Presenters

Cassie specializes in spinning, natural dyeing and the traditional art of coverlet and linen weaving.  With a passion for preserving historical craftsmanship, Cassie grows flax and processes the fiber into linen.  Cassie is a current board member of the National Museum of the American Coverlet, and has shared her knowledge at regional craft schools such as Penland, the John C. Campbell Folk School, and Arrowmont.  She presents and lectures for guilds and museums across the country, and has mentored emerging traditional artists for the Southarts in Atlanta. 

Andrea is a shepherd, spinner, weaver, and educator based in southern Vermont. She began growing and processing flax in 2012, and has recently expanded her work with bast fibers to include hemp -- growing research crops for the University of Vermont and for her own USDA-funded project. She is current president of the Northern New England Fibershed, a non-profit organization supporting natural fiber work in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Andrea teaches flax-to-linen processing, handspinning, and weaving at The Weavers Croft, the Newbury School of Weaving and other sites across the US. 

Michelle is the School & Family Programs Coordinator at Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, MA in the department of Museum Education and Interpretation. She collaborates with colleagues to develop educational and interpretive programs for audiences of all ages including K-12 school visits, family programs, and community outreach. Before working in museum education, she was an elementary school teacher. She especially enjoys sharing her passions for gardening, natural dyes, flax, wool, and other natural fibers through her education and interpretation work.

Cindy Conner received a degree in Home Economics Education from Ohio State University in 1975. She taught at Reynolds Community College in Goochland, VA from 1999-2010 and was instrumental in establishing their sustainable agriculture program. After years of teaching folks to grow food sustainably, Cindy turned to teaching them to grow their own clothes, first with cotton, then flax/linen. Going from seed to something to wear is an adventure that she shares with you in her book Homegrown Flax and Cotton: DIY Guide to Growing, Processing, Spinning & Weaving Fiber to Cloth.

Ten years ago, I was captivated by a short flax workshop at Maine's Common Ground Fair and realized that flax combined four things I love--gardening, spinning, weaving, and antique textile tools. In 2019, I took a course taught by Cassie at Snow Farm and since then I’ve been experimenting to try to produce linen fabric that I can actually wear.  

My interest is focused on flax varieties and growing methods that will produce fine flax for hand-spinning and on weaving techniques using handspun linen to produce fabric suitable for clothing.  This year, I am making a traditional smock entirely using my homegrown and handspun linen. We have lost so much knowledge about how our ancestors produced fine handspun linen garments, it is only by experimenting and making mistakes that we can slowly build a new store of knowledge.  

Gina is an historic textile demonstrator specializing in flax as well as woolen and worsted spinning and natural dyeing.  She enjoys collecting antique flax tools, spinning wheels and other linen-related items that she has used in demos to the public for the past 30 years.  Gina was one of the planners of the Flax & Linen Symposium held in 2016 at Historic Deerfield.  She recently relocated from New England to Maryland and now demonstrates at various mid-Atlantic historic sites.

Melinda is the current director of the National Museum of the American Coverlet, which she co-founded with her husband, Laszlo Zongor, in 2006. Laszlo sadly passed in 2024.

She has a background in weaving, and in 1988 curated and wrote the catalog for the landmark “Warm and Wonderful: The Jacquard Coverlet” exhibit at the Hirschl & Adler Gallery in NYC. She has authored several books on coverlet collections and contributed articles for the Colonial Coverlet Guild of America’s newsletter. 

Over the years, Melinda and Laszlo have provided consultation and advice for collectors, the antiques trade, feature film industry, print media, and a variety of groups, large and small. They have helped build several major coverlet collections and have dedicated their lives together to educating about, and raising awareness and appreciation of, coverlets. 

Ron is well-known as an avid collector of spinning wheels, flax hetchels and linen-related tools as well as many beautiful coverlets. He is a very active board member at the Coverlet Museum, and faithfully designs, installs and creates a catalog for their annual textile exhibit each year. 

For the symposium, Ron is reinstalling his wonderful “Stay at Home and Use Me Well” flax exhibit and reprinting the related spiral-bound publication which will be available for purchase.  We thank Ron for his immense contribution to the field over the years, and the countless hours he has dedicated to collecting, documenting, and displaying his myriad of textile wonders.  He is truly priceless.