FuLL CiRcLe

This design work on fabric is the result of another project we did in Youth Arts this summer. This was the first project.

This one was the one I made quickly to try out the methods. : )

I was explaining to the kids about fabric structure and the difference between weaving and knitting. We did some "de-weaving"; pulling out the weft to reveal the warp as fringe.

We also talked about the use of dye to color the fabric. We used the dye in crayons to color the fabric. We ironed out the wax to leave only the dye behind. The kids found this fascinating!

This little guy loves Pokemon!, and he knows I love the swirly stuff of Polywrath, so he made this for me. : )

This little guy designed his to honor his love for his mom and dad!

The first time I was teaching Youth Arts, it was the same program that I taught this summer, in the same small town! Then was the first year it was run through the recreation Commission (1983). Now it is run through the Arts Council (where it has been for many years now). That first time I had been pushing for the program to the head guy, David Speed, for a year before he started it up. David was a good guy. I worked on the program with a guy who had graduated from Emily Carr in Vancouver.

I have never lost my joy of working with children. I have succeeded with that dream, now that I am a mother (thank god!). I have worked as a nanny 3 times over the years, I volunteered in a daycare holding babies in New York, and have also done two stints working for the summer recreation programs for kids, with the Recreation Commission.

Fibre Arts. This is what I know, and love.
I really
enjoyed the challenge, and
was thrilled to be asked to teach
Fibre Arts to
kids this summer. This is truly
the easiest, and most
joyful job in the
world to me. After years of personal
growth work, to
get in touch with that
little "child within" me. I am healed. I love,
understand, and
identify with little
children. When I was nineteen,
and I explored my
future career options
through aptitude tests at the college,
it became a
toss up for me to choose
between, the fashion industry, and early
childhood education. Fabric is a natural
for me, and teaching it to children (and the young of heart : ), well why
not?

Full circle, in this small town. Full circles are weird, but Hallelujah! They are what life is all about. Watch for them.

I like these words by Woodie Guthrie, (even though I AM GLAD to be grown up. I still feel the joy and wonder a child has). :

"Watch the kids. Do like they do. Act
like they act. Yell like they yell. Dance the ways you see them dance. Sing like
they sing. Work and rest the way the kids do.
You'll be healthier. You'll
feel wealthier. You'll talk wiser. You'll go higher, do better, and live longer
here amongst us if you'll just only jump in here and swim around in these songs
and do like the kids do.
I don't want the kids to be grownup. I want to see
the grown folks be kids."