66. Gloria Piovesan's therapeutic community of crafting
And how my high school teacher bonded with Vanna White.
Many of my Substack posts have covered works of “art” that are published in books, performed in concerts, or shown in galleries. However, I also have a vested interest in everyday “crafts.” The phrase “arts and crafts” can imply crafts are inferior to arts, but crafts take just as much technical skill as fine art – or even more.
I can trace my love of crafts back to my high school knitting club, supervised by two teachers: Ms. Schofield and Ms. Piovesan. Little did I know I would return to work at my high school, and now I see these two nearly every day. Ms. Gloria Piovesan primarily works in the library, where she makes stunning decorations for everything from Lunar New Year to Banned Books Week. She also leads occasional “library craft” workshops for making Christmas wreaths, Perler bead pins and more!
I wanted to talk to Gloria about her background with arts and crafts. Our conversation, lightly edited for concision and clarity, touched on her award-winning crochet; the teacher-librarian crafting subculture; and a surprising bonding moment with Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune fame.
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Rachel: Hi Gloria, how are you today?
Gloria: Wonderful. Sun is shining and everyone is super upbeat.
R: It is indeed a glorious sunny day!
First of all, I’m curious: were you also a knitter in high school, or did you take up the hobby later in life? What about other forms of crafting?
G: I actually started knitting when I was in elementary school. My Italian mother has a real passion for knitting and crochet (sewing, cooking and baking too - embracing every Italian stereotype.) She wanted to pass the skill onto me. In fact, I won first prize in a crochet competition at the PNE when I was in Grade 11. She also taught me to sew which eventually led to a phase as a quilter.
R: I love that! What a gorgeous blanket – the award was well-deserved.
When did you start making your library displays? Where do you find inspiration?
G: I began about 8 years ago. It started with jazzing up the library for Christmas to fight off the gloom of winter and then we never stopped. Pinterest is a favourite site for inspiration. There are many teacher-librarians out there doing neat things and we often find ourselves riffing on something we have seen online.
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R: How about the library craft workshops – when did you start those? What do you see as their place in school culture?
G: We started doing crafting workshops the first year we moved into the new Morven Library. We started with some Christmas ornament decorating and never looked back. During the era of Covid restrictions, we amped up crafting to offer some activities for students who had limited options. I enjoy the sense of community that comes from crafting together. The tactile nature of crafts is a unique moment in the day as students spend the majority of their time tapping on keyboards interacting with technology. A craft is quite a tangible thing. Students see the start and finish of it and have something to take away. It’s fun to watch the sense of satisfaction in creating something.
R: I agree, it’s rare for today’s students to create tangible products like poster projects or printed essays. That feeling of tangible accomplishment is harder to come by than it used to be. Those photos of busy student crafters fill me with joy.
Tell me more about the current role of arts & crafts in your work and life.
G: I enjoy connecting with faculty and students through crafting activities. Crafting is both social and therapeutic. It’s fun to laugh and chat and express myself through a variety of mediums. As far as my downtime, I do enjoy knitting or crocheting, losing myself in the rhythmic motions, turning off my analytical brain, and tuning into my creative side.
R: Agreed, crafting is easy to make into a social activity!
Do you have any personal projects on the horizon?
G: I would like to get back into quilting. I did go through a huge quilting phase twenty years ago. I loved it and created a couple of what I think are heirloom pieces, one for me and one for my daughter. Life just got too busy and I set aside the sewing machine, but I feel like it’s time to get back to it and play with fabrics and patterns. It also feels like a nice thing to do with my retirement, when that time comes.
R: That would be so nice! I appreciate your point about making heirloom pieces to pass down through generations. There is nothing quite as special as a handmade, one-of-a-kind piece made with love.
Do you have any final thoughts or words of wisdom for aspiring crafters?
G: Years ago when I was working at the PNE in the VIP lounge, I was taking care of Vanna White who was there for a Wheel of Fortune appearance. She spent her free time crocheting. As a fellow crocheter, we chatted with her about her afghan project and how she so enjoyed the peaceful break it provided her. With all the trappings of celebrity, her favourite thing to do was crochet.
In a world of intangibles, let yourself enjoy creating with your hands precious treasures for you to share. It’s never too late. I have watched mature (in age, not necessarily behaviour) colleagues learn to knit and crochet and develop a real passion for yarn crafts. So try it, you might get hooked (pun intended.)
What’s your favourite thing you’ve made with your own hands, whether in childhood or adulthood? Let us know in the comments!