Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula J Vester.
Paula, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 1979, while living in Savannah, I got a job at Oatland Island Educational Center as a Heritage Farm Interpreter. There I learned to spin and weave and talk to the public and school groups about life in 1840’s Georgia. After moving to Stone Mountain in 1983, I found that the history and spinning and weaving were things that still fascinated me and I continued to practice and study. I started going to schools and demonstrating and volunteered at the Dekalb Historical Society and the Tullie Smith House at the AHS. It was in 1985 that a group of handspinners organized the Peachtree Handspinners Guild and I was one of the founding members.
Mostly, I went wherever people would ask, and learned to interpret all time periods and subjects related to textiles, women’s work, spinning, weaving and even Georgia History and the Textile Industry before 1900.
I began leading workshops, organizing local, regional and even some national conferences in the fiber arts – spinning, weaving, crochet, etc. During this time, I served as both president to the local spinners’ guild and Southeast Fiber Forum, a regional fiber arts organization. I also served as National Conference Chair for the Crochet Guild of America.
In 1987, our local guild began demonstrating at the Georgia Renaissance Festival, and we still do it every spring. In 1993, I started presenting The Wool Story at the Georgia National Fair held in Perry, GA every October, and in 1998, I became the superintendent of the Spinning and Weaving Competition at the GA National Fair. I travel all over the US teaching workshops at Wool Festivals and fiber conferences, Including the Tropical Weaver’s Guild Conferences in Florida, and Estes Park Wool Market in Estes Park, CO.
These days I continue my study in the history of textiles, the textile industry and those things that women have done through time to provide textiles for their families and communities. I have been focusing on not only spinning, but Natural Dyeing and have been working with kudzu to weave with in the manner the Japanese have done it for 1000 years.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I feel I am very fortunate in that my family – especially my husband – has been very supportive. Mostly, it is that without a sponsor or recognition, I struggle to just support my fiber studies and projects while my husband supports the family.
I feel lucky, though, that I have been able to go and teach and share my experiences and knowledge with others as I can. I have found that I am lucky to have the Peachtree Handspinners Guild, and the educational staff at the Carlos Museum at Emory – where I am often invited to teach summer camps and workshops for both adults and children. These give me emotional support and friendship which encourages me when I feel less than confident.
Please tell us about World in a Spin.
My company really is just me (and my husband, who helps in so many ways). The public, educational part of me. I teach, write about, publish books about spinning, fiber history, natural dyeing, textiles, women and world history. All of this in the context of Fiber – as an art form and as a necessity of civilized peoples.
I specialize mostly in Natural Dyeing and techniques in Handspinning. I lead other workshops about knitting and crochet, using handspun yarn, weaving – historical and innovative, using non-traditional looms. Back in the 1990’s I learned to kumihimo – a form of braiding by the Japanese – but also studying the fact that peoples all around the world use braids. In my workshops at the Carlos Museum, I leach braiding in connection with the ancient Incan Empire. Also in the 1990’s, I begun a journey working with kudzu fiber as a weaving material. The Japanese have been weaving it for 1000 years and I want to learn not only how they have done it, but see if I can bring it into my 21st century studio.
I am proud of the body of work I have accumulated. It has to do with textiles and someone wants a discussion or talk or demonstration of it, given a little bit of time, I can present it. I love to see where my students go in their own studies and I hope that I can continue to pass on this knowledge so that it never gets lost.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I guess I am still waiting for some of that good luck to help push me forward a little bit.
Contact Info:
- Website: worldinaspin.com
- Phone: 404-296-4051
- Email: pjvester60@att.net
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