The GUILD goes to NEWS

The New England Weavers Seminar is held every odd year at a college campus — this latest was based at Westfield State University in Westfield MA.  The 2025 conference hosted over 350 students, and offered over 40 workshops (from half-day to multi-day) plus four exhibits, a day-tour, lectures, and awards presentations.  Every guild has a part to play and more than one, depending on the rotation).  Vermont’s guild has had its hand in a lot of it.

Traditionally, Vermont’s responsibility is to hang the Fashion Exhibit and to take it down on the last day.  In addition, your Vermont reps were responsible for cataloguing, collecting and transporting our Guild members’ entries to the Gallery and Fashion exhibits, and for seeing them back to their respective weavers after the conference. 

Our exhibit in the Guild Tables show was designed by Leslyn Hall and Shirley Bergert.  Our display (based on our napkins challenge) got a lot of positive comments — it was eye-catching.  

Best of all, several members of the Vermont Guild received awards for their pieces: 

Jane Bird's "Down The Garden Path"
Jane Bird's "Down The Garden Path"
Mary Alice Favro's "Blueberry Fields"
Mary Alice Favro's "Blueberry Fields"
Rebecca Jensen's "A Flower Grows"
Rebecca Jensen's "A Flower Grows"
Mary Schwartz "Idea of Mischief"
Mary Schwartz "Idea of Mischief"
Mary Schwartz "Idea of Abundance"
Mary Schwartz "Idea of Abundance"
Wilson Table in the pear tree
Betsy Wing's "Blues"
Betsy Wing's "Blues"
  • —  Jane Bird received the Weavers Guild of Boston’s Special Award for Creativity & Technical Excellence for her scarf, “Down the Garden Path;”
  • —  Mary Alice Favro earned NEWS’ Second Place Award for Towels for “Blueberry Fields;”
  • —  Becky Jensen earned two awards for “A Flower Grows”: the Handweavers Guild of America Special Award for Best in Gallery, and NEWS’ Second Place Award for 3-D Objects.
  • —  Mary Schwartz received NEWS’ First Place prize in the category of Hand-Manipulated Wall Hangings for her wall hanging, “An Idea of Mischief.” Another wall hanging, “An Idea of Abundance,” secured NEWS’ Second Place Award for Hand Manipulated Wall Hangings, as well as the Belfast Fiber Arts’ Special Award for Best Use of Undyed Fiber;
  • —  Pamela Wilson secured the Handweavers Guild of Connecticut’s Jo Parsons Award for Surface Design for her wall hanging titled “The Table in the Pear Tree;” and
  • —  Betsy Wing received the PRO Chemical & Dye Special Award for Best Use of Hand Dyed Fibers for her wall hanging, “The Blues.”

We consider ours a small Guild in the NEWS consortium, so our representation on Awards night was all the more powerful. 

Oh, and we did have fun: 

“News was an amazing experience and the time seemed to fly by. As a scribe my job was to record the points given and every comment made by the judge regarding each piece. The judge I worked with was wonderful, she was very thoughtful and encouraging with her comments and truly cared for the creator of each piece.” 

“Volunteering to sit shows is a chance to be inspired by and see exhibits in depth, and to protect the beautiful creations in each exhibit so it can remain open to NEWS attendees and the public. Full disclosure: I’m the NEWS volunteer coordinator (and proud to say VWG members always come through volunteering).” 

“Who knew there were so many fancy ways to fold napkins?”

“My first time at NEWS and, as promised, my fellow Guild members stepped up to make me feel welcomed, secure, supported, and included. Arranging and setting up the Guild table exhibit was interesting, and lots of people contributed to making that an easy & successful endeaver (we got a lot of positive feedback too!). 

Other comments:  “I had a great time. I met so many people from other guilds, and felt I got to know so many fellow guild members better.”

“I came away wanting to try somethings I had learned about.” 

“The exhibits were worth visiting more than once as there was so much to take in.” 

“I took advantage of the Friday night ‘studio tours’ to visit the classrooms where attendees were taking multi-day classes with looms set up and in progress, and instructors on hand. What an array of weaving and learning!”

“I think the best thing was being with other weavers, hearing about their classes, their experiences, interests and just sharing the love for an amazing craft.”

“My two cents’ worth for the next conference in 2027: PLAN TO GO!”

I will also add:  Plan to submit an entry!  Plan to volunteer!  NEWS will be a guaranteed growth spurt in your weaving journey.