It is now September, and along with the new fiscal year, it is also time to welcome our new board members. We are lucky to have the breadth and depth of expertise of these 5 individuals who have graciously stepped forward to volunteer their time and talent.  Please welcome Joan Wells, Heather MacKenzie, Barbara Duguid Ungs, Chillon Leach and Roberta Zeug Shell to the Weavers Guild of Minnesota board of directors.

To see our full 2017-2018 board roster, please click here>

Joan Wells, President Elect
(bio forthcoming)

Heather MacKenzie, Treasurer
Heather MacKenzie is an artist and educator with a practice founded in hand weaving. She has acted as the Fountainhead Fellow at VCU, Fulbright Scholar in Paris, France, and artist-in-residence at MASS MoCA, Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, Ox-Bow, and ACRE. Her work has been exhibited recently at venues including Sediment Gallery in Richmond, VA, the Mission Gallery and Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, and PointDom in Toulouse, France. Since 2008, she has worked and volunteered with several arts nonprofits. In Portland, OR, she served on the Development Committee, and as Treasurer on the board of the Creative Music Guild from 2008 to 2012, helping to guide the organization through a complete financial restructuring. Since 2012, she has volunteered with ACRE, in Chicago, IL, and in Steuben, WI, where she has served on the Admissions panel and assisted in developing and staffing the fibers studio at the residency. In early 2017, she moved to Minneapolis and became involved with the Weavers Guild. She received her BA from Brown University and her MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Barbara Duguid Ungs
Barb is a weaver working on her mother’s loom which she inherited in 2013. The rhythmic beat of her mother’s weaving inspires Barb’s weaving beat to this day. Barb was trained to weave by Jan Johnson at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota and has been inspired by the workshops, classes, and conferences offered there. Barb earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing at Illinois Wesleyan University. She has been involved in leadership roles in her career as an educator and mentor, in her church, serving on the Financial Committee of the Session of Elders, as President and Treasurer of the women’s philanthropic organization, P.E.O., and as an educator and a Co-Facilitator of a Family Support Group for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Minnesota. Barb has lived across America as both an Air Force child and a corporate wife and has traveled widely. She enjoys contributing her time and skills to the Guild.

Chillon Leach
Ms. Leach is a Saint Paul, MN self employed visual artist working in many markets and mediums. A graduate of the University of Minnesota/Twin Cities, (’83 BA Studio Arts, with painting and drawing concentrations, and a Certificate of Illustration), she currently specializes in faith inspired art, liturgical textiles consisting of hand painted hand sewn clergy stoles, church paraments, dignity coverlets and cremation urn palls, illustrations, acrylic paintings, watercolors, and mixed media art. Her work and textiles are in many collections in the USA, Canada, France, England, and Africa. She shows frequently in local religious art and secular contemporary art exhibits around the Twin Cities’ area, is a member of NEMAA (Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association), and LinkedIn. For 7 years she was the teacher of art in spirituality at Catholic Eldercare in NE Minneapolis, while also having a studio in Lowertown St. Paul, MN. At that time, she was the secretary for the Lowertown Art Crawl community as well as showing in many related art events. Chillon has been regularly hired for creativity consulting, public speaking, teaching, and workshop / arts ministry development. She is the artist-in-residence at Immanuel Lutheran Church, (ELCA) Saint Paul, MN, where she is a member and currently has her studio.

Roberta Zeug Shell
Roberta is an enthusiastic student and supporter of the education program at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. She has taken numerous fiber related classes at WGM, Sievers School of Fiber Arts, national conferences, and participated in the Textile Center Mentor Program in 2003/2004. Before retirement, she worked at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health for over 22 years. She has been a classroom assistant at WGM for four years and have served on the Education Committee for three years.

For WGM board of directors questions, please contact: bod@weaversguildmn.org.