Current Members of the SAORI Worcester Partnership Site Program

(see documents page for program details)

1. Devereux Massachusetts is a residential learning center for young people with various challenges in Rutland, MA. It is part of a larger network of such centers in the USA. For more info, email Art teacher Shereece Williams.
2. Peg Kimple of Highland Mills, NY is Executive Director of Arts EmPOWERment Project, Inc. which works with seniors, youths facing challenges, and people with various disabilities. She also offers SAORI classes to the general public.
3. Freedom Weavers in Penacook, NH is a SAORI weaving studio that promotes creative expression for children & adults with & without disabilities. Email Bobbie Herron for more information.
4. St. Francis House is a homeless shelter off Boston Common that uses SAORI within their expressive therapy program and their women's counseling program. For more info, email art therapist & SAORI coach Linda Dolph
5. The Rugby School at Woodfield, near Wall, NJ, works with special education students, and uses SAORI for therapeutic and artistic development. Contact Nancy Atlas or Melanie Padron for more info.
6. Walnut Street Center   in Somerville, MA, provides comprehensive support services for adults with developmental disabilities and their families. Email Barbara Provest to learn more about her SAORI explorations with people there.

7. Worcester Polytechnic University (WPI)'s Student Development and Counseling Center (SDCC) uses Saori in their relaxroom to help college students cope with stress and discover new aspects of themselves. More info: contact Center Director Charlie Morse

8. Grace House, a residential program for adolescent girls in recovery from problems with drug abuse, is part of Community Healthlink, a comprehensive human services agency in Worcester, MA. For more info, email program director Melanie Amir
9. Boys & Girls Club of Worcester has an after-school SAORI program open to all interested youth. For more info, send email to Andrew Farquharson  (Education Director) or Shauree Allotey (Cultural Arts Director).
10. SAORI Salt Spring is fiber artist Terri Bibby's teaching studio and gallery on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, CANADA. She has a blog that you can link to from her website (use live underlined link above).
11. Wellesley Public Schools Art Department, Wellesley, MA has a SAORI program that rotates among its several elementary schools. For more info, email art educator Stacey Piwinski
12. SteppingStones - The Krempels Brain Injury Foundation in Portsmouth, NH does therapeutic and income development work with people coping with traumatic brain injuries. For more info email Program Director Carol Davis
13. Lokelani'Ohana is an intentional community on Maui, HI, dedicated to education and community building with children, youth, and adults who have developmental disabilities. It is inspired by the Camphill Community movement guided by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. Veteran Weaver and Artist Dana Allen is the SAORI Worcester Partnership Site Coach. For more info, though, email Project Organizer Christina Chang
14. Weaving A Way is a fiber studio independently owned by Carol Jackson  in Seattle, WA. Its classes are open to the public. Carol's studio uses SAORI in its outreach to high school students and people with a wide range of disabilities.
15. Seven Hills Foundation is a pioneering human service organization with programs in locations throughout Central MA.

    "Seven Hills Foundation works to advance and sponsor rehabilitative, housing, educational, healthcare, social, and related services on behalf of person with physical, developmental, emotional, or other life challenges."  SAORI programs are being integrated into 5 Programs: Therapeutic Work Options, Devens Day Habilitation, Worcester Day Habilitation, Adult Day Health, and People Exploring Possibilities. For more info on these programs, email Assistant V.-P. Maribeth Fisher

16. New Hampshire Art Farms is a  non-profit corporation that "celebrates  and supports the  relationship between art & agriculture, in order to provide art opportunities to under served and often neglected groups to whom art making opportunities offer physical or mental health benefits." It also supports local art teachers by providing work space. Contact: President Lorna DeVries
17. Springwater Fiber Workshop in Alexandria, VA, is a community of artists exploring the possibilities of yarn and fiber through spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, dyeing, and surface design. For more info email Linda Hurt
    
    

USA SAORI Network

Our sister studios founded by SAORI Leaders' Committee Members

• SCARC, Inc. (formerly Sussex County Association for Retarded Citizens) in NJ includes SAORI weaving among its recreation and self-expression offerings at a variety of county locations. For more info, email artist and educator Jeanne Austin
• Wovenpaint is a "textile arts and creative learning center" in No. Easton, MA owned by artist and educator Gwyn Marathas

WORLD SAORI NETWORK

• SAORIEXPLORERS is a YAHOO email group that anyone in the world can join. All postings are in English.The conversation is pretty free-flowing; you just let people know what you're conversing about by what you put in the subject line. Members are expected to have an interest in the practice and philosophy of SAORI, and an interest in sharing ideas, experiences, and information with others. The Yahoo online group site has features such as member lists with individual email contacts and locations, special info files, and photos. However, you can get messages get right in your email box (individually, as a daily digest, or just special notices) and send them right from your email account, so you don't need to go online if you don't want to. To join, email Bobbie Herron at freedomweaver@comcast.net and she will send you an email invitation.

• SAORI Japan website's English-language section & more SAORI links, including links to SAORI in Australia, Belgium, Canada. Hong Kong, Phillipines, Mongolia, and Saudi Arabia!

• SAORI NO MORI (SAORI FOREST), where SAORI looms are designed and manufactured, has developed a SAORI weaving workshop space as well. This link is to their English -Language Site, which includes the complete catalogue of looms with photos and product descriptions.

• Japanese language SAORI site - has some great photos even if you don't read Japanese!

• The Healing Family Foundation in THAILAND uses SAORI to ease the emotional trauma of tsunami victims in affected nations. There is an email contact on their gorgeous website, which contains information in English.

ARTICLES, REVIEWS, PHOTOS about SAORI Worcester & SAORI in the USA:

Boston Globe article about SAORI Studio opening in May 2006 at St.Francis House (see link to St. Francis above)

Worcester Telegram & Gazette article about SAORI Worcester demonstration at May 2006 at VSA Arts of Massachusetts (see link below) Festival at Broad Meadow Brook Audubon Sanctuary in Worcester.

Worcester Magazine Oct. 2005 interview with Mihoko

SAORI Book Review in  Sept.-Oct. 2005 issue of Handwoven Magazine

VSA Arts Maine website review of our Aug. 2005 Project at Portland, Maine's Festival of Cultural Exchange.

Free-Wheeling Weaving in Jan.-Feb. 2005 issue of Handwoven.

Ben's Story  - a touching true story with photos from the Fall 2004 Very Special Arts New Hampshire Newsletter by Bobbie Herron

Journey to SAORI Japan by artist Judy Piazza in Michigan (this is a link to her website!)

Review by Leon Nigrosh in May 2004 PULSE magazine - with photos!  

Nathaniel Needle's  My Saori Experience: Touching Spirit through the Art of "No Mistakes"

2002 Saori exhibition panoramic photos at the First Unitarian Church of Worcester, MA.

OTHER "Friends of SAORI"

VSA Arts   (formerly Very Special Arts) Organization founded by Jean Kennedy Smith (JFK's sister). Encourages artists with various disabilities. Creates arts opportunities for people with disabilities, especially children. Affiiliates in all 50 states, and 63 affiliates worldwide.

VSA Arts Maine has sent Program Coordinator Rachel Spatz for training at SAORI Worcester. Also, our studio demonstrated SAORI at the 2005 Festival of Cultural Exchange at their invitation.

VSA Arts Massachusetts is our close partner in efforts to bring people with and without disabilities together through the arts.

VSA Arts Japan  Coordinated by SAORI in Osaka.

Souleymane Ndiaye is a Senegalese artist and teacher who trained at SAORI Worcester in June 2004 and who now lives in NYC.

Marta Giovannini  has information about SAORI in Italy (English okay)

Jane Pasquill is using SAORI looms at her Threads of Time studio and gallery in Cornwall, England

Monica Gavin   uses her SAORI loom at Lanakila , a social agency in Hawaii. Also www.emelgi.com shows Monica's gorgeous artwork Woodmont Weavers has a SAORI loom for use by developmentally disabled adults in Arlington, VA

Sister Organizations Engaged in Weaving & Fiber Arts With or On Behalf of People with Disabilities

Promoting our shared values of creativity, community, freedom. and inclusion

Gateway Arts (Massachusetts)

Endless Possibilities (North Carolina)

Flying Shuttles A program of ARC of Blackstone Valley (Rhode Island)

Woodmont Weavers   (Virginia)

Nat Needle's Music-Related Cool Stuff

Cartoon of Nat and his Other True Love by Legendary Artist Bill Dougal

Website CREDITS

Photographs and text for this site are provided and updated by Mihoko Wakabayashi and Nathaniel Needle.

Photos on the "SAORI for Everyone" page courtesy of SAORI Hiroba, Osaka, Japan.

Website design by Joshua Nannen.

Hosting and consulting for this site provided by Sherwood Hosting  Will Sherwood offers personal, creative, affordable, and devoted services that we heartily recommend.