Celebrating 10 Years of the School of Weaving

I’m blown away that we are starting the 10th season of the School of Weaving.

Somewhere back in 2014 I was sitting around the kitchen table with a bunch of weavers who were here for a weaving retreat. I got talking about creating an online guild so we could continue as a group after they left. It was going to be called JST unguilded 🤣. I brought it to reality when the wait lists for the retreats became too long and a very disappointed waitlister told me she had been on the waitlist for years and felt there was no hope of her ever getting to come. I will never forget that phone call, she was so terribly disappointed and I felt so bad.

It is a very good thing she shared her feelings with me because I knew I had to do something about it. I had made some videos for Louet and that went pretty well so I got talking to some local kids who had some experience with video and Myles and Dylan came to my rescue and helped me start my online guild. I had no idea at that moment in 2014 that we would launch something in 2016 that would become known around the world. I just wanted to help new weavers get a warp on their loom without too much fuss and fanfare. The Online Guild started airing in January of 2016 based on my workshop called “Honing Your Basic Weaving Skills”.

I was stunned by the response, we had over 900 students within a few months. It was so much fun because every minute was a whole new learning experience for all of us. After we got the first season in the bag, it was very clear to me that I could take all the workshops I had developed over the years and turn them into in-depth studies around colour and design, and then overlay those principles on every structure I knew. Now I’m doing it on structures I’ve never woven before and loving, loving, loving the learn experience. After almost 50 years behind a loom I feel like a beginner every single day, and I’m so grateful to all the weavers who have come along for the ride during the past 10 years. I am grateful for all the suggestions, the good and bad comments alike. Everything provides an opportunity to reflect and to create.

10 years later, I am still looking to the future. I want everyone who is a member of the School of Weaving to have access to more of the amazing weaving talent out there. We've learned so much from Joan Carrigan, Bob Keates, Rebecca Logan, Barbara Mitchell, Elisabeth Hill, Terry Mattison and our latest presenter Kris Bruland. I’m always on the search for new ideas, so I want to assure you that the School of Weaving will carry on for years to come. This art form offers such rich avenues for creativity and personal expression and I can’t imagine my life without it.

So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for hanging out with me.

Sending you all, so much love,

Jane

❤️