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A message UPDATE from BARN’s Executive Director:
Dear BARN community:
In response to updated guidance from the CDC and the Washington State Department of Health, BARN will continue to be closed through the end of April.
However, the real story is how our volunteers are stepping up with creativity and care to make a difference in our community. BARN is working with Bainbridge Prepares and COBI's Emergency Operations Center to organize volunteers who are making face masks for health care providers. Several studios have donated N95 masks and nitrile gloves that they had in stock. We are keeping our commercial kitchen available for organizations like Arms Around Bainbridge to continue to provide healthful meals to families in need. This past weekend, the Woodworking Studio designed and built outdoor food cabinets for Helpline House, so they can continue to provide food to those who need it.
In addition, we are making connections through Internet channels. BARN staff and volunteers are developing ideas for online learning and sharing. Certificate of Craft students and faculty are learning through technology: doing design work and home jewelry projects.
If you want to learn more about how you can contribute to the COVID-19 response, please contact https://www.bainbridgewa.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=638
Listen to the latest BCB/BARN media arts podcast with Loren Bast of Bainbridge Prepares:https://www.bestofbcb.org/were-all-in-this-together/
Thank you for your understanding and support. I continue to welcome your questions, ideas, or concerns. Please contact me at denised@bainbridgebarn.org.
May we all remain healthy and be happily reconnecting in person, soon,
Denise M. Dumouchel, PhD Executive Director
Lace knitting is all about making strategically placed decreases and holes (yarn-overs) in your knitting to create beautiful, intricate, flowing designs that look much harder to make than they really are.
Come to the Fiber Studio on Sunday afternoon, May 17, 2020 for a no stress hands-on session where you will become familiar with common lace knitting techniques and make a knitted lace bookmark (or begin a lace scarf).
This lace knitting session is for new knitters or more experienced knitters wanting to expand their range of techniques. You should be confident with basic knitting skills including casting on, knit, purl, and basic increases and decreases.
What supplies students should bring:
Bring size 10 (or sizes 9 to 11) straight or circular knitting needles and (optional) 200+ yards of worsted weight yarn to make a scarf.
( We encourage students to go to Churchmouse, our local Bainbridge Island yarn store, for material supplies.)
Details:
Instructor Bio:Terry Winer is a long-time knitter, spinner, dyer, and sewist who enjoys creating a community of fiber artists who get together work on their fiber projects.
The Ring Border Basket is a challenging and rewarding intermediate level basketry workshop.
Students will brush up and sharpen their twining skills during the first day of the workshop while making the basket base. There will be many colors to choose from to create a dynamic combination.
A stunning Ring Border will bring this basket to completion.
Student baskets will measure approximately 6” tall by 18” in diameter.
During all three days we will discuss the importance of tension on the materials, hand/finger placement, shaping and materials selection.
The Ring Border Basket uses multiple diameters of round reed that have been dyed with cellulose fiber dyes. All weaving materials have been selected and prepared for ease and flow during the workshop.
Students should bring:
For directions, transportation, and lodging information click Getting to BARN.
Ages 18+ Welcome.
Instructor Bio: Peeta Tinay grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was born into a family of creatives: her father a chemist by day and a jeweler by night, her mother a painter and weaver. Art work from both parents and their friends filled the house throughout her childhood. Her grandfather was an inventor, keeping a fully functional foundry and pattern shop behind the family home. Roaming through his old work buildings was always an adventure. This early creative environment was fertile ground through which she came of age and discovered her life’s work. From 1990 to 2000 at The Caning Shop in Berkeley California she was introduced to techniques involved in the restoration of wicker furniture. In 2000 a move to Washington gave a fresh start motivating her to branch out. She continued restoration work and also started making wicker pieces from the ground up using 1920's wicker as inspiration.
Artist Statement: I spent the first two decades of my career learning and refining restoration techniques of antique and contemporary wicker furniture. In 2011, at age 43, a cathartic personal discovery about my birth and heritage threw open a door to creativity and set my work on a new and unexpected course. This experience provided the catalyst I needed to start creating my own designs for the baskets I make. I am inspired by techniques from antique wicker furniture, passementerie and anything exceptionally made and beautiful finished. Repeating patterns intentional and unintentional always catch my eye for a second look.
My basketry projects combine a variety of weaving techniques including twining, plaiting and lashing. I now prefer to create large works, moving beyond previously held notions of scale and proportion. Fine detail is achieved by using small-diameter round reed in the beginning stages of weaving which eventually transitions to larger reed. The combination of bold scale and fine detail are, to me, simply sublime. When plaiting with flat reed, I discovered additional interest by using multiple layers - juxtaposing interior and exterior colors that draw the observer deeper into the work. Cellulose fiber dyes are hand-blended creating either natural hues or vibrant colors. Finishing steps include a UV archival varnish and a hand-buffed wax finish.
From weaving techniques using a variety of materials to replicating complex finishes using paints, stains and dyes, my skills are continuously expanding. Reed, the primary material used in antique woven furniture, is the material I have chosen to use in all my projects. Derived from the vine rattan palm, it has been a workhorse in the production of handwoven wicker furniture since the 1880’s which ushered in America’s Golden Age of wicker furniture production. The versatility and resilience of this amazing material gives each new project infinite possibilities.
I feel that my current work captures and showcases all of my skills with reference to design and technique. I will continue to evolve as a craftswoman, seeking excellence in my work and within myself.
This is your chance to work with international fiber artist, Sue Spargo. In this 2 session workshop on June 1st and 2nd, students will be creating an embroidery sampler to be finished into a needle roll.
This class is for students to learn and expand their understanding of many stitches by incorporating them in different formations and combinations.
The focus of the class will be on the use of Eleganza Perle Cotton in sizes 8, 5, and 3. Each cover will be unique, using either Kumquat or Turquoise wool as the front cover. Students have the option to learn English paper piecing to decorate the inside with a floral flower.
Instructor Bio: Sue Spargo is a much beloved instructor and artist who teaches workshops around the world. We are very excited to welcome her to BARN.
Sue was born in Zambia and educated in South Africa. She later moved to England. She reports that living in both cultures shaped many of her designs. You can see the influence of Africa in her choice of colors. The whimsy and charm of her creations reflect African folklore.
She moved to the United States in 1980 and settled in Ohio where she started her company, Sue Spargo Folk-art Quilts, Inc., in the basement of her home in 2002. It was here where she embarked on her journey of dimensional layering and embroidery and introduced the world to wools saturated in bright colors, multi-medium layering and embroidery which resulted in textural depth and dimension never before seen. The circle of fans that love her and her artistry has grown exponentially over the years. Her company now has a store in Ohio with an abundance of the fiber-related products that she incorporates in her designs as well as her kits, patterns and books.
Creative Stitching Book (2nd Edition) by Sue Spargo.
Sue Spargo's Creative Stitching Book (2nd Edition) book is available at Esther’s on Island, Quilted Strait in Port Gamble, or online through Sue Spargo's store. The Eleganza Pearl Cotton embroidery thread and different needles can also be found at these stores.
Join Sue Spargo on an adventure of learning how to do dimensional layering and embroidery. In this three session workshop on June 3rd through June 5th, students create a tone on tone piece using creative stitching to form texture.
Sue will guide the students through the study of the stitch. With eliminating color, students will start to understand textural depth and learn the possibilities of simplistic color. Students will also enjoy the art of meditative stitching.
NOTE: Base circles are required to be appliquéd down prior to class. You will receive the Sand Dollar kit several weeks prior to the workshop along with wool thread to appliqué the circles. Please have the circles appliquéd before the first day of this workshop.
Pencil and journal
Embroidery scissors
Small and large circle template
Chalk Pencil
Extra small 'yo yo' maker (check Amazon)
3/8” hexagon papers
Pencil glue stick
Needles: #24 Chenille needles #18 Chenille needles # 10 straw needles #3 and #1 Milliner needles
Scraps of neutral velvet, silk and cottons to make hexagons and yo yo’s
Cream or grey seed beads
Neutral #24 Silk Thread for beading
An assortment of light grey, cream and beige embroidery threads in different weights:
Eleganza Perle Cotton in size 8,5 and 3; Seagrass; Silken Pearl; Razzle; Dazzle; Eleganza; Dala; Silk Ribbon; Shepards Silk; and Oriental Linen.
'Creative Stitching Book (2nd Edition)' by Sue Spargo.
Sue Spargo's 'Creative Stitching Book (2nd Edition)' is available at Esther's on Bainbridge, Quilted Strait in Port Gamble, or online through Sue Spargo's store. The other embroidery supplies and different needles can also be found at these stores.
Sue was born in Zambia and educated in South Africa. She later moved to England.
She reports that living in both cultures shaped many of her designs. You can see the influence of Africa on her choice of colors. African folklore is reflected in the whimsy and charm of her creations.
She moved to the United States in 1980 and settled in Ohio where she started her company, Sue Spargo Folk-art Quilts, Inc., in the basement of her home in 2002. It was here where she embarked on her journey of dimensional layering and embroidery and introduced the world to wools saturated in bright colors, multi-medium layering and embroidery which resulted in textural depth and dimension never before seen. The circle of fans that love her and her artistry has grown exponentially over the year. Her company now has a store in Ohio with an abundance of the fiber-related products that she incorporates in her designs as well as her kits, patterns and books.
Come join us in the BARN Fiber Arts Studio and Churchmouse for a sponsored charity knitting circle. Just bring your knitting needles. Everyone welcome!
Free to Members and Non-Members. Registration is not required. Held every month on the first Wednesday of the month from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
Using homegrown and harvested willow barks, students will select from large rolls to prepare and design a deep or shallow woven basket.
Using the natural beauty of rustic bark shines in this design!
Innovative twining and plaiting techniques will be demonstrated. In addition, students will select a beautiful cedar root or woven border and create a vessel that can be hung on the wall or to hold treasures on the table.
Instructor Bio: Judy Zugish is a basketry artist and teacher whose work is experimental and sculpted from nature. She has explored with plants in her fiber arts garden for over 30 years with keen curiosity. A co-founder of Fishsticks Basketry School in 1991--she contributes to weavers of the NW; also hosting national and international teachers to our region.
Travelling widely since 1998, she has led journeys in basketmaking to Japan and England, Denmark, France and Germany. Recent residency explorations include basketry fibers in Australia and New Zealand.
She lives in Marysville, Wa. where she can be found deep in the foliage or working in her studio, surrounded by “ceiling bark” find her gardens, art, and school at www.twigtwisters.com
Come join your fellow BARN artisans for a "Spin In" from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., on Tuesdays once a month in the Fiber Arts Studio.
Bring your spinning wheel, drop spindle or just come to hang out. Show and tell spinning projects welcome -- get inspired.
Your host will be Lori Lawson who is interested in all things fiber, especially spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing.
The 2020 Dates for the 'Spin Ins": February 11, March 17, April 14, May 12, June 9, July 14, August 11, September 8, October 13, November 10, December 8.
This is perhaps the ultimate color sampler! It is a chance to work with Jennifer Moore, an internationally renown expert and teacher of the Double Weave technique.
Doubleweave is a sophisticated weaving technique which allows a weaver to weave two layers of fabric at the same time. The layers can be connected on one side, creating a double width cloth or on both sides creating a tube. It is a versatile, advanced weaving technique very handy to have when making blankets or other items. The technique combined with Jennifer’s emphasis on color make this workshop a must.
In this workshop, you will begin by winding a warp and setting up your loom according to Jennifer’s system for working with multiple colors in a rotational sequence and bringing it to the workshop. A basic two-layered structure will enable you to mix and match colors, creating an amazing array of color mixtures.
As you weave and your warp colors move past each other you will experience a visual feast of iridescence and moire patterns. We will also experiment with single-layered structures such as warp rep and warp-faced twills and the effects that they create on this versatile warp.
Those workshop participants set up for two blocks on eight shafts will also be able explore an unlimited range of block combinations.
The sampler produced in this double weave workshop will provide a remarkable education in color theory and how optical mixtures work in weaving, as well as a great source of inspiration for future weaving projects.
Students should prepare the following prior to the workshop:
The BARN Fiber Arts Studio has 8 floor looms available. When you register for this workshop, you can reserve one of these floor looms or bring your own warped looms to the workshop. Students need to use either a 4 or 8 harness loom. Table looms will also work for this workshop.
Looms for the class must be pre-warped by the students with materials specified by the instructor. If students are using a BARN Fiber Arts Studio loom they must pre-warp the loom for the class themselves. Instructions on the warping pattern required for the workshop will be provided.
Instructor Bio: Jennifer Moore literally wrote the book on Doubleweave, titled The Weaver’s Studio: Doubleweave. She holds an MFA in Fibers and specializes in exploring mathematical patterns and musical structures in doubleweave wall hangings. She has exhibited throughout the world, receiving numerous awards for her work, and has been featured in many weaving publications. Jennifer lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and travels extensively to teach workshops in doubleweave, color and geometric design. Jennifer was invited to teach doubleweave to indigenous Quechua weavers in Peru in 2013, where they are once again excelling in this technique which had been discontinued after the Spanish conquest.
During this day-long course, you'll design & create a pair of sandals for your own feet that will age beautifully and last many years!
The class will move through every step of the sandal-making process, starting off by customizing trusted patterns (or inventing new ones) to suit your feet and design preferences. Next we cut and assemble the leather pieces, paying close attention to fit, and finally attach the layers to a VIBRAM rubber sole.
Rachel Corry has a wide selection of leather colors and textures to choose from. Stylistically, almost anything is possible as long as its a sandal (open toe, open heel). Generally people choose to choose to make either a buckling sandal, a tying sandal, or a slide. Take a look at her website and Instagram to get a sense of popular styles but feel free to gather inspiration from wherever and bring it along.
This class is hard work: participants use hammers, utility knives, anvils, and get barefoot!
Sandal-making is easy to continue at home with a few simple tools once you have the basics down.
Instructor Bio: Rachel Corry makes sandals and shoes in Portland, Oregon. She teaches sandal-making classes regularly in Oregon, California, and Washington. She believes that learning to make sandals is a great first step if you're interested in making your own shoes.
Steeped in Northwest traditions, this basket is created with striking bands of cured halibut skins as they are woven in a twill work pattern highlighted by the beauty of western red cedar.
The subtle colors of basketry sedge offer a contrasting band framing the weaving. This basket is finished with a diagonal folded rim adding beauty and strength to the form.
Students will learn the weaving techniques of twill work, strait twining, and three-strand twining along with a double folded rim. These foundation weaving methods can be applied to other projects creating opportunity for many more baskets to come.
Students will be able to choose from back, belly or a combinations of light and dark skins to create their own, unique basket.
Join us to explore Northwest traditions while working with these beautiful materials. Finished baskets measure about 4 x 4 x 4 inches.
Bring a bag lunch. We have a refrigerator for people to store their lunches and drinks!
Instructor Bio: Karen Sherwood began her basket weaving journey creating vessels useful for wilderness survival and woven with materials gathered from nature. Over the last 25 years, her understanding of weaving and the preparation of traditional materials has become much more refined while her interest in creating “working” baskets remains strong. Karen carries a passion for exploring historic basketry techniques and styles and brings this to her work by harvesting and preparing her own basketry materials. She shares her connections to the plants and their remarkable uses when teaching each project. With these connections, each project becomes a unique blend of past and present. “It is with this vision we hope to honor the plants and the traditions they have grown from to give insight to, not only the past but how it can illuminate our future”. Karen teaches ethnobotany programs with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She leads basketry classes throughout the county and as well as other earth- centered programs through Earthwalk Northwest, a wilderness school she and her husband founded in 1996. More info at: www.earthwalknorthwest.com.
Paper birch or white birch has a long history of use as a strong and useful material to create many types of containers. Join us to learn more about this amazing material and the secrets of using it.
While using traditional stitching techniques students will create this beautiful and functional knife sheath to carry a classic Swedish carving knife. An optional neck or belt lanyard can be added as a useful carry strap.
Bring a bag lunch. We have a refrigerator and microwave located on the lower level.
Instructor Bio:Karen Sherwood began her basket weaving journey creating vessels useful for wilderness survival and woven with materials gathered from nature. Over the last 25 years, her understanding of weaving and the preparation of traditional materials has become much more refined while her interest in creating “working” baskets remains strong.
Karen carries a passion for exploring historic basketry techniques and styles and brings this to her work by harvesting and preparing her own basketry materials. She shares her connections to the plants and their remarkable uses when teaching each project. With these connections, each project becomes a unique blend of past and present. “It is with this vision we hope to honor the plants and the traditions they have grown from to give insight to, not only the past but how it can illuminate our future”. Karen teaches ethnobotany programs with the Washington State Department of Ecology.
She leads basketry classes throughout the county and as well as other earth- centered programs through Earthwalk Northwest, a wilderness school she and her husband founded in 1996. More info at: www.earthwalknorthwest.com.
Discover the joy of knitting!
Over 4 afternoons we’ll make 2 simple projects with beautiful washable, multi-colored yarn. You’ll build strong basic skills so you can easily make lots of projects on your own. And you’ll take home your needles and yarn so you can create something new!
Day 1: Basic cast-on and knit stitch. Start Headband project.
Day 2: Cast off. Purl stitch. Sewing edges together. Finish Headband project.
Day 3: Ribbing, decreases. Project: Start Hat project.
Day 4: Making tassels. Project: Finish Hat project.
Instructor Bio:
Fran Fuller has been knitting since she was in second grade. She says, “Once you get the hang of it, knitting is pretty easy and full of possibilities! There are thousands of patterns available for you to make your own scarves, hats, sweaters, gloves, socks, and almost anything you can think of.
This workshop provides an excellent opportunity for participants to experiment with a variety of materials to create unique paper vessels and baskets in all shapes and sizes.
Participants will learn random weave and twining and application of mulberry papers to the surfaces of their vessels.
The most exciting part of this process is that participants will use a variety of surface design techniques and embellishments to personalize their baskets resulting in “one of a kind creations.”
Participants will first learn how to construct a vessel using a random weave technique with flat reed and will then apply thin sheets of mulberry papers to the surface of the vessel. Printing, stamping, collaging, and painting applications will be explored. Vessels will then be further embellished and personalized.
In the second half of the workshop participants will create tall baskets or vessels using twining techniques with reed on 4-6 foot bamboo or willow spokes. Like the random weave vessels, once woven, they will be covered with mulberry papers. Then participants will again experiment with a variety of surface design techniques.
Time permitting, we’ll do some fun, quick, random weave mini baskets with natural materials and papers.
Instructor Bio: Danielle Bodine began her journey into basketry and textiles as an artist, teacher and lecturer over 40 years ago. Her unique sculptural baskets have been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group shows in museums, galleries, colleges, and art centers and included in numerous books and periodicals. She studied at the University of Washington, Bowling Green University, and received a BFA from the University of Michigan in Weaving and Textile Design. She began experimenting with paper after a trip to Japan in 1996, combining it with a variety of basketry and surface design techniques. Her imaginative pieces range in size from 1” to 8’ and always have a story to tell.
Make your very own backpack this summer! Spend a week at BARN planning and sewing a pack that’s exactly what YOU want! Sized to carry all your books and devices, this BARN-designed backpack has a large main compartment with a zipper top, a padded bottom to protect everything, a top carrying handle, and adjustable padded straps for your comfort. You’ll choose from a variety of heavier-weight main and accent fabrics—denim, twill, canvas, etc.—to bring out your unique style.
And then you can add the interior pockets you need for your carrying your stuff, plus your choice of these customizations:
- a front zip pocket
- a phone or water bottle pocket on the side
- a key holder with a key chain
- a coordinating zip pouch for pens and pencils
- a personalized wood name plate
- tassels or pom-poms on the zip pulls
- customized needle-felted patches
Skills you’ll build will include:
- sewing with thicker fabric
- installing foam stabilizer
- installing a zipper
- creating straps with D-ring hardware
- adding strength with rivets
- using a serger
- designing customizations to your specifications
The class will include certification to use BARN’s sewing machines. You’ll be able to come back to BARN to work on future projects of your own!
Prerequisites: This is an advanced-beginner/intermediate project. You should have a little (or a lot of) experience using a sewing machine, be able to sew a straight-ish seam, and understand how to cut out a pattern. If you need some practice to get up to speed, you can schedule a free tutorial ahead of time—email fiber.communcations@bainbridgebarn.org to set up a time.
Alex McKeon is an enthusiastic and creative BARN member—you might know her as one of the teachers from Girls Who Code or from a Fiber Arts project at Teen Night. Making a backpack for her daughter Zoey and many different kinds of bags she has sold at BARN Bazaar and other craft fairs led her to develop this backpack class for you!
Looking for a community service project that will lighten the day for a cancer patient?
Work with Carol Latham, the Women's Club, and fellow members of the Fiber Arts Studio at BARN to make colorful and imaginative pillowcases for cancer patients living in Seattle while going through cancer treatment at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle Children's Hospital, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Resource Center.
Patients coming from all over Washington, the USA, and the world for cancer treatment at these facilities stay at the Pete Gross House, a 70 unit furnished apartment complex. This means they often can not bring much from home to personalize their Pete Gross House apartment or make it more cheerful. Getting something as simple as a pillowcase made with love and creativity can brighten these cancer patient's world and make them feel like people care about what they are going through.
You don't need to know how to sew to participate in this community service project.
What to bring:
Please register so we know how many people will be attending. Feel free to bring someone with you. Please enter number of "guests" you will be bringing when you register.
All Community Service Project Workshops in the BARN Fiber Arts Studio are Free for BARN and Non-BARN Members
Bamboo's unique structure has a variety of interesting ways it can be used to create form:
Instructor Bio: Charissa Brock is a fiber artist working with bamboo, a giant grass that has been used for centuries to create baskets and other everyday objects. She integrates wood, glass, paper and thread as visual accents and structural components. Her abstract sculptures are crafted using basketry, woodworking, and fiber art techniques.
Brock’s early art education began under the tutelage of her mother, Emily Brock, a nationally recognized glass artist. Later, she earned a BFA in Glass from Center For Creative Studies, College of Art and Design. After college, Charissa studied basketry with individual teachers before earning an MFA in Fibers at Tyler School of Art/Temple University in 2000. She has used bamboo as a primary material since first discovering it while at Tyler.
In addition to her studio practice, she teaches workshops across the USA. A Japanese TV show hosted her in Japan spring, 2017 during which they filmed her interacting with the members of the bamboo community for an episode of “Who wants to Come to Japan?” It was an exceptional opportunity wherein she met and learned from people with a long tradition of working with he material she loves.
Her artwork is in private collections worldwide as well as Arizona State University Museum, the Rivermark Hotel, and the Hyatt Regency Maui. Her work was featured in an article in the Dec/Jan issue of American Craft Magazine.
Bamboo is a wonderfully complex art material that can be used in a variety of ways to create form.
In this class we will explore using small bamboo and glass elements to create vessel forms that play with light and shadow.
Students will learn how to cut, heat, bend, drill, weave, and sew bamboo strips together.
Basic tool skills will be covered. Students will learn how to incorporate small pre-made glass elements using creative stitching techniques.
Examples of various bamboo techniques will be shown and students will see, through a slide lecture, the variety of ways bamboo can be used as an art material.
Participants will walk away with enough bamboo knowledge to create more vessels at home.
One of our most popular instructors, Sue Skelly, is back at BARN with a new workshop that is bound to delight participants -- Woven Treasure Necklaces.
Start collecting your personal treasures! Buttons, beads, small keys, single earrings, bones, small rocks with holes, charms -- whatever delights you and you want to include in this keepsake necklace. A concept for a color scheme or theme is a good idea as you prepare for Sue's workshop.
About a month before the workshop, you will have the opportunity for a phone consultation with Sue Skelly to discuss your themes for your necklace. Sue will use your ideas to put together the additional materials to add to your necklace.
Specialized techniques you will learn are weaving eight cords at a time, dropping one cord, adding loops of beads and growing the necklace to a centerpiece and then reducing to an end and making a knotted clasp.
Students should bring: Buttons, beads, small keys, single earrings, bones, small rocks with holes, charms, and other things you treasure and want to include in your necklace. Think about a color scheme in deciding what to bring to class.
Instructor Bio: Sue works with our native Western Red Cedar and vintage buttons. She even manages to combine the two in some of her pieces.
Cedar is her soul work and let’s her get out in the woods to collaborate and harvest sustainably what the tree generously offers.Her work is a contemporary approach on cedar with garden structures and interior 3D sculptures and wall hangings. She has spent 30 years preparing the roots,branches, bark and even old cedar rails for her work. Much of her work is commissioned.
Old buttons are by far a big part of her life long collecting bug. It was hard for her to part with them when she first began to create pieces to sell. Seeing other people connect to her button necklaces changed that. Each of these are made entirely from a beautiful collection of materials from a by-gone era; mother of pearl, horn, porcelain, bone,and vegetable ivory to name a few. Most are double sided. The really elaborate pieces are a made with a woven threads technique combining all shapes and sizes of buttons and many other objects with holes to create the design.
Her work has been published in many garden books and magazines nationally. She sells her work at her studio in Poulsbo by appointment and during Art in the Woods. Her work is also available at Front Street Gallery in Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island Studio Tour, Indianola Holiday Sale and the RAGS show in Tacoma.
Stitch with us this fall as we cozy into cooler days with a mindful and meditative hand- stitching process. Christine Mauersberger is an American textile artist who produces complex markmaking narratives: intricately stitched maps of the mind. Join her as she guides us through exercises to engage with slow hand stitching in a meaningful and contemplative manner.
The two-day session will be filled with music, doodling, stitching and fun. She will present ideas and methods through samples, books, powerpoint presentations, and music.
Students are encouraged to bring a small sampling (1 to 3) of their own stitched items to share with the group to help each of us gain a sense of community, sharing, and mutual respect.
This is a nice kick-start session for building a meditative and purposeful style of hand- stitching.
STUDENT SUPPLY LIST: Participants bring their own supplies. Information about what students need to bring to the workshop will be provided in the registration confirmation letter.
Instructor Bio: Christine Mauersberger is internationally known for her hand-stitched work that evokes singular moments in time. She uses the form of the humble stitch as a tool for inward as well as an outward expression of her inner life and as a message to the external world.
She has taught meditative hand stitching workshops in the USA, Canada, and Switzerland. Her work is featured in private and public collections and has been exhibited and published both nationally and internationally.
This workshop will give you the opportunity to work with natural materials of the Pacific Northwest to make a unique basket using the skip stitch twining technique.
Using Western Red Cedar bark as the structure, this basket will be twined with NW Sweetgrass, using a skip stitch technique. Overlays of Cedar bark will accent the surface and will undulate from the tension of the twining. The workshop will include a discussion on how to prepare Cedar bark.
For getting to BARN download this helpful printable document by clicking here: Getting to BARN.
Instructor Bio: Polly Adams Sutton is a Seattle artist. Her educational background was art with an emphasis on painting and printmaking. Once settled in the Pacific Northwest she was introduced to basketry through the Seattle Weaver’s Guild. It has been her practicing art ever since. She harvests cedar bark each spring in logging areas throughout Washington. Her sculptural work is primarily twined, although she experiments with wire as a woven element in her asymmetrical shapes. Her work is exhibited in galleries nationwide, and she has been recipient of many awards in juried exhibits, and was awarded an artist project grant in 2012 through the City of Seattle, to experiment with invasive vines in her work. She also received an Artist Trusts GAP Grant which she used in conjunction with a Seattle Weavers Guild Grant for investigating the basketry of Sardinia. Her piece is also on the cover of the book “500 Baskets”.
Join us for a basketry workshop with Kathey Ervin, one of our favorite instructors, and learn how to create a basket using yellow cedar, reed canary grass, and false embroidery.
Yellow cedar is often called the 24 caret gold of the northwest. Reed canary grass, although it grows everywhere (often seen in the ditches along roadways), is a beautiful material to work with – it processes and dyes easily.
False embroidery technique is used for pattern work and it is worked in as the basket is twined, not added afterwards. False embroidery is unique in that it does not show on the inside of the basket.
The first morning will be creating a Tlingit-style twined base, learning folded spoke additions, making the base 2.5 inches across. Harvesting and preparation techniques will be discussed and a full set of instructions will be included.
A Materials Fee of $85 is included in the total class price.
Instructor will provide all materials and tools required. If student has a favorite pocket knife – please bring.
Instructor Bio: Kathey Ervin lives in Sequim, Washington. After a career as a maker in clay creating mostly dinnerware, twenty years ago Kathey pivoted and began a new career in basketry. She has gone through various phases of learning, embracing everything from fairly high volume production work, to pursuing her own award winning artistic aesthetic. Kathey says: “Every professor and teacher I have ever worked with has talked about learning and ‘passing it on’. I am passionate about this point, and love the experience of seeing a student begin to pick up a technique, develop it, and then ‘pass it on.”
BARN will be closed and the front and back doors locked down to both Members and Non-Members beginning at 7:00 PM on Friday night as we begin preparations for the Bazaar at BARN.
Doors will reopen to all on Saturday, at 8:00 AM.
If you have questions, please contact Carla our Membership Coordinator at Membership@bainbridgebarn.org.
BARN members wishing to participate in this event must be a member for a minimum of 3 months (must join by August 31st) to participate. You can contact Carla Mackey at membership@bainbridgebarn.org for an application which will be available TBD.
