NEWS 2011 Instructors
Carol Birtwistle
Carol Birtwistle has been weaving and teaching for more than forty years in Ohio, Michigan, California, Massachusetts, Florida and Connecticut. Her study of fiber structure and color theory has taken her to the Cleveland Institute of Art, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Currently, she is exploring the various ways in which computer design facilitates her 20 shaft weaving. Carol teaches classes and workshops that focus on the multiple ways in which weave structure, yarns, sett and color interact to form the finished product.
Laurie Carlson
Laurie Carlson began weaving at an early age. She holds a BFA in Textile Design and MFA in Fibers from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Her fiber art work has been seen in Fiberarts magazine, Laser Focus World magazine and publications such as Extreme Textiles by Matilda McQuaid and Understanding Fiber-Optics by Jeff Hecht. Her piece titled “The River,” which is woven with lighting fiber-optics, was chosen by the American Textile History Museum as a representation of the blending of art and science in textiles. She currently consults with engineering companies to help develop fabrics using the latest materials. Recent work includes tapestries for fiber art exhibitions as well as fabric proto-types for satellite applications and other military uses.
Lucienne Coifman
Lucienne received a BSS in Biochemistry from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1974 she took a weaving class and within a few years made it a full time occupation. Besides teaching at the Guilford Handcraft Center and the Creative Arts Workshop for the past 28 years, Lucienne also maintains a teaching studio at her home and has given many workshops in the Northeast and Midwest. Her work has appeared in Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot and Handwoven and has been included in many juried exhibits. She became fascinated by Rep weave and 25 years ago received her first award at NEWS for a colorful runner. She has gone on to study the many ways to weave Rep and other related warp faced weaves, experimenting with the use of many different fibers in the process. Her main interest has centered on color interactions and patterns using up to 8 harnesses and using pickup technique when needed. She is currently writing a workbook on the technique.
Fran Curran
Fran has been presenting workshops and giving lectures in the New England area for the past twenty years. She is a past president of the Handweavers’ Guild of CT and was co-president of NEWS in 2007. Fran is director of the Hartford Artisan Center, www.weavingcenter.org, where she designs and teaches. For the past 25 years she has also been teaching weekly weaving classes at Wesleyan Potters in Middletown, CT. Fran has a B.A. in Fine Art and Printed Textiles from Manchester College of Art and Design, Manchester, England. She also has a teaching diploma from Sussex University, Brighton, England. After moving to the U.S.A., Fran received a M.A.L.S. with a concentration in printmaking from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. She exhibits and sells her weaving throughout New England.
Elsbeth Dijxhoorn
Elsbeth became interested in textiles, their structures and construction methods after taking a weaving course at a local museum. Feeding on her ever present curiosity to understand “how” and “why,” she embarked on a formalized study program focusing on textile history and conservation. Elsbeth hold a MS degree in textiles from the University of Rhode Island and presently divides her time between practicing textile conservation, teaching a variety of textile related courses, volunteering her expertise at a local museum, serving as an elected regional board member for the Costume Society of America and last, but not least, squeezing in time to weave for relaxation.
Sarah Fortin
Sarah became enthralled with hand weaving as a student of Clothing and Textiles at Washington State University. After graduating and coming to the East Coast in the early 70s, she continued to pursue weaving as a craft while working as an Extension Educator. She became a juried member of the League of NH Craftsmen in 1985, weaving and sewing women’s clothing, throws and blankets. Sarah has taught weaving extensively in the Northeast and across the country. Her work has been awarded many times at the League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair, New England Weavers Seminar, NH Weavers’ Guild Exhibits, HGA’s Convergence and The Blue Ridge Handweaving Show in NC with several of her pieces receiving recognition for excellence in craftsmanship and creativity. Sarah’s work appeared in Convergence 2010 exhibits and other recent work has been published in Handwoven magazine. Sarah continues to explore and expand in her art with new techniques as she teaches and exhibits in the region and around the country.
Diana Frost
Diana Frost has had considerable experience as a teacher of weaving, both privately and through several guilds. She holds the “Weaver of Distinction” title from NEWS 2001. Exploring weave structures has kept her intrigued and she has specialized not only in Surface Weaves but also in many types of Lace Weaves and “M’s and O’s”. She has presided at NEWS and the New Hampshire Weavers’ Guild, and was a recent Dean of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston. This will be her third time giving a seminar at NEWS.
Laura Fry
Laura Fry chose weaving as a career in 1975 and took weaving classes at every opportunity including study at Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta and Varpauu Summer Weaving School in Finland. Since 1980 she has worked full time as a professional handweaver. Laura’s meticulous approach to weaving quality fabrics is characterized by her attention to wet finishing, a procedure often neglected and little understood by most handweavers. She is the author of Magic in the Water: Wet Finishing Handwovens. After years of work and study, Laura earned certification in 1997 as one of Canada’s Master Weavers, the 27th weaver to achieve the honor. Laura lives and weaves in Prince George, British Columbia.
Sarah Goodman
Sara is a textile artist with a studio/school in Lyme, New Hampshire. Her work has been featured in Handwoven and Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot magazines, at the Handweavers Guild of America fashion show at Convergence and in a fashion show at the Surface Design Association conference. Her one of-a -kind garments have won awards from Complex Weavers, The New England Weavers Seminar, and the Vermont Weavers’ Guild. Her work has been featured at Julie’s Artisans Gallery in New York, the Cambridge Artist’s Collective in Massachusetts, and Living with Craft at the Sunapee Craft Fair. She is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. She is also a member of the board of the Goodweave Foundation, an organization dedicated to eliminating exploitive child labor from the handmade carpet industry in South Asia. She has traveled widely throughout the world in the pursuit of textiles visiting Guatemala, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, Nepal and India. She has taught for both the Vermont and New Hampshire weavers’ guilds and is scheduled to teach at Earthues in Seattle and at Harrisville Designs in the coming year. You can visit her website at www.saragoodmenfiberstudio.com.
Connie Gray
Teaching is Connie’s craft and passion. Having learned many crafts “at her mother’s knee,” she enjoys sharing with others. Special favorites are fiber arts, weaving, polymer clay (Fimo,etc.), and lately, book arts. Connie has taught at Sharon Arts Center in New Hampshire for many years and has also taught at NEWS, New Hampshire Weavers’ Guild, Weavers’ Guild of Boston, Harrisville Designs, and Fiber Arts Center in Amherst, MA and locally in Hancock, NH. She is often asked to demonstrate to students in local schools and seniors in retirement communities. Connie has studied with Zalga Upitis, Lisa Grey and Jason Pollen, Daryl Lancaster and Fran Curran. She guesses you could call her a “workshop junkie!” She feels fortunate to have learned and shared with THE BEST.
Beth Cederberg Guertin
Beth has been a weaver for more than 30 years and has a strong local and regional reputation for her knowledge and support of weaving and the fiber arts. She has been involved with teaching weaving for more than 25 years, first through her store in Arlington, MA (The Batik and Weaving Supplier) and now through her studio in Waltham, MA (A Place to Weave – Individualized Weaving Instruction).
Barbara Herbster
Barbara lives in Manchester by the Sea, MA. She admits that her pleasure is teaching and sharing the excitement and knowledge of weaving with others. Her work has a contemporary direction which she achieves through clean design and a strong sense of color. Barbara has a BS degree in Art Education from Montclair State University in New Jersey and has been teaching and lecturing New England weavers for 35 years. Her major commitments at Cambridge Artist Co-Operative, (a juried Art and Craft Gallery) and Sign of the Dove (a seasonal co-operative celebrating 36 years) keep her aware of the latest trends. Shuttle Song, her business, supplies hats, scarves and shawls to galleries in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Accomplishing commissions for public spaces is her joy. Barbara’s woven work has appeared in numerous articles for Handwoven Magazine and her chenille shawl is pictured on the cover of Interweave Press’ “Design Collection #19.” Most recently, in an article for Handweavers Guild of America, she led a learning exchange about bamboo yarn in Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot magazine.
Kristin Kelley
An MIT-educated former attorney, Kristin Kelley has been weaving since 2000, and has been selling her work since late 2006. Kristin is a member of the HGA, Complex Weavers and the Weavers’ Guild of Boston. She sells her work online through Etsy, locally through her studio at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, and through various boutiques and art fairs, including the deCordova Museum’s yearly Artists’ Market. Kristin has had original work published in Handwoven Magazine (including the Endnotes article in the March/April 2008 issue), and teaches at various area weaving guilds. She was incredibly honored to receive the Dorothy Glowacki Celebratory Award from the Weavers’ Guild of Boston in 2009.
Mary Jo LaClair & Nancy Tepas
Mary Jo and Nancy have both completed the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Master Certificate Program. After completing this program, they have continued their studies in color and design with Patricia Lambert, professor at Parsons School of Design and primary author of Color and Fiber. They have also done independent studies in color, design, weaving, and knitting techniques and have attended numerous workshops. Mary Jo taught Art in elementary and middle school. In addition to weaving, she enjoys calligraphy and marbling on paper and fabric. Mary Jo teaches these crafts in Adult Education classes and does calligraphy professionally. Nancy, a high school math teacher, is an avid knitter and sweater designer as well as a weaver, spinner and quilter. She has been a knitting and weaving instructor for many years. Both Mary Jo and Nancy enjoy working with color and yarn and sharing this passion with others as teachers and workshop leaders.
Irene Munroe
Irene Torruella Munroe, handweaver, dyer and teacher, is a native of Miami, FL, with a BS Degree in Art Education. Since the 1970’s, she has created one-of-a-kind textiles for clothing and home interiors. She has exhibited in galleries and craft shows nationally and conducted workshops for local, state and national guilds. Nature’s palette and designs inspire her art. She enjoys teaching and sharing her love of color and texture.
Susan Rockwell
Susan Rockwell has a family heritage in fiber, weaving, and textiles. She is active in the Vermont Weavers Guild and is a past president of NEWS. She has exhibited in juried and invitational shows and won local, regional, and international awards. She has been teaching weaving for the past 30 years at weaving guilds, regional conferences and craft schools.
Robin Russo
Robin lives in Bradford, Vermont where she teaches spinning, felting, dyeing and working with exotic fibers. She has taught at numerous gatherings of spinners, weavers, knitters and historical societies. She has been a fiber enthusiast for more than thirty-eight years and takes every opportunity to explore its potential.
Diane Villano
A computer programmer by day, artist by night, Diane holds BS and MS degrees in Art Education and has worked with polymer clay since 1995. She is past president of the International Polymer Clay Association, co-founder and first president of the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild and on the faculty of Bead & Button’s annual conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her award-winning work has been exhibited in juried shows throughout the country and has been published in numerous books and periodicals, including Lapidary Journal, Bead & Button, Decorating Digest, Expression Magazine and Polymer Café. Her specialty is introducing fiber artists to the infinite creative expressions available with polymer clay.
Bhakti Ziek
Bhakti is a weaver whose work has ranged from backstrap weaving to digital jacquard. Her extensive exhibition record includes work in the permanent collection of the Museum of Arts and Design, New York City. She has lectured and taught workshops internationally in The Netherlands, Great Britain, Mexico and Canada, as well as all over the United States. Her writings on contemporary fiber have been published in many journals, including American Craft, Surface Design Journal, and Fiberarts. She is the co-author, with Alice Schlein, of The Woven Pixel: Designing for Jacquard and Dobby Looms Using Photoshop. A former college professor (Arizona State University, University of Kansas, Philadelphia University), she currently offers tutorial teaching and focuses on her own work. Bhakti has a B.A. from SUNY at Stony Brook, NY; a B.F.A. from the University of Kansas; and an M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art.