HGA Convergence in New Orleans, 2026

We were SO excited when HGA announced that Convergence was in New Orleans for 2026. It is a city that my husband and I have talked about going to but never gotten around to making the effort to plan. I've realized that to get excited about any vacation, I need to have a starting point to go there. Like a concert (Madness in Seattle, Rammstein in Minneapolis...) or a weaver's conference. Now that I've been to NOLA, I get it. Every time I mentioned to someone that we were headed to New Orleans who had been, they lit up. What an awesome city. HGA had the conference downtown close to everything which made it easy to try all sorts of food and hear lots of jazz. 

I keep saying that putting together proposals and trying to fill classes is just too stressful for me to manage along with my day job, but then when I'm there, the whole time, I'm so glad I made the effort. Will the stress and anxiety ever subside? Probably not. Is it worth it every time? Yes. I know more and more people every year and if I stop teaching and sharing my knowledge with other fiber artists then I loose that momentum that I've spent...decades...building. Something I've learned to do though, while I'm there amidst other weavers and fiber artists, is I start to think of more proposals and run ideas by my colleagues while I'm there...and write them down. I have a 2028 Proposals draft started and need to go through my notes in my sketchbook.

Convergence was busy from Day 1. The fashion show was particularly stunning this year. I had 3 blocks of time at the Leader booth and had better than usual sales this year. My Finish and Exhibit that Piece! Seminar was a low attendance but we went forward with it anyway and it was still fun and informative with a smaller group. A day or 2 later my husband said he ran into someone who took my seminar and she was very complimentary about how much she learned. This was Bryan's second Convergence, Reno was his first introduction to the weavers guild world and he fits right in along with being super helpful.

I took Tina Linville's Class on “Crafting Clarity: Writing Art Statements.”  I've always struggled with writing artist statements and bios. Her class actually got me excited to work on mine!  I utilized her talk to work on a Bio I needed to submit and it might be the first time ever I felt like it was saying and doing what I wanted it to.  She also pointed out to us just how much different types of writing and statement us artists have to do. I feel like I could take a longer workshop on this, but it was a great start to what I really should be focused on with my submitted writing.

My Beadweaving Sampler Class (Even Count Peyote, Flat Herringbone and Right  Angle Weave) was the last day of the conference and everyone was excited to take the class but also tired from all the stuff we'd been doing and classes we've been taking. I was worried about being tired, but I get so exited to teach beading that I didn't notice. Peyote and Herringbone went well for most everybody, Right Angle Weave was a bit more difficult because it doesn't have a flow to it. 2 students would agree, the other 2 eventually got it (and one had to leave early). 

Above are some of the student's flat herringbone stitch that 

I remembered to take photos of while everyone went to lunch.

My friend Sydney (thank you Instagram for another in-person fiber-friendship) invited me to pop into her dye class. I caught the end and got to see some of the beautifully dyed warps that her and her students worked on. It was also cool to see how they set up a hotel conference room for a dye-class. Lots of plastic coverings.

We stayed an extra 3 days past the conference. On Monday morning HGA hosted a very nice volunteers appreciation breakfast. I considered that I hadn't really done any volunteering, I will on the fly if my schedule allows but I was also trying to enjoy myself, it was nice to thank those who did though, and talk with the HGA staff and discuss the forward movement of HGA. 

The next stop on Monday was taking the bus out to Small Expressions at Longue Vue House & Gardens. The down side to the buses and trolleys was that there were a lot of screens that weren't working and my google map wasn't updating properly so we missed our stop. The bus driver asked who requested the next stop and pulled over early to drop us off, worried that two, clearly out-of-towners, weren't going to survive the walk in the heat. We did, we were quite hot by the time we got to the exhibit. As with the rest of the exhibits put on by HGA, Small Expressions 2026 is phenomenal and I'm honored have my original Resist Bangle as be part of it. 

We were close to one of the large pubic cemeteries at the Longue Vue House and got to walk that in a light rain storm, the overcast sky was really fitting and the graves in New Orleans are as beautiful as you hear about and unique as you always hear or see in photos. 

Looking back, Monday was a pretty long day too, Tuesday we walked around more, shopped and had an amazing dinner at Maïs Arepas. I picked this restaurant partially because it was close to the Rabbit Hole where we were headed for music for the night and the online photos looked great. It did not disappoint! Then we headed (a bit too early, as everything runs slow in the South) to the Rabbit Hole to see the Rebirth Brass Band. This was the only show we paid to go see and it was such a great time. I hear that every show is different at the Rabbit Hole when you go see Rebirth. The bartender cannot get enough of getting to see them all the time 

The last day was more exploring, we like to walk around and for some reason the heat didn't get to me as bad as it did in Reno. I also am probably better at knowing when I need to quite before it feels awful.  I took lots of photos of cool doors, hinges, bright color house paint colors, and "look! Real shutters!" We had great food, took a nap nearly every day, and I finally know why people light up when you mention New Orleans if they've been before. We'll look forward to going back sometime.

Finish and Exhibit that Piece! My Seminar at Convergence 2022

Back in July I gave a Seminar with the Handweavers Guild of America Convergence Conference called "Finish and Exhibit that Piece!"

Room set up at Knoxville, Convergence 2022

Here was my seminar description with HGA: 

As a fiber artist I tend to work with a concept and do not think about how a piece is going to be presented or issues I may run into in hanging or putting the finished work together. This problem can often be solved by considering this at the beginning of the design process but there are usually plenty of bumps along the way. This seminar focuses on the importance of finishing and hanging decisions, touches on photographing work for entering shows and encourages fiber artists and hobbyists to get their work out there!

Leaf Me Alone prep to hang the piece

Before the conference I had the time to reach out to my seminar attendees to see what level of interest everyone had in the 3 main things I planned on discussing: 

1) Finish work (sewing, hand work, edging solutions)

2) Ways of hanging pieces and tools/materials to create hanging structures

3) Photographing/basic editing, what to look for in photos

All of my attendees were interested primarily in the first 2 so I didn't work on getting into photographing. Lucky me because the finishing process is much more fun to delve into. I try to make each of my talks, lectures, seminars different. I grow and learn so what I have to share grows along with me. I have a base talk that I work off of for the big key points but I always tweak my discussions the week (or day) before. I think I left photographing out besides pointing out why it's important and different ways jury processes can view photos.

Hook and loop with flatstock for hanging There and Back Again

My class was really quiet. To the point I was wondering how my attendees were doing. I did finally realize that they were just listening intently and had really great questions once we were moving along. 

I brought samples of molding, plexiglass, and the tools I use to cut and drill. There were also plenty of pieces of my own artwork with varying ways that I have finished and hung them over the years. The good, bad and the ugly. I think it's really important to be transparent about "here's where I started and didn't know what I was doing"..to "here I am now and it all looks much more professional however I'm open to new ideas and ways of making the finish work even better."

The thing I felt I missed out on was getting to look at some other people's work and discuss the issues they're hung up on. We possibly could have addressed more questions and ideas looking at work other than my own.  I did stay after to talk about some images that an attendee had sent me before the class.  I really love to talk process and help other fiber artists excel. I had also gone through some of the exhibits for the conference the day(s) before my talk and was able to incorporate photos I had taken of works everyone could see in person. I love looking at and discussion creative ways to hang exhibits.

Weavings rolled over paint rollers in plexiglass display pieces 

at an exhibit in Knoxville

I felt like the seminar went well although I could have gone on for much longer. I struggled a bit with getting it dark enough in the room to get the projector images nice and clear but no one complained about that. What I did hear the rest of the conference was how great my talk was. I was stopped in the hall by other attendees telling me they wished they had known about my seminar, a vendor asked what I taught and when I told her she said that she had heard great things about my seminar and that attendees really learned a lot. It reminded me that this really something I needed help with when I started showing my weavings. The best ideas any of us have at the beginning of trying to present textiles of all sorts is to stick it on a dowel rod which isn't the only option (and usually not the best option). 

A bad example: dowel, unfinished edge, loose stitched

Workshopping with Ellen W. Miller, Feathers and Chinese Knots

Every once in a while I take a workshop offered by a Weaver or Fiber Arts Guild. I took one last year with David Owen Hastings, mostly to see how teaching on Zoom felt from the aspect of the student so I could take notes for teaching on Zoom myself. I learned some really cool things about sewing with paper and a new design technique that I have yet to apply to my work but I plan on using in the future. For me workshopping isn't about making a finished-something but to learn something new or a better way of creating from other creatives. (Also, I loved David Owen Hastings as an instructor, I highly recommend!)

Ellen W. Miller's workshops really got my creative juices going this month and the techniques were far beyond anything that I have touched upon in the past.  I took her classes in Feather Embellishments and Chinese Knots. 

I learned so much about feathers and how to work with them I've been thinking of all sorts of things I could use them for, particularly our wedding or just new accessories.  I suppose I had never before thought about how feathers are manipulated, snipped and curled to get certain looks. We also learned about different types of feathers, both from parts of the bird and discussed different birds. Looks like I'm going to have to raid my parents little chicken coup when they get back from Texas!

I learned what I needed from the Chinese Knot workshop to apply to something that's been in a sketchbook for a few years. I'm not sure if I'm ready to share that idea right now, it's not going to be as easy as I once thought it could be. Ellen taught us 3 knots and then expanded upon how they are used and connect to each other to provide embellishment but also as fasteners. 

Of course, even though I'm trying to get rid of books taking up space in my life, I want to buy her book to add to my fiber library. 

Clark got very excited to hear that I was on Zoom and came in 

to "help" for a little bit and hung out on my lap.

Teaching Beadweaving on Zoom for the First Time

On June 18th (2021) I taught my first beadweaving workshop over the internet via Zoom. I had  a lot of reservations about teaching over Zoom but through much encouragement from the Kalamazoo guild I decided to go for it.  We don't learn new ways of doing things until we move forward and just do them, which is where I finally was at with teaching online. It's a really cool opportunity and I know weavers like Rebecca Mezoff have been teaching online for years.

Pros: 

Everyone can see on their screens what my hands are doing with the stitch.  St. Petersburg Chain moves in a lot of different directions so being able to sit in one spot and keep doing the stitch for the students repetitively, or slowing it down when there were questions was awesome. In a live class I have to go to each person and show them, or gather everyone in and huddle and/or draw it on a white board. I usually do all of the above.

When everyone has the stitch/rhythm down I can move to showing them a piece I'm working on that has a variation of the stitch we're learning.  I've never had the time or opportunity to do this in a class before. Everyone moves at different speeds so those who are moving fast can learn how I manipulate the stitch further while I can always jump back to the original sample piece to show the stitch again. This is pretty difficult to do in person.

On a personal level, I actually got a piece worked on and was able to finish the sample bracelet I made  with the class all the way to the end where I could show how them how to add the loop and pearl closure.  I usually am just doing this with each individual at the end of the class, sometimes running over time.

6 hours was perfect for this bracelet. We did 3 hours, an hour break and then another 3 hours. 

My set up, laptop logged in, smartphone logged in

Cons:

Not being able to see each student's work in person can be a problem when I need to figure out where the stitch is going awry. Holding beadwork up to the camera wasn't as bad as I thought it might be but I'm pretty hands-on when figuring out where someone is making a literal wrong turn in a stitch. 

Advance preparation was very time-consuming. I really like to have a bunch of colors available to students to pick out in the class. Getting photos of bead options out to students to pick out with correct colors, the time I needed to place a bead order in the event everyone wanted more of a color than I had, prepping kits and mailing them is a lot more time than I suspected it would be. Everything worked out fine though so that was a relief.  

I may need a new phone. This is just a personal con, but the camera on my phone has been weird about capturing photos and video with a choppy zoom function.  We got through and maybe I was the only person who noticed but it's something I need to keep in mind for next time.

My finished bracelet, which will actually be perfect for the 

Mustard Plug show we're going to in August!

All in all this was a much easier way to teach (I never thought I'd be admitting that a year ago) and I look forward to doing this again.  I have a few things to get done around the house before I commit to more online workshops (today is replace the back storm door day) but keep an eye out for more workshops via my newsletter and social media! Or feel free to reach out to me in advance and I'll make sure I let you know when I'm getting students together for a class.

Zoom Workshop with David Owen Hastings

I'm so grateful and fortunate that as a member of the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild the board has worked hard to move meetings to Zoom so we can meet virtually.  They have also teamed up with the Needlework and Textile Guild of Michigan to share meetings, speakers and workshops.  This month NTGM had David Owen Hastings as their speaker.  After seeing some of his pieces I made sure to take work off for his lecture.  I really appreciate seeing someone's creative process and hearing them speak before I take a workshop with them.  I actually try not to take workshops very often because I can easily get distracted from my own artwork goals. I decided I needed something to look forward to on the day one of his workshops was being offered.  I happened to have that day off and it was dreary and raining so I couldn't work on my garage roof.  I have also been asked if I am willing to teach workshops on Zoom and I wanted to see how a workshop which is usually "hands on" would work in this manner.

After Mary R. posted her paper collage pieces on the Ann Arbor Guild's Facebook Member Page I talked myself right into this workshop that they were having again the following week.  I've done some sewing with paper in the past and I've never gotten too hooked on paper projects so I figured this would be safe to play for a few hours and put it down.  The above piece is the first one I created.  I love that I didn't have to go get anything extra for this workshop, we used stuff I already had at home and David's materials prep list had alternates for things if you didn't have them on hand.  Like I used post-its to frame up the strips on the base paper but I'm probably going to pick up some painters tape at work for ease of this particular process.  The above piece was my first one and I might have gotten hooked immediately.  Next I just wanted to see what the paper strips looked like I ruled notepaper; I didn't like it as much as seen below.

For my third little piece I went back to the brown paper bag square as a base, it's just a nice subtle background with a hint of texture. This workshop gave me a little nudge out of my 2020 studio-box of mask making and some weaving.  I've also been knitting in the evenings instead of beading, but that's not in the studio.

I have to admit I struggled with the second half of the class.  The process of cutting and turning and flipping pieces of paper until they looked satisfactory felt more like I was trying to make a puzzle work that wasn't meant to be a puzzle.  I solved part of my issue with a purple sheer vellum and called it good.  I'm fairly pleased with how the below piece turned out, mostly because I like the color pallet.

I recall as I was spinning and moving these pieces of paper around to make a thing, anything, that I could quit and be happy with the first portion and go back to playing with the strips which were easy for me.  Instead I pressed on because workshops are about a little bit of fun challenge and learning new techniques. As with many of my pieces, I thought "well I'm not doing that again" but as I let the process of flipping pieces of text around in paper, the thought occured to me that I could do this with a single text in my own work.  I do a lot of layering words and fonts in my weavings, I love to give viewers hints of words, jumble them so that people start to see what they relate to in word pieces rather than wondering what I'm getting at.  This process that David taught us is definitely going to transfer into my work at some point.  Something I didn't really feel like doing at the time ends up being a big "ah ha!" days, weeks later.

I also have to point out my big sewing take-away from David.  He uses a 1-inch strip of fabric to start and end the thread as he sews pieces on his machine.  Holy moly, I can't believe I've never heard of this before.  With all of my mask sewing (and now paper) this is going to be a thread and tension saver.  I love getting those random tips and tricks that will change the way you do something (machine sew) for ease and comfort.  That is a good reminder of why I need to take more workshops, the best way to learn is from each other.