About Antrim Handweaving

Margaret B. Russell is a handweaver with over 29 years of experience and a lifetime appreciation of this ancient art.  She grew up listening to tales of ancestral weavers, who brought their trade from County Antrim, Ireland, to her native upstate New York.  Margaret takes pride in her connection with these past weavers, and her handwoven pieces reflect a desire to uphold tradition. Her pieces are woven exclusively of natural fibers, with a focus on the timeless beauty of simple functional design.

Several small and very select sources supply Margaret with the natural fibers for her weaving.  Her looms are dressed with these choice fibers, producing heritage pieces including tea towels and table runners, scarves and wraps.  She weaves on multi-shaft floor looms in her home studio in Byfield, part of the small coastal town of Newbury, in northeastern Massachusetts.  Handwoven pieces are sold at a limited number of juried artisan shows throughout the year.  Commissioned work is accepted.  Her handweaving workshops and classes are offered at conferences and area arts and fiber centers. Margaret is weaving an ever-growing, sizable collection of "preservation wraps" from the wools of primitive, rare, and threatened British sheep breeds to promote awareness of the fragile future of these sheep. She is continually inspired to educate herself and others about the wonders of handwoven pieces from natural fibers.

Margaret was a recipient of the 2007 International Earth Day Award from the Earth Society Foundation. This award, presented during the 37th annual United Nations Peace Bell Ceremony, was in recognition of her exclusive use of natural fibers.

As a contributing editor of Wild Fibers magazine, Margaret writes the column "Rare Thoughts." Each is a tribute to a primitive, rare, or endangered fiber animal, shared through a compendium of anecdotes, histories, and facts, simple and obscure.

Member of NOBO Handweavers, Weavers’ Guild of Boston, Handweavers Guild of America, Inc., American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Soay Sheep Society, UK and Rare Breeds Survival Trust, UK.

© 2010 Antrim Handweaving – all rights reserved

Photographs by Margaret B. Russell