Perry, NY - The Fiber Flurry Fiber Arts Festival opens Friday, April 26, 2024 at 1 p.m. with an Artists forum made up of a panel of working fiber artists and educators. Artist, Curator and Educator Tami Fuller, Roycroft Master Weaver Kathy Cairns Hendershott, Pilar McKay, PhD. and Shepherdess and Artist Tammy White of Wing and a Prayer Farm will discus practice, process, philosophy and all points of woolcraft in between in the exhibition gallery on to start the weekend’s festivities.
The forum will be followed by Friday evening workshops by Fuller, White and Susan Swanson, and private early access shopping for workshop students.
This forum is part of "Different Fibers," "Different Fibers," the Fiber Flurry inaugural fiber art exhibition showcasing fiber art and fiber-"adjacent" work from WNY regional artists curated around the council's 2024 theme of "Different."
This exhibition will be judged, with first, second, and third-place winners in each category to be announced at the Fiber Flurry Festival closing reception on Saturday, April 27, 2024. Work using traditional techniques to create nontraditional, unexpected, or modern results, work that surprises, or work that uses traditional materials to generate nontraditional results will be given priority when judging. The viewing public can cast their vote for People's Choice at the gallery up through 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Tami Fuller of East Aurora is an award winning fiber artist, gallery owner, curator and exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists, Roycroft Emerging Artist in Fiber, a 2022 CRNY designee and a member of the Buffalo Weaver’s Guild and the Weaver’s Guild of Rochester. In addition to working as a fiber art educator as Blubird Studio, she is the daughter of a shepherdess raised on a working sheep farm with a knowledge of both fine art execution and technical application of fiber.
Kathy Cairns Hendershott is weaver, knitter, and Roycroft Master Weaver near Warsaw, NY. She says: "I'm especially known especially for my use of careful color-blending and bold use of traditionally-based patterns with modern colors."
Pilar McKay, PhD is a communication professor, rural arts and culture advocate, and active creative placemaking practitioner. She serves as one half of Rural Arts Weekly, a social media and digital literacy project for artists and art advocates and is also Associate Director at the Arts Council for Wyoming County and co-founder and Managing Director of Shake on the Lake, a professional theatre company that specializes in performances to underserved rural communities. She is also co-owner of World's Smallest Wool Shop and a working fiber artist. McKay will serve as a voice and as a moderator.
Tammy White is a nationally regarded artist who has contributed to Taproot Magazine, Modern Farmer, and What/Where Women Create, as well as collaborations with Vogue. Her production fiber farm, Wing & A Prayer Farm, is located in southwestern Vermont where she raises 100 sheep, goats, alpacas, and various other farm animals. Wing & A Prayer Farm is home to Vermont’s first pure blood Valais Blacknose Sheep and some of the first Valais Blacknose sheep in North America.
White will also present the festival's keynote on Saturday afternoon, Through inspiring visuals, she will lead attendees on a journey of exploring the world of botanical color and her experience working with Chilean artist, Cecilia Vicuña, as part of her installation and interactive exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 2022.
See you this weekend in Perry!