Janis Johnson

I have always enjoyed making things. When I was young, my grandmother taught me to knit and sew.  In high school, I learned to use a potter's wheel and later learned about quilting, crochet, woodworking, macramé, paper-making, weaving on a rigid heddle loom, dyeing, felting, and using a spinning wheel to make yarn.  I worried that I was just a dilettante in the art world, but decided that my hobby is learning to make things and so dabbling is just fine.

In 2010, I started learning to weave on a floor loom at Ruthie's Weaving Studio in Portland and soon realized that I had found an area that could keep me busy following my curiosity for years to come.  I still weave at Ruthie's, and now I teach there as well. I am active in the Portland Handweavers Guild and have taken many workshops through PHG and regional fiber festivals and weaving conferences.