About this Newsletter

Welcome to Maine Fiberarts’ newsletter. Use the Navigation Bar at the top to access eight different pages. Use the silver scroll bar at the right edge of the page to move text page up or down. To visit back issues, use the links listed under “Archives” in the masthead. The page marked “Slideshow” is a photographic tour of an exhibition currently at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA, taken with their permission. The show will travel throughout 2009. Enjoy!

Maine Fiberarts News

“ALONG THE COAST,” art quilts by Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade at Maine Fiberarts through Nov. 2 at 13 Main Street, Topsham. Hours: Mon.-Fri.,10-4. See our current exhibit online at www.mainefiberarts.org (click on “take in an exhibit” from the “Welcome” page). The exhibit consists of mixed media work based on “watermarks,” the international signal flag alphabet.

“Handwoven Work” by Hillary Hutton will be on view at Maine Fiberarts during November and December. Mark your calendar for our “Meet the Artist Reception” to be held Saturday, December 8, from 11  a.m.-2 p.m. in conjunction with Arts Downtown & All Around (open studios in Brunswick).

FIBER FRIDAY continues at Maine Fiberarts Center the first Friday of each month from 10 a.m.-noon. Bring your handwork and any inspirational books, exhibit catalogs or art info to share.  Next ones:  Nov. 2 (last chance to catch the show of art quilts by Fraas and Slade ) and Dec. 7. Please join us.

Our GRAND REOPENING CELEBRATION held in September was a great event with over 200 people attending, artists Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade on hand, an instantaneous tabletop exhibit of work by members, and lots of good food. Thanks to Dominica Lord-Word and Michael Patterson for demonstrating pine needle basketry and charka spinning. Thanks to Mary Chaisson for food and flowers. Thanks to Meredith Tipton for pre-party assistance, pinwheel sandwiches, and greeting our guests. Thanks for cooking to Dick Ellerhorst, Arlene Morris, Sharon Turner, Kate Brinsmade, Dolores Broberg, Dominica Lord-Wood, and many others. Thanks to Katharine Cobey for the bright red begonia now located in between two red quilts. Multiple thank yous to Maggie Muth for her multiple pre-party phone calls. Thanks to members who shared their work—people just poured over the show-and-tell!  Thanks to Anne Homme for cider and drinks and to all board members for coming. Thanks to fine carpenters Brent Zachau and Bruce Berry and to our master painter Dick Ellerhorst for a beautiful renovation of our 1840’s building. And a huge thank you to Arlene Morris and Steve Stern for making space available to Maine Fiberarts. Folks are still trickling in after the party to see our new space. We’re open weekdays, 10-4. Please come!

Christine Macchi will give a talk and digital image presentation about “Great Maine Resources for Spinners and Fiber Folks” in Freeport, Nov. 3 from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. for the NORTHEAST HANDSPINNERS ASSOCIATION. Workshops by Rudy Amann and Diane Trussell also take place. The meeting is open to members of NHA and visitors may join upon arrival. Freeport Community Center, Route 1, Freeport.

Tour Map News

We have ONLY three boxes of 2006/07 Tour Maps left (about 600 copies). Thanks to Beth Acker and to Dan and Meredith Tipton for getting maps out at Fryeburg Fair, thanks to Beth Acker and others for handing them out at Common Ground Fair, to Halcyon Yarn for distributing three boxes at their Open House and to Heather Kerner for taking them to Rhinebeck. 60,000 copies are out and around the Northeast. Many, many people came into Maine Fiberarts’ Visitors Center this Summer requesting copies or clearly using dog-eared copies. One man came in saying, “Last year, we toured 10 sites in Western Maine on our vacation. This year, we’re heading up the coast. What should we see?”  The editor of SPINOFF MAGAZINE used our Map to tour locations last year, and returned this year, to write profiles (see “Letters” from Nancy Williams, NewAIM Farm.) People are using these maps and will continue to do so.

We have begun work on a NEW EDITION OF A TOUR MAP. We are finalizing guidelines and policies and will launch printed and online registration forms. Since May, I have written six grants in hopes of finding funding. Participant fees help greatly, but are only a portion of what it takes to accomplish the Tour Map and Open Weekend. We are grateful to have received funds from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to underwrite the organization’s operating expenses for a period of time. Yesterday, we learned we will not receive either one of the two larger grants that would have made printing a Map in 2008 possible. Notification from one source was also long overdue (we’ve been waiting since September 1). We are dedicating 2008 to preparing to produce a printed map in 2009, pending funding, in conjunction with “The International Year of Natural Fibers” (see “News” in this newsletter). Your help is needed in finding great sites that should be included, particularly in Western Maine and in Aroostook County. We are also SEEKING REGIONAL REPS from around the State to help in planning, recruiting, and distribution and welcome your input and involvement. So far, Deb Claffie (So. Maine), Chris Leith (Downeast), and Kathy Beauregard (Western Maine) will serve as Regional Reps. Please be in touch if you are willing to help, even if the area is covered—more hands make light work. We also have a huge pledge of in-kind support from the Maine Department of Agriculture towards making the next map happen. We’ll be at work this time creating an interactive online map to complement our printed map and to extend its reach. And I’m beginning to wonder whether we should announce the Fiber Arts Tour Weekend on a separate flyer or on our website, to keep dates off the printed piece thereby extending its longevity. YOUR INPUT is greatly appreciated. Please email or call Christine at 721-0678; fiberarts@gwi.net. We believe the Tour Map is the best project we can do to bring the greatest impact for the largest numbers.I also believe that bringing the public directly to your door, while increasing visibility and awareness for fiber on the part of both tourists and Maine residents, is a valuable tool for building the future of fiber art, craft and farms. PLEASE JOIN US in making the next Tour Map an even better success.

Each year, the CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU of Greater Portland creates a CD of interesting travel concepts and destinations for distribution to tour operators. This year, CVB requested that Maine Fiberarts purchase a listing on the CD about our Tour Map. The result is also online at: www.visitportland.com/grouptour (enter the site, click on “Touring” and on “Maine Fiberarts”). During 2007, CDs were distributed at Discover New England, Pow Wow, World Travel Market, and the American Bus Association Marketplace to tour operators from England, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brazil, Italy, Japan, etc. Lynn Tillotson, Director of CVB’s Tourism Marketing wrote, “Do you know how many times recently that I have spoken about your Maine Fiberarts Map???!!!  I have been attending these shows and they are always looking for something new to do. They love your concept.”

FIBERARTS MAGAZINE mentioned Maine Fiberarts Tour Map in their April/May issue (pps. 56-57) in an article entitled, “Hittin’ the Trail in New Mexico.” The state legislature of New Mexico recently approved a special appropriation of $250,000 to establish an arts trail. The article talks about the influence of Becky Anderson’s Guide to the Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina and cites Maine Fiberarts’ Tour Map as another example.

YANKEE MAGAZINE named Maine Fiberarts an “Editors’ Choice”  as one of several destinations in Midcoast Maine, and as a place to “pick up a copy of their Tour Map to Studios & Farms.” Mention was made in their Travel Guide to New England (1.8 million readership).