ATA Fall Newsletter pg19

Thanks for the Memories

By Marti Fleischer

It has been a true pleasure to be newsletter editor these past years and, as I was thinking of all the articles that have been written and those wonderful people who wrote them, I decided to share some of the experiences and perhaps bring back a memory or two.

The winter of 1994 I edited my first issue.Tapestry Topics has ranged in size from 8 pages early on, to 24 pages in Summer '02. Regular features always included "President's Message", "Tapestry News" (news about members), "Exhibitions, Workshops, Competitions", "Welcome New Members", "Roster Changes", and "Items for Sale".

In 1994 we began running The Tapestry Toolbox written by Claudia Anne Chase. The article, which continued several years, lent insight into questions about looms and all related tapestry paraphernalia. Later, Let's Talk Tapestry by Jay Wilson was inspired by a letter from Diane Bernhardt who posed many fundamental questions. Jay took the questions, one by one, and answered them in detail that even included illustrations.

Then the internet claimed its place in tapestry communication and instruction. In Summer ‘96, Tapestry Topics reported the event in a general article, by Janet Austin, explaining ways to find tapestry on the web and listing a (sparse) 14 websites one could visit. Later, reports introduced Kathe Todd Hooker's "Tapestry List" to ATA members. Kathe's feature article, named for the address of her email Tapestry List, tapestry@ncn.com, quoted excerpts from the discussions of weavers around the world.

Jeyhan Rohani wrote a 1997 series in dialog with Marcel Marois that highlighted the educational aspects of tapestry. Toward Professionalism, a Guide for Entering Competitions appeared, in the Spring ‘97 issue, from questions asked by ATB 1 entrants.