The fibre community says Olds College’s Fibre Week and master spinner and weaver programs helped bring it together
CALGARY — Olds College’s decision to phase out its master spinner and master weaver certificate programs as well as cancel Fibre Week is a major setback to Canada’s wool and fibre sector, says an advocate.
“I think it’s a huge loss to the fleece community,” said Cathyrn Holowaychuk, who graduated from the master spinner program in 2020.
“And I personally felt that Fibre Week brought all of us together from not only different communities in Alberta, but right across Canada and the U.S.”
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The decision was made because costs had increased while program registrations had declined about 36 percent since 2011, said Chris Wharton, the Alberta college’s director of continuing education and corporate training.
“It wasn’t a quick, light decision. There was a lot of consultation internally and really looking at the finances.”
Fibre Week was held each June at the college and included activities such as workshops, an artisan market and social events. Holowaychuk described it as extremely well attended not only by participants in the two certificate programs but also by people who travelled long distances to meet other fibre artists and do some shopping.
Wharton said attendance was typically 180 people and it had become too heavy a lift for the college.
“A lot of my team would spend weeks and weeks preparing for this event, and we do understand, of course, the impact of the cancellation because it was important to the fibre community, so definitely not taken lightly.”
Projects such as toques, sweaters and shawls were typically undertaken as part of the master spinner certificate program, while woven table runners, placemats and tablecloths were part of the master weaver certificate program, said Wharton.
As a sheep producer near Cochrane, Alta., Tara Klager of Providence Lane Homestead has been trying to find new uses for fleece. She collaborated last year with industrial design students at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver to develop new products from fleece that would otherwise be buried, burned or stuck into barn walls.
“I’ve never been somebody who was into the spinning and the weaving, but I do know that those programs (at Olds College) were so highly regarded both in Alberta, but also beyond our borders provincially and nationally, even,” said Klager.
“They were just really, really well thought of, and the participants and people who’ve come through those programs love them. The proficiency that they have, the artistry, the creativity, it’s really such a tremendous loss to the fibre arts generally, but to even our artistic and creative landscape in the province, it’s a tremendous loss.”
Wharton began his job about a month and a half ago after working for about 13 years at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary in a similar role. He closely examined all the programs within continuing education and corporate training at Olds College.
He said apart from reduced registration and rising expenses for Fibre Week and the two certificate programs, an important consideration was the cost in terms of lost opportunities for other continuing education initiatives.
“If you’re spending this much time and this much money on this program, what are you not putting effort into?”
The college is seeking to mitigate some of the impact of its decision by continuing to offer courses for students who are already taking part in the master spinner and master weaver certificate programs, said Wharton.
“So, for this coming June, we’re going to be offering level two and up, so we’re not offering level one because we’re slowly sunsetting these,” he said.
“We wouldn’t want to start people off on level one and then not give them the opportunity to finish, so what we’re doing is we’re committed to those that have started or in progress in their levels to continue offering those.”
However, Holowaychuk said phasing out the two programs and cancelling Fibre Week means an important ally has been lost in promoting interest in natural fibre. It comes at a time when advocates are seeking to revive and rejuvenate the sector in Canada, she added.
“Losing that function of training people and teaching people and creating the passion in people to use those fibres I think is what the loss is, and that’s going to be more of a detriment. I mean, what’s the use having the fleece if you don’t know what to do with it?”
Wharton said Olds College is looking for other groups, institutions and associations that might want to take over the programs.
“So, we would enter into discussions around how we could sell the program to others and then continue offering those through another, say, partner or another association, so those conversations are actively ongoing right now.”
