WEST FARGO — Fiber artists are magicians.
They can make pretty much anything using thread, tapestry, fabrics, needles and a whole lot of patience. (Have you ever tried to knit a sweater?)
This year’s Fiber Arts Festival, set for Saturday, Aug. 6, and Sunday, Aug. 7, at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds, will celebrate this special kind of magic with displays and demonstrations of modern and handmade traditions from our region and around the globe, including a tapestry yurt built by artist Linda Johnson-Morke of Isanti, Minn.
Johnson-Morke, a retired materials engineer who has worked with felt for “decades,” says she fell in love with yurts while traveling Norway and Mongolia to learn from the experts.
“That was very eye-opening,” Johnson-Morke says. “We call them yurts here, but ‘ger’ is what they’re called. That means ‘home’ in Mongolian.”
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