Category Archives: Classes

Masterclass with Els van Baarle, Batik Artist from The Netherlands

by surfacedesignwa

Many of you have had the opportunity to work with Els at previous workshops at FibreWorks or other venues. Els is a highly respected international artist and teacher and this masterclass provides a great opportunity to explore in depth, the techniques of working with wax on cloth and on paper, incorporating various dye/wax/print techniques to create unique art pieces.

Els is available to return to FibreWorks in May 2013 to provide a “master class” in the art of batik.  This would be a 3-day session. Els has given us a general description of how she would structure the class:

  • Masterclass working with wax and dye

  • Each student will work on her own theme.

  • Participants will  be encouraged to develop a design from inspiration.

  • There will be exercises  on color and design: these exercises will take one hour each day.

  • Subjects are: focal point, balance, picture frame, foreground/background , complimentary colors.

  • We will look at the contrasts of colors as in the color theory from Johannes Itten.

Contact for the Event: Yvonne Stowell, fibreworksstudio12887@gmail.com

Website: www.elsvanbaarle.com; http://www.fibreworksgallery.com/

Location : FibreWorks Studio and Gallery, Pender Harbour, BC, Canada

Time: May 2013 – Exact Dates TBA

Cost: TBA -Preliminary calculations appear that the class would cost approx. $500 for the 3 days.

If you are interested, could you please contact Yvonne asap at fibreworksstudio12887@gmail.com. There are various nearby accommodations available in Pender Harbour – Yvonne can help you with that.

Ready To Take Your Art To The Next Level?

by surfacedesignwa

Are you aware of the graduate-level program that is available to all of us right here in Seattle? The University of Washington’s Certificate Program in Fiber Arts, now in its sixth year, has graduated over 100 fiber artists, many of whom continue to meet and exhibit their work together as an ongoing supportive cohort. They have left this program with an enhanced body of work, strengthened artistic voices, and strategies for their ongoing artistic growth.

The program meets Tuesday evenings on the UW campus, 6-9pm, October 2012 – June 2012, and culminates with a student show.

The gifted instructors of the program are….

Layne Goldsmith – Professor, Fibers, UW School of Art
Michael Cepress – MFA Fibers UW, Artist, Designer
Julia Freeman – MFA Fibers UW, Artist

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ATTEND THE LAST INFORMATION MEETING

Program instructors will discuss the program and answer your questions

September 13, 2012
6-7 pm in the
UW School of Art, Room 327.

Find your way there with a map to the UW Seattle location

Can’t attend this meeting? Get more information from the certificate overview page.

Read below the testimonials of a few graduates to get a sense of how participation in this program has significantly enhanced their creative journeys.

Kaylin Francis

“Autumn Equinox”

“Sometimes in life, we follow our hearts for unknown reasons.  Deciding to apply to the Fiber Arts Certificate Program was one of the best decisions that I have ever made.  The program not only gave me confidence in myself as an artist, but it also gave me a group of friends that I will always cherish.  A direct result of taking the Fiber Arts Certificate Program is being a member of Fiber 19, my graduating class.  As a group, we laugh, we talk, we argue, we help, we cheer each other on…in other words, we are connected in a very meaningful way. “

 
Kathy Craig

“Dahlia”

“I am a longtime sewer, crafter and quilter. I was trying my hand at art quilting and really enjoying it. When I saw the Fiber Arts Certificate Program, I signed up. What a great experience. I learned how to push myself to try new things and how to work on a deadline. The community spirit of the class was wonderful. Everyone was very supportive of each other, even though we worked in different mediums. My classmates are now some of my closest friends. This program opened me up to a variety of new experiences, even after the program was completed. I would recommend it to anyone interested in fiber art.”

 

Tina Koyama

“Red Orange and Vivid Violet”

“In 2007, I received my certificate in the inaugural class of the University of Washington’s Fiber Arts Certificate Program. The rigorous, three-quarter program includes conceptual and professional development for fiber artists. Students in my class worked in a wide range of fiber media, including beads, weaving, quilting, needlework and mixed media.”

 

 

 

Meegan McKiernan

“Story Dress: Fern”
Image by Ken Rowe.

“This program is an incomparable resource for anyone working with fiber who would like to elevate the level of their work. Imagine graduate school level instruction that is responsive to your unique interests and talents, including full access to the UW library and all its resources. Completing this program ranks high the list of things I’ve done to nurture my creative spirit. And the community that has grown out of the experience, together with the rest of the alums, has become invaluable support and huge fun. If you have an ounce of interest, I encourage you to find out more and to not let this opportunity pass without a complete understanding of what you will be missing. “

 

 

Dorothy McGuinness

“Split Decision” – Image by Ken Rowe.

“I joined the Fiber Arts Certificate Program after reading about the program and attending an information meeting. I realized this could be an opportunity to learn new skills and processes on how I approach my work. I expected the program to be challenging and it was. It forced me to work on design and conceptual aspects of my work rather than the technical aspects. I also felt that working with other fiber artists and being exposed to other ideas would give me new insights into my work. One of the best things I got from the program was a community of other fiber artists with whom to meet and network on a regular basis.”

 

Linda Joyce Minor

“—it isn’t how you do it, it is that you do!”

“The Strength of a Royal Warrior is not always a Man”

“Prior to that final comment on my work for our graduation show, I had ‘artist block.’ I spent a wonderful year teaching

sewing at the Horn of Africa (United Way Program) to try to break through; but still the block persisted. I had high hopes that this program could help me break the block.  I wanted to ‘paint’ with fiber.  I wanted to take an idea or one of my photos and transform it to an Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Impressionism, Surrealism and even Pop-Art using fiber.  By the end of this program, not only had I found my ‘art voice’, I found an intensive love of color, texture and African fibers. My work as of this date centers around African cloth such as Mud, Indigo, Kente, Adinkra and the patterns, weaving, colors and textures used in the past and present.”

 

Louise Roby

“Necklace”

“I took the Fiber Arts Certificate Program to help me get back into my creative self. The certificate program was the perfect experience to shake me up and let my creative ideas flow. I learned to work with my ideas and concepts effectively so that projects go more smoothly now from creation to completion. The program also helped me address the organizational and business side of a creative practice. I recommend the program to anyone wanting to go beyond where they are now. You will learn a lot about yourself and your creative inner workings, understand better how to process your ideas and get those creative wonders out into the real world where they can be shared with others.”

 

Debra Calkins

“Baby Maker”

The Fiber Arts Certificate Program changed me. While I’m still working with the same general subject matter, I view everything differently, from materials, to techniques, to possibilities, to taking risks, to being the best I can be in the work that I love doing. My world view shifted. Going to this program is one of the best things I ever did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course information http://www.pce.uw.edu/certificates/fiber-arts.html

Kay Khan to teach Quilted Vessels at the Pacific Northwest Artschool

by surfacedesignwa

But first………

SDA member, Zia Gibson also wanted to let fellow SDA members know about her new collaboration with Sue Taves called Broken Mended Hearts.  You can visit the website to learn more by clicking HERE.

_______________________________________

Fall Offering at the Pacific Northwest Artschool

Kay Khan, – Quilted Vessels – Oct 22-26, 2012

Artists should often suspend judgment and indulge in play.  In this workshop, we’ll experiment with ways to create a heavily worked surface by stitching together layers of fabric, paper, and felt using machine and hand quilting, drawing, and collage.   We’ll find ways to embellish and build up the surface that will simultaneously add structure. The goal is to create a flexible but strong working material – thick with imagery, thick in layers – that we can then cut and stitch to create three dimensional forms.  We will make a paper pattern for the shape of the quilted sculpture, cut sections from the thick fabric material we create, bind the edges, and then build small vessels.

Quilted Vessels: Experiments in Building with Fabric and Collage

Instructor: Kay Khan
Date: 
October 22-26, 2012
Tuition:  $595/Deposit:  $100

To learn more about this class and to register, click HERE.

To see all the fiber classes being offered at the Pacific Northwest Artschool, click HERE.

Drawing, Felt and Sketchbook Classes at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center

by surfacedesignwa

Do you long to draw but are afraid to begin, thinking you aren’t good enough?

Drawing and Painting for the Terrified and Picture It in Collage and Stitch

The Hare 2 by Richard Box

Well-known international tutor Richard Box can help you overcome your fears. He is returning to the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center in La Conner to teach two of his popular courses in March.

Box, from the UK, joins guest tutor Pat Sparks in kicking off a number of guest classes being held at the Creative Studies Center this year.

In Drawing and Painting for the Terrified, Box helps you develop your powers of perception, overcome your self doubt and begin to draw and paint with confidence as he teaches you simple principles and skills.

Box’s first class, Drawing and Painting for the Terrified, will be held March 9-13, and Picture It in Collage and Stitch will be held March 16-18.

Drawing and Painting for the Terrified Brochure / Registration

Picture It in Collage and Stitch Brochure / Registration

 

Watercolor Felt Inlay

Pat Sparks will offer her Watercolor Felt Inlay course April 20-22 at the Center.

"Linn County Petunias" by Pat Spark

In Watercolor Felt Inlay, students use wool to paint felt much like one does using watercolors to paint on paper. Students learn by doing a series of samplers, and then, with confidence, create their own designs.

Watercolor Felt Inlay Brochure / Registration

Two Day Sketchbook Class

Gail Harker is offering her popular Sketchbooks: A Journey of Visual Discovery class, over a weekend, March 31 and April 1, and as a 2-day condensed class rather than over the usual 5 days.

To learn more about these and the upcoming Level 1 courses, visit our website at Gail Harker Creative Studies Center 

Registration for Ann Johnston’s 2012 workshops has opened.

by surfacedesignwa

Ann Johnston will hold a series of fabric dyeing and quilt design workshops in her Lake Oswego studio in 2012.

To ensure maximum individualized attention, class size will be limited to four participants. Registration opens January 10, 2012. Registration closes for all workshops February 10, 2012.

For more information: www.annjohnston.net or annjohnstonquilts@gmail.com

1. Begin with Color by Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing

3 days, May 12-14, 2012
A fast-paced run-through of the possibilities with new variations offered by the low-water immersion dyeing approaches introduced by Ann in her book Color by Accident

2. Add Dye Painting and Printing to Your Options

4 days, May 17-20, 2012
An introduction to all the basic surface design techniques with thick and thin dye, using brushes & rollers, stamps & blocks, stencils & screens.

3. Silk Only—Understanding the Alternatives

5 days, May 23-27, 2012
An exploration of dyeing a wide variety of silks using methods such as painting, printing and immersion with soda ash, citric aid and vinegar, including the selective removal of sericin. Some experience with Procion MX dyes required.

4. Focused Dyeing

5 days, July 20-24, 2012
Is there a particular texture or pattern or theme or color that you want to use for a quilt or series of quilts? Consider it a puzzle to solve in this workshop. Some experience with Procion MX dyes required.

5. Untangle Your Design Decisions

5 days, November 1-5, 2012
A personalized exploration of the elements of design—line, shape, color, value, pattern, texture—to answer that constant question: “Now what do I do?”

6. Using Your Own Hand-dyed Fabric

5 days, November 8-12, 2012
Bring a pile of your own hand-dyed fabrics to build on the ideas that prompted dyeing it or on ideas that are suggested to you by the fabric.

Gail Harker’s Online Color Studies to begin January 12!

by surfacedesignwa

Twenty-six students from Wisconsin, Michigan, California, and several cities in Washington to British Columbia, and Australia registered for Gail Harker Creative Studies Center’s first-ever online course, Level 1 Color Studies.

Many more students expressed interest in online Color Studies but didn’t want to start the first six-week segment during the holidays, so Gail is offering another Level 1 Online Color Studies course starting January 12.

Level 1 Color Studies is a hands-on course that teaches students about color theory. It also gives them guidance, practical experience, and resources on how to use color in their work – no matter what media an artist uses. Harker helps students understand color and gives them a hands-on foundation they can use throughout their work.

Watch the video to see what Gail teaches in the three six-week sessions, what students can do with their sketchbooks, and what they may achieve through the use of color mixing.   Click here to see the brochure.

Level 1 Color studies is just the first of many courses the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center plans to offer, said Harker. In 2012, she plans to debut several shorter courses, including one on Sketchbooks.

A Different Way to Critique

by surfacedesignwa

As a graduate of the UW Certificate in Fiber Arts, and a SDA member I am no stranger to critique groups or the various methods used.  Some have been very useful and some  – well not so much.  I am betting that many other SDA members have had the same experience which is why I wanted to tell you about The Field-Seattle, an organization that specializes in bringing artists together to learn the fine art of giving feedback and to help them deepen their own work. 

The way the The Field-Seattle works is different from most of the critique methodologies that I have previous experienced. When you present, you show your work but do not talk about it.  So you are not putting it into context.  I think this is a good thing.  By not saying what you are trying to accomplish or what your inspiration was you are not creating a metric by which the work will be judged.  This approach allows for more independent thought.

The responses you receive in the field work are very pointedly not about whether someone likes it or how successful you are at achieving your goal.  Nor are there suggestions about how to technically improve the piece but rather the feedback is about what they see and how they respond to what they see.  This is very useful information.

The question for the artist becomes, is this what I meant to evoke.  Are they seeing things that I didn’t intentionally mean to incorporate into the piece?  Does the feedback suggest avenues that I haven’t considered. The artist then has the option to decide whether he or she wants to respond to that feedback.  It gives the artist autonomy.

Icing on the cake is the fact that you are bringing artists together from very different mediums; so you don’t have a fabric centric ideology.  It can be invigorating.  And you learn to see more clearly by responding to other’s work.

If this intrigues you, I encourage you to go to the site and read more about The Field-Seattle. There is a good blog article on getting started with reflective feedback.  The last session this fall  is starting on November 7th for five weeks with conceptual artist,  Mimi Allin. It’s going to be good.  Mary Hubbard

Full disclosure – I volunteer for The Field- Seattle as I do for SDA.

Gail Harker Creative Studies Center adds online art course to reach students worldwide

by surfacedesignwa

Internationally known textile and fiber artist, author and educator Gail Harker will launch the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center’s first online course Nov. 29, Level 1 Color Studies.

Unlike other art courses taught online, Level 1 Color Studies is a hands-on course that teaches students about color theory and gives them guidance, practical experience, and resources on how to use color in their work – no matter what media an artist uses.

“Many people are intimidated by color,” said Gail Harker, founder of the 17-year-old Creative Studies Center. “They think everything is black or white, right or wrong. But there is no right or wrong. We help students understand color and teach them how to make sense of it, giving them a hands-on foundation they can use throughout their work.”

The Level 1 Color Studies Online course will be delivered through video instruction, Power Point demonstrations, and office hours during which students may speak with the tutor directly. Students will also have e-mail access for questions and comments, participate in group conference calls, and receive 400 pages of online content.

Level 1 Color Studies Online course is comprised of three units. Students will move through the coursework on their own schedule, but will complete each unit within a six-week period. In this course Harker guides students to see color in new ways, work with color directly through the use of papers and paints and lays the foundation for future work with color.

For the past 17 years, students had to travel to Oak Harbor, and more recently La Conner, to learn from Harker, who studied art in Canada, England and Scotland. She earned her diploma from the London City & Guilds Institute completing the Design and Embroidery course with Distinction. Harker was granted the Senior Award of Licentiateship (LCGI) by the London City & Guilds Institute in London, Great Britain.

Harker plans to offer other courses online in the future. In addition to color studies, the Center helps students artfully implement color into surface design and textiles. Since its beginnings in 1994, more than 1,500 students have taken courses in textile art, multimedia art & design, color studies, dyeing of fabrics and threads, machine stitching (machine embroidery), hand stitching (hand embroidery), painting fabrics, papermaking, sketchbook studies and collage.

Contact: Gail Harker, phone: (360) 279-2105 / email: gail@gailcreativestudies.com

About Gail Harker Creative Studies Center

Internationally known textile and fiber artist, author and educator Gail Harker has the equivalent of a Masters in textile and fiber art as well as contemporary embroidery, also known as stitch. More than 1,500 artists have studied at the Creative Studies Center, which offers professional certificate and diploma programs in design and stitch. Several students have gone on to win national and international recognition. Learn more at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center website.

Cameron Anne Mason to teach workshop October 15 & 16

by surfacedesignwa

 

Creating Artcloth Using Resists

Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16 (2 sessions), 10am – 4pm

Working with fiber reactive dyes, we will layer resists to create complexity and depth of color on fabric. Shibori binding, organic pastes, and soy wax will be used, each method creating its own characteristic marks. Students will receive handouts covering dye chemistry and safe studio practices. Techniques are easily grasped yet endlessly variable. This workshop emphasizes process and experimentation, learning to control technique while celebrating the happy accident. 

Cameron Anne Mason creates artwork that delves deeply into surface design technique, and brings that depth to her sculptural work. Inspired by nature and the touch of human hands upon it, Cameron’s art is a response to the world around through surface, form, and stitch. Cameron gets great satisfaction from sharing her knowledge with students young and old. She shares her extensive research, studio technique, and a sense for exploration and experimentation with students. Cameron Anne Mason is represented by Foster/White Gallery and has shown widely with the Contemporary Quilt Art Association. Cameron was awarded the Audience Choice Award at the Rio Patchwork Design Show in Rio de Janeiro in 2010. Cameron is a member of Northwest Designer Craftsman, Surface Design Association, and the Contemporary Quilt Art Association.

I took this workshop – it was awesome. I learned so much. Plus you get a chance to play with techniques and see what you like and what you don’t like. Great fun.  –TSP

Instructor: Cameron Anne Mason
Class Fee: $185 Click here for supply list.
Prerequisite: None
Level: All
Min/Max: 3/10
Location: artEAST Art Center


 

 

The Gail Harker Creative Studies Center Open House This Weekend

by surfacedesignwa

Stephanie Metzger, Anacortes, WA

(Click on any image to make it larger)

The Gail Harker Creative Studies Center, which moved to La Conner in August to the renovated 1930’s dairy barn on Chilberg Road, will hold an open house this weekend, Sept. 17 and 18.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is a celebration of six graduating Art & Design students, who have just completed two and a half years of study, and the center’s move to La Conner.

It is the first time the general public will have a chance to see the grounds and the new classroom and art space of the landmark building, which was renovated by architect Allen Elliott in1999.

On display will be colorful multi-media artwork and sketchbooks of the six graduates as well as work from 18 other graduates.

Kim Weers, Woodinville, WA

The six graduates include Stephanie Metzger of Anacortes, Nancy Scagliotti of Bow, BJ Arnold of Olga, WA, Jarina Moss of Freeland, WA; and two Canadians, Margaret Joseph of North Vancouver and Marny Stevenson of Victoria, BC.

Center founder Gail Harker holds the equivalent of a PhD in textile and fiber art and in contemporary embroidery, also known as stitch.  More than 1,000 fabric artists, including several who went on to win national and international recognition, have studied under her.

The Gail Harker Creative Studies Center offers professional certificate and diploma programs, as well as shorter classes, in design and stitch.

Jarina Moss, Freeland WA

Anywhere from eight to 20 people take intensive, one-week courses at the center, where Harker or any of the center’s six instructors guide students through foundational studies of design, color or stitch. The certificate and diploma programs typically take two years and involve multiple one-week sessions interspersed with three months of at-home study to accommodate busy lifestyles.

The center’s shorter classes and programs include textile art, art and design, color studies, dyeing of fabrics and threads, felt and papermaking, painting fabrics, machine and hand stitch, and collage and other offerings are suitable for beginner to expert skill levels.

What: Open House and Exhibition
When: 17 & 18 September 2011 From 10 – 5 p.m.
Where: Gail Harker Creative Studies Center at 12636 Chilberg Road in La Conner