Libby Ruth Campbell
Libby Ruth Campbell is a Quincy, Illinois native who returned to the area after living away for 11 years. She holds an MA in music therapy from the University of Iowa, and it was during her time in Iowa City that she first fell in love with fiber arts as a means of stress relief from the pressures of Graduate studies.
Beginning as a self-taught knitter, Libby became interested in spinning her own yarn. She began spinning through instruction from the Historic Arts Guild of Kansas City, MO, and is now particularly passionate about incorporating handspun yarns into her weaving She is also the artist behind the hand-dyed yarns of Needle & Tome Fiber Studios where she draws inspiration for yarn colors from literature and reading.
Though Libby does not consider herself a practitioner of Saori weaving, some of the principles of this style of weaving are incorporated into her work; namely, to consider the difference between the human and the machine, and to adventure beyond one’s imagination. Technical and tedious, many parts of the weaving process are now done by machines and many individuals have long since become accustomed to the uniformity to textiles produced by machines. Libby’s goal in her weaving is to produce bold and unique pieces that reflect deep humanity.