About Us

The first Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference (EGLFC) was held on September 29 and 30th, 1979 at the State University of New York in Fredonia, NY. It was hosted by the Chautauqua County Weavers Guild, the Weavers Guild of Buffalo and the Weavers Guild of Rochester, “conceived as a means for providing more and better communication among the fiber craftspeople in Western New York, Northwestern Pennsylvania and Southern Ontario.” Acclaimed fiber artist and sculptor, Walter Nottingham (1930-2014) was the keynote speaker for this two day conference.

Since that time, the conference has been held in several locations around Western New
York and has included participants from Ohio and other locales around the country. We’ve grown from a two-day conference in September, to a three-day holiday weekend in October. Since 1987 we have mostly met on the beautiful grounds of the historic Chautauqua Institution, following their summer program season.

While the primary goal of sharing ideas has remained the same, the conference has evolved in new ways and grown to add lively and energizing workshops for fiber artists from the newly indoctrinated to those with years of fiber arts under their belt.

We are a biennial conference (on the off years of Convergence) and are organized by volunteers from fiber art guilds in the greater Eastern Great Lakes area. The small, friendly conference provides unique opportunities to meet with other fiber lovers, as well as six instructors. Two and a half days of weaving, spinning, sewing and felting should satisfy the curious fiber artist. We hope to see you there!

This event is co-sponsored by the following regional guilds: