The Kingston Handloom Weavers & Spinners Guild (KHWS)—located in the Tett Centre— celebrated its 120 members in the 75 anniversary exhibition from May 7 to May 28.
As one descends the stairs to the first floor of the Tett Centre, they pass by a well-lit room filled with cloth—dyed with blues, fuchsias, and mauves. Stepping into the gallery they enter a space of history, with spinning wheels from the 60s and tapestries commemorating Kingston’s tercentenary, and hand-spun sweaters from loyal members who’ve been in the guild for over 30 years.
In an interview with The Journal Nancy Bowman, former president and current member of the KHWS, spoke about the importance of celebrating the people who have built the guild and their legacy for future weavers and spinners.
When the group started in 1948, it focused on weaving. It later expanded to spinning and other fiber art mediums such as wool, silk, synthetic threads, and cottons.
Some guild members are brand new this year, other are members for over 50 years.
They hope to foster an interest in weaving, spinning, dying, felting and other fibre development activities in the Eastern Ontario region .
The 75-year anniversary exhibition ran from May 7 to 28, featuring 14 special workshops for the public and KHWS members.
Bowman described feeling emotional when she discussed the meaning art pieces held for creators. For the past three years members were unable to attend in-person events due to COVID-19 and could not share their work with the community.
“It wasn’t as much about sharing with the public, although that’s part of it. We wanted to be able to celebrate together.”
The anniversary event gave members the chance to share their work, with people interested in picking up weaving and spinning, while highlighting the members achievements from past decades.
Bowman said she knew it was time—to put together the anniversary because she doesn’t know when—or if —some of the members would ever be able to come together again.
KHWS specifically reserved one weekend for an invitation-only afternoon tea to bring longtime members together, surrounded by their art.
“They’re not people that typically get out very often,” Bowman said. “They came, and they felt much appreciated. And they loved seeing the exhibit.”
The idea of time is a central theme for the event as the guild hopes to connect their past to an ever-evolving future. An example of one of their projects demonstrating the futurism of art is in their collaboration with Queen’s IT department.
“Perhaps this is the future. It’s [spinning and weaving] is timeless and it connects past generations with future generation. It’s about celebrating those things,” Bowman said.
In this workshop people are taught how to combine e-textiles with spinning to create individual yarn, drawing on traditional techniques to illustrate technological patterns.
Temporality allows the audience to look at new forms of expression for weaving and spinning.
“I mean [wool] regrows and can last forever, if you look after things they will.”
Each hand-crafted piece involves countless hours of labour, and if taken care of properly can last a lifetime.
“We do notice a shift that people are interested in locally sourced things.”
Bowman said fibres like wool are an important resource because they’re sustainable.
Educating children allows them to understand the value of the clothing and textile industry.
Bowman said while children may not pick up weaving, they can understand how wool is sourced, cleaned, spun, and eventually made into a hat or coat.
Education is a form of heritage and Bowman said the event is meant to pass along basic weaving and spinning skills so students can innovate. She gestured to the spinning wheel at her feet and said though it’s a complex process to weave, every culture does it.
“Different places in the world have developed a technique for spinning and weaving, yet places like China and Egypt were far apart developing some of the same techniques […] having access to different fibers drives the need for weaving.”
Just a few days ago a boy of seven or eight came to Bowman and told her he was learning how to knit at school. He explained lining up all his squares and she showed him how the loom works, so she let him come sit at her wheel. He spun for a bit and left with a long piece.
“For me it’s the interest that will grow. We’ll see him again,” Bowman said.
Tags
Art, Cultural, Education, Visual, weaving
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