If fabric is the art of our everyday lives, then most of us are art collectors. And with enhanced training that Hailey textile artist Deb Gelet was able to secure thanks to a Quickfunds grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts, she'll be opening more eyes to both the craft and the possibilities of working with local fiber.
"We already talk about the 'foodshed.' What we should be talking about as well is a 'fibershed' to produce natural fibers," Gelet said, "a micro entity that springs from the same place where we are getting our food."
The idea is not limited to seamstresses and farm wives, nor is it for the artist set to get better prices on materials.
"It's going to take a lot of effort to get people to stop seeing this as an old hippie practice," Gelet admits with a chuckle. "When people think of homespun wool they think of this clunky, heavy stuff, but young designers are turning the corner on this. We make some very top-drawer fiber products right here in America."
Gelet, who in addition to creating a body of her own work that is featured in galleries around the state, also teaches a variety of classes in the fiber arts. She can be found teaching at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Boulder Mountain Clayworks in Ketchum, as well as in small towns such as Salmon, Idaho.
In an interview last month, Gelet said she was "dancing in the yard" after she found out that she was going to be able to attend the class "Textiles Today, Redefining the Medium" at the Durango Arts Center in Colorado. She was the only one chosen from Idaho.
"What that means to me is that I have access to instruction that I wouldn't be able to afford on my own," she said. "I teach all over the state, and so the good news for us all is that I get to take what I am learning and spread that across the state. I am really appreciative."
Michael Faison, executive director of the Idaho Commission on the Arts, said Gelet's grant request was highly rated.
"Her own work is exceptional, as is that of the artist whose workshop she was able to attend," he said. "Ms. Gelet's textile work is painstaking and beautiful—and possible only through the kind of professional dedication she demonstrates. It was clear in the grant review that this workshop would contribute to her growth as a professional, working artist. We are thrilled to be able to assist the career advancement of a fine Idaho artist."
David G. Wood said he became a believer in the need for and possibilities of a "fibershed" during a silk-dyeing class that Gelet delivered at the Salmon Arts Council's Arts Academy.
The retired physician from New Orleans said he didn't know what to expect when he joined 30 others in the workshop.
It was "an intimately emotional experience that brought insight into and appreciation for the power of textiles," he recalled. "I was not really expecting an eye-opening experience at her class, but Deb, truly an awesome artist, had me understanding the real meaning and power of textiles. And now I have more mindfulness of something I use every day but had always taken totally for granted—my clothes. What wonderful things art brings to everyday life!"
Gelet said that when she devoted herself to her art full-time, she found out quickly how pricey her passion was. What started as instruction from her grandmother, intended to be purely functional, served her well through making clothes for her own two girls, but her fascination with fabric extended to more creative uses, requiring her to obtain silks from Europe.
In her travels and education, and while perusing fiber festivals like the one that continues to grow as part of the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival, she began learning about the meticulously generated fibers here as well as a working "fibershed" in California.
It was at the annual Fiber Fest in Hailey that she met an industrious woman from Idaho Falls.
"It was the funniest thing—I bought one skein of beautifully spun camel hair. She won the blue ribbon for it, and she told me she got it from a camel at the [Tautphaus Park] zoo."
Mary Austin Crofts, executive director of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, said she pushed for emphasis on the Fiber Fest because of growing interest nationally and locally. While last year most of the exhibitors were imported from elsewhere in the state, this year the festival is partnering with Sun Valley Needle Arts and the Fabric Granary.
"Interest in natural fibers and classes in knitting, spinning and fiber arts is exploding," Crofts said. "The more people learn about natural fiber, fiber arts and sustainable local foods, the more excitement we see from people of all ages about our festival."
Linda Cortright, editor and publisher of Wild Fibers magazine, is a much-anticipated guest at the festival and will speak on the importance of saving the natural fiber industry for a sustainable future in a lecture Oct. 13 at the Community Library in Ketchum.
Cortright raises cashmere goats, but the stories in her magazine explore all aspects of the fiber art, from the traveling nomads and their camels in the Gobi Desert to weavers in Oman.
In a perfect world, the magazine purports, more people would raise silkworms, camels, llamas and other animals for food and clothing right in their own back yards.
Gelet is convinced.
"Meats, skins, wool—we can grow flax for linen," she said. "It simply needs to be coordinated, and having been in the retail side for more than a decade, I know that the prices are incredibly reasonable."
Gelet said that until then, she'll keep spreading the word, and building a community of support, student by student.
"It's important not to keep all the knowledge in your own head," she said. "Who knows who will take it a little further?"
Fiber Fest at Trailing of the Sheep 2012
Who: Linda Cortwright, editor and publisher of Wild Fibers magazine to speak.
About: The preservation of and use for fiber-bearing animals.
When: Saturday, Oct. 13.
Where: The Community Library in Ketchum.
To learn more: Visit
www.fibershed.com
Hailey textile artist and teacher Deb Gelet vows to create work as tied to Idaho as possible using botanical dyes made from trees, roots and soil. She wants to soon see a local “fibershed” established in the same vein that farmers are forming cooperatives for food generation and dissemination.
Photo courtesy Mark Johnstone
