The meeting was called to order by Co-President Joan Vierra who welcomed everyone as well as our speaker, Barbara Shapiro. Co-President Maggie Clark welcomed all the new members and asked those present to introduce themselves. Ann Hamburg, Ann Scobie and Jeri Monroe each told a little about their fiber related interests. All three mentioned spinning and Maggie said that seemed to be an area of interest to many people and would make a great special interest group for the guild. Two visitors, Carolyn and Melanie, were also present.
LeAnn Bjelle reminded us that we are invited to join the Carmel Crafts Guild for the October 16th presentation on Saturday with the Zoom link in the Members Only, Calendar section of our website. The meeting begins at 10:00. Gael Mueller will be speaking about her trip to Antarctica that led her to develop and weave an original tartan in honor of the Irish explorer, Edward Bransfield.
Maggie introduced our speaker, Barbara Shapiro, who talked about Art in the Time of Covid-2021. She has been a weaver, dyer, basketmaker and teacher for over 45 years. The opening slide showed some beautifully crafted miniature vessels she’d created from photos in Japanese books, but she also mentioned that many of her recent pieces were inspired by politics as well as being objects of beauty. Some of the titles communicate the thoughts behind them: Repair the World, The Elders, Sand- bagging and Fawlty Towers all have a message. Barbara plaits her objects with cane, bamboo, hemp fabric, paper and waste from silk cocoons as well as less traditional material as artist lithographs collected by her mother. A whole series of lidded vessels were inspired by antique tea pot lids collected in Japan. She mentioned a Japanese paper store in the Los Angeles area called Hiromi Paper and invited anyone with questions to write to her at <barbara@barbarashapiro.com> She will be teaching at CNCH in May and will be returning to give us a workshop next fall.
After 8 members shared their latest projects during Show and Tell, the meeting was adjourned at 11:40.
Respectfully submitted, Kris Nardello