Ethel Mary Partridge, Ethel Mary Mairet RDI, or Ethel Mary Coomaraswamy was a British hand loom weaver, significant in the development of the craft during the first half of the twentieth century.
Spinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibres are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fibre was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff. After the introduction of the spinning wheel in the 13th century, the output of individual spinners increased dramatically. Mass production later arose in the 18th century with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Hand-spinning remains a popular handicraft.
Syne Mitchell is an American novelist in the science fiction genre. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree in physics. She lives in Seattle, Washington and is married to author Eric S. Nylund. Her first science fiction novel was Murphy’s Gambit which won the Compton Crook Award in 2001. Followed by science fiction novels Technogenesis in 2001, The Changeling Plague in 2003, End in Fire in 2005 and the first installment of the Deathless series, called The Last Mortal Man in 2006.
Ada K. Dietz was an American weaver best known for her 1949 monograph Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles, which defines a novel method for generating weaving patterns based on algebraic patterns. Her method employs the expansion of multivariate polynomials to devise a weaving scheme. Dietz' work is still well-regarded today, by both weavers and mathematicians. Along with the references listed below, Griswold (2001) cites several additional articles on her work.
Marilyn Moore is an American contemporary basketmaker.
A distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fibre. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff and tied in place with a piece of ribbon or string. The word comes from Low German dis, meaning a bunch of flax, connected with staff.
The Ontario Handweavers & Spinners (OHS) is a non-profit organization based in Ontario, Canada that helps individuals interested in the fiber crafts to communicate and develop their skills, including weaving, spinning and dying, basket makers, braiders, tablet weavers and paper makers. The OHS communicates to its members through a quarterly newsletter, Fibre Focus, provides educational programs in spinning and weaving, provides scholarships and organizes several seminars or conferences each year.
Mary Ellouise Black, an occupational therapist, teacher, master weaver and writer, created almost single-handedly a renaissance in crafts in Nova Scotia in the 1940s and 1950s. Her best-known book, The Key to Weaving, was published in 1945 and has since run to three editions and numerous printings. Its clarity is without parallel, and more than half a century later it remains a handweaver's prime source of information.
Polly Barton is an American textile artist.
Máximo Laura Taboada is a Peruvian tapestry weaver, recognized as one of South America's most unique textile artists. He is also known for starting the contemporary tapestry movement in Peru.
Bhakti Ziek is an American artist known for narrative weavings incorporating contemporary jacquard technology. She has been active in the contemporary fiber field for over four decades as an artist, author, teacher and lecturer. Ziek currently resides in Santa Fe, NM.
Berta Frey was a well-known New York weaver, who spoke and taught about weaving techniques for many years. She was one of the founders of the Handweavers Guild of America.
Anne Catherine Hof Blinks (1903–1995) was an American botanist and textiles scholar.
Mary Meigs Atwater was an American weaver. She revived handweaving in America by collecting weaving drafts, teaching and writing; Handweaver and Craftsman called Atwater "the grand dame and grand mother of the revival of handweaving in [the United States]".
Suzie Liles is an American fiber artist, master weaver, the owner of the Eugene Textile Center and co-owner of Glimakra USA, in Eugene, Oregon.
Eugene Weavers' Guild is a non-profit organization of weavers, spinners, and other fiber artists in Eugene, Oregon, in the U.S. It was founded in 1946 and has been meeting monthly for more than seventy years. As of 2016, the Guild included 85 members, ranging in skill from hobbyist to professional weavers, from Eugene, Springfield, and rural communities of surrounding Lane County, Oregon, USA. The Guild sponsors workshops, a lending library, skill demonstrations in a variety fiber arts, equipment sharing, and events to raise funds for local charities.
Abigail M. Franquemont is an American textile crafts writer, lecturer and educator, based in Cusco, Peru. She spent her early childhood among the Quechua people of Chinchero, Peru, where "women spun to eat and pay for the home they lived in." As a revivalist of the ancient art of hand spinning with the spindle, she published her book, Respect the Spindle, in 2009.
Ruthadell Anderson was an American fiber artist. She was known for her sculptures and textiles.
Lucy Osma Palmer Gallinger Tod was an American artist, writer, and arts educator, specializing in weaving, basketry, and other craft techniques.
Mary Zicafoose is an American textile artist, weaver, and teacher who specializes in ikat, an ancient technique in which threads are wrapped, tied and resist-dyed before weaving. Zicafoose is the author of Ikat: The Essential Handbook to Weaving Resist-Dyed Cloth (2020). Her works are part of private and public collections, including at least 16 embassies around the world as part of the U.S. Art in Embassies Program.
