A few months ago, doing some research on weavers who had sadly gone on to where ever we go when we leave this plane of existence, I was checking Wikipedia for biographical info on people like Peter Collingwood, Mary Black, Allen Fannin, etc. And found precisely nothing on Wikipedia. The only weavers I could find listed there were Anni Albers and Jack Lenor Larsen.
It occurred to me that one way to improve the profile of weaving and weavers was to start pages on the internet ‘encyclopedia’ and link them to the subjects ‘weaving’, ‘hand weaving’ etc.
Not being particularly savvy when it comes to the internet, nor knowing any of these people particularly well, I have approached several people who might be in a position to begin such a project. But it also occurred to me that anyone can start a page, not just someone who knows anything about the internet.
And so I am challenging the weaving community – we have been complaining for years about weaving getting no respect. About the greying of the guilds. About how we need to attract new, younger weavers to the warped side. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Who will pick it up?