DOVES, NUKES, HEARTS, AND JUNKYARDS: THE PROTEST ART OF JUDY MEYERS 1966-2013

First posted by Georgia Wier on Handcrafted Art Traditions online gallery in January 2014

Judith Meyers’s papercut art is featured on the Handcrafted Art Traditions online gallery. Judith has used her papercuts and other art forms to enrich lives in her community of Greeley, Colorado, since she moved there in 1964. For many years Judith’s designs symbolized fun and learning in printed materials distributed by the city’s museums. And for decades Judy has volunteered her time at public events by cutting the silhouettes of thousands of Greeley children. Judith was a founding member of Madison and Main, a cooperative gallery in Greeley that provides the small city, which serves as the center of an agricultural county, with a consistent but evolving creative focus.

MARIA GODINES EMBRACES TRIBAL WORK

First posted by Georgia Wier in Handcrafted Art Traditions Online Gallery in 2014

Handcrafted Art Traditions (an online gallery of folk and traditional arts) features lovely beaded necklaces, earrings, and bags by Maria Godines, a Warm Springs Wasco tribal member. Kah-Nee-Ta Resort in Warm Springs also carries Maria’s beadwork. Maria has participated in Tribal Member Art Exhibits at the Museum of Warm Springs and has received awards for her Wasco Shell Side Purse, her Colombia River Replica Wedding Veil, and her beaded jewelry.

ART OF THE HUNT—A WYOMING EXHIBIT

First posted by Georgia Wier on Handcrafted Art Traditions online gallery in 2014

Folk arts are often a part of people’s everyday lives. That’s the case with many of the objects shown in “Art of the Hunt: Wyoming Traditions,” the exhibit that recently opened at the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne and that will run through June 20, 2015. I particularly like the logo for the exhibit, which features a fish design in a rug hooked by Pat Rentsch of Aladdan, Wyoming.

KAREN WOMEN “WEAVING TOGETHER” IN PORTLAND

First posted in Handcrafted Art Traditions online gallery by Georgia Wier in January 2015

As a vendor at the Portland Handweavers Guild (PHG) Winter Sale held at the Multnomah Art Center in November of 2014, I was delighted to discover that Karen refugee women from Burma and Thailand were participants. The Guild had provided a great space to display the handwoven bags, scarves, and other items woven by the Karen women. I had recently rejoined PHG after an absence of about 25 years and was very happy to learn about the organization’s gesture of kinship with this group of weavers who are new to the United States.

MANAGING WEAVING THREADS AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES: THE WORK OF LINDA MORTON-KEITHLEY

Linda Morton-Keithley’s handwoven rugs and saddle blankets evoked the word “perfection” the first time I saw them. I’ve been taking a revolving selection of Linda’s rugs and blankets to arts events for the last few years, and several times I’ve witnessed looks of similar admiration on other people’s faces. Frequently, but not always, these admirers are people who themselves weave or practice another textile art form. 

Anne Carroll Gilmour—Waulking, Weaving, Knitting, and Designing around the West

Anne Carroll Gilmour grew up in Colonial Williamsburg, where traditional artisans practice trades using 18^th Century American production methods. Because she was eager to see what was happening there, Anne often stopped by the weaving room on her walk to and from school. Anne said that after meeting Williamsburg’s master Scottish weaver Norman Kennedy, “there was no turning back.” She was hooked on weaving and textile arts for life.

ZAPOTEC WEAVERS ENRICH OREGON: FRANCISCO BAUTISTA AND LAURA GUTIERREZ

by Georgia Wier

Oregonians may not have previously known about the rich weaving tradition of a little town in southern Mexico called Teotitlán del Valle, but because of a young family who have moved to the state, many of us are learning now.

Francisco Bautista is a fourth generation weaver in his Zapotec family. Both his father and his mother still live and weave in Mexico.