The Manly Arts

3 piece wall-hanging by Collingwood Designs

Historically speaking the production of cloth has been the domain of men and in many cultures it still is.  TWEED,  a 2009 BBC documentary,  revealed that all the hand weavers at  Harris Tweed are men and they always have been.  So how come it is so hard to get men into the weaving studio here in America?  The UK boasts some extraordinary male weavers who have become stars in the weaving world.   Tim Parry Williams, Nick Ozanne, and Jason Collingwood for example.  Did their shared "Englishness" make their journey into the world of textile production any easier?  After all, Silas Marner was a weaver. 

Next May, Jason Collingwood will be here in Wisconsin speaking at the Wisconsin Hand Weavers monthly meeting.  This is a great opportunity to talk to a master weaver, learn some of his secrets and perhaps get some clue into how to draw men into the art of weaving.

If it is hard to entice men into the weaving world, how much harder to lure them into the quilting world?  Josh Cacopardo wrote an excellent article in the Curator about his attempts to make quilting manly. "Indeed, every time I use the word “bobbin” I feel like I should take my shirt off and lift something really heavy, making sure that all of the nearby women see it happen"  he writes.  Give it a read!