The Silver City Fiber Arts Festival will be held this Friday and Saturday, November 15th and 16th from 10 to 5 at the Grant County Business and Conference Center. Head out to the free festival for vendors, special exhibits, and classes offered by the Southwest Women’s Fiber Arts Collective.
Jean Biddick, award-winning quiltmaker and author of Masterful Machine Pieced Quilts will present an all-day class on Saturday. She is also scheduled to present “Architectural Influences in Quilt Making” at WNMU Parotti Hall tonight, November 14th, at 6:30 pm.
“This two day celebration of all things fiber will include vendors selling a variety of handmade fiber art and fiber art supplies. Hand woven shawls, scarves, and more, hand knitted or crocheted garments or accessories, items made of fabric, fiber baskets, quilts, dolls, rag rugs, handmade books, silk painted items, holiday ornaments and many more items will be on sale by vendors. Supplies available for purchase by fiber art enthusiasts from other vendors will include, fabric, hand dyed yarn and fibers, rug hooking supplies, beads, boat shuttles and weaving supplies, buttons, cotton and spinning tools, and much more.”
Special exhibits to be included at the festival include Biddick’s mosaic tile influenced quilt designs, antique quilts from the collection of Maureen Craig, wool rugs from the Adobe Wool Arts Guild in Albuquerque, pieces from the New Mexico Studio Art Quilt Associates, silk paintings, handmade dolls and much more. There will also be a judged Invitational Miniature Quilt Challenge with the theme of “What Inspires Me!”
Classes will include fiber art bookmaking, constructing beaded jewelry, embroidered cards, wool applique Christmas ornaments, painting dolls, and a “fun fiber snake.” There will be an all day class called Explorations of Fiber by Jo Barton to discuss use of a variety of fiber arts techniques and materials, and Jacque Cusick will teach about different types of weaving.
For more information, call the Common Thread at 538-5733 or visit www.fiberartscollective.org.
