WARP’s 2024 Annual Meeting

Lynda Teller Pete, Keynote Speaker: Enduring Beauty: Weaving a Diné Family History

Navajo tapestry weaver Lynda Teller Pete is originally from the Two Grey Hills, Newcomb, NM areas of the Navajo Nation, and she now lives in Denver. Weaving is a legacy in the Teller family. For over seven generations, her family has produced award-winning rugs in the traditional Two Grey Hills regional style. Along with her weaving, Lynda is collaborating with fiber art centers, museums, universities, fiber guilds and other art venues to educate the public about Navajo history and the preservation of Navajo weaving traditions. Lynda and her sister Barbara wrote Spider Woman’s Children, Navajo Weavers Today and How To Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman. fff

Judy Newland: Exploring the Meaning of Textiles Through Time and Place

Judy Newland is retired faculty in museum anthropology at Arizona State University where she served as the Director for the ASU Museum of Anthropology. A weaver, spinner, and dyer for over 40 years, she concentrates on weavings that spring from cultural ideas and process. Her research includes archaeological textile fieldwork in Peru, weaving in the Southwest United States, and indigo dye processes and cultural practices around the world. Her talk, Exploring the Meaning of Textiles Through Time and Place, explores art, society, politics, religion, and more, making connections through time and between cultures.

2024 Alice Brown memorial scholarships & gloria davis memorial assistantship

The Alice Brown Memorial Scholarship is an award for students and young professionals who are invested in WARP’s mission. Scholarship recipients join us at the Annual Meeting to connect with the WARP community and share their research and creative practices. A highlight of the program is learning about the work of the Alice Brown Memorial Scholarship recipients via their presentations. The 2024 Scholarship Recipients are: Romy Anderson, Elie Michael Jammal, Peiyang (Camille) Li, Olivia Mills, and Sedona Rigsby.

The Gloria Davis Memorial Assistantship offers financial assistance for members to attend WARP’s Annual Meeting. In exchange for financial assistance, recipients help at the Annual Meeting, and are involved in a range of conference activities. The final presentation during this video was delivered by Assistantship Recipient, Donna Foley.

2024 Marketplace vendor presentations

The WARP Annual Meeting includes a fantastic vendor marketplace with handmade textiles from around the world. At our 2024 Meeting, each marketplace vendor had the chance to give a brief talk about their work: the artisans they work with and the products they sell. Please consider purchasing handmade goods from WARP’s vendors when you are looking for gifts, or new textiles for your home!

julia gomez: A Stitch Out of Time: A story of Colcha Embroidery in New Spain

Julia Gomez is an acclaimed Colcha Embroidery artist from New Mexico. Julia will open Friday’s program with her presentation, A Stitch Out of Time: A story of Colcha Embroidery in New Spain. Julia is among the few artists who spin Churro wool and weave sabanilla backing cloth for colcha embroidery. Since retiring in 2002, following a 36-year career teaching home economics in the Santa Fe public schools, Julia has devoted herself to colcha embroidery. She has participated in Spanish Market for eighteen years. Among many honors, she won Best of Show in 2010. Julia loves teaching children about hand-dying, hand-spinning, and hand-weaving.

Panel discussion with Jill D’Alessandro & Megan Osborne

Jill D’Alessandro joined the Denver Art Museum as director and curator of the Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion in 2023. Prior to joining the DAM, Jill served as the curator in charge of costume and textile arts at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. During her 21-year tenure in San Francisco, D’Alessandro developed over 25 exhibitions on a diverse variety of subjects, ranging from world textile traditions to twentieth- and twenty-first century fashion design. Serving as a curator of global textile collections has greatly informed her worldview and Jill is expressively interested in the study of textile arts as a vehicle to draw connections across cultures.

Megan Osborne is the Collections Manager and Assistant Curator of the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising at Colorado State University. She has curated many exhibitions including Walking in Beauty: Designs by Orlando Dugi, 2019 and Mr. Blackwell: Inspiration to Innovation, 2022. In addition to her curatorial work, Megan is responsible for the daily management and care of artifacts in the Avenir Museum Collection. She directs an active volunteer program and facilitates research with undergraduate and graduate students and visiting scholars. Megan will speak from the local institutional perspective of Denver’s unique contribution to textile arts.

Marilyn Murphy: Keeping Textile Heritage Relevant: How Artisans Are Meeting the Moment

Marilyn Murphy is an advocate for the preservation of vital craft-related communities, traditions, and knowledge around the world, and a lifelong supporter of textile makers and artists. She is currently a partner in Clothroads, an organization dedicated to supporting sustainable opportunities for Indigenous textile artisans, and was previously president of Interweave Media, owner of Chicago’s Weaving Workshop and the founder of the Textile Arts Centre in Chicago. Marilyn serves as board president for the nonprofit Andean Textile Arts, is a selection and standards committee member for the acclaimed International Folk Art Market, an advisory council member for the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising, and a mentor and advisor to many in the global textile community. Based in Fort Collins, CO, Marilyn is herself an accomplished textile artist and maker. Please click below to download the resource document which accompanies Marilyn’s presentation: