Devon wrote: There seems to be a huge divide between the hobby lacemaking world and the artistic world. The hobby world has classes, books, lending libraries, but the artists seem to be going it alone. In fact, it is actually somewhat painful to see artists re-inventing the wheel with a huge amount of effort, and they do not lack in effort, when many of the things they are discovering have already been discovered.
I can of course not speak for America, but here in Holland i think the gap between hobby lacemakers and artists is getting smaller. Several hobby lacemakers developed themselves into lace artists. Among my students in lacemaking there are several artists. I try to give them enough techniques to use in their work and give them the lessons they need. A few years ago I gave a workshop at the Art School in Utrecht. There I offered the students the basics such as cloth stitch, whole stitch and half stitch and braids. Furthermore they learned to make corners and roundings in a braid of cloth stitch, a small piece of Schneeberg lace and a small lace from about 1750. They liked it to do and the school was very enthusiastic about the results. However this last year they did not organize this workshop again. Every year they have another theme for the workshop, so I have to wait when I am invited again. Besides that the government is cutting down the money for the schools, so that they can not organize as much as they did and perhaps want to do. So perhaps when this changes they will ask for it again. Gon Homburg, Amsterdam, the Netherlands [email protected] - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
