Sardinian Arts — Handweavers of Sardinia

On the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, handweaving is an ancient and revered art considered so complex and magical that legends say the Jana (fairies) taught women how to construct looms and weave. Sardinia’s tessitrici artigianali — women weavers who work by hand in the old ways — are extraordinary and rare. Only a handful remain working as professionals, maintaining the ancient and distinctive textile traditions of their towns.

Meet these women weavers, see the loving and painstaking artistry of their textiles, and glimpse just a bit of Sardinia’s majesty in March’s Guild meeting, featuring Kelly Manjula Koza, founder of Sardinian Arts.

During the event, Kelly will show bits of her film, I Want to Weave the Weft of Time (2016), about the few remaining hand weavers of Samugheo, as well as additional videos, photos, stories of the weavers, and glimpses of her personal textile collection as she presents the textiles and weavers of three areas:

Samugheo (the best-known of the Sardinian traditions, that of pibiones), Nule, and Aggius. Kelly will also provide some background about Sardinia, touch on the importance of the handmade, and discuss the need to create protective classifications for traditional textiles.
Before the event, you are invited to watch the entire documentary for free online as an introduction to what we’ll discuss at the event. See the film (29 minutes) at http://weaveweftoftime.com. Find additional information on SardinianArts.com.

Kelly writes, films, photographs, and produces events about Sardinia, the handweavers, and related topics. She founded Sardinian Arts in 2013 to help protect, promote, encourage, and advance the tessitrici artigianali and the arts, culture, and heritage of Sardinia in a sustainable manner. In addition to producing, filming, writing and editing I Want to Weave the Weft of Time, she produced and curated Sardinian Textiles:
An Exhibit of Handwoven Art in San Francisco (2017), Intrecciati, an intercultural fiber arts project coordinated between Sardinia, Milano, and San Francisco (2017), and other events. More films and events are in the works. 
Kelly’s background includes 30 years of volunteering with an NGO based in India as well as corporate work in technology, communications, and program management. She senses an emerging connection between gizmo-based technology overload and the rising desire for handmade items, especially in fiber arts.

• tessitrici artigianali — https://sardinianarts.com/meet-the-artists/
• Sardinian Arts — https://sardinianarts.com
• I Want to Weave the Weft of Time (Directly on Vimeo) — https://vimeo.com/175328435
• I Want to Weave the Weft of Time (on Sardinian Arts) — https://sardinianarts.com/documentary-film/
• Sardinian Textiles: An Exhibit of Handwoven Art in San Francisco — https://sardinianarts.com/thank-you/
• Intrecciati — https://www.facebook.com/groups/1244193932289776/

      We are excited to have Kelly Mondola Koza as guest speaker for our Oct  19 Guild meeting! 

In-person Program for 7:00 p.m. Thursday, September 21: Share-
Outs of our Summer Studies

Please join us as we kick off a new year of guild programs! September’s guild meeting will be an in-person event featuring the show-and-tell of members who attended CNCH 2023 and other Black Sheep Handweavers Guild September 2 2023 Newsletter
summer workshops. We will start officially at 7:00 p.m. at the Goldstar room inside the Veteran Memorial Senior Center. (Hospitality will be there by 6:30 p.m.) The address is 1455 Madison Avenue, Redwood City, CA 94061. We will have drinks available. Feel free to bring a snack to share or for yourself, depending on your comfort level. The weather should be pleasant enough to keep the side door open for ventilation.

The August Guild Meeting is happening Thursday, August 17th at 7 pm in the Goldstar Room at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center. 

Address is 1455 Madison Ave, Redwood City, CA 94061

It will be a casual crafting night so bring something you can work on while chatting with others!

Guild Program Thursday, July 20th, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m.

In Person Craft Night      

July’s program for the guild meeting will be a casual in-person crafting night! We
will start officially at 7:00 pm at the Veteran Memorial Senior Center but Hospitality
will be there by 6:30 pm.

Bring your handwork of tapestry weaving, hand-stitching, basket weaving, spinning wheels, drop spindles, and/or braiding! We will have some snacks and drinks available. The weather should be pleasant enough to keep the side door open to maintain ventilation and more room for people to craft!

Let’s Get Together and Share the Weaving Love, or
the Love of Weaving!

7:00 p.m. Thursday, June 15 Guild Meeting in person 

Bring your recent creations! Even if you’ve shared them on zoom. We want to see them in
person and give them the “weaver’s handshake.”
Clear out your stash to give or sell or trade with other guild members.
Bring your questions! Meetings like this are where a lot of information and experience gets
shared around. If you want a helpful critique of a new technique you’re trying, chances are there will be someone at the meeting who can share their insights. Let’s get some conversations going!
Trim your stash (and prepare to add more)! Bring your stash items that you want to clear
out. We’ll have a give-away table. If you want to put a price tag on something you’re clearing out, we’ll have a table for that, too.
Bring something to nibble on if you want. We don’t have the momentum of a snack signup
sheet, so we’re going to let this rely on serendipity. The doors will be open and there will be outside space to give everyone choices.
This meeting we will also have our annual Board election, so come celebrate all the folks
who keep things running.

The meeting will be at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave., Redwood
City, in the Goldstar Room.

Slate of Board Officers

Here is the slate of nominated Board Members we will be voting on at the June 15 meeting:
President: Gail Blackmarr
Secretary John Horrigan
Programs: Joanna Gelb
Newsletter: Leela Goel
CNCH Rep: Ally Kraus

Staying On
VP: Diana Kirby Herr
Treasurer Lyn Chambers
Membership Dail Koehler
Library Ange Mirer
Hospitality Marjorie Pomeroy
Exhibits Jodi Paley – Kitty Thoresen
Web Curator Stefanie Selck
Publicity/Social Media: Sarah Arron
Programs Barbara O’Connor – Barbie Paulsen

Please join the board in welcoming new members and thanking all those departing.

Program for Thursday, May 18 : A Revue in Review of Guild Study Groups

We’d love to give the general Black Sheep membership a clearer idea of what happens in our various study groups, when they meet, and where (house, zoom, variable).
Black Sheep Handweavers Guild 2 May 2023 Newsletter
This month’s program will showcase some of the range of work that our guild members are
doing, give people ideas of areas they might want to explore, and help provide our members with new ways of connecting with other guild members.
This meeting will be via Zoom, 7:00 pm on Thursday, May 18, and the link will be sent out
in the week of the meeting, and will appear on the calendar in the Members Area of the website.

April 20th Black Sheep Meeting –

“Weaving Wizards – Structure – what works for what purpose and why?”

The April 20th Black Sheep meeting will be a Zoom “Weaving Wizards”.      Barbie and Ange will be our wizards, facilitating the meeting. The topic will be “Structure – What Works for What Purpose and Why? ” 

Please send any questions, thoughts, examples to Barbie –  weaverbarbie at  gmail  dot com – by Thursday April 13th.  

But as always, questions and comments are welcome any time at the meeting.  

This time is meant for all to be involved and share issues, problems and successes. 

Please join us on March 16 for a presentation by Mary Zicafoose: My Work in Ikat.

Ikat tapestry, 2018

Mary Zicafoose’s tapestries and rugs span the globe from large-scale public installations to the private collections of the United States Embassies on three continents. Her woven pieces blend cultural icons and symbols with a contemporary hand, creating powerful visual statements in fiber. The work and processes are a reflection of the artists’ superb craftsmanship and her ability to speak articulately through the use of color.

Artist Statement
Weaving is my medium, but creating decorative textile art is not my goal. Rather, it is my use of “Ikat,” the complex technique of resist dyeing and over-dyeing fibers, that best defines my intent. The term “Ikat” means to “bind” or “tie” in the Malaysian language. I create contemporary tapestry, pushing the boundary of this ancient art form, to investigate the intricacies of how we, as individuals, are tied to one another. The complexity and uncharted potential of warp and weft – combined with the alchemy of color compositions and archetypal symbols – reference the elaborate and intricate patterns of our lives and my work. Each densely woven and intricately layered textile reflects the infinite and repetitive ways that cultures, rituals and collective memories bind us all together. By evolving and transforming timeless motifs and visual language into a contemporary (con)text, I seek to engage my viewers – as well as myself – in dialogues and discussions that reawaken and tie us all to one another.

January, 19, 2023 19:00 – 21:00 PST BSHG Guild Meeting

Let the loom do all the work!  Beautiful lace effects can be achieved by creating half heddles or doups and with the press of a treadle, or lift of a lever, threads magically cross themselves in the warp.  This technique is possible on four shafts and with eight shafts the possibilities are even better!  Learn how to create doups, thread for doup leno, and how to treadle some wonderful lace fabrics.  Based on the lengthy article featured in the January/February 2019 issue of Heddlecraft Magazine.

Daryl Lancaster, a hand-weaver and fiber artist known for her award-winning hand-woven fabric and garments, has been constructing garments for more than half a century. She has given lectures and workshops to guilds, conferences, and craft centers all over the United States. The former Features Editor for Handwoven Magazine, she has written more than 100 articles and published digital content, still frequently contributing to various weaving and sewing publications. She now has a YouTube channel, The Weaver Sews where she shares her extensive experience sewing handwoven garments. Daryl offers a complete line of digital sewing patterns for handweavers. https://www.weaversew.com/shop/sewing-patterns.html She maintains a blog at www.weaversew.com/wordblog Find her at www.Daryllancaster.com