Mountain Valley Weavers

By Melissa DeHaan

The Mountain Valley Weavers not only make amazing woven art at Art on 8th, they are enabling the world to see how art can help people overcome adversity and triumph in life.

The Mountain Valley Weavers are men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program started with a woman, Erica, in Aspen, Colorado who taught her daughter how to weave. After her passing, the family donated looms and money to Mountain Valley Developmental Services. The dream was to carry on Erica’s legacy by creating a weaving program for individuals accessing services from Mountain Valley Developmental Services who also had an interest in art and who wanted to try weaving.

Members of the Mountain Valley Weavers have had amazing accomplishments, from weaving a stole for the pope to having had pieces in the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Museum.

In 1996 the weavers were producing enough woven goods to open a retail outlet in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Nearly twenty-five years later they are still producing high quality woven goods. The weavers proudly show the world how creative energy can conquer limits. Theirs is an incredible story that shows the world that it doesn't matter what you're born with or what circumstances surround your life, you can not only prevail, but excel.

Art on 8th is a gallery featuring the fine craft of local Colorado artists, with the weaving studio a main element of the gallery.

Open: Monday – Saturday: 10:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Sundays: 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Located: 209 8th street in downtown Glenwood Springs, Colorado.