The Zumbro River Fiber Arts Guild is a group of fiber enthusiasts from Southeastern Minnesota who meet once a month to knit, crochet, weave, spin, felt, dye, quilt, talk, network, and play with fiber.
Meeting Information
The Zumbro River Fiber Arts Guild normally meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month* at the Oronoco Community Center 115 2nd St. NW, Oronoco, MN. (Click here for a map). The meetings start at 1:00 p.m. and include a short business meeting, show-and-tell, and a speaker presentation. *Our November/December meeting is combined, with date to be announced.
Next Meeting, …Wednesday, June 21, 2023 1:00 pm at the Oronoco Community Center
We will gather at the Oronoco Community Center to learn more about the ‘soil to soil’ textile system being developed in Southern MN, Western WI and Northern IA. Maddy Bartsch from the Three River Fibershed will help us understand what a fibershed is, why it is important, and how they are working with producers to help them create a regional textile ecosystem that builds the soil while enhancing the strength of regional economies. We will learn about the scope of the producers they work with, their programming and how we can be involved.
Ellison Sheep Farm, Get Bents Farm, Orchard Acres Textiles, run by our members, are part of the Fibershed. The Knitting Focus Group will present the focus group snapshot.
Past Meeting: April 2023
Textiles in Japan! Mary Doerge and Marcia Krieger returned from their textile tour in Japan with much to share about the textiles they found there along with the many textile workshops they enjoyed!
Past Meeting, February 2023
In 2019, Koshiki Smith, co-founder of Tanpopo Jouneys, guided members of the Minnesota Textile Center on a Textile Tour of Japan. It began in Tokyo and quickly moved into rural Japan where the travelers learned about Japanese cultural traditions in fiber arts including regional dyeing and weaving practices and the history and creation of the silk kimono. She will take another group to Japan on a textile tour in March 2023. We will learn how from her how textiles and traditional techniques are woven into the culture and everyday lives of the people of Japan.
January 18, 2023
Because our winter is cold and dark, these meetings will be via Zoom. This allows our working members to join the fun while keeping us in the house in the worst of the weather. Stay tuned to learn about a Zoom work session beginning at 1pm, January 18. The guest speaker in January will be Mary Anne Wise from Cultural Cloth to talk about the work they do with women around the world and the textiles the women create.
A Past Meeting: Wednesday, October 19, 2022 Oronoco Community Center
Our October guest speaker was artist Natalie Norman. Natalie has been a part of the cultural needlework community for over 20 years specializing in embroidered kjolväskor, or Nordic waist bags which were once used to carry oats or salt so the cows could follow you home. Sponsored by the Swedish Embassy in Washington DC, her embroidered pieces were included in a traveling exhibit which included 5 major American cities and completed a one and a half- year tour in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2019, Natalie received a fellowship from American Scandinavian Foundation to study a cultural, traditional form of folk art.
Zumbro River Fiber Arts Guild 