2024, 75th Anniversary exhibition at the Almonte Textile Museum Part2

Welcome back to the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild 75^th anniversary show. We are still at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in the upstairs gallery space. At the end of the last post, i left you watching the slide show and sipping your glass of wine.

18.1)  Felted sheep workshop 2004 one of the slides from the slide show

Now if I can pull you away from the slide show, we can check out the little landscape on the window ledge.

19.1) Small landscape Felt

19.2) Jan Scott,  Maureen’s  Vacation (Spinning at the Arches, in Arches Provencal Park), Needle Felting, Wool on a felt backing (recycled pool table felt)

You have seen this little landscape in a blog before. Maureen Shared her vacation,  Part 2 Maureen shared her vacation

Just past the slide show and landscape, and before the next window are the Elephant weaving and the small blanket

20.1) Elephant and blanket

20.21) Elizabeth Watt, Here Be Elephants, 2015, Summer and Winter pick up on rigid heddle, Cotton

 20.22-20.23) close ups

The Elephants were really woven on a rigid Heddle loom, but from the details you would expect that Elizabeth used a very multi-harness loom!

20.3) OVWSG Members (Amanda Carrigan Ower) Ex and Sale Raffle Prize (Shawl), Hand Spinning, Weaving, Wool.

Now we have reached the far wall, which holds 3 pieces, the information for the show and the list of pieces.

 21.1) Panel 8 End wall – Rug, Wovern shirt,  Icelandic tapestry

21.21-21.22) Nancy Ingram, Memories of the 1950’s, 1980s, Plain weave woven bound rug, Warp-Seine Twine, Weft-2ply wool

21.31) Jean Sharp,  Loom Designed Sweater, 1983, Handwoven, Reinforced front opening, tabby weave, wool (2-ply Briggs and Little Natural Colours, White, Grey, Dark Grey)

21.32-21.33)close ups of Jean’s Sweater. I like the subtlety of colours and how well it works in plane weave.

21.41) Sami Lemperger, Woven Dreamscape, 2022, Woven in tabby and twill with tapestry, embroidery and felting embellishments, Tencel, various wools, yak, cashmere, mohair and silk.

This is quite a spectacular woven piece. We got to see it at guild meeting show and tell. Sami wove it while she was in Iceland. Lets take a closer look.

21.42-21.46) close up of the long tapestry weaving

_______________________________________________

Now we are at the last section of the show, the center. it is made up of the Coverlet stand, the Plinth and then finally we can look up and see who is swimming around up there.

22.1) Center,  Coverlet stand, Plinth, Mer’s

Lets start with the Coverlet stand.

22.111-22.1111) Coverlet stand.

22.2) Ann Sunahara, Bewrtha Gray Hayes Coverlet, 2017, Overshot weave, cotton warp wool weft.

22.21-22.22) close ups  Gamp of Birtha Grey Haze’s Miniture overshot coverlet patterns

we had a wonderful workshop exploring the work of Birtha Grey Haze who created many miniature overshot patterns long before the development of computer programs that do drafting for you. this is one of the coverlets woven on the old guild 100″ loom.  it takes 2 people to wave on this loom. there were quite a few coverlets woven from this warp but each in different colours.

22.3) Judith Rygiel, Fundy Trees Afghan, mid 1990’s, 50 shaft drawloom, Wool (Damask)

22.31-22.32 Close up of Judiths afghan.

22.4) Judith Rygiel, Grey and White Coverlet, Mid 1960’s 8 shaft Summer and winter, wool, cotton

22.41-22.42) close up of Judith’s other Coverlet

Summer and winter is a weave that is darker on one side and lighter on the other side. One side is the reverse of the other.

________________________________________________

Next lets look at the pieces on the Plinth.

22.501 (Plinth) 22.502 (Plinth) 2

22.50) Diane Dillon (In Memoriam) Saori tunic/ Poncho, 2023, Handwoven Wool, Silk, and mixed unknown fibers.

22.51-22.52) Details of Diane’s poncho

Diane wove this fabric on her Saori loom. Most Saori looms have only 2 harnesses and weave plane weave. it is a meditative way of weaving and can be very relaxing. She was enjoying designing as she wove then used her yardage to crate the poncho.

22.60) OVWSG Members, (Amanda Carrigan, Owner), Indiski Shawl, 2011/12 (Spinning) 2018/19 (Knitting), Hand spinning, knitting, Cria (Baby alpaca)

22.61-22.63 Close up of baby alpaca, hand spun and hand knit

when i first saw this i thought it was qiviut (muskox), it was so soft and looked so cozy.

________________________________________________

We have now almost reached the end of the show, so look up and see the Mer’s having fun.

 23.10-23.11) Hanging (above the plinth)

 23.13) Jan Scott,  Mer Family and pets (Mr. Mer, Mrs. Mer, Shark Boy, Sharkette, and Miss Manta) 2020-2024, Needle Felting with full armature, Various Wool, core wool, silk, Armature; Aluminum and steel floral wire

(Miss Mer is missing and is likely hiding in the living room looking for a boyfriend!) Lets start by checking out what Mr. Mer is up to.

23.21-23.23) Mr. Mer, Norther Pike Merperson, with his tennis racket and felted tennis ball.

Mr. Mer has decided his hunting Quadra-dent (like a Tri-dent, but has 4 dents instead of the usual 3 dents) is not quite appropriate for this venue and has grabbed his tennis racket and ball in hopes of playing Tennis with someone, possibly his lovely wife. A quick game of tennis will allow him to show off his lovely new silk-fiber pike-spots to Mrs. Mer!! unfortunately i have not yet made her a tennis racket.

23.31-23.32) Mrs. Mer, Butterfly Koi Merperson

Mrs. Mer, while appreciative of her husband’s lovely new spots dose not yet have a tennis racket. She is admiring her lovely new hair that Monika from the olive sparrow made for her. I am sure she will spend time admiring Mr. Mer’s Muscles later.

23.41-23.43) Shark Boy, hamerhead shark Merperson

Shark boy and Sharkette have been having fun swimming in circles over the people walking through. He is giving the girls a most flirtatious smile. I wonder where he got that from…. Mr. Mer.  I wonder if he is looking for a girl friend?

23.51-23.52) Sharkette, adolecent femail grate white shark

Sharkette is having a wonderful time, you can tell by her smile (23.51)!

23.61-23.62) Miss Manta, adolescent female Deep water manta.

I don’t think Miss Manta has had this much fun since her photo shoot in the front garden, she has been doing loops and is grinning maniacally! There must be some invisible krill in the air as well as historical mill dust!!

24.1-24.2 One final look at the show before people join us!

Oh I can hear them coming up the stairs, hold on to your wine glass the Vernissage is starting!

25.1 One of our guild members checking out the show

There is a mix of people, ones I recognize and some I don’t.  there are quite a few guild members, both past and present,  stop and have a chat, many can tell you more about the pieces on display. I’ve spotted our Guild President Jean and Liane who took over organizing the show from Carl who is here too.  If you have a chance, have a chat with Michael, who is the Executive Director and Curator of the museum, who is spotted here too.

Assorted shots of the vernissage

The show seems to be a big hit! I will let you mingle, go back and look at your favorite pieces again and maybe a bit more wine. (I sound like a lush, but this has been 3 weeks that we have been virtually touring this show, so your last glass is likely empty by now!)

I hope you have enjoyed the show! There may be a bit more wine left downstairs, if you hurry! The other show that opened in the main exhibition hall is fabulous too and you may want to take a quick look before you drive home.

Have a wonderful drive home and dont forget to have some fun felting!!