Jacqui Lubbers:
A Legacy in Weaving
The practice of weaving is known and understood all over the world, and in every culture, with no need for an interpreter. Weaving is defined as the act of interlacing fibers vertically and horizontally to create a cloth or fabric. However, it is much more than that. Weaving requires a combination of creativity, mathematics, and engineering, and has been a vital part of our daily life for thousands of years. Today, it’s easy to take this craft for granted. Many of us rarely notice the intricate combinations of colors, patterns, and yarns that make up our clothing, our home furnishings, and even the seats of our cars. The modern, mechanized weaving process has numbed us to the timeless skill and beauty of weaving by hand. Fortunately, Jacqui Lubbers discovered the creative essence of weaving through her WKU teacher, Liz Wallace.
Jacqui was in her last semester of an Art Education major at WKU in 1975 when she registered for a Weaving course as her last required studio class. As a beginning student, she started out on a small frame loom (similar to a picture frame). With no prior weaving experience, she immediately fell in love and became obsessed with it. Liz Wallace noticed Jacqui’s passion blooming and offered her the opportunity to work with the larger floor looms reserved for the upper level students. This was the beginning of her love for weaving that lives on today.
After a few years of teaching art for the K-12 program in Logan County, Jacqui returned to WKU to complete her MFA with a concentration in Weaving under Liz Wallace. The opportunity to teach at WKU became a reality for Jacqui in 1985 following Liz’s retirement. Today, she is a part-time instructor in Weaving and Art Appreciation in the Art Department at Western Kentucky University.
Through Jacqui’s gifted hands, cotton, silk, wool, rayon, linen, and even paper have been transformed into stunning tapestries, scarves, table runners, wall hangings, and blankets. Her love for weaving has never waned, and she now fosters her passion and skill on to her students.
