The Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore (FACES), will be hosting a three-day celebration of the fiber arts featuring exhibits, workshops, classes, guest speakers, demonstrations, quilt documentations, and special Underground Railroad themed programs in celebration of the grand opening of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. This FiberFest event takes place August 1st through 3rd in Downtown Denton.
The event kicks off on Thursday, August 1st, with the Heartland Quilters of the Eastern Shore’s 5th annual One Stop Shop Hop at the Denton Firehouse from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. This event will feature fiber arts vendors including quilt, antique quilt, fabric and yarn shops; beaders; wool spinners; long arm quilters; and much more. See the full list of participating vendors from Maryland and surrounding states here. Admission to the Shop Hop is $3.00 at the door. All guests receive an entry gift and can look forward to door prizes throughout the evening, and raffle quilts from participating guilds. Food concessions will be available.
On Friday, August 2nd, from 4pm – 6pm, The Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore (FACES), located at 7 N. Fourth Street in Denton, will host a special reception for its African American Quilters of Baltimore: Each One Teach One exhibit. Members of the AAQB will be on hand to discuss their work. Following the reception, AAQB member and historian, Vera P. Hall, will give a talk about her Civil War Story quilt. The reception and lecture are free, but space is limited so reserve your spot today. Just prior to the reception, there will be a 3:30pm unveiling of the Stitching Stories of Freedom Byway Quilt Block: the Cotton Boll. Information about the Byway Quilt Block Trail, a public art project, can be found here.
On Saturday, August 3rd, fiber art demonstrations will take place at FACES from 10am to 12pm, after which, the public is invited to participate in the FACES Quilt Documentation Project from 12pm – 4pm, where a written and photographic record of their vintage quilts will be documented. Documentation requires about 20-30 minutes per quilt for measuring, photographing, dating fabric, identifying patterns, and recording the quilt history. FACES will maintain this information in a database in order to preserve the legacy of quilt making, recognize its heritage, and share its story. Every quilt will be given a documentation tag, and quilt owners will be able to access their information on the website via an identification number. Quilt values will not be appraised. Pre-registration is required, sign up will be available online by July 1st.
Fiber art classes will be held throughout the three-day event, including Sketching with Threads by Sylvia Snyder; Refresh, Relearn, Retool, Your Knitting Skills by Sue Pilsch; and Felting is Fun by Jackie Mathiason. In addition to the AAQB exhibit, FACES will host a regional fiber arts sale; and fiber art exhibits at The Foundry, the Museum of Rural Life, and the Central Library will also be on display.
The Caroline County Council of Arts is sponsoring this event with funding from the Maryland State Arts Council an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. For more information on FiberFest or any of the planned activities, please contact Marina Dowdall at the Caroline County Council of Arts at ccartscouncil@verizon.net or 410.479.1009.