Textiles & Tea

June 2026

July 2026

August 2026

September 2026

October 2026

Sponsor

April 2026

May 2026

Becka Rahn is a full-time teaching artist who works in a micro-studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She specializes in fabric design, paper sculpture, and illustration using recycled papers and hand embroidery.  Becka is the co-author of The Spoonflower Handbook, a guide to designing your own fabrics, and holds a book arts certificate from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.  She is passionate about helping artists conquer technology barriers to make their work more accessible. Her superpowers are breaking complex ideas into simple steps, inspiring creative thinking, and incorporating puns into everything she makes.

Marilyn Romatka has a passion for Folk Art. She has been teaching living ethnic crafts to both children and adults throughout the nation for many years. She has a drive to see that traditional skills are passed on to the next generation. Her background in science makes her teaching style organized and clear; her passion gives the class zing. Students in her classes laugh and learn in a relaxed atmosphere. She is the author of the book Creative Crafts of the World, a book of lesson plans to teach groups of kids – from scouts to homeschoolers to grandkids!

Barbara Heller has exhibited tapestry work locally, nationally, and internationally for more than fifty years and is a passionate advocate for tapestry’s place in contemporary art. Alongside her studio practice, she has organized exhibitions and symposia, written articles, lectured, taught workshops, edited publications, and curated exhibitions. Barbara currently serves as Director of Education for the American Tapestry Alliance and founded both the British Columbia Society of Tapestry Artists and the Canadian Tapestry Network.

Susie Taylor received a BFA in Fiber from the Kansas City Art Institute, an MFA in Design from UCLA, and later earned HGA’s Certificate of Excellence in Handweaving. She has an extensive background designing jacquard upholstery fabrics for American mills in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Based in Rochester, New York, Susie maintains an active studio practice and is represented by Johansson Projects in Oakland, California. She has taught at Penland, Arrowmont, and Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

Joanne Hall earned her master’s degree in Textile Design from the University of Minnesota and taught weaving at both the University of Montana and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Returning to Montana, she developed a successful tapestry practice while launching Glimakra USA, a business importing Swedish weaving equipment now based in Eugene, Oregon. Joanne is also the author of five weaving books and has taught workshops in tapestry, Swedish weaving techniques, and drawloom weaving for more than 50 years.

Svetlana Turov is a Canadian fiber artist whose work explores fiber art within a fine art context, creating dimensional compositions between painting and sculpture. Using wool and silk through wet and nuno felting, along with fabric painting, she creates expressive works inspired by the ocean, Niagara Falls, and the rhythms of the natural world. Part of Svetlana’s current research reinterprets imagery from ancient felt traditions, connecting contemporary practice with early textile history. Her work has been exhibited across North America and is held in private collections in North and South America and Europe.

Sponsorship includes:

Recognition at the beginning and end of each broadcast
Continued recognition in recordings shared on Facebook and HGA's YouTube channel
Emails sent to HGA’s mailing list of approximately 10,000 promoting the event, with you listed as a sponsor and a link to your website
Promotion of the event along with your sponsorship on HGA’s social media platforms: Instagram and Facebook
Identified as event sponsor on HGA's website and the event listing on the HGA Fiber Art Calendar

Sponsorship Terms and Conditions

EPISODE ASSIGNMENT

HGA reserves the right to alter the format and schedule of the Textiles & Tea program at the discretion of HGA. HGA will make every effort to maintain the schedule of artists appearing on Textiles & Tea as assigned, however sponsor understands that the artist for their sponsored episode(s) could change at any time and for any reason.

MATERIALS DEADLINE

Purchaser shall provide sponsorship logo and web address to permit HGA the authority to publish all materials.

PAYMENT

PURCHASER AGREES TO MAKE FULL PAYMENT WHEN RESERVING SPONSORSHIP SPACE.

CANCELLATION

NO CANCELLATION TO THE SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT WILL BE ACCEPTED.

SPONSORSHIP ACCEPTANCE

Any loss or expense claims or suits based upon the subject matter and/or sponsorship content is at the expense of the sponsor. HGA is held harmless and all indemnification policies apply. In no event shall HGA’s liability to sponsor for all claims of any kind for loss or damage arising out of or resulting from any error or omission exceed the total charges payable for the sponsorship. HGA RESERVES THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME TO REJECT SPONSORSHIP MATERIAL, WHICH MAY BE DEEMED OBJECTIONABLE OR COMPROMISES A CURRENT RELATIONSHIP WITH AN EXISTING CLIENT.

TRADEMARKS

Sponsor warrants that he/she has the authority to use any trademark, trade name, service mark, name, portrait, picture, or illustration in the manner and in accordance with the sponsorship material submitted. Sponsor agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold HGA harmless from and against any and all liability, claims, demands, suits, or causes of action, including attorney fees incurred by HGA in the defense thereof, arising out of the publication of any copyright and trademark infractions in accordance with this sponsorship agreement.

MODIFICATION

This sponsorhip agreement constitutes the sole understanding between the parties hereto as to the subject matter herein. No modification or change to this agreement or any oral understanding will be binding unless in writing signed by both parties hereto. HGA SHALL NOT BE BOUND BY ANY PROMISES OR AGREEMENTS NOT CONTAINED HEREIN AND ACCEPTED, NOR SHALL ANY SUCH RELIEVE SPONSOR OR AGENT (IF ANY) OF THEIR OBLIGATIONS HEREUNDER.

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS

HGA reserves the right to terminate this agreement in part or in its entirety at any time with or without cause. This sponsorship agreement is valid for HGA’s Textiles & Tea Program. PURCHASER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE/SHE HAS READ AND SPONSOR AGREES TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY ALL SPONSORSHIP TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED IN THE AGREEMENT.

Stephen Tornero is an artist and educator based in Canton, Ohio. While pursuing a Master’s degree in Art Education at Kent State University, he discovered weaving and developed a deep connection to the medium. Textiles offered him a rich visual language—one that brings together vibrant color, texture, pattern, and transparency in ways he had not found in other media. Tornero teaches visual art and fashion design to middle school students in his hometown. Although his teaching and studio practices are distinct, he believes they actively inform and strengthen one another. In his studio, Tornero weaves yarns he dyes himself alongside nontraditional materials, transforming them into dynamic textile works. His dedication to arts education has earned him multiple service awards, and his work has been exhibited in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Gretchen Romey-Tanzer began weaving in the early 1970s on an inkle loom before transitioning to a Leclerc floor loom. Her formal training includes the School for American Craftsmen in Rochester, NY; the Joensuu Handcraft School in Finland; the Banff Centre for Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada; and Indiana University. While she has explored many textile processes, floor-loom weaving remains their focus. Romey-Tanzer designs double-weave textiles as modernist works for the wall. In addition to exhibiting her work, she teaches workshops and run a weaving studio and gallery. Her work is held in private and museum collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Heather Macali is an artist, craftsperson, and educator based in Detroit, Michigan. She holds an MFA in Textiles from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and teaches at Wayne State University, where she specializes in weaving, dyeing, textile design, and spinning. Her work investigates color, structure, and the hand-to-material relationship through three-dimensional woven forms. Macali has exhibited nationally, and her work has been featured in Fiber Art Now (January 2026) and Creative Dimensions in Weaving by Stacey Harvey Brown.

Eric James Dwyer is an emerging textile artist based in Atlanta, Georgia, whose work examines how complex woven structures translate imagery to cloth and how material choices influence legibility and emotional tone. His process-driven practice approaches weaving as a method of attentive translation and care. Dwyer learned to weave at the Penland School of Craft in 2022 and has since completed residencies at the Praxis Digital Weaving Lab and Penland, deepening his interest in structural complexity, digital processes, and the relationship between image, pattern, and woven form. Alongside his studio practice, Dwyer works as a critical care nurse, an experience that informs his understanding of both nursing and weaving as parallel practices grounded in attentiveness, patience, responsiveness, and care.

How to Recommend a Guest

The Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. (HGA) seeks emerging and established fiber artists with a focus on weaving for our weekly interview series, Textiles & Tea. Artists are required to have an online presence and should be able to produce a headshot and a brief bio for marketing purposes. In advance of the interview, accepted artists will attend one planning meeting (approximately 30 minutes). Interviews take place on Tuesdays at 4:00 PM Eastern Time and last for one hour. All interviews take place on Zoom and as such participating artists are required to participate from a location that has stable internet, good lighting, clear microphone, and no disruptions.

Schedule

June 2026

July 2026

August 2026

September 2026

October 2026

Sponsor

April 2026

May 2026

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Sponsorship Terms and Conditions

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Guest Recommendations for Textiles & Tea

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