The View from My Chair: a note from the sale chairman,Jane Glidden

I still find it hard to believe that our Weavers’ Guild Sale is twenty one years old. I feel like a proud parent watching our Sale grow and evolve these last two decades. We’ve come so incredibly far over these years. Of course, we’ve had our growing pains along the way from Fabulous Fibers in 1982 to the Weavers’ Guild Sale of 2003. I remember some of the tough decisions we’ve had to make about whether to include jewelry, fabric piecework, Fimo buttons or even handmade paper. We not only survived each of those situations, I personally believe we were greatly enriched by them! We even welcomed surface design with open arms, and I think we each own at least one shibori or devore scarf, don’t we! Yes, our Sale has been transformed through the years by our expanding interests and the various fiber workshops we’ve taken. We have reached a point in our growth, though, where I think we need to take stock of our situation. This year our typically gradual inventory growth trend really exploded on us! While I think we were all amazed and thrilled to set new sales records again this year we also found ourselves rather overwhelmed by the incredible amount of Sale pieces that arrived. The size of our inventory nearly doubled this year and likewise our headaches increased along with it.

We have several concerns that really must be addressed this year. We experienced a disturbing increase in pieces unaccounted for at the end of our Sale. I just can’t believe a person could intentionally steal something as personal and special as art, but they evidently did. I would like to ask each artist to re-check their inventory of left-over pieces and verify once again that they haven’t accidentally brought home a piece from another artist. Check also for any inventory number discrepancies where a piece was counted as sold when it actually did not sell. Please let Marti know if you discover any possible mix-ups. Our meeting in December addressed numerous topics of concern. We will plan to have at least one more meeting to discuss security as well as a few other unresolved issues.

Primarily, I’ve heard numerous concerns voiced for the need to re-focus our Sale to represent our Weavers’ Guild origins! While we recognize that our artists love to explore a wide variety of creative expressions we would like to re-establish more of a connection to our weaving heritage. Our Weavers’ Guild is one of the oldest Weavers’ Guilds in America and each year we have the opportunity to show our St. Louis community who we are and what we can do! Now, please understand that I am not saying that fiber art, jewelry and surface design items are no longer welcome in our Sale; instead, I am simply wishing that weaving was represented by a higher percentage of our Sale pieces. Furthermore, I think we also need to ask that each piece be raised to a higher level of design expectations. We really don’t need several hundred mass produced silk dyed scarves … but we would love to have a limited array of exquisitely painted scarves! In that same light I feel we also need to re-focus throughout our Sale on producing pieces of high quality rather than a high quantity of pieces! Our customers have shown us very clearly throughout these last twenty one years that they appreciate the opportunity to buy something unique, something beautiful and something impeccably made. We should always strive to meet those standards in every piece we make for our Sale. Our Weavers’ Guild Sale is an event we are all immensely proud of, because through it we have made weaving and fiber art a highly marketable and appreciated art form in the St. Louis area! I find it wonderfully satisfying that our faithful customers wait with great anticipation for our doors to open each year. Let’s continue to inspire ourselves to produce the very best art we have within us!