2024 Session 2
Instructors
March 1 – March 6, 2024
Mel Beach
Mark Making and Mandala Magic
Treat yourself to a week of mark-making magic and mandala Zen. We’ll start by learning how to transform solid fabrics into exciting colors, patterns, and textures using a variety of mark-making mediums and techniques. Once the mark-making play is complete, use your personal fabric palette to construct one or more original mandala art quilts that will bloom with layers of petal shapes, patterns, texture, and color—all made by YOU! Daily demos will cover easy and versatile mark-making techniques, designing intricate-looking mandalas that are surprisingly simple to construct using raw-edge fusible applique, along with options for quilting, finishing, and embellishing.
Level: Confident Beginner to Advanced
Sue Benner
Driven to Abstraction: developing abstract imagery
The exploration of abstraction in the art quilt medium is the theme of this workshop, both objective (abstracted from an actual subject) and non-objective. Through exercises, slide shows, individual discussions and a review of the history of abstraction, Sue will lead you through methods for developing abstract imagery. Each student will create a series of works based on source materials brought to class for inspiration. Instruction on using fusible collage as the construction technique will be presented, but these concepts can later be applied to other techniques as well. This is a great class for pushing your personal work.
Level: All
Barbara Black
The Full Circle of Life
Make this dynamic Sampler Quilt, learning a variety of new techniques, including accurate Machine piecing, Freezer Paper piecing, Reverse applique, simple Handwork, and other sewing skills. When you learn the tricks to curved piecing, it all fits together. Barbara will guide you as you create the first quadrant. Barbara, an award-winning quiltmaker, will inspire you to make fabulous pieced quilts. Use your favorite fabrics, bright or subdued, modern or traditional, for this treasure. Sure to be a “Skillbuilder” project that will improve all your skills. The pattern, designed by Wendy Williams, is included in the required lab fee of $55.00.
Level: All
Melinda Bula
Creating a Floral Art Piece with Just Fabrics
Be inspired by nature for your next art piece. Learn to look at your fabric stash as your paint palette. Use a favorite flower photo to build a one-of-a kind fusible art quilt. Learn to analyze and break your photo down into simple shapes to make a pattern. Melinda will show you tricks for seeing colors, values and choosing the right fabrics while training your eye to look closely at details. There will be a lecture/demo on how to finish your quilt with thread painting, but no sewing machine is needed. Just lots of fabrics.
Level: All
Deborah Fell
Creating the illusion of Depth in Art Quilts
Discover a variety of ways to create the illusion of depth in a two-dimensional plane (in our case, a quilt.) Along with fabric, students will work in a collage style, using mixed media such as paints, papers and found objects to create a series of small studies. We will paint, sew, fuse and glue, concentrating on design principles such as overlapping, placement, size, value, and focus. In the end, you will leave with a better sense of command over how to create a feeling of three dimensions, depth and foreground within your two-dimensional art.
Level: All
Gloria Loughman
Dynamic Landscapes
The focus of this workshop will be to create a beautiful landscape full of movement and direction. Diagonal lines bring energy and movement to a design, and when the light is just right, commonplace subjects are transformed and become noticed. The first step will be to paint two different sky fabrics that harmonize together. Then you will be shown a technique to combine sections of hand painted sky with areas of strips placed at an angle. Once you have created your studding sky, the foreground and other details will be added. You will have the choice of adding a dark outline round the edges of some areas to add more contrast.
Level: All
RaNae Merrill
Free Motion Mastery – in a week
Want to learn to do free-motion quilting but don’t know where to start? Can you do a few simple patterns, but you want to expand your creativity? Have you taken other classes and failed? This is the class for you! Learning Free-Motion quilting does not have to take weeks or months of “practice, practice, practice.” RaNae’s unique teaching system will have you quilting successfully from your first day. You’ll learn to quilt the fundamental shapes that build all designs, then combine them to quilt any design. You’ll quilt individual practice blocks, then join them up to finish a quilt by the end of the week. You’ll make a giant leap in your FMQ skills during the class and go home knowing exactly what and how to practice to continue improving. You’ll finish this class saying, “I can DO this!” The class is taught on domestic sewing machines, but the principles and exercises work equally well on sit down or frame-mounted long-arms. Learn more at FreeMotionMasteryinaMonth.com
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Irene Roderick
Improvisational Quilting Irene-Style: “Dancing with the Wall”
Let go of your inhibitions! Tap into your creativity! Improvisational quilting means letting go of all expectations and preconceptions of what you are going to make. Come spend five days with Irene and learn how to let your sub-conscience and creativity drive you to make a unique expression of your individual aesthetic and process. Relax, play, let it happen and see what comes out. Irene will direct you through her method of creating a quilt that she considers the act of “Dancing With The Wall.” She will give tools, tips, instructions and a lot of hands-on individual attention to assist you along the way. Expect to have a fun, challenging and rewarding experience.
Level: All
Maria Shell
Circle and Curve Sampler
A complete discussion of all the ways you can improvisation-ally PIECE circles and cures. From braided curves to log cabin circles, students will be led through a series of demos about non-linear improvisational piecing techniques and ideas for taking these techniques and creating original quilts. During the class, students create a collection of circles and curve quilt blocks-great for a sampler.
Level: Confident Beginner
Libby Williamson
Scroll Stories: Chapter 2
A mountain of fabric, an array of art supplies, and 5 glorious days of mixed-media art making. Let’s tell an amazing story. There is something magical about gathering together to make art. There is a unique energy in the shared classroom experience and the enthusiasm is contagious. We treat ourselves to the time and space to focus intently on our work and become inspired by one another. Our week will include technique demos, lively discussions, plenty of independent work time, and a joyful community of like-minded art friends.
Level: All
Betsy Habich
Artist in Residence