Just curious who belongs to which guilds - have I seen you around?

I'm a regular at Black Sheep on the Peninsula and at Loom & Shuttle in San Francisco.   How 'bout the rest of you?

Comments

Sun, 08/30/2009 - 21:36

janie441 (not verified)

 

I am having a hard time belonging to a guild as I work 40-50 hours a week and obviously am not retired.

I belong to the Handweaver's Guild.

I just love this new web site and I have spent at least an hour here now viewing everything!

I have taken a class from Pat Meade and I meant Robin Lynde at the Sacramento Convergence last year 2008.

I have bought a lot of books and I have two Rigid Heddle looms.  The 24" Kromski and the 12" Ashford, knitter's loom.

 

Sun, 08/30/2009 - 22:36

jemwork (not verified)

I have belonged to my guild for many years - going as far back as the late 70's (with a few year break for babies).I belong to the Chautauqua County Weaver's Guild, meeting in Westfield, NY (I did register it on the list here). Currently I'm treasurer/membership person, also having been newsletter editor. I found the best way to get to know the members is to take a job. I also belong to HGA & have belonged to the BuffaloEGA Weaver's Guild off & on. I also embroider & belong to the Chautauqua Region Chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America. Does that count?

I love my guilds, for differnt reasons. EGA is very organized & we spens lots of time making projects, many of them quite lovely. This exploration into techniques is fun & allows exploration without a huge cot outlay.

Weaving is a first love & that guild is looser in how its run. Information exchange is the best thing here - people are doing different things & love to share - in fact our October meeting is the time for sharing travel stories & workshop/conference stories.

 

 

Sat, 05/01/2010 - 05:26

tarrilynn (not verified)

 I belong to two groups: Sacramento Weavers and Spinners, and the Hangtown Fiber Guild in Placerville. That keeps me pretty busy.  Work keeps my going to meetings irregular, but I manage.

Sat, 05/01/2010 - 07:35

dtjacobson

Just Spindles & Flyers, which technically isn't even a handweaving guild. Between work, grad school and everything else, I don't have time for more.

I think this highlights an important issue many guilds are starting to face--with the advent of the Interwebz, fiber artists no longer feel the need for guild membership. As a result, those guilds that don't actively reach out to the larger arts community are slowly losing membership.

Sat, 05/01/2010 - 23:06

RuTemple (not verified)

Spindles & Flyers, even though I might get there only once a year; Black Sheep is my "regular" hang-out; and I intend to drop dues for the Santa Cruz Guild in delight for the advanced braiding study group there, which amuses me since I lived about seven years down in Aptos and never connected with the guild (another disconnect re working long days / mid-morning guild meetings). I'm still working my tail off, but since a good chunk of it is editing, it's a little more flexible.

Dawn, it was delightful to meet you face to face at CNCH; another time some time down the road it'll be great to sit down and chat.  I'm looking at the slight rise in Black Sheep numbers and decrease in average age as the new generation of weavers begins to Arrive, and wonder if your thoughts are true to measure, or if we have cogent measures to hand for guilds overall. I don't believe the Black Sheepies are particularly doing outreach as a guild. I do think a vibrant online presence is where the under-55 crowd (*grin*) okay the under 25 crowd are really going to find guilds; the chance to meet other weavers in person, plus the informational programs a guild puts on, still have appeal. 

What I'm even more curious about: there's a generation-wide swath of folks coing up through CA schools post-Prop 13 who haven't really had any (paid for) arts education in the schools, who appear to comprise the 20s-30s DIY crowd: how do they find a guild if they don't  know such groups exist?  I'd love to hear where folks found their guild(s)...

Group Audience
Bay Area Weavers & Spinners