Bracha Fredman

1926 - 2017

Sadly, our WGSL guild recently lost Bracha Fredman, a guild member from 1970 until about the mid-1990s. For the past many years she has lived with Alzheimer’s and has been absent from our guild. She was a gifted weaver with unique talents for complex weaving structures.

Bracha was born in Jerusalem, Israel (known as Palestine at that time) in 1926 and immigrated to the United States in 1941. She and her family returned to live in Israel for a few years in the late 1940s then again in the early 1960s but settled permanently in St. Louis after 1964, though she returned for frequent visits and was buried in Israel.

She wrote that she “discovered weaving in 1968 after a trip to Mexico, where for the first time she saw people spin and weave. She fell in love with yarns and weaving and knew instantly that this was for her.” She had no formal art training but alongside her cousin by marriage, Betty Epstein, she studied with Libbie Crawford and attended workshops in the states and in Finland.

Bracha’s early weaving interests focused in wallhangings. For many years, she explored weaving multi-layered fabric structures using her 8 harness loom. She also developed an interest in tapestry but explored a non-traditional method combining it with pattern weaves.

She leaves a legacy of wallhangings, one of which on public display, titled Tallit no.VII, is installed at the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library. The piece is an excellent example of her multi-layered weaving technique.

Laura Blumenfeld

1930-2016

Laura joined the Weavers' Guild back in 1973 and served as Guild President, Guild Sale Chair plus served on numerous committees over the decades. She was very active in all aspects of the guild and she generously offered her home as a frequent meeting place for committee meetings, study groups and dye sessions. Laura was a wonderful weaver but an even more prolific knitter. Her beautiful handknit sweaters were some of the most popular items at the Annual Guild Sale. We will miss Laura dearly but her legacy of enthusiastic guild involvement will live forever in our guild history.

Connie Hilgert

1911-2015

“She was the most amazing woman I ever met.” said Janet Brannon about our fellow weaver, knitter, crocheter, our colleague, our friend, our Connie. Connie Hilgert passed away peacefully in the company of her family on January 25 at the age of 103. Age led her to rely on a walker and then a wheelchair, but until her last hospitalization, not age, nor walker, nor wheelchair stopped her from leading the full, rich, active, and productive life she had known for so long. Always learning, always doing, that was Connie.

Most of us who know Connie as a weaver are aware that her long association with the Weavers’ Guild of St. Louis began more than 80 years ago, when, as a young student, she joined the Guild, then only 8 years old.​ She and another student attended Guild meetings in their college attire alongside society matrons in their hats and gloves, all sipping tea poured from a silver teapot into china teacups.

Many also know that Connie studied for two years under the expert tutelage of Sara Mattsson at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts at Washington University; that she continued learning throughout the years by taking classes and workshops from widely recognized and well respected names in the history of hand-weaving, including Mary Atwater and Josephine Estes; and that she even traveled to Norway twice to learn new weaving techniques. What many may not know is that Connie also had a professional weaving career as director of the St. Louis Area Weaving Project of the depression-era WPA, and that she supervised the weaving of a blanket for the Missouri Exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair held in the city of New York.

Connie’s work is as meticulous as her mind was sharp, and she was rightfully proud of it. Her tea towels, with their straight selvages and evenly placed weft threads, were exhibited in recent years at the DAR Headquarters in Washington D.C., and one received a first-place award. Her talent and her pride in art and craftsmanship is manifest in her “1840 Weaver’s Cottage” diorama with its miniature hand-woven textiles, hand-made walnut furniture, and accessories, all scaled down in every dimension. The Weaver’s Cottage holds an entire course in spinning, weaving, and early American history. It is fitting that Connie donated it to the Missouri History Museum to be shared, studied, and admired for years to come.

It is only in the past year or two that Connie could no longer attend Weavers’ Guild meetings in St. Louis. Nevertheless, she lived in her own apartment at the Fountains of Shiloh, traversing its long hallways in her foot-propelled wheelchair, eschewing any help, and complaining only that too few of the other residents shared her interests. She enjoyed time spent with her weaver and knitter friends and had recently taught Janet Brannon to weave and me to knit. She met regularly with her knitters’ group, serving as its “Program Chair” and general motivator. She even had me lined up for the February meeting to show the group how to make folded book ornaments. Many in old age tend to look back. Connie looked ever forward.

Last October, when the knitters’ group celebrated her 103rd birthday, I gave her a tablet-woven etui to hold crochet hooks, needles, scissors and other small tools. She said she would “treasure it forever.” “Forever” arrived far too soon, but I will always treasure my memory of the lady whose talent, wit, and mental acuity continues to amaze and inspire.

Submitted by Marilyn Emerson Holtzer

Sue Brown

1949 - 2014

Sue was a dear friend to many of the St. Louis Weavers Guild members. She had held the office of president (2005-2007) and was involved with the sale and various other events. Sue loved anything to do with fiber art, and was proficient at spinning, weaving, knitting and felting. She lived with her husband Steve in the Webster Grove area. They enjoyed going to art fairs and different music in the park events. Sue also volunteered with the herb society, sharing her knowledge of herbs and plants.

Sue moved to Franklin county where she joined the Franklin County Fiber Guild and the Rural Missouri Spinners. She also joined knitting and spinning groups.Sue was very giving of her art and plant knowledge to others. She hosted and gave freely of her time and talent. We will all deeply miss our dear friend. The world needs more kind and giving friends like Sue.

Submitted by Linda Beckley

Agnes Fischer

- 2013

Agnes lost her battle with cancer and has now given out her last hugs. We shall miss this sweet gentle lady who pushed us all to get accomplished only half of what she did in her lifetime. She gave so much to so many...let us remember her every time we procrastinate instead of the extra steps to successfully finish a project on time....or skimp in the finishing process to make a garment truly special. Although she came late in her life to weaving, she gave us much to remember....thank you Agnes!

Submitted by Dee Felt

Lucy Primm

1922 - 2012

A member of the St. Louis Weavers’ Guild for almost 50 years, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. Just a few days earlier she had visited the Missouri History Museum with fellow Guild members as we viewed Part 2 of our 85th Anniversary exhibit, Woven in Time, and attended our retrospective fashion show. Lucy was an avid and active weaver, and was in the midst of weaving one of her beautiful blankets on the long warp she had recently put on her loom. For many years she had a yarn business, The Weavery, in her home, and during one summer when our sons attended the same hockey program, delivered yarn to me via the two embarrassed teens. Once, Lucy decided to weave blinds and ordered a large number of wooden slats for the purpose, and, at the same time time, her husband,Gene, started a hockey stick business for their sons. Lucy's daughter, Sallie Skinner, remembers all the sticks, slats and yarn that filled the house, but only a few finished blinds.

Over the years, Lucy participated in various Guild activities on many levels. Ever modest, she never touted her accomplishments. Many members may not know that she was responsible for organizing the evening Guild or that she served as its president for a decade. Just last year she organized a Swedish Weaving Study Group and was looking forward to participating in the Guild’s upcoming Scandinavian Weaving program and rosepath weave-in. I am sad that she did not see the finished article about her Swedish textile that appears elsewhere in this newsletter. Those of us who have been the beneficiaries of Lucy’s mentoring, weaving advice, wit, charm, and sense of humor will recognize the Lucy we knew through the remembrances shared just below by Miriam Epstein-Stiles.

Marilyn Emerson Holtzer

I was one of the many "orphans" who gathered at Lucy Primm’s house. I spent most of my childhood there. In fact my mother, Betty Rae Epstein, refers to herself as my biological mother. Every neighborhood kid was there playing with one of the many toys that Gene Primm brought home daily from Spicer’s. The mothers of the neighborhood knew that there was an adult present and that was Lucy. Let me start with the activity room at 7220 Greenway. It was a large room in the back of the house with lots of natural light from the many windows in the room, and it was over the garage. There were large pine tables like in a Home Ec classroom, there was a sewing machine, fabric, scissors, patterns.... There were large free standing shelves where Sallie and I had our play-dough™ clay "little people" projects, I am pretty sure that Sallie’s present house is as cozy as the little people houses like we built on a daily basis. The activity roomwas where Lucy taught me how to sew, how to use scissors safely, how to measure twice and cut once. Manners were important. Though nothing was off limits at the Primm household, we played dress up wearing Lucy's size 6.5 quadruple A spectator shoes, her wedding dress, her slips were our hair extensions. She used her good china and sterling silver for everyday ware and we used the sterling silver gravy dishes as mud pie molds in the back yard. Lucy never raised her voice but there were rules; stand when an adult enters the room, please and thank you were necessary. If you violated a rule you weren't sent home until dinner time (Everyone was sent at dinner time). We all came back the next day for more fun and adventure at 7220 Greenway where Lucy reigned.

Mopsy Epstein, LLF (Loyal Lucy Fan)

Zella Rubin

1923 - 2012

A long-time member and past president of the Weavers' Guild of St. Louis, passed away a few months ago after a long illness. During her thirty-some years as a member, she also served on committees, participated in the sale, and was instrumental in organizing a tapestry study group, which met at her apartment building after she no longer ventured far from home. Zella was a versatile weaver whose repertoire included yardage, talaysim (prayer shawls), and tapestries. Her creations, whether garments from her own handwoven fabrics, fiber art for the wall, or tiny doll-house rugs, were beautifully designed as well as meticulously executed and finished.

Zella was a native St. Louisan, and it was in her neighborhood near Union and Delmar that she learned the basics of the arts that would come to define her. As a young child she was taken under the wing of a neighbor, an expert with embroidery hoop, needle, and thread, who taught her many of the stitches that would embellish her work throughout her lifetime. Zella excelled in drawing at Soldan High School and graduated just as the country was entering into World War II. Those were difficult times and dreams were only dreams, so she worked as a typist until she was able to pursue her passion for art in New York. The two years she spent there were exciting and memorable for her as she studied fashion design and illustration at the Traphagen School of Fashion while supporting herself by “painting” blouses with brush and threaded needle. She often reminisced about her wonderful experiences of living at the 92nd St. Y and of soaking up culture at nearby museums, theaters, and opera houses.

After completing her studies, Zella returned to St. Louis in the early 1950s, married, and became a full-time wife and mother. While her three children were growing up, she focused her creative energies on more practical, but nevertheless artistic, activities such as designing and sewing dance costumes for her daughter and clothing for herself. She often admired fiber art in local galleries as well as tapestries and Judaica woven by Muriel Nezhnie, so once her family obligations lessened, she learned to weave. The rest is history and, fortunately for us, a part of our Guild’s history.

Zella joined the Guild in the early 1970s and participated in numerous Guild activities classes, and workshops. When her back and knees began to give out, Zella traded her traditional floor loom for a computerized loom, one of the first in St. Louis, and when she could no longer weave comfortably on that, she directed her efforts toward tapestry. She found tapestry weaving highly satisfying, not just because it was less physically demanding, but because it allowed her to combine her life-long passions—drawing and fiber.

Zella felt that there should be an emotional involvement between artists and their subjects, as exemplified by the keepsake portraits that she wove of three of her grandchildren, and by the torah mantles and silk talaysim which she created and which now envelop scrolls in the US, Israel, and Norway, and worshipers across the country. Of special meaning to me...to me is a small tapestry that she gave to me several years ago. It was inspired by a calligraphy exhibit that she visited in Florida and depicts an artist’s representation of the Chinese character, nian, often used to express feelings of cherished and loving friendships.

In addition to the Parkinson’s disease that had already dampened her spirits and abilities, Zella suffered a seizure which caused her to spend the last year of her life in an extended care facility. Her former strength and her inclination to weave or even sketch never returned after that catastrophic event, but her cognitive abilities did. During our frequent visits she told me many times that she was glad to be alive, that she was not in pain, and that she was thankful to have her daughter and son-in-law close by. We would reminisce and share fond memories of our long friendship along with our views of the world as we had done for so long. I always tried to bring something related to art or weaving to keep her mind active. I often sought her advice about my latest projects, and she always provided excellent suggestions for choosing colors, improving the design, and correcting flaws. Her artistic sense never wavered.

She derived a great deal of joy and pride from having her work included in the Guild’s 85th Anniversary Exhibit, especially because it was in a museum setting. She was also thrilled to have her garments in the retro-fashion show, also at the Missouri History Museum, and to see them up close when I later modeled them in her room. As a longtime resident of University City, Zella was particularly pleased to know that the Bookmark tapestries she interpreted in fiber from Christel Maassen’s designs had been expertly mounted, thanks to Deann Rubin, and installed in the University City Library.

After suffering another seizure last spring, she slept more and interacted less, but she reached the end of her journey knowing that she had caring family and friends, and that her work was admired and respected.

Submitted by Marilyn Emerson Holtzer

Helen Wenzel

1915 - 2011

A long-time Weavers’ Guild member, passed away recently at age 96. Helen’s 59-year association with the Guild followed the usual path required at that time in the Guild’s history. She came to several meetings as a visitor before joining as an associate member, and, a few months later, she became an active member through the jury process. She was one of the early leaders who helped the Guild recover from its post WWII slump when membership and attendance at meetings had dwindled. She served as president from 1956- 1958, and also on numerous committees throughout the years. She was very involved in the workings and activities of the Guild, and always strove to maintain the high artistic and technical standards set by the founders.

Until about 10 years ago, when her hearing and eyesight began to falter, Helen actively participated in programs, workshops, fashion shows, study groups, and the annual Guild sale. In the late 1950s, she took part in two small-loom teaching and learning projects coordinated by the Guild. Small looms, threaded in either rosepath or crackle, were passed among members who varied treadlings, weft materials, and palette to produce a wide variety of samples. These samples were then mounted and assembled into exhibits that traveled to other guilds around the country. At the annual holiday fashion shows of years past, Helen modeled her stylish and well crafted garments with her usual elegance and grace. Janita Loder, a long-time member of the Tapestry Study Group, summed up Helen’s influence on that group: “Her presence at the tapestry meetings inspired all the members with her expertise, creativity, and faithfulness to the group and whatever task we had embarked upon.” In 2010, Helen was honored by the Guild for her contributions and service.

Helen was also active in regional and national organizations of craftspersons, including American Craftman's Council and Missouri Craftman's Conference. She had works in exhibits in St. Louis and beyond and won three ribbons at the International Show of the Women's Institute in New York in 1957.

Helen maintained her interest and membership in the Guild throughout the 59 years since her first visit in 1952. In September of this year, she, along with two of her grandchildren, attended the opening of the Guild’s 85th Anniversary exhibit, Woven in Time, at the Missouri History Museum, and the potluck that followed. Although Helen had become quite frail, her granddaughter said that the family never doubted that Helen would attend that day. Later, they treated her to a private awards ceremony complete with red carpet and formal attire. Recently, family members and friends gathered to celebrate her long and productive life in the midst of photographs of her life events, her weavings, art objects collected on her travels, and even a plate of special cookies. It was obvious to everyone who attended that she was admired, loved, and cherished. We will all miss her.

Doris Oglander

- 2006

Long-time guild member, Doris Oglander, bequeathed a charitable gift to The Weavers’ Guild of St. Louis prior to her death in 2006. The agreement stipulates that we may use these funds to bring artists to St. Louis to speak and/or conduct workshops for the benefit of the members and their guests. The artists are to be chosen by the Board of Directors. Because of Doris’ generosity we are able to bring in nationally known artists and teachers and charge participants a reduced fee for these workshops