Nizza

Nizza Mangus, one of the founding members of the Mercer County Spinners and Weavers Guild passed away last Wednesday, Feb.5 in her sleep.  She was 93.

Nizza was a talented weaver and a member of our group for 40 years. In 1974 a group of talented ladies got together to learn to spin yarn from local sheep fleece in honor of the 1976 Bicentennial Celebrations.  They began meeting monthly in each others homes to share skills and knowledge of the fiber arts. For the next 40 years Nizza and the spinners and weavers continued to appear at local craft events and meet monthly to keep the art of spinning and weaving alive; passing on their skills to a new generation of Fiber Artists.

For many years Nizza would invite The Mercer County Spinners and Weavers to her Farm for a pot luck lunch, I remember being there for a or a natural dye workshop and a batik demo and more lunches than I can count. We always loved our yearly meetings at Sheepside Farm.  We loved exploring her beautiful studio and seeing what wonderful weaving she had on her huge Cranbrook Loom. We will miss Nizza and always remember her and the knowledge she shared with us.  Thank you Nizza for sharing your life with us.

Below is a beautiful email that her neighbor, Judy Hines received from one of Nizza's former students.  I hope Dennis does not  mind me sharing this with you. 

Nancy Griffin 

From: "Bateman, Dennis" <BatemanD@CarnegieScienceCenter.Org>
Date: February 12, 2014 at 9:27:36 AM EST
To: Judy Hines <judygym35@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Words of honor

Nizza was, to use a word that is used too often, unique. Much of what I am, whatever that is, is due to her. Due to her acceptance, encouragement, example, spirit, care and love. She was the quintessential teacher - of art, and of life. She was encouraging, cajoling, and critical as a teacher. She was not afraid to shrug, tilt her head and arch those curiously-green eyebrows at you, as you hoped for a good word on what you knew in your heart was a substandard piece, conveying that she knew that you knew that she knew you could do better. Many students thought she was a 'funny old lady,' but that never stopped her from expanding our horizons, pushing our boundaries, and exposing most of us to a range of art and artists we would never see in our little valley. I treasure many lunch periods in high school, when she'd let me skip the cafeteria, and sit with her in her office, talking. As the Exhibits Director for, currently, two of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh - the science center and the natural history museum - there is literally not a time that goes by when I walk the halls of the Oakland museum complex that I don't recall her talking us there as students, showing us our first real Monet, Van Gogh and Giacometti. 

She never stopped teaching me about things, even long after she retired. A visit to her farm, Sheepside, was a lesson in weaving, or gardening, or pottery, or of course, sheep. Our increasingly-infrequent visits (moves to and from Los Angeles and New Zealand got in the way) went like clockwork - tea as brewed, muffins produced from nowhere, and the dining tabled was gathered around. News was shared as the years and miles melted away. She could be judgmental about your art, but never about you. When my wife, Heidi, and I struck out to seek our fortunes in Hollywood, and then returned to Pittsburgh 4 years later, she had a similar story about 'getting New York City' out of her system when she was our age. When we left for New Zealand, certain we would never see her again, she stood in the doorway of the mudroom, smiling through the screen door at us, encouraging us to seek out a new adventure in life. And that's where she was when we moved back from halfway around the world, too, beaming to see us again.  

And that's where I see her now. And always will.

Dennis Bateman
Director of Exhibits & Theaters, Carnegie Science Center
Interim Director of Exhibits, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Below Judy and Nizza at Munnell Run Farm in June 15, 2007 ,                                        Nizza looking good at 86