Ginger Ferris loves the magic of weaving

Article by Jayne Mabus

Fiber Arts - March 2005 - Colorado Central Magazine - No. 133 - Page 44
Copyright © 2005 by Jayne Mabus and Central Colorado Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
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"Follow Your Bliss," we are exhorted in popular bestsellers. "Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow."

Yeah, riiight!

But then you meet people who have followed their bliss. Whatever their age, they're passionate, happy, excited, and alive in a way most people aren't. They have enthusiasm, curiosity, and joie de vivre (if you'll pardon my French) -- that you rarely see in nine-to-fivers.

That's certainly true of weaver Ginger Ferris. She exemplifies all of these qualities. And when you add her infectious laugh, she's just plain fun to be around. Her Salida studio, Gypsy Heart, is a bright, cheerful yellow that reflects her sunny personality.

Inside, the first thing you see is her loom. It dominates the room. Then you begin to notice the wall hangings, comfortable chairs, plants in the nook, and you want to sit down and stay awhile.

When asked about the name, Ferris laughed and said that the gypsy part reflected the 42 times and counting she's moved in her life. In case you haven't guessed, she comes from a military family. After you've known Ferris for five minutes, you don't have to ask about the heart part of the name.

Ferris started her artistic career working as an assistant in a pottery studio in Florida; she describes that work as a way to do something for herself when her children were small. Her mentor was both a potter and a weaver, and Ferris developed an interest in fibers from needlepointing.

FERRIS MOVED TO Chaffee County in 1990 and brought her interest in weaving with her. When her husband, a building contractor, offered to build her a studio, Ferris was forced to choose between the two arts. She chose weaving.

It must have been a good choice because 29 years later, weaving still excites her. "I'm still fascinated with the interlacement of threads. How you can take all these separate threads, and tie them on the loom, and then take another thread which is unrelated and unattached and pass it back and forth through there - and it's like magic. Suddenly, you have cloth! It's still kind of a rush every time I sit down to start weaving a project."

Although self-taught, Ferris has taken lots of classes. She joined the Weavers Guild in Tampa, attended workshops, and went to the Penland School of Crafts.

Weaving is a very traditional art, which is reflected in Ferris's life in Salida. Interest in weaving is growing in the area and she belongs to Twisted Sister, a group that meets monthly. Although group weaving can be difficult because of the size of the loom, spinning is an activity that can be enjoyed with other people.

"Spinning can be very meditative. Once you get the rhythm going, you can visit. It's like the old quilting bees. You can talk, share your lives, and at the end you have a product. You have something that you can use," Ferris laughed.

[Ginger Ferris at her loom]

FERRIS WAS IN SEVERAL art shows in Florida and her work has been shown in the Trembling Aspen Gallery and the Courthouse Gallery, both in Buena Vista. But Ferris is more excited about sharing her art form than competing. Her eyes really light up when she talks about demonstrating weaving to classes of children.

"When you talk to little kids these days, their mothers don't sew anymore. They have no concept where clothes come from. They think they come from Wal-mart. So I tell them to think about this. One hundred and fifty years ago, everything was handspun and handwoven. From your shoelaces to the sails on the ships. If you really stop and think about that, it blows you away. That's rugs, sheets, blankets, clothes, everything," Ferris laughs.

"And out of this grew the idea of rag rugs and quilts because after you'd gone to all that trouble to make that piece of fabric, you used every last possible inch of it until there wasn't anything big enough to salvage. And then you sold the scraps to the paper man."

And don't get her started talking about Convergence 2004 Denver, a conference sponsored by the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. "I've gone to four Convergences. They have workshops, lectures, booths, competitions. People come from all over the country - all over the world," Ferris enthused.

Although weaving isn't for the truly math-impaired - it requires a lot of set-up before you actually sit in front of the loom - or the instant gratification crowd, it can offer opportunities of self-expression that many art forms don't provide. When was the last time you saw someone wearing a painting?

Over the past 29 years, Ferris has made clothing, rugs, wall hangings, blankets, and household linens from fabric she's woven. And that's just a partial list.

For weaving questions or private lesson inquiries, Ginger Ferris can be reached at 719/539-7541.

You can find the Handweaver Guild of America, Inc. online at www.weavespindye.org.

Jayne Mabus lives in Salida, and once worked for a sailing magazine in San Diego.

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