>Let the Rivers Clap Their Hands!

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This is the cover of the program used for the Diamond Jubilee for Sister Bianca Haglich, who has served in the order of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary for 60 years.

Sr. Bianca is the driving force of a number of weaving groups, and, for me, most notably, the Wacky Weavers which started about 36 years ago.  We are a group of 10 women, many of whom (but not me!) began weaving as students of Sr. Bianca, during her tenure at Marymount College in Tarrytown, NY.  Our Wacky Weavers’ group gets together once a month, except in summer, to teach each other fiber-related techniques.  Over the years the group has witnessed the births, childhood accomplishments, graduations and marriages of our children; the deaths of loved ones; the births of grandchildren.  In recent years some of our monthly meetings have become celebrations of landmark birthdays since we are all advancing in age!

Sr. Bianca created this image for her diamond jubilee since water has played such an important role in the journey of her life.  She was born on the island of Lussin in the Adriatic (now part of Croatia), sailed across the oceans to arrive in New York as an adolescent, and has lived on the shores of the Hudson River for many years now.

In this photo Sr. Bianca is standing before her newly installed, large kuultokudos (transparency weave) for the “Mother House” in Bezier, France. 

Bianca is an amazing weaver! As a young woman with many artistic talents, she studied weaving in Finland,  and now she is fluent in so many facets of weaving I couldn’t possibly list them all.  She has taught many, many people to weave and has a beautiful studio in Tarrytown that includes about 20 Toika looms.

Bianca’s studio used to be on the campus of Marymount College and was called “The Center for Fiber Arts.”  Along with college art students she had a diverse following of adults who came to study.  With the closing of Marymount College (bought by Fordham Univ.) she moved her studio to a large, light-filled space on the grounds of her convent, and the studio is now called “The Weaving Center.”

Sr. Bianca in the library of her studio where the Wacky Weavers helped her celebrate her 82nd birthday in February!

A large segment of Sr. Bianca’s students are Jewish women who come to learn weaving in order to make tallithim(sp?) for their loved ones.  Truly, an ecumenical “Weavers without Borders!”