Carla learned to weave in 2001, and makes textiles using techniques ranging from hand-manipulation to weaving on a 24-shaft dobby loom. She has contributed several articles to the Complex Weavers Journal, and exhibited a piece in Complexity 2024. She particularly enjoys exploring the possibilities of double-weave.
Laurie Carlson Steger began studying weaving at craft schools and earned a BFA in Textile Design from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, MA, USA. After reading about a new loom and workshop opportunity in a weaving magazine in 1995, she joined the TC jacquard loom workshop at Montclair State College, New Jersey. She graduated from the MFA Artisanry/Fibers (1998) at UMASS Dartmouth, focusing on weaving with fiber optic lighting and consulted in the field of smart textile applications. She has taught textile science at Boston area colleges and led workshops/lectures at weaving guilds, New England Weaving Seminar, Textile Society of America, HGA’s Convergence, and Complex Weavers Seminars. She is an exhibiting member of South End Wovens studio in the SoWa artist district of Boston, MA.
Karen Donde weaves wearables and home textiles for exhibit and teaches beginning-advanced weaving, in-person and online. Conference teaching includes HGA’s Convergence, Northern California Handweavers, MAFA, Midwest Weavers, Intermountain Weavers, NEWS, Contemporary Handweavers of Texas and Florida Tropical Weavers. She shared a weaving studio in Asheville, NC, for five years, and offers occasional private lessons in her home. Karen is CW Past President, a member of Cross Country Weavers and the Southern Highland Craft Guild and a graduate of Haywood Community College’s fiber program. With a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, she now writes for and about weavers.
Jenny Schu graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA focused on Fibers; you can currently see her work in galleries around the Midwest. Jenny has exhibited nationally through numerous guilds and galleries; most recently accepting a Second Place Award for “Is There A Thing To Which Brings Us Less Joy Yet We Devote More Time” at Michigan League of Handweavers Biennial Exhibit 2024. For the past 15 years Jenny has presented and taught workshops through various Fiber Arts Guilds.
Rebecca Winter is a self-proclaimed color and texture person, who has spent a lot of time learning about the structure of weaving. She holds two Master Certificates of Excellence from HGA, in Color-and-Weave Stars and Shadow Weave. She is the author of The Enigma of Shadow Weave Illuminated, the second book in history to include information about the method of shadow weave created by Marian Powell. As an RN, Rebecca taught medical assistants at Stevens-Henager College for six years, and is now retired. Weaving, teaching when students appear, paper weaving, and bookmaking are daily occupations. Fabric, yarn, and paper are ever-present.
Laura first encountered weaving on an elementary school trip. Not until she saw some diagrams of tablet weaving at an experimental archaeology lecture during her college semester in Germany did she realize there was weaving that could be done without a giant antique barn frame loom. The discovery of low-tech weaving set her on a life-long path of exploration encompassing a BFA in Fibers, the acquisition of a great many books, and the tendency to spend a lot of her vacation time at textile conferences.
Laurie Carlson Steger (pictured on the right in pink) is a fiber-artist. Her weavings are inspired by atmospheric phenomenon like ethereal cloud banks. Laurie began weaving at camp in the 1960’s, then studied at the Worcester Center for Crafts in the 1970’s. She earned a BFA and MFA at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She explored weaving with fiber optic materials and was an engineering consultant in the field of smart textile applications in the 2000’s. Her recent work was shown with the exhibitions, Interpreting Change: Weavers’ Guild of Boston 1922-2022, HGA Convergence, Vistas Along the Appalachian Trail and upcoming, Transformation – A Juried Exhibit sponsored by the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild. Her work has been seen in FiberArt Magazine, Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot, Fiberart International, Fiber Art Now: Excellence in Fibers, and her millinery work at London Hat Week. She taught Textile Science at Boston area colleges, curated exhibitions, and led workshops/lectures at weaving guilds and textile organizations. Laurie is the current Associate Dean of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston.
Norma Smayda (pictured on the left in white) is a Master Weaver, exhibitor, teacher, juror, and author, who trained in handweaving and related fiber arts in Norway. She received an MFA in Visual Design from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In 1974, she established and continues to run the Saunderstown Weaving School. Scandinavian design is an important focus of her work, as well as the contributions of Weaver Rose and Bertha Gray Hayes. She coauthored Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes: Miniature Overshot Patterns. More recently, she immersed herself in weaving with fan reeds, which culminated in her second book, Ondulé Textiles: Weaving with a Fan Reed. She has received numerous awards for her exhibited work, the most prestigious of which are the Handweavers’ Guild of America Award for Creativity and Craftsmanship and the New England Weavers Seminar Weaver of Distinction Award. She had two pieces in the Weavers’ Guild of Boston exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA and one piece in the show Along the River’s Edge, TIAC, Clayton, NY. She is Past President of the Handweavers’ Guild of America.
I have been weaving for over 50 years, learning to weave as a child from my mother. I have always been fascinated with pattern and block designs, finding ways to maximize both on four shafts before moving on to multi-shaft looms. For the past 20+ years, I have been exploring the interaction of colour and structure to develop increasingly complex designs. I have taught and published articles on tessellations, double two-tie, and parallel weaves, as well as other topics, in the Complex Weavers Journal. My work has been accepted into, and won awards at local, regional, and international exhibits.