FIBER ARTISTS SET CONFAB FOR WEEKEND AT UNIVERSITY

About 100 people from seven Midwestern states who think of art when they think of cloth will gather here this weekend for the annual conference of the Missouri Fiber Artists.

The conference starts tonight with a reception at the University Museum and a talk by the conference's keynote speaker, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval.

Sandoval, a professor of art at the University of Kentucky, is known for his unusual work using black lights and projecting slides onto textile pieces. He also uses space-age materials, weaving with Mylar and computer tape.

Fiber art includes works woven on a loom that can be wearable or functional -- such as tapestries and wall hangings. Some fiber artists paint with dyes on silk and cotton, or shock raw wool into sculptural or wearable forms.

Long viewed as home crafts, these skills made the transition to artistry during the '60s, said Pat Reagan Woodard, the museum director and a fiber artist herself.

"People were interested in fibers as a material...and interested in the tactile nature of fibers. There was historical and ethnic interest."

Events open to the public will be an exhibition of work by the attendees from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the front hall of the museum; and a fiber art fashion at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Holiday Inn.

Sandoval will judge the members' exhibit, which then will become a traveling show.

The conferees will attend workshops on basket-making, handmade paper photo transfer, making felt hats, and custom finishes for handwoven textiles. A banquet, Sandoval's speech and the fashion show will follow Saturday night.

Reagan-Woodard said this is the first time Cape Girardeau has been host for the event. "We wanted to show off our community and our university," she said.

The conference is sponsored by the Mississippi Flyway Fiber Guild.