(We have another guest post! our Laurie came back from a trip to Almonte, and she very kindly agreed to write up a few words and supply a few photos! Thanks to Laurie for this!)
I had a recent trip to Almonte Ontario just outside of Ottawa on the Mississippi
River. Once the home to many woollen mills now the home to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. The museum is located in an old woollen mill office and entry is by donation. There is a whole floor dedicated to the wool industry that thrived in Almonte thanks to the power of the Mississippi.
As well as the interactive woollen industry display, the museum has rotating exhibits all dedicated to textile artists. I was fortunate to see the exhibit “Rock, Paper,Scissors by Carole Baillargeon. There were several felted rocks arranged in piles on the floor. They were made out of scraps of material, wool and articles of clothing from who farmed, worked the land and kept the home. Each piece of material was labeled with a small numbered tag sewn onto the rock and the tag number was referenced on a large list that named the women who had donated the material.
The exhibit also displayed the artists homemade paper. My favourite pieces were the tools and scissors wrapped in yarn , material or both. Sculptures made out of common articles. So interesting.
Almonte is a bit of a long trip but the town offers much entertainment for a day trip and the river is a treat in itself.
(A big thank you to Laurie for this info! Maybe you are travelling this summer to somewhere with some wonderful textile-y stuff….please consider sending us a paragraph and some photos to include in our blog. If you’re interested in this stuff, odds are your friends in rug hooking are, too!)
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