FIRESIDE FIBERARTS NEWSLETTER
Summer 2007
Hello friends,
Summer is
proceeding in an unusual fashion – cool and rainy days accompanied by jungle
like growth with sun breaks and scattered warm days to remind us what we are
missing. Where do we begin?
The most
dramatic change is Gary and Rachel are retiring and Fireside Fiberarts is
moving to Butler, Pa. under the ownership of Larry and Michelle Lesniak. They
are realizing a long term dream to own their own business. Coming from a background in analytical
professions (Larry- Information Technology, Michelle -accounting),the lure of
craft - to create beautiful things for others to enjoy and actually use, is
compelling indeed. Larry is an
accomplished woodworker, metal-smith and musician. Besides anyone who plays esoteric instruments
like the krummhorn, dulcian and Baroque oboe fits right in, don’t you
think? Michelle does cross stitching,
calligraphy, photography and rubber stamping and for several years coordinated
craft shows in the Pittsburgh area, working with a wide variety of artists. She
was impressed by the openness/ warmth of this creative community and wanted to
be a part of it. How dramatically
different this was from corporate accounting.
She became a stay at home mom with the birth of their sons, Ben (14 and
Kevin 13). Both boys are creative,
inventive and active in scouting, music, sports and now, weaving.
You will see
changes to the web site shortly, then a newsletter in August/September
introducing the Lesniaks more fully with their vision of the future. You’ll find their contact information on the
final page. Welcome, Larry, Michelle,
Ben and Kevin.
What’s next
for Gary and Rachel? Rachel’s weaving studio is moving into larger
quarters in the loft of the Swett shop. Gone will be the lumber drying kiln, used
loom storage and boxes. Several Fireside
looms will remain for weaving and teaching.
We may even set up the original loom built 35 years
ago in Granada, Spain where I did my apprenticeship. Rachel’s interest in gardening and
landscaping has always succumbed to conference travel that peaks during the
planting/growing season. This most
certainly will be remedied. She has a
new gardening partner – Lyn Dancer, who spends a day a week helping make the
bloomin’ place bloom. Gary has a rather
long list of house projects beginning with wiring and plumbing our daughter
Andrea’s house addition, a new kitchen for Rachel, the weaving studio, deferred
maintenance on a 10 acre woodlot… you
get the idea. It won’t be all work and no
play though. For Rachel’s birthday
August 3rd, our Mexico City friend and aloomni, Claudia Gonzalez will join
us. In September we celebrate our
retirement with brother Bob and his wife, Jenny, cruising the inland passage to
Alaska. September 24 and 25th
we’ll be in Anchorage for our final Aloomni gathering. It is an emotional time as we exit Fireside
Fiberarts, pass the shuttle to Larry and Michelle and find new directions to
go. We define so much of what we are by
what we do. Much of the time, it seems
they are inseparable. I still remember
the first caller who asked, “ Is this Mr. Fireside”? ‘Nuff said.
The newest member of our Fireside family is the 4
Harness Cantilever Loom. It’s a
countermarch design with 6 treadles. You
can experiment with structure in your tapestry or weave rugs in a vertical
format.
The first loom was delivered to Debrah Constance in
Los Angeles, February this year. “ It’s
awesome”, she says. Check out Debrah’s
web site for some very original tapestry. http://www.fatstupidugly.com/
Before I forget, there is a tapestry weaver interested in a 60” –
72” Traditional Tapestry loom. If you are considering retiring your loom, think
about consigning it with Fireside. Weavers looking for used Firesides visit the
website frequently.
Other family matters: Our son Matthew and wife Sarah, Taproot
Design.com, received two design awards for the Clinton Ferry Park on the south
end of Whidbey Island. One of the
prizes, The Honor Award, is given each year by Northwest Chapter of AIA for
architecture worthy of national attention.
Here is the project. The popping
sound you hear when you open this site, is the sound of our buttons bursting! http://nwaia.gopsn.com/2006/index.php?path=award
&id=NDA=&award=SG9ub3IgQXdhcmQ=&name=Q2xpbnRvbiBCZWFjaCBQYXJr
Our youngest son Brandon decided to change careers after being laid off
as a commercial cook the second time. He trained this Spring at Mt. Vernon
Community College and earned his Commercial Drivers License and is looking for
local rather
than long haul work. He wants to stay in the Puget Sound area.
Andrea and Michah are camping in their house with 2 walls removed to
accomodate an addition (Matthew’s
design). Their sons, Connor and Gavin,
now 6 years old, enjoyed their experience in Kindergarten together and are
going to try 1st grade in separate classes.
We lost Rachel’s mother, Pat June 10th. During our visit in
April she was preparing to move to a California retirement center. It was a
decision she managed to delay for years.
In the end, she really wanted to stay where she was in her own home, a
place Rachel’s sister Ann, called “ My Blue Heaven”. I found comfort in Tennyson’s Crossing
the Bar. Pat loved the sea, you can
almost hear it’s sound in this verse:
I sometimes hold it half a sin To put in words the grief I feel:
For words, like Nature, half reveal And half conceal the Soul Within. Sunset and evening star, And one clear call
for me!
And may there be no moaning
of the bar, When I put out to sea.
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the
boundless deep turns home again.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that
the dark.
I
hope to see my Pilot face to face When
I have crossed the bar.
It was at sea I met her daughter September 1965. We were aboard a Danish ferry bound from Fyn
to Zaeland. I was photographing the
sunset when a very pretty girl walked up and said, “ Could you check my F
Stop?” Are you kidding me? Sunset and evening star… and one clear call
for me! 42 years later I’m still
checking her F Stop. Thank you, Pat for
your daughter, Rachel.
Here we are now as grandparents, ready for retirement, “dated” as
Brandon would say. “How many times have
I shown you how to fix that computer?”
We’re refugees from the sixties arrested somewhere between an Oregon
commune and condo, granola and gorgazola, Percherons and Porsches, Roth and
Rushdie. Friends, life is an amazing
journey, is it not? Thanks so much for your support through the years as our
Fireside Aloomni. May our paths continue to cross, our mail to merge and our
hearts to reach out to one another. Be well
Gary and Rachel
Tapestry
by aloomnus
Carol
Lennert Castells
Fireside’s new contact info:
Larry and Michelle Lesniak
(724) 283-0575
380 Dodds Rd., Butler, Pa 16002