiberart
• Barbie Paulsen, elementary school weaving teacher, retired              

Bring your questions and your own stories of where weaving has taken you. We look forward to seeing you in person.
If anyone would like to bring something finger-edible to share, that would be lovely. We don’t send around a signup sheet for monthly snacks any more.

COVID note: Masking is optional, but please wear a mask if you have any respiratory symptoms, even if it’s probably just allergies from everything that’s blooming.