10 a.m., Tuesday, April 9, Artworks, 201 2nd Ave. S., Edmonds

Edmonds houses a community of artists with a rich history. On Tuesday, April 9, the Seaview Weaving and Fiber Arts Guild will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its founding. The public is welcome to join in the celebration. Members will bring examples of their work in a variety of fiber mediums, including weaving, quilting, sewing, knitting, card making, printing and many more. A brief meeting will follow with special attention given to all past presidents and members who are present.

The guild offers a place for fiber artists to advance their skills. Guildmember and former president Patti Leinweber shared, “I got interested in weaving, and I took a class at Weaving Works… The only way to continue learning new things is to join a guild.” The guild also exposed Leinweber to other artistic mediums. “I no longer weave; I’ve moved on to other fiber arts…I mostly work with paper and make cards and collage.”

I attended the Guild’s March gathering, which was centered around weaving. Each meeting focuses on a different medium. Members learn about that medium, begin a project and take it home to finish. The space was dotted with various types of looms for members to share and try.

The back room of the Artworks building in downtown Edmonds holds a rolling shelf library filled with binders of the guild’s history and photos of past gatherings and shows. Leinweber and member Yvonne Ellsworth walked me through the guild’s textured past.

On Tuesday, April 28, 1953, Alice Wallace gathered with seven other women in Emma Lou Halstead’s home to form what was to become the Seaview Weavers Guild. She was the guild’s first secretary-treasurer and helped create a place that has become a source of inspiration and joy to many fiber artists over decades.

Meetings were originally held in members’ homes. Membership dues were $2 a year, with 25 cents paid monthly. As the guild grew larger, members met in various community buildings, including Edmonds National Bank of Commerce, Maplewood Community Clubhouse, Edmonds Baptist Church, Washington Federal Savings and Loan in Lynnwood, and Maplewood Presbyterian Church.

On the guild’s website, a history page compiled by Astrid Bear relates: “Although the use of married names (“Mrs. Marshall, Mrs. Martin”) is pretty consistent in the early minutes, by the end of the decade, at least most of us had our own first names!”

In 2020, the guild moved to Artworks in Edmonds and held one meeting before the pandemic shut everything down. Post-pandemic, they resumed in-person meetings at Artworks with much success.

Since 1957, the guild has participated in various community arts activities, including the Edmonds Arts Festival. They’ve also had several gallery shows, including ones at the Prima Gallery at Edmonds Community College, the Snohomish County Arts Council Gallery in Everett, and the Frances Anderson Center.

The guild will have gallery shows at Coldwell Banker Bain (108 5th Ave. S., Edmonds) in April and at the Frances Anderson Center (700 Main St., Edmonds) in July and August.

While all the first guild members were from Edmonds, the guild now draws its members from all around the Puget Sound. After 70 years, the guild remains dedicated to promoting fiber arts in all its forms and sharing its craft with the greater community.

The guild invites past members or anyone interested in the fiber arts to join its celebration. For more information about the Seaview Weaving and Fiber Arts Guild, visit the website.

— By Elizabeth Murray

Elizabeth Murray is a freelance writer thankful to call Edmonds home. When she’s not busy wrangling her two kids (and husband), you can find her playing ukulele. She can be reached at elmm22@gmail.com.