First Friday Art Walk

The fabulous fiber art of the Bag Ladies will be featured at the Juneau Artists Gallery for the month of July. The Bag Ladies are Barb Mitchell and Carol Burrows. They are the newest members of the gallery, and will both be at a reception from 4:30 to 7 pm during the First Friday Art Walk on July 3.

Carol and Barb are former teachers who have known and worked with each other since 1983, they share a love for creating fiber arts, particularly handbags. They enjoy crafting together, learning from each other and egging each other on to buy more yarn, more fabric, more ribbon….

Carol began her journey in the world of fiber arts with the ‘Busy Bee Stitchers 4-H Club’. Since that early age, she has worked with fiber construction in a variety of modes, including weaving, spinning, sewing, knitting, and crocheting. She retired from over 30 years of teaching special education just a few years ago. This has allowed time to finally study and use all the materials and supplies she accumulated over that period.

Overlooking Auke Bay, Carol’s home resembles a fiber arts studio with living quarters added in. The constantly changing scenery outside is an inspiration for design. It also is a source for enjoyment and relaxation. What a blessing to have such beauty in the environment! Family and grandchildren are also a welcome source of inspiration. They share a love for sparkles, jewels, color, and glitz with Grandma.

Carol makes a variety of fiber articles. They span from Alaskan luggage tags, scarves, knitted & crocheted children’s hats, and purses constructed from all kinds of fabric and materials. Styles span from whimsical, to elegant, to items reflecting nature. Her purses often resemble handheld puzzles, with hidden pockets and unexpected flaps and layers. Her love of quilting is evident in the fabrics she combines and the decorative stitches she employs. She believes that what we use to accessorize reflects a part of who we are. Thus, people change what they wear depending on their moods.

A third generation needleworker who learned to crochet granny square vests in 1970, Barb also retired recently after teaching in the Juneau School District’s gifted and talented program since the early 80’s. Her responsibilities involved encouraging creativity in both academics and the arts, but teaching left only enough personal creative time for a few family gifts. As she neared retirement, her daughter, Lonnie Anderson, gave her a book of crochet projects, with some suggested birthday gifts cleverly marked. Lonnie’s friends admired the purses and urged Barb to make more to sell. Her son, Christopher, then encouraged her to sell her things online, so she opened a shop, PlayingHookyinAlaska, at etsy.com in the fall of 2008.

Barb specializes in one-of-a-kind crocheted handbags, often using blends of as many as 6 different yarns for texture and color interest. She particularly enjoys updating vintage patterns from the 40’s and 50’s or creating her own designs with asymmetric flaps, vintage button closures and surprise linings. Since she once lived in Japan, Asian fabrics and themes are a favorite and inspiration often comes from topics she used to study with her classes. Most recently, she has begun creating collage panels for her felted bags using the techniques of needle felting and fusing fabrics with a soldering iron. Since she has done beadwork, and ribbon embroidery in the past, she often adds those embellishments, especially to her bridal and evening bags. She welcomes orders for personalized bags for special events.

Playing with yarns, fabric, buttons and beads and experimenting with different stitches and techniques provides Barb much satisfaction and enjoyment, though her husband, Phillip, is rapidly running out of living space. Though she misses working with young people, she’s delighted by how many former students and families she sees in the gallery.

The Bag Ladies creations are available at the Juneau Artists Gallery, along with the work of the two dozen other member artists of the gallery, located in the Senate Mall Building downtown at 175 South Franklin.