President: Gene Looman
AFA President Gene Looman is a skilled art quilter and thread painter. His background as a professional sewing machine repairman gives him excellent control over his tool and medium and he produces beautiful detailed fiber art. After moving to Texas from Alaska a few years ago, Gene wasted no time in joining Austin Fiber Arts and became the president of the organization in July 2020.
If you have any questions about our organization or want to contact our President, just send an email to: President@AustinFiberArtists.org
Programming: Lori Bier
The position arranges our monthly meeting program as well as works with our workshop coordinator to feature workshop leaders.
Lori has been sewing and embroidering since she could hold a needle. She enjoys all sorts of fiber arts and paints dye on silk to produce both representational and abstract images. She is a past president of AFA and has held other board positions. Lori coordinates the meetings’ programs and activities at the south meeting site at Holy Cross Lutheran Church.
Email our both our programs chairs using programs@austinfiberartsts.org
Treasurer & Newsletter Editor: Anita Mester
AFA’s longtime treasurer Anita Mester is a quilter, weaver, eco-printer and uses a variety of techniques to produce wall art and wearable art. Her clever skills and sense of humor and creativity have been seen in AFA exhibits over the years.
Please provide Anita with any information that should be included in the Austin Fiber Artist’s monthly newsletter “Gathered Threads” by emailing her at treasurer@austinfiberartists.org
Membership: Rebecca Switzer
Rebecca is a renaissance woman of fiber arts interests- crochet and sewing, felting and sculpting, hats and bags, baskets, dolls and books as well as fabric surface design. Rebecca stays busy!
Rebecca is happy to welcome fiber artists to the organization and explain the joys of membership! Email Rebecca at membership@austinfiberartists.org
Communications: Juliann Krute
Juliann loves to learn and consequently is skilled in a wide variety of fiber arts techniques. She is a world traveler, which has influenced her style and tastes.
If you have comments on the website or facebook page, contact Juliann at communications@austinfiberartists.org
Workshops
This team arranges workshops for the group on a variety of topics that are interesting to fiber artists.
Donna Bone
Donna Bone likes to work with various cloth and wool fiber and various findings to create wall hangings and soft sculpture. Her work has been exhibited both locally and statewide. She began exploring the world of fiber art after retiring from almost 50 years of work as a psychologist and professional trainer.
Darlene Khrosrowpour
If you want to propose a workshop for AFA, contact our workshops team at workshops@austinfiberartists.org
Secretary: Cricket Rose
Cricket began weaving on the island of Nantucket about 1980 while observing her instructor, Mara Cary, weave a life-size statue of a woman running, out of vines and reed. Seeing the poetry and sculptural aspects while learning to “dance” with reed was all that she needed to become enraptured. She hasn’t stopped dancing nor finished learning yet. It has been a most rewarding passion as all her family and friends will attest. She has won several awards in the last 10-15 years, and never met a mistake that can’t be fixed.
Please contact Cricket at secretary@austinfiberartists.org
Venues
If you are interested in having fiber arts displayed at your venue, or are interested in viewing the AFA trunk show, contact us at venues@austinfiberartists.org
Members at Large/Small
Duties as assigned and general help to other board members and committees.
Mary Macauley
Spinner, weaver, felter, and dyer Mary Macauley is one of the founders of the Austin Fiber Artists.
Susan Axel Bedsaul
Susan Axel Bedsaul is a batik and cyanotype artist.
Linda Miles
Linda Miles creates imaginative wall quilts and embellished garments.
Email our members at large (or small) at AtLarge@austinfiberartists.org