Fiber Artist Randy Darwall. Photo by Mark Markley, Courtesy of Craft in America.

Honoring Randy Darwall

Jan 31, 2017 | Makers + Matters

CERF+ and the craft world lost a wonderful friend and artist when weaver and teacher, Randy Darwall passed away on January 13th. In honor of Randy, we share his thoughts about being a show going artist from an audio piece about CERF+’s early year produced for our 30th anniversary.

“This is a community of risk takers. You are essentially gambling your salary (if you had one) against the fact that you can actually make money doing what you love – and working with your hands and with your heart. And that’s a big risk. When we talk to kids thinking about doing this, we talk about being not only a maker but a roustabout – somebody who has to put the booth together; a road warrior – somebody who has to travel through all kinds of conditions with everything they own — financed through a credit cards — behind them in the car to get to the show. And to get it together and then instantly become a nice person and not to run out of nice until the show is over. It’s a lot of work!”

We send our thoughts and condolences to his collaborator and husband Brian Murphy and to all of those who were lucky to count Randy as a dear friend.