ARTIST Julia McDonald
Resident Artist Julia McDonald started handweaving during her senior year at N.C. State University’s Wilson College of Textiles. 10 years later, she purchased her first loom and began experimenting with fiber color and texture to produce items suitable for everyday living. With retirement to North Carolina in 1999, her hand weaving learning experience continued to grow with Guild membership and participation in workshops.
She is constantly experimenting with texture and color to achieve wonderful cloth and cloth structures. Her work is a combination of fiber arts, including, but not limited to: weaving, dyeing, knitting, crocheting and bead weaving. Each resulting piece is a unique expression of the artistic use of the original fiber achieving the ultimate goal to beautify as well as be a pleasure to use.
Currently, Julia is figuring out ways to recycle … almost anything … VHS tape in rugs … putting old work shirts to work as coasters … sharing t-shirts with another weaver to maximize utilization … using factory weaving waste in rugs and chair mats … enlisting the help of a hula hoop to act as a loom … and using ice as a dye delivery system to cloth!
She is a member of the Seacoast Spinners and Weavers Guild, the Albemarle Craftsman Guild, the Mid-Atlantic Fiber Association, and the Handweavers Guild of America. She has worked as a Weaving Interpreter at Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC. Julia has taught Shibori Dyeing and Hula Hoop Weaving at Craven Community College and Camp Seafarer. Her favorite way to share is to mentor new weavers … the Seacoast Spinners & Weavers Loomatics group.
