2023 Wool & Fine Fiber Symposium

“Relationships of Change” will explore the interdependence of people, policy, and materials that are necessary for transforming our soil-to-skin system. Every choice we make when wearing, caring and consuming elicits a direct environmental, economic, and human response. In this year’s Symposium you’ll hear from those working on critical issues of fossil fuel divestment from textiles and fashion, garment workers’ rights, and new laws aiming to internalize the costs of our textile ‘waste’ while catalyzing shifts in material choice and design.  We will also take stock of our regional fibershed economies– hearing from Fibershed Affiliates, the Fibers Fund and efforts to bring climate benefitting farming and ranching incentives to the national scale.

 This will be a hybrid event, and you may join us in person in Point Reyes or virtually.  A portion of our speakers will be presenting virtually as well as a few in person. In person attendees will enjoy the 4 hour event in a casual cafe atmosphere with coffee/tea service.

New this year is a Fibershed Learning Activities Showcase which will feature a range of hands-on educational activities for families and fiber enthusiasts in the Chapel space of the Dance Palace Community Center.  A small selection of goods will be available from our Northern California Fibershed farmers, artisans, weavers, felters, knitters, mills and natural dyers who are presenting Fiber Arts activities and demonstrations for the public.

Fibershed Learning Activities Showcase, Nov 10, 2023, 9am – 2pm FREE
Dance Palace – Chapel, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station CA 94956

The Learning Activities Showcase is open to the community and runs concurrently with the ticketed Annual Symposium. Educators and families are especially encouraged to come participate in the free demonstrations by Fibershed community members:

• Band Weaving – Emily Robinson, Braehurst Fiber & Dye

• Carding and blending fibers – Gynna Made  @gynnamade and
  Clemes & Clemes, Inc. @clemesandclemes

• Flax Processing by Sandy Fisher – Chico Flax @chicoflaxtolinen

• Knitting – Gayle Ravenscroft – Pacific Knitting Retreats @pacificknittingretreats

• Eco Printing (Natural Dyeing) on Bandanas  – Elaine Hamblin – KOSA @kosa_arts

• Hand Sewing: Upcycling t-shirts  – Palesa Nicolini & Pia Anderson

• Hand Spinning – Marlie de Swart

• Weaving on a Floor Loom – Robin Lynde – Meridian Jacobs @meridian_jacobs

• Make and Take Activities – Wooly Adventures, Lambtown Festival
  Cardboard Weaving, Sheep Craft, Coloring/Painting

Borrowed from the Soil: A farm-to-closet design exhibition, Nov 10 – 16, 2023
Location: Buddha Barn (down the road from Fibershed Learning Center)
13201 Pt. Reyes – Petaluma Rd, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Do your clothes help or harm? Today’s clothing relies on transnational supply chains, petroleum-based materials, and land and labor exploitation. But what if your clothing could build ecosystem and community resilience, while regenerating healthy soil and land?

The Borrowed from the Soil Exhibition explores a future vision where the way we produce and use one of our most basic human necessities – clothing — can support the longevity and health of our local ecosystems and communities. Explore the process behind the production of locally-grown and made clothing that connects you to California farms, mills and designers. This exhibition follows the journey from cotton fields and sheep ranches through the transformations of raw materials into beautiful textiles, embedding into the design process an understanding of how these materials can be healthfully returned back into our soils. We invite you to help build a collective understanding on the interconnectedness between material, design, and consumer choices, and the land and people whom these choices impact.

REGISTER FOR THE DESIGN EXHIBITION