Reminiscing about the founding of Portland Waldorf High School from the perspectives of a student and a teacher.

Description

Mariama Loos-Diallo learned to knit in first grade, and since then, handwork has been a constant and beloved interest for her. After graduating from the pioneering class of the Portland Waldorf High School, Mariama continued her education at Whitman College, where she earned a B.A. with honors in her self-designed major of Post-Colonial Studies. Mariama became the handwork assistant at PWS in 2008 and eventually earned her handwork teacher’s certificate from Rudolf Steiner College. Mariama continued to assist for five years before becoming lead handwork teacher. A Portland native, Mariama feels strong ties to her Austrian and Senegalese heritage and is proud that her grandparents were tailors, an indigo dyer and a weaver by trade.

Katherine Pomeroy was born in Philadelphia, moving to the Portland area as a second grader. Katherine studied fine arts at Portland State University with a concentration in drawing, weaving, and ceramics. Later, she continued at Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, where she studied weaving, textile surface design, natural dying and Book Arts and Printmaking. Katherine completed the three-year Applied Arts Program at Sunbridge College in 1998 and she currently serves as a part-time faculty member at Rudolf Steiner College’s Handwork Teacher Training program. Katherine has taught Applied Arts at PWS since 1994 and her grown sons are both PWS alumni.

Participants

• Mimi Greco
  
• Katherine Pomeroy
  
• Mariama Loos-Diallo
  
• portlandwaldorfschool
  

Interview By

• portlandwaldorfschool