Welcome to the TSWG website

If you are visiting our website for the first time, welcome!  Please take some time to look around at who we are, what we do and how we try to share our love of fiber arts.  We hope you will find inspiration, support and a place to connect with like-minded artisans.  If you would like to join us at our guild studio, check out the About page for information on our hours and ways to connect.  If you need resources to help you in your own fiber endeavors or education, check out our Resources & Links page.  No matter your level of knowledge or expertise, we hope you will find joy in the creativity and work of your hands.  

Well, I’ve been away from this page for quite a while now; you know, life just gets in the way so often. The guild recently viewed a screening of a discussion of the new book, How String Changed the World by Cameron Taylor-Brown. The presenter offered the concept of using Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” as a means to understand what the fiber arts have meant to the world through history (and to us, today). And although I did feel like I was sitting once again in a college psychology class (circa 1972), it offered an interesting perspective on what we, as fiber artists, “get” from our art. Briefly, our human needs
follow a continuum from the most basic (Biological and Physiological) through Safety,
Belongingness and Love, Esteem, Cognitive, Aesthetic, and Self-Actualization. Of course, our fiber arts through history met the first two needs primarily, with clothing, food gathering, hunting/fishing, travel, etc, and also over time provided some Belonging through identity — clothing, flags, etc. Certainly there was much Esteem realized by both the makers and the wearers/users of nicer clothing, sails, and such. But what do the fiber arts provide to us, today, as the producers of these fiber art objects?

I would suggest that the two “needs” that are met most by our fiber activities are Cognitive (knowledge, meaning, and self-awareness), and Aesthetic (beauty, balance, and form).  Certainly there is the pleasure of finally “getting” how to wind a warp and dress a loom, or figuring out a pattern. There is the pleasure of touch — fine fibers or sturdy, practical fabrics. And then there is the simple aesthetic pleasure of pattern, color, and form.  And think of the psychological benefits we derive from our art — the meditative state we sink into, the release of tension, the pleasure of creation, the feeling of accomplishment, and the joy of giving. Hopefully, all these can work together at some point in our fiber journey for us to realize a degree of Self-Actualization — personal growth and fulfillment — because, why else would we do it??