Note: Tuition includes studio fees and material fees unless otherwise indicated. Some instructors may provide additional materials that you may purchase in class.
May 16 - 18
Socks, Any Way You’d Like
Linda Voss Plummer Advanced Beginner and Above $195
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $20
Intimidated by socks? Come work your way through double pointed needles (knitters have been doing this for centuries), or the newer techniques of two circulars, or one long needle. Students decide which they would like to use, though everyone will become familiar with all three techniques. Participants also have the choice of toe-up, top down, and other constructions and stitches. This is a great class for learning the basics of sock knitting or expanding your repertoire and knowledge of sock construction. Follow patterns or take off on your own! This is the ultimate portable project.
Linda Voss Plummer can’t remember when she didn’t knit. She has taught locally and regionally and has been fortunate to study with nationally and internationally recognized knitters. She loves to lead students to the joy of knitting and then watch them become independent knitters, helping them create their own designs and make decisions about how they want to adapt patterns. She also spins, weaves and quilts but if, perish the thought, she had to decide on one activity, it would be knitting. One of her joys in teaching and knitting has been to participate in the warmth of knitting with others and experience its healing and supportive powers.
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May 23 - 25
Felting Is All the Rage
Annie Lawrence Beginner to Intermediate $195
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $40
Felting is all the rage! Join in and come and play with fiber, soap, and water, and learn the basics of traditional wet felting. You can choose to make a light and airy scarf using Merino wool and hand dyed silk, or choose to make a handbag and learn how to add beads, buttons, or other embellishments. You will go home with a finished project.
Annie Lawrence has been working in areas of fiber since her childhood. She started out learning to sew from her Mom and has never stopped looking for ways to use fiber creatively. She has traveled throughout the United States and New Zealand to expand her knowledge and skills of all things fiber and beads. Her garments, felt, and beadwork have been exhibited in Pittsburgh, Greenwich, CT, Morgantown, WV, and Sydney and Brisbane, Australia. Annie has served as Vice President of the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh and has been involved with Fiberarts International.
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June 8 - 14
Bogolanfini (Mudcloth) Modified
Judy Dominic All Levels $430
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $30
The strikingly simple white design on black background cloth represents the serious artistic manner of telling the stories of village life in Mali, Africa. Learn about the traditional method of bogolanfini, dying cotton cloth with mud, as well as how that process is modified in the non-scientific Dominic version. During the workshop you will have the opportunity to create your own story designs using local muds on cotton and other natural fiber cloth. Connect with the earth and gain an appreciation of the Mali culture.
Judy Dominic has been a fiber enthusiast since 1979. She has organized basketry and fiber conferences and has served as a curator of basketry exhibits. Judy is also a regional, national, and international exhibitor of basketry and mudcloth work. She has been an instructor of basketry, mudcloth, bookmaking, papermaking, and other fiber projects. She appreciates the support of her husband and children and sees her basement and garage as full of stuff with creative potential. Judy delights in the unexpected and asks “What if…?” and “Why not?” a lot. See Judy’s work at www.midwestbasketry.com
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June 15 – 21
Building a Norwegian Sweater
Linda Voss Plummer Advanced Beginner and Above $430
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: TBD
Scandinavian knitters have perfected the secrets of creating light, warm sweaters of beautiful multi-colored designs while minimizing seams and knitting rather than purling. Learn two-color Fair Isle knitting (while not tangling yarn!), traditional construction which makes sweaters as finished on the inside as outside, and steeking or cutting openings for cardigans and armholes.
See Linda’s biography under Socks, Any Way You’d Like, May 16 – 18.
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July 6 - 12
The Serenity of Spinning
Cherri Hankins All Levels $430
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $30
Many spinners will acknowledge that the greatest product of spinning is not the yarn itself, but the sense of well-being and serenity that accompany the activity. By working step-by-step on the various fundamentals of spinning, participants will focus on relaxed movement and gestures to draft fibers, then to treadle the wheel, and finally to combine those two tasks. The cyclical rhythms of the wheel will set the tone for spinning wool singles, then plying those singles together and then on to Navajo plying. Afternoons will be divided, combining our wheel time with supporting activities like washing wool, carding or combing wool, and simple dyeing procedures so we have lustrous, colorful wool to spin as the week progresses. All materials are provided for the class, and students who have their own wheels may bring them.
Cherri Hankins, a 17-year weaver and spinner, is a custom tallit weaver. She produces prayer shawls for traditional Jewish worship as well as other commissions. She has been teaching fiber arts for 12 years and is specifically interested in the revival of personal community and nurturing through cooperative work efforts. She works as an artist-in-residence in the Richmond City Schools system, and teaches after-school art programs. Although her degree from Virginia Commonwealth University is in Business, Cherri’s business is to produce fiber arts exhibiting exceptional craftsmanship and to “help others achieve personal satisfaction through nurture of their own gifts and talents”. Her work can be seen at http://www.cherrihankins.com
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July 13 - 18
Feltmaking: 2-D to 3-D
Sandi Cirillo All Levels $400
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $65
This class will focus on learning basic feltmaking techniques as we first create two-dimensional wall hangings using photographs or magazine pictures. After basic wet and dry feltmaking techniques are mastered, we will then use our creativity and imagination and enter the world of three-dimensional feltmaking. This part of the course will focus on creating three-dimensional objects out of felt such as sculptural pieces, beads to adorn a necklace, felted bowls, felted handbags, pillows, scarves, and felted books. We will also learn about various wool-dyeing methods (natural and commercial), and participants will have the opportunity to dye their own colors to use in their creations.
Sandi Cirillo is a fiber artist from Corning, NY, who specializes in feltmaking. She has been felting for over 15 years and has traveled all over the New England area sharing her expertise in the fiber workshops she teaches. Her work is exhibited locally and nationally and is in many private collections. Sandi is also an art educator and enjoys introducing students of any age to the joys of fiber arts. You can see examples of Sandi’s work on her website: www.especially-for-ewe.com
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July 20 - 26
Rib Basketry - Antlers and Touchstone Sticks
Judith Appleby All Levels $450
Material Fee Payable to Instructor: $65
Experience the enjoyment of creating your own beautiful rib baskets. All
students will begin the week making a basic basket using an antler or special
Touchstone stick as a basket base. From the first basket, students will move
into the week's work guided by their individual passion and creativity. Students
will learn the basics of antler basket setup, drilling techniques, and explore
the interesting design challenges posed by working with asymmetrical objects.
Whether using an antler or stick for a handle or basket base, or working on a
more free form art project, this will be an exciting week of creativity.
Judy Appleby, a member of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, ventured into a
basket class in 1987 and began a life-changing journey. Soon she was
participating in local basketry workshops all over the East Coast with
nationally and internationally known basket makers studying traditional forms of
basketry. In recent years Judy began incorporating deer antlers and branches
into freeform baskets. Natural materials and found objects add a variety of
color, texture, and organic feeling to her work, resulting in baskets that
reflect craftsmanship, strength, and beauty while maintaining functionality and
purpose.
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July 20 - 26
Fiber Collage
Mary Lubowicki Beginner to Intermediate $410
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $50
Fiber is a fascinating medium to work with! Experiment with painting, dyeing, batiking, and stamping to create colorful fused images. Learn the technique of sun printing with Setacolor dyes. Basic tie-dye techniques will also be included. Color, pattern, and embellishment will be discussed, so feel free to bring your beads and threads! We will also explore various framing ideas. Journals, sketches, and photos are encouraged for inspiration during this colorful week of fiber fun.
Mary is a visual arts teacher at the Inner-City Neighborhood Art House in Erie, PA. She has taught children in the after-school arts program there for over 14 years. She has also worked with adults in watercolor and fiber arts. She has shown her work in various exhibitions, and is a member of the Lake Erie Fiberarts Guild. Mary is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and has her degree in Art Education. Before her present job, she worked as an art instructor in the Erie Catholic Schools in both the grade school and high school levels.
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July 20 - 26
Mixed Media Soft Sculpture and Mobiles
Passle Helminski All Levels $410
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: TBD
We will use off-loom techniques to create your own 3-dimensional sculptures and mobiles in fibers. A slide show will introduce you to modern artists working in this media. We will blend new ways of off-loom weaving, knitting, knotting, crocheting, and sewing, together with acrylic paints, matte and or gloss mediums. A journal or sketchbook will be kept to work through your ideas as your creative process unfolds. The result will be a progression of your ideas into art forms.
Passle graduated from Mercyhurst College with her BA in Art, and she received
her MA and MFA from Edinboro University in Weaving and Textiles. She has
exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is part of several
permanent collections. She has taught at the Inner City Neighborhood Art House
for children, the YWCA, at Mercyhurst College and Gannon University, and as
Artist in Residence at the Cathedral Center, Erie, PA. She was involved in two
Mid Atlantic Artist Residences at the Keystone Blind Association, Sharon, PA,
and in 2005 she received a Kellogg's Foundation Artist Residency in Battle
Creek, MI. She received three Pennsylvania Partner in the Arts Grants for the
Inner City Neighborhood Art House for children in Erie, PA, and she was honored
with the Distinguished Alumni Award in the Art from Edinboro University in 2005.
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July 27 - August 2
Innovations: Weave a Scarf
or Wrap
Deb Meteney Advanced Beginner to Advanced $430
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $25
Weave a puffy undulating
scarf, a dramatic wrap with transparent windowpanes, or create ghostly shibori
patterns in your hand woven fabric! Today's weavers have a lot of innovative
tricks up their hand-woven sleeves! Learn about differential shrinkage, resist
felting, and woven shibori by class demonstration and making samples. Choose
from these methods to design and weave a scarf or wrap. All the knowledge you
need is some experience at warping a loom. Extra yarns may be purchased from the
instructor for additional or larger projects.
Deb Meteney worked in Materials Science professionally until she took a class in
beginning weaving on a rigid heddle loom 30 years ago. Since then, weaving has
become her focus. She has taught as an adjunct professor in fibers at Seton Hill
University and currently teaches weaving at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Winning awards locally and nationally, she continues to try new and innovative
methods.
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August 3 - 9
Tapestry Weaving: The Basics and Beyond
Joan Griffin Beginner to Intermediate $450
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $15
Students will learn how to create colorful images in tapestry weaving using a frame loom. This class will cover the basics of tapestry weaving such as warping the loom, various design shaping techniques, as well as suggestions for designing and finishing a tapestry. Tapestry is a unique, timeless technique but can be adapted in a multitude of colorful ways to the challenges of contemporary designs. No prior weaving experience is necessary; however, intermediate students are encouraged to join the class to develop proficiency and learn new techniques. Each student will create a sampler to have as a future reference.
Joan Griffin is a full-time tapestry weaver with a BA in Art Education and MFA in Textile Design; for 25 years she has taught at various art centers and at her studio in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her work has been exhibited nationally and she is an active member of the American Tapestry Alliance, an international organization. For more information about Joan Griffin and her work please visit www.joangriffintapestry.com
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August 3 - 9
Basketry: The Possibilities
Susan Matson All Levels $430
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $68
We will begin this week creating a pair of sampler baskets—one in flat reed, one in round reed—to give participants a little experience with many different weaving techniques. Then students will learn the basics of designing a basket, and will spend the balance of the week planning and weaving baskets of their own designs. Individuals at all skill levels are welcome in this class; each one will experience success.
Susan Matson has been a professional basket maker for over twenty years. She began teaching in 1986 and has instructed continuing education courses, grant-sponsored art programs, regional fiber guilds, and state basketry conventions. She participates in group exhibitions in galleries across the eastern United States and is a juried member of The Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. Susan has been recognized for her unique and innovative designs and also recreates traditional works. She has a very devoted following at Touchstone.
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August 10 - 16
Batik Technique: Wax Resist Art on Silk
Kumkum Majumdar All Levels $410
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $50
Students will learn to design and decorate silk fabrics with Batik, an ancient art, developed over a century ago. In Javanese, Batik means wax writing. Batik is a popular dye-resist technique in which the design is applied to the material with a substance (commonly pure bee’s wax) that will resist the action of the dye. Hot bee’s wax is applied to the silk cloth with traditional tools, and the silk cloth is then dipped in dye. The wax resists the dye, and unusual effects and colorful textures are part of the discovery process. As a contemporary art, Batik gives handsome and decorative results for clothing or home décor.
Kumkum Majumdar studied at the prestigious University Visva Bharati in Santinekatan, India, to receive her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Fine Art. She has also studied commercial art at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. For the past fifteen years, she has chosen to concentrate on Batik, which she teaches at art studios and workshop settings in art galleries around the country.
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August 17 - 23
Silk Painting Magic
Janice Patrignani All Levels $410
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $75
This workshop will give you a great foundation to begin your new obsession: painting silk. Focusing on process, we will experiment with color, play with pattern, and be seduced by the flow of paint on silk. A sampling of silk patterning techniques will be explored such as: Gutta resist, salt, marbling, and shibori. Experienced painters and novice alike will leave this experience thrilled with the exquisite wearable artworks they create.
See Janice’s biography under Treasure Trove of Book Arts, July 6 – 12.
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September 5 - 7
A Basket for the Birds and Touchstone Sticks
Judith Appleby All Levels $195
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $30
Come experience the enjoyment of creating a birdhouse basket! During this fall
weekend workshop, students will explore unique ways to incorporate sticks, found
objects, and natural materials into a woven birdhouse. Students will learn the
basics of basket design and setup. The completed houses will have doors,
perches, and woven roofs. Each birdhouse will be guided by its maker's
individual passion and creativity. Take home a house for the birds!
See Judy’s biography under Rib Basketry, July 20 – 26.
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September 12 - 14
Willow: An Oval Market Basket
Susan Matson All Levels $195
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $55
Participants in this workshop will become acquainted with one of Pennsylvania’s traditional basketry materials. Working with willow is a wonderful, sensory experience—it has a mellow aroma, a beautiful sheen, and is lively to the touch. Students will learn several willow techniques while they create a good-looking, serviceable substitute for those paper or plastic grocery bags.
See Susan’s biography under Basketry: The Possibilities, August 3 – 9.
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September 19 - 21
Knitting for Beginners
Ann Richards Beginner $195
Have you marveled at beautiful and hand-knit garments, wishing that you could create one? Why not learn this skill and create garments and home decorations yourself? The instructor teaches the fundamentals of knitting, including casting on, basic knit and purl stitches, increasing, decreasing, and binding off. Students learn by practice and may start a knitting project during class. The class offers an opportunity to learn about various techniques. Time is devoted to learning basic skills as a group, but there is still a lot of one-on-one attention. No previous knitting experience is required.
Ann Richards is a knitting teacher certified by the Yarn Council of America. She has taught knitting in a number in institutions, including the Smithsonian where she has been teaching in the Associates Studio Arts Department for seven years. She has published articles with Knitty Magazine, and she is the editor of the Conscientious Knitter newsletter.
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September 26 - 28
Felting Is All the Rage
Annie Lawrence Beginner to Intermediate $195
Materials Fee Payable to Instructor: $40
Felting is all the rage! If you missed the spring class, join in now and come and play with fiber, soap, and water, and learn the basics of traditional wet felting. You can choose to make a light and airy scarf using Merino wool and hand dyed silk, or choose to make a handbag and learn how to add beads, buttons, or other embellishments. You will go home with a finished project.
See Annie’s biography under her May 23 – 25 class on felting.