Wendy Cooper with Rotarians Vi Hughes and Ivan Docker
This week we heard from Wendy Cooper President of the Focus on Fibre Art Association. Wendy told us that the association was founded in Edmonton in 1998 to encourage, foster and develop excellence and appreciation of fibre as an art form. She said it is a non-profit assocation which includes individual members and nine member guilds from many different areas of fibre art in the Edmonton region. These include Quilting, Ukrainian Arts, Needlecraft, Rug Hooking, Weaving and Latchet Machine Knitting which also encompass such things as lace making, felting, paper making, tapestry, wearables, doll making and much, much more. They promote these arts by sponsoring workshops throughout theyear featuring well known local, national and international artists, presenting events and providing a showcase for these arts through a biennial juried competition and exhibition of these works of art. They accept submissions from all ages, including youth.
The upcoming competition in 2024 will be the first one since 2020, when COVID restrictions forced them to shut down. The theme for this competition is ‘Keeping it Local” and there are many different categories that can be entered. The show will take place in August at their Focus on Fibre Art Studio at 10554-110 St. Wendy said that they are supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts but also welcome donations to help defray the costs of their workshops and competition. More information on their organization, workshops and upcoming competition can be found on their website www.focusonfibreart.org.