September 2 – September 4, 2008
Larkin Jean Van Horn
Larkin is the perfect teacher to bring a sense of creativity and excitement to students in your guild or store. She was surprised to find herself teaching in 1992, but found she loved the challenge and excitement of the classroom. As recognition for her art quilts and wearable art have grown she has been a stimulating and unselfish guide to hundreds of fabric and fiber fanatics in the Pacific Northwest. Larkin makes garments, art quilts, bead embroidery and art for the church that emanate from her bold imagination, her love for the vast array of textile products from around the world, and her strong sense of drama.
Her art is truly that of the Pacific Northwest, and has been displayed and won honors both regionally and nationally. In 2000, Larkin was invited to participate in the final Fairfield Fashion Show, as well as the first two shows after sponsorship was taken up by Bernina and was given the Judges' Award of Merit in 2002. She has mounted gallery shows, both individually and in small groups, in Washington and Oregon, and had pieces in the Hoffman Challenge travelling exhibit five years running.
Workshop description: Collaged and Embellished Fabric Vessels
Create new shapes for fabric vessels, four of them in two sizes. The bottoms are weighted for stability. Let your imagination run wild, you'll have a ball. The pattern includes the outlines for making these either nine or twelve inch tall.
Supply List
October 14-October 16, 2008
Fred Bloehm (LaFred)
Fred Bloebaum (a woman with a man’s nickname) is a highly regarded sewing instructor from the San Francisco area. She is a regular instructor at The Sewing Workshop and other local sewing schools. She has served on the faculties for several colleges, teaching fashion and sewing related courses. Fred specializes in fashion conscious sewing classes focusing on designer techniques, figure flattery, and sewing with a wide variety of unique fabrics.
Fred teaches workshops at conferences, sewing guilds and fabric stores around the country and is a frequent contributor to Threads magazine. In 2002 Fred was honored with an invitation to participate in the annual Threads design challenge, only 3 people are invited each year to do so. She has also appeared on the television show “Sew Much More” which is hosted by HGTV’s Do It Yourself network. Fred is a member of the professional Association of Custom Clothiers, a national professional organization, the Independent Pattern Company Alliance and several other textile arts and fashion organizations.
Her most recent adventure is the release of her own line of patterns- Clothing Designs by LaFred. This line currently has 14 patterns with more to come. These patterns feature elegant, classic clothing that have contemporary lines, flatter a wide range of ages and figures, and are simple to construct.
Collage Sweater Workshop: Mine your closets and drawers for inspiration, and give your old or worn out sweaters new life. In this workshop, Fred will demonstrate how to cut up the sweaters or other knit garments and combine them with knit fabrics, decorative stitching and other trims to create one of a kind collage sweaters and coats. Students use sergers or sewing machines. Fred will demonstrate how to stabilize as well as achieve pleasing design elements with the garment. Students will come away with a unique collaged garment plus the inspiration and scraps to create more!
Suppy List
November 4, 2008
Karen Musgrave
Karen Musgrave is a quiltmaker, teacher, curator and folklorist. She helped develop Quilters S. O. S. – Save Our Stories, is the project chairperson of the project and wrote the proejct’s online manual. She has personally conducted more than 100 interviews.
Lecture: In Their Own Words: Quilters S.O.S. - Save Our Stories
In the fall of 1999, The Alliance for American Quilts and International Quilt Festival introduced a new oral history project to record the stories of this nation's quilters. Called "The Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories," the project was inaugurated at Festival in October 1999. Quilters' S.O.S. We can learn many things about a quilt by viewing it. Simply looking at it, though, odes not afford us the whole story. Listening to the maker does. Capturing the quiltmaker’s own words save that story for the future. That’s where Quilters S.O. S. – Save our Stories, an oral history of The Alliance for American Quilts, comes in. Learn about the nearly 700 interviews saved and how you can join in this important quilt project.
http://www.centerforthequilt.org/qsos/qsos_about.html
January 6-8, 2009
Judy Langille
Judy Langille graduated from SUNY at New Paltz with a B.S. in Art Education and continued on to get her Masters degree at Queens College while teaching art to elementary school children. While staying at home with her young family, she began to learn quilt making and later taught it to adults. Her interest in art quilts grew as she returned to teaching young children again. While teaching she organized many children and teachers in the production of community quilts. She also received several grants, including one from the Geraldine Dodge Foundation for her work in integrating the arts into the school curriculum. Today she lives in Glen Ridge, New Jersey where she works extensively with fabric dying and printing. Her fiber art has been juried into several national shows including Quilt National 2005, 2007 and Fine Focus 2002 and 2004.
Workshop description:Torn Paper and Textures
Explore the use of a blank silkscreen and a variety of simple resist techniques to create original images. A variety of papers, both torn and carefully cut will be the method used in these compositions. Complex designs will be achieved through the multi layering of areas of thickened dyes and the removal of color with discharge paste. The results will be spontaneous and exciting! Bring your own thermofax silkscreens, or use those of the instructor to add detail and texture to your designs.
http://www.artclothnetwork.com/jlangille.html
February 3-5, 2009
Judy Coates Perez
Judy Coates Perez is an international award winning textile artist who is well known for her highly detailed, colorfully painted whole cloth quilts. She explores themes drawn from folklore, mythology and nature, working in a variety of media. Often blending quilting skills with techniques drawn from her graphic arts background, she uses textile paints, dyes, inks, acrylic powders, and artist’s pencils on her fabric as well as sewing metal into her mixed media pieces. Judy has written numerous articles for Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines and has been a guest twice on the new Quilting Arts PBS television program. You can see more of her work and read about her creative process at
Workshop description:
Part 1: Painting fabric for whole cloth quilts
From adding details, dimension or shadow to creating fully illustrated scenes, paint offers endless opportunities for creating special effects on fabric. Working with various types of textile paints you will learn different techniques for applying paint to fabric; creating smooth gradations of color and adding fine details to your work, including lots of tips for painting success.
Part 2: Tsukineko inks
Tsukineko inks have a broad range of applications for painting fabric. Learn effective shading and blending techniques working with wet and dry brush applicator methods to create original fabric to use in your quilts.
http://www.judyperez.blogspot.com
March 3-5, 2009
Jan Wutkowski
Jan Wutkowski is a practicing milliner in Wilmington, NC, and is the owner of That Hat!, a bespoke millinery company. Her custom, one-of-a-kind creations include traditional to abstract, bridal to costume; several have been seen on the silver screen and in museum displays throughout the country. Jan studied millinery at the Melbourne (Australia) School of Millinery, and has taught old-world hatmaking throughout the United States and England since 1998.
Workshop description: Wicked Wire Hats and Headpieces
Wire construction is one of millinery’s oldest skills, one most recognized in Victorian and Edwardian hat styles. However, wire can be used to make not only these traditional hat shapes, but hats that are more sculptural, abstract or contemporary in profile.
We will be making two hats in this workshop—a small, simple headpiece to learn how to cut, shape, join, and cover the wire—the basics—followed by a more intricately designed hat or headpiece to unleash the creative potential of this skill. Attendees will learn several methods of covering the wire with the fabric of their choice—one of several methods used in designing unique wire construction headwear.
Supply List
April 14-16, 2009
Jean Cacicedo
Jean Williams Cacicedo received a BFA from the Pratt Institute, New York, in 1970. A recipient of a NEA Fellowship Grant in 1976, she was awarded Artist of the Year from the Contemporary Crafts Committee of the Oakland Museum in 1985. Her work has been featured in many publications, with a cover story in both American Craft and Ornament Magazines.
Based in Berkeley, Jean teaches classes in her studio, and has been a visiting artist at California College of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Arts and Crafts in North Carolina, and Split Rock Arts Program at the University of Minnesota. Known for her "signature" wool coats, Jean has worked both on the body and off the body, incorporating a special process she developed for wool fabrics. Her pieced and sewn constructions have been exhibited at the Gulbenkian Museum, Portugal, at the Art Ginza Space, Tokyo, Japan, and extensively throughout the United States.
Workshop description: Felted Wool: Art To Wear Garment
Explore the unique process of designing a garment using “felted” wool fabrics.
Wool cloth can be transformed by hot water and agitation into a soft,, durable and dense fabrication .This fabric adapts well to simple sewing techniques and allows for creative piecing during construction . Jean’s signature reverse appliqué techniques will be our focus.
Starting from a sewn muslin pattern of your choice, your “road map to wearability” ,we will learn basic design concepts and apply these ideas to our finished design. Jean will demostrate ways of creating unique pockets , binding and finishing techniques for you to choose from. We will approach the garment the way a painter approaches the canvas…..a surface waiting to except images of color and texture. Our goal will be to create a personally expressive one-of-a-kind garment.
Supply List
May 5-7, 2009
Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
Erica Spitzer Rasmussen is an artist who creates mixed media and handmade paper garments. She received her BFA (1990) and MFA (1997) at the University of MN (Mpls.), which included her coursework in Mexico and Greece. From 1997 to 1998, Rasmussen acted as the paper artist-in-residence at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. She was awarded an Artist's Assistance Fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 1999 to pursue sculptural work constructed of non-traditional/non-archival media. Her current work explores issues of identity and corporeality, often utilizing clothing as a metaphor for one's skin. Her work has been featured on the pages of FIBERARTS, Surface Design Journal, Hand Papermaking, Craft Arts International and Spin-Off Magazine. Rasmussen teaches studio arts as an associate professor at Metropolitan State University (St. Paul, MN). Her sculptural and wearable works are exhibited internationally.
Workshop Description: From Bubble Wrap to Bottle Caps: Embellishing Handmade Paper with Everyday Media
This workshop features low-tech methods for surfacing paper with inexpensive and commonplace materials. In seeking economic and accessible media, kitchens, backyards, pharmacies, beauty shops, hardware stores, liquor stores and groceries become fertile grounds for inspiration. Among other things, dental floss, Band-Aids, red wine, beet juice, rusty washers, tomato paste, fire and instant cocoa can provide surprisingly beautiful results. Sample sheets and objects made of non-traditionally surfaced handmade paper will be circulated. A pamphlet stitched soft covered book will be assembled to house the samples executed in class.