Community Arts & Traditional Arts

	QUILTMAKER MARY ALLEN CHAISSON OPENS HER STUDIO, GARDENS AND SHOWROOM IN HARSPWELL AS PART OF MAINE FIBERARTS TOUR MAP: STUDIOS & FARMS. HER STUDIO IS ONE OF 143 SITES LISTED ON THIS YEAR’S TOUR.

Maine Fiberarts: Weaving Our Way Through Maine

Contributed by
Heather Denkmire.

At Tyler Farm in Limington on a sunny Saturday afternoon, we visited a 20-minute-old goat and two bottle-fed infant lambs. We (gently) pulled the loose soft hair off an Angora rabbit. The stalls were tidy—the whole farm was like something out of a storybook.

Our young daughter was thrilled beyond all expectations and we were treated to a thoroughly educational tour of a small farm that produces fiber (from sheep, goats and rabbits) for local area artists, craftspeople and other members of Maine’s creative economy.

We found Tyler Farm using the “Maine Fiberarts Tour Map: Studios & Farms,” a map of 143 fiber-related spots for artists and fans of fiber art all across Maine. Our family used it to find the sheep, but other Maine residents—and visitors from across the country–will no doubt use it to explore the state’s rich and varied fiber culture.

“You think you’re going for fiber, but it’s so much more,” said Christine Macchi, a craftswoman, spinner, knitter and founding director of Maine Fiberarts “using this tour map introduces people to a way of life, how people care for animals and how people are building a lifestyle through their crafts.” A resident of Maine for 30 years, Macchi said she is an “advocate of American craft who wants to celebrate and share the beauty of our state.”

Art Business News’ Jennifer Wong defines fiber art as “art that is made using flexible, linear materials and/or constructed using textile techniques such as stitching, weaving, dyeing, embroidering, etc. Fiber art objects may be two- or three-dimensional, and the materials used may be natural, such as wool, silk, gold, cotton, twigs and human hair or man-made, such as plastics and metallic wire.”

Art Business News concludes that nationally, the “popularity [of fiber art] is at an all-time high.” In Maine, the active and growing fiber community includes artists working with basketry, beadwork, clothing design, crochet, embroidery, felting, knitting, lacework, needlework, paper, quilting, rugs, sewing, spinning, surface design and weaving. Also intertwined in this network are small farms producing mohair, alpaca, llama and wool. “The fiber community is about all of us,” said Deb Claffie of Tyler Farm. “The tour map is an example of how it’s not just one player—we are all in this together.”

"In 2003, Maine Fiberarts opened a Visitors Center at 13 Main Street in Topsham, Maine. The center acts as gallery space and clearinghouse for the statewide artists’ collective that includes: rotating exhibits of fiber art, slides of work by Maine artists and a reference library of magazines, books and catalogs from art and craft sources throughout the US. On the first Friday of each month, an ever-changing group of makers gathers to do handwork and to share ideas."

These collaborative efforts strengthen Maine’s thriving creative economy. According to a 2002 report by the Michigan State University Extension Service, “tourists enjoy travel as a total experience—therefore community-wide cooperation is necessary to take advantage of what tourists like to do and what they like to buy.”

The map project is truly a collaborative effort. It offers both the makers and the producers a chance to open their doors and be discovered. The map details a self-guided trail that includes sites from every county in Maine, including yarn shops, studios and galleries, to a wind-powered spinnery, a natural dye garden and farms where cashmere goats and alpacas are raised.
The tour map is being heavily promoted and distributed through Maine State Visitors Centers, participating sites, Chambers of Commerce, regional volunteers, the Maine State Tourism website (www.visitmaine.com), agricultural fairs, Maine Fiberarts’ Center in Topsham and others.
The project is funded by the Maine Office of Tourism (one of only two projects funded this year), the Department of Economic and Community Development, the Maine Department of Agriculture, the Maine Community Foundation, other organizations and individual donors.

	DETAIL OF QUILT BY FIBER ARTIST ASTRIG TANGUAY, FOUNDER OF THE FIBER COLLEGE ON PENOBSCOT BAY. PHOTO TAKEN BY THE ARTIST.

“For years, we’ve witnessed great interest in fiber at festivals and events,” Macchi said. “This is an opportunity to bring visitors to the places where work is actually made.”The organization behind the map, Maine Fiberarts, is a nonprofit organization formed to promote Maine’s fiber community. Maine Fiberarts strives to provide greater opportunities for artists to exhibit work, apprentice, mentor, teach crafts to children, find school residencies, sell fleeces and fiber products, find guilds and study groups, learn about events and become better connected within the community.

The organization maintains a database of more than 3,000 fiber resources in Maine. According to their website (www.mainefiberarts.org), the database includes makers, teachers, shepherds, suppliers, curators, state agencies, art organizations, manufacturers, guilds and farms. A listing on the database is free of charge for Maine fiber producers, makers and businesses.

In 2003, Maine Fiberarts opened a Visitors Center at 13 Main Street in Topsham, Maine. The center acts as gallery space and clearinghouse for the statewide artists’ collective that includes: rotating exhibits of fiber art, slides of work by Maine artists and a reference library of magazines, books and catalogs from art and craft sources throughout the US. On the first Friday of each month, an ever-changing group of makers gathers to do handwork and to share ideas.

Maine Fiberarts’ bimonthly newsletter reveals an extremely active community–the sheer number of workshops, exhibitions and other events shows Maine’s fiber community is energized and thriving. The Maine Fiberarts’ tour map highlights some of the most exciting destinations in the fiberarts community.

Fiber farm: Tyler Farm, Limington
One spot on the tour map is Deb Claffie’s Tyler Farm, a 40-acre homestead in Limington, Maine, about 35 miles west of Portland. This family farm raises several types of fiber-producing animals, including Shetland, Finn and Coopworth sheep, Pygora goats and Angora rabbits.

	DETAIL OF QUILT BY FIBER ARTIST

The Pygora goats are a cross between Angora and Pygmy goats. The two Angora rabbits are “plucked” every eight weeks and are such clean animals their fiber doesn’t need processing before spinning. The sheep are sheared on the farm and the fiber washed and carded locally. The resulting “roving” is sold to area spinners and spun by Claffie into yarn.
Claffie also sells her hand-woven creations, including scarves, roving rugs, shawls and felted goat’s milk soap at area fiber art shows. “Farming means more to us than the income it provides—it’s a lifestyle,” Claffie explains.

Artist: Mary Allen Chaisson, Harpswell
Another stop along the fiberarts trail is the studio of fiber artist Mary Allen Chaisson. She began her textiles career in 1989, after taking a workshop from Elizabeth Bush, a nationally known art quilter. Chaisson’s studio is open to the public by appointment, and visitors see completed works from national shows, new work and works in progress.
Chiasson echoes the themes of collaboration and community that come out in Claffie’s conversation. “We have a group of five fiber artists in my area that meet every month through the year. We encourage, inspire and teach one another,” Chaisson said. “The whole process of painting, dying, printing and discharging fabrics grounds me. Then, the cutting, arranging and rearranging of all the pieces speak to me in many ways. In other words, I have lots of fun with what I do.”

Event: Fiber College, Penobscot Bay
In the downeast region of the state, fiber artists are collaborating to educate their friends and neighbors in the fiber arts to preserve the legacy those arts represent. Astrig Tanguay founded the Fiber College on Penobscot Bay in 2005 after talking with Michael Montagne of the Maine State Planning Office.

After attending the Blaine House Conference on Maine’s Creative Economy presented by the Maine Arts Commission, Tanguay began looking for “a way to stimulate our local economy through my own passions—camping, fiber arts and great food. Finally, I found a model in 2005.” The muse came from a Gourd College Tanguay attended in Tampa, Florida. The collaborative experience inspired her so much that she immediately set up a meeting with Deb Bergman of Purple Fleece, a weaving and yarn studio in Stockton Springs. “Gourd College was set on a lovely vegetable farm with a petting zoo of farm animals (llamas, sheep, goats and ponies) and a farm stand filled with locally produced and crafted products,” Tanguay said.
“The classes were informal, taught by professional artists and very friendly. Most classes cost under $35 and students could purchase everything they needed for the class right on the grounds. I immediately knew we could fashion this idea into our own event,” she added.

Through support from the Penobscot Marine Museum and after an inspirational trip to Paris, Tanguay created an entire curriculum of 44 classes. This year’s college runs from September 8-10. Tanguay notes the college also plans to bring European artists to the college in fall 2007. More information about the college is available at www.fibercollege.com.

Event: Maine Fiberarts Tour Map—Studios & Farms
In conjunction with the creation of the tour map, an Open Studio & Farm Weekend is planned August 4-6, 2006, at the height of the summer tourist season. All 143 map sites will be open to the public with more than 100 fiber-related demonstrations, workshops and studio events. Visitors will see hooking, spinning, knitting and wet and dry felting. Visitors may also tour natural dye gardens, fiber processing mills, yarn and fabric stores and active farms with sheep, goats, llamas or alpacas. Truly something for everyone.

To learn more about the Maine Fiberarts Tour Map, visit www.mainefiberarts.org or contact Maine Fiberarts, 13 Main Street, Topsham, Maine, 04086, 207/721-0678 or fiberarts@gwi.net.

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Heather Denkmire is a freelance writer and grant writer who lives in Saco, Maine.