Dear Friends,
Finally–the weather is decent outside again! I don’t know about your household, but we spent last weekend cleaning the garage and opening the back porch for the season. Maybe a little early for flower planting in my neck of the woods since ice out on Lake Minnetonka was just a couple of days ago.
Under the heading of NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS from Midwest Fiber Arts Trails HQ is the formation of a new Trail! We’re starting a Trail in Madison, Wisconsin. I’m very excited about the possibilities in this amazing city! Such wonderful people—read below for much more info about this new Trail startup.
This edition features a compilation of talks, workshops, exhibits, library knitting groups, fiber festivals and a couple of events that are not fiber related but thinking-person related. The Great American Think-Off at the New York Mills Cultural Center in New York Mills, MN is not a fiber event, but the event has a world class following and NYMCC is a part of the Weaving Waters Fiber Arts Trail. So, I wanted you to know about it if you didn’t already. And, of course, you’ll want to coordinate your visit to the National Czech & Slovak Museum and Library’s new bead exhibit to tie into the 17th Annual Taste of Czech & Slovak on May 18th in Cedar Rapids where they pronounce kolache correctly. (This event is a great combo of both thinking-person and food-person!)
Read on and have fun! Life is too short to not have fun (or at least to think about having fun)!
Jenny
LINKS
CURRENT EXHIBITS YOU MIGHT ENJOY
Commemorating His Purple Reign: A Textural Tribute to Prince
March 15 – June 17
(Cedarburg, WI) — Commemorating His Purple Reign: A Textile Tribute to Prince This special exhibition celebrates the life and art of Prince through vibrant and exciting fiber art. “These quilts are pulsating, vibrating, and alive with Prince’s music,” says Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, one of the nation’s experts in African American quilting and juror for this exhibit. Quilt: In Honor of Prince by Betsy Shannon
Hennepin History Museum: From Underwear to Outerwear
March 23 – September 15
(Minneapolis, MN) — Hennepin History Museum: From Underwear to Outerwear Record-breaking winter temps don’t frighten Hennepin County residents – we’re used to it. Ever since George Munsing took the itch out of long underwear, we know how to bundle up in style. Join us for this sweeping exhibition showcasing the depth and breadth of wearable items from the Museum’s collections. See elaborate society gowns, early ready-to-wear from county seamstresses and department stores, uniforms and workwear, historic lingerie, and outerwear that ranges…
Playing with Purpose: Victoria Finlay Wolfe Retrospective
April 17 – July 29
Modern Quilts – Designs of the New Century
April 29 – June 17
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS, TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
Bobbin Lace Making Demonstration at NCSML
May 9 @ 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Knitting and Needlework Group at Hibbing Library
May 10 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
(Hibbing, MN) — Knitting and Needlework Group New Summer Hours: 3-5. Join us every first and third Thursday of the month to share and learn tips, talk, and enjoy the fun while you do your craft of choice. Bring whatever project you’re working on, drop in, and join the group! Some supplies will be provided, but bring what you will need for your project. Donations of knitting, embroidery, and sewing supplies are very much appreciated. Drop them off at the front…
Exhibition Coffee Reception at Weavers Guild of Minnesota
May 9 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
(Minneapolis, MN) — Exhibition Coffee Reception Are you enjoying the marvelous exhibit of Scandinavian textiles on the gallery walls of the Weavers Guild? Join the members of the Scandinavian Weavers Study Group on Wednesday, May 9, from 2-4 to celebrate collector Carol Johnson’s textiles with cake and coffee. We’ll even move looms to allow for proper close-up examination. FREE.
Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence
A Splash of Color: A Fabric Dyeing Workshop
May 19 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
When This You See Remember Me, a Look at Inscribed Quilts
(Portage, WI) — When This You See Remember Me, a Look at Inscribed Quilts WHEN THIS YOU SEE REMEMBER ME—A LOOK AT INSCRIBED QUILTS INCLUDING FRIENDSHIP, FUNDRAISING AND ALBUM QUILTS Explore the intentions, differences and similarities and identify characteristics of quilts that were made as tributes, tokens of friendship and memorials through a power point program followed by a trunk show of lecturer’s quilts of this genre. Students are encouraged to bring a quilt of this type to share as time…
Talk at Mia: Sweetgrass Basketry with Henrietta Snype & Durades Dialogue with Jonathan Shodekeh Rose
May 10 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
(Minneapolis, MN) — Talk at Mia: Sweetgrass Basketry with Henrietta Snype & Durades Dialogue with Jonathan Shodekeh Rose Henrietta Snype will talk about the Gullah tradition of sweetgrass basketweaving, its 300-year history in America, its connection to Africa, and the enduring nature of the art form. One of Snype’s baskets is on view in “The Many Voices of Colonial America” in Mia’s Charleston Drawing Room, where it tells the important story of Charleston’s dependence on enslaved West Africans’ indigenous knowledge of…