Audio By Carbonatix
TACtile Arts Center director Dianne Denholm can sew a pretty piece. But when she picked up a pair of needles recently to knit a pair of socks, something she’d never done before, she found herself less than impressed with the results. “I’m kind of stuck, and I don’t know anyone to talk to about it,” Denholm says of the whole darned enterprise. It’s her way of explaining the point of the center’s new Weekly Wednesdays program, which provides a free place for fiber artists and crafters of all skill levels to network with one another, as well as with an expert mentor in whichever discipline is giving them a hard time.
Featuring a revolving series of project themes — Fashion Sewing, Beading, Weaving/Knitting and Embroidery/Needlecraft, as well as a few surprises — and offered in the spirit of San Francisco’s influential Stitch Lounge, where the idea of the “stitch and bitch” session was practically birthed (although, as Denholm points out, the concept really dates way back to the old-fashioned quilting bee), Weekly Wednesdays fills a niche for people who’ve outgrown a class but still need the camaraderie. Plus, it saves a stuck crafter the embarrassment of going back to the shop where she bought her materials to beg for free tips: “TACtile is a place that’s a little more neutral; you can come here and relax a little bit more,” Denholm notes. With help from members of the many fiber-arts guilds who conduct meetings at the center, it’s also a place that’s crawling with expertise.
TACtile’s ongoing studio lounges are from 5 to 8 p.m. weekly at 7777 East Hampden Avenue, Suite 114, in Tamarac Square; for more information, go to www.tactilearts.org or call 720-524-8886.
Wednesdays, 5-8 p.m., 2008
