Most of you don't know this but back in my past when I was mostly a weaver, spinner, dyer, and basketmaker, I used to put together retreats. I did two weekend long retreats actually (with a lot of help from some wonderful friends) and a one day conference (also with the help of friends) inspired by people who couldn't get away for an entire weekend because of the budget, family, etc. Nearly everyone can get away for just one day, so why shouldn't they have a chance to go learn, shop, and enjoy the company of like-minded people?
The first retreat I ever went to was the Midwest Weavers Conference in Berea, Ohio that year (it moves around), then an annual event (now it is every other year). I thought I had died and gone to weaver's heaven. Then I was introduced to Spinaround, a one day conference for spinners held in Michigan every other year. I even went to a couple of Anita Luvera Mayer's (click to see images of Anita and her work) Handweavers Garment Retreats, which was a near-religious experience. Seriously. Finally, I went to the biggies in the fiber world, Convergence and Fiber Fest in Michigan. In a good year, I could attend all four plus a few other wool and sheep festivals. Now, twenty or thirty years later, I've been to Taos Wool Festival, Estes Park Wool Market, and am wishing that I could top it all off with trips to Rhinebeck and the daddy of all the wool festivals, the Maryland Sheep & Wool Fest. (One is www.sheepandwool dot COM and the other is dot ORG! How confusing!)
Now that I focus mainly on mixed media art, I go to Art Unraveled and have been to two Art & Soul retreats. and I've got ambitions aimed at the Houston Quilt Festival and ArtQuilt Tahoe. I will go to those someday. Who knows? Maybe next year!
But I've still got one more brewing in my mind. My dream retreat/conference would be held in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and would feature mixed media art but the real star would be embroidery, both hand and machine varieties. This isn't counted cross stitch or the sweet little motifs you see done to perfection (and I do admire this!) in Inspirations magazine. For over five hundred years, the cutting edge of embroidery has existed in the UK. Even before it became the UK, Great Britain and its component countries of England, Scotland, and Wales has been a hotbed of embroidery. It still is. What do you think Mary Queen of Scots did for all those years she was imprisoned? She and her hostess did miles of embroidery! All of those bedhangings, draperies, screens, garments, etc. had to be embroidered by hand because machines didn't do it back then!
So I'd like to bring some of the very best of English embroiderers together with some creative spirits from the Mixed Media world for a week of teaching, learning, creating, and inspiring each other in what is to my mind the most exciting place on earth, the Colorado Rockies.
My question is, who else would be up for that? Do you dream of spending a week learning from Maggie Grey (yeah, right, like I could get Maggie to come from England! Oh, I wish!)? Or being inspired by Jackie Cardy or Michelle Ward? If you would be, please leave me a comment. Sometimes you just need to know that you aren't the only one who thinks a certain way. You know?
1 comment:
I have a dream retreat/conference of island (think Gauguin), my old school briefcase full of brushes, paints, chalks & a pile of canvases & textured papers, like minded people & life models & tropical backdrop & bright hand woven fabrics... actually, it sorta sounds like an orgy now I've reread that, but it's definitely ONLY an artistic pursuit I have in mind!
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