Bethany Garner

It is amazing and fascinating that Kingston's heritage includes a weaving guild that has been active with members for over seventy years. There are a number of Guild members who are professional Master Weaver, Master Spinner, artist, teachers. I respect that hugely. I just think it is so important to share all of your skills.

After breaking her wrist, Bethany Garner was encouraged by her Occupational Therapist to take up weaving to regain mobility in her hand. She joined the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners in 2015, as the Guild was moving into their studio at the newly renovated Tett Centre. Garner served as Secretary to the Board of Directors and also represented the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners on the Tett Centre’s Board. A textile artist with an interest in eco dyeing, she helped to establish the dyeing station in the Guild’s studio. 

Beyond her involvement in KHWS, Garner also established the Textile Arts Program at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, where she taught for twenty-three years. She is a member of numerous fibre arts organizations, including the Limestone Quilters (which she co-founded in 1992), the Kingston Heirloom Quilters, the Prince Edward County Quilt Guild, the Modern Quilt Guild, the Ottawa Weavers and Spinners, and the Quinte Fibre Artists. Garner is currently an Artist in Residence at the Tett Centre’s Creativity Studios. 

Here, she discusses the broken wrist that led her to start weaving and her interests in the fibre arts.