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| Guild display at the Coralville Library celebrating our 75 years. |
In September, 1939, war was imminent, and a group of women got together to enjoy their friendships, their crafts and to recycle materials into usable items. It was during this first year, the guild direction was founded, a social network with a mission, the goal of repurposing whatever could be found as was needed at the time and educating women in "home arts". Some early example of their thrift were using copper from wiring for art and for jewelry, pewter for candle holders, wax for candles.
Fast forward 75 years
We continue the tradition and recently had an open house to welcome back from our summer hiatus returning and new members. It was such a treat to see all the items folks had been working on. Guess it really wasn't a hiatus. We are no longer a group of just women, but men and women who are weavers, spinners, potters, quilters, beaders, ply-split braiders, and knitters. And yet, our mission has remained the same to encourage each other to pursue our creativity in whatever fashion moves us. All the while, provide educational opportunities, participate in service projects, and genuinely reach beyond our comfort zone. The Craft Guild of Iowa City is still going strong.
The Weavers Challenge
The weavers group challenged its members to design and weave something that would represent 75 years of weaving. The weaver group was one of the three original arts when the craft guild began.
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| Each of the items displayed represent the member's response to that challenge |
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| 75th Anniversary/CGIC barcode |
Nancy wove a green towel the color of our logo and the bathroom she painted when the group moved into the house...and its still green. In the spirit of the founding members who repurposed everything they could in their works, Terry wove a towel in manifold twill using cotton recovered from recycled cotton, unraveled from materials from the Crowded Closet. The pillow was woven using a "barcode" that horizontally spells CGIC and vertically seventy-five. We also had a runner using a diamond twill because 75th anniversary is the diamond anniversary, a silk sari sparkling rug/runner, a bamboo double mat having 75 spots and red tencel scarf in a diamond pattern.
And Deb produced this double faced 75th diamond anniversary mat.
Mary used the structure 8 point broken diamond omitting the 7 and 5 to produce the background for the moorman inlay linen and bamboo napkin.
I know I have forgotten someone and for that I apologize. I was so impressed by everyone who took up the challenge and not only ran with it, but who embraced it.
This is clearly an example of why this group is still going strong after 75 years.
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