Susi Reinink

It is so important to be in a community of like-minded people... You exchange thoughts, you learn from each other, you inspire each other. I think it is most important to join a Guild to get that inspiration and the feedback on your own work.

Susi Reinink joined the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners in 1977. She served as President of the Guild in 1984-1985 and has taught a range of weaving workshops. Reinink specializes in double weave, which is a technique that results in two layers of fabric that are woven simultaneously. 

After first seeing a loom when she volunteered at Napanee's Allan Macpherson Historic House, Reinink took evening classes to learn the basics of weaving, furthered her knowledge with private lessons, and went on to participate in the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners (OHS) three-year Master Weaver program the first year it was offered at St. Lawrence College in Brockville, where she graduated with distinction. 

Reinink continues to be involved with the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners. She assisted in the creation of the OHS home study Weaving Certificate Program, has been involved in planning fibre art conferences in the Eastern Ontario region (most notably, in 2005, when the OHS Conference was held in Kingston at Queen's University), and she is now OHS liaison to the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners. 

Here, she discusses how the fibre arts have been significant to her life and how being a part of the Guild stimulated her creativity.