2020 Workshops - Winter, Spring, Summer

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope that the new decade finds you happy, healthy, creative and well.

Thought I would round up my 2020 workshops and talks that I have scheduled so far in hopes that I will get to see some of you out there!:

glean, gather, group: Jody Alexander and the Santa Cruz SCRAP residency

Free talk at San Francisco Center for the Book about my recent residency at the Santa Cruz dump

Thursday, February 13th, 6:00 - 8:00

Mending Sampler Needle Book

French General, Los Angeles 

Saturday, February 29th, 10:00 - 4:00 

The Boro Aesthetic: Creating Fiber Arts Pieces Inspired by Japanese Textiles

Aya Studios, Stuart, Florida

March 21st - 23rd, 2020

Japanese-style Mending as Utility and Embellishment

A Verb for Keeping Warm, Oakland, California

Saturday, April 25th, 11:00 - 5:00

The Boro Aesthetic: Creating Fiber Arts Pieces Inspired by Japanese Textiles

Fibre Arts Australia, Ballarat and Toowoomba, Australia

June 29th - July 5th - Ballarat

July 6th - July 12th - Toowoomba

Very excited for all of this teaching and traveling and especially looking forward to all of the wonderful people that I will meet along the way. 

I hope that this post inspires you to take a workshop but I realize that it is not always possible...so remember...

I have workshop online at Creativebug 

and a book that goes over much of what I cover in some of these classes:

The Boro Aesthetic: Books, Bags, Zakka, and Zokin

Here is to a creative 2020!

Fall 2019 workshops and looking forward to 2020

Here is a quick look at upcoming workshops for Fall 2019:

Japanese Mending as Utility and Embellishment

A Work of Heart Studio

San Jose, CA

October 13th, 11:00 - 5:00

Boro Sampler Book and Boro Bags

Southwest School of Art

co-sponsored by San Antonio Fiber Artists

San Antonio, TX

November 9th and 10th, 10:00 - 4:00

(class is full - waitlist open)

 

and looking forward to 2020 for those of you planning ahead:

The Boro Aesthetic: Creating Fiber Art Pieces Inspired by Japanese Textiles 
Aya Fiber Studio,  Stuart, Florida
March 21 - 23rd, 2020

The Boro Aesthetic: Creating Fiber Art Pieces Inspired by Japanese Textiles 
Fibre Arts Australia
Ballarat, Australia: June 30 - July 4, 2020
Toowoomba, Australia: July 7 - July 11, 2020 
  

There will also most likely be a February workshop at French General in Los Angeles - we are still cooking that one up - it will be something new! ****update - new workshop is up here**** And, an April workshop at A Verb for Keeping Warm. Keep your eyes peeled for those...

I usually announce workshops first on Instagram and my Wishi Washi Studio Facebook page so join me there to hear about them first. I also list them on my blog - workshop page.

As always my Creativebug classes are available 24/7 from anywhere you have internet access, and my book The Boro Aesthetic is still available from Blurb Books.

Arrowmont 2017

Just finished up a week of teaching at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. It was just as wonderful as I had heard from everyone who had been there although different than I had imagined. 

 

It was hard to imagine the bucolic and creative campus juxtaposed with downtown Gatlinburg full of lights and tourist attractions that had been described to me. Here are some pictures of the campus and the interior of the main building, and some student work, before I shock your senses with images from Gatlinburg. 

 

Staff house. 

Textiles studio above and other interiors of the main art building below. Such a beautiful building. 

 

  

 

I taught a week long workshop called The Boro Aesthetic: Creating Fiber Art Pieces Inspired By Japanese Textiles. In the class I introduced students to Japanese mending techniques and we looked at Boro textiles, Gee's Bend Quilts, and contemporary artists working within the same aesthetic for inspiration. Students were also asked to bring an old garment to deconstruct so that they could play with existing seams, lines, and other elements inherent to the garment as a starting point for their pieces. We also covered block carving and printing, cutting stencils and image transfers. Here are some of the results:

 

student work by Chris Raymond

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say the students were varied and talented. I think that the people I met was the most remarkable part of the week. 

 

I'm sitting in the Nashville Airport as I write waiting for a shuttle to Shakerag where I will be a student for the week. Can't wait for that! I've been posting to Instagram if you want to follow along (@wishiwashistudio). 

And, now I leave you with some crazytown images of downtown Gatlinburg:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Arrowmont! See you in a few Shakerag...

  

Spring Refresh

I thought it was about time for a visual refresh on the blog with a new banner. The previous banner had been on my blog since day one and was an image of a book underwater that I thought fit my studio name nicely. 

I took the picture many, many moons ago when I submerged a damaged library book, that had been in a flood, in a glass bowl filled with water in my backyard and walked around it snapping pics. Some very interesting images resulted from that little pre-iphone photo shoot and the images represented my studio for many years.

But, a change was long overdue. I replaced the banner with an image of a piece from my Bibliomuse Series: Genetics, Paleontology and Evolution, No. 1., that I felt reflected the artwork I was currently working on, as well as my related teachings.

Bibliomuse: Genetics, Paleontology and Evolution, No. 1

The Bibliomuse series is a sub-series of KEEP: Modern Library that I am currently working on. I will be having an exhibit entitled Bibliomuse at Seager Gray Gallery in November 2017.

Bibliomuse: Genetics, Paleontology and Evolution, No. 1 (detail)

The Bibliomuse series pieces are all machine stitched and they look to specific discarded library books as their muses. Imagery is extracted and abstracted from the literary muses and combined with various textiles and bookcloth that has been "skinned" from discarded library books.

 

Bibliomuse: Genetics, Paleontology and Evolution, No. 1 (detail)

I'll be sharing more about the Bibliomuse exhibit as that date approaches and I've been sharing snippets of works in progress on Instagram if you want to follow along.

Another addition to the blog is a sidebar image and link to my new book! Thank you to everyone who has purchased my book: The Boro Aesthetic: Books, Bags, Zakka and Zokin. I am so glad that people are enjoying and learning from it! It will continue to be available on Blurb and Amazon, and I will have copies with me at my in-person workshops.

Winter/Spring 2017 Workshops

I was very selective when planning my teaching schedule this Winter/Spring so that I could concentrate on other projects.

As a result, I am only teaching in three venues between now and mid-June. I hope you can join me in one, or more, of these workshops:

"Essential" - made from a deconstructed dress and bookskins

Creative Textiles: Deconstruction, Reconstruction and Re-Use

March 18th and 19th, 10:00 - 4:00

Cabrillo Arts, Aptos, CA

In this class we will play around with deconstructing garments as our starting point for your project which can be a piece for the wall, a bag, book, or item for the home. The pre-existing fade lines, shapes, seams, and tears offer endless inspiration. We will look at Japanese Boro textiles, Gee's Bend Quilts, and artists who work in this genre. I will demonstrate mending techniques, embroidery, stenciling, and block carving and printing to incorporate into your projects.

 

 

"Modern Library" made from old linen and bookskins

Boro Sampler Book

May 6th, 10:00 - 4:00

Rhiannon Alpers' Studio

Bryant Street Studios, San Francisco, CA 

This has been such a popular workshop and this is my only scheduled date so far this year. Rhiannon's Bryant Street studio is spacious and wonderful with great light. I will bring my personal collection of Japanese boro textiles for inspiration and will teach you mending techniques that we will incorporate into a Boro Sampler Book. This is great class for beginning and experienced stitchers alike. It has applications for book arts, garment repair and adornment, and the aesthetic may be applied to drawing, printmaking and painting. Textiles and/or paper may be used in this technique.

"Maxwell" made from garment pieces, bookskins and other textiles

The Boro Aesthetic: 

Creating Fiber Art Pieces Inspired by Japanese Textiles

June 4th - 10th

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts

Gatlinburg, TN

This will be an immersive experience and I can't wait! We will begin by looking at Japanese boro textiles and then make the Boro Sampler Book so that you may learn the language of boro. Then we will deconstruct garments, learn some printing, image transfer, and stenciling techniques, add more fabric and found objects and then put it all back together again in the form of a book, wall piece or sculptural item. The result will be a very personal item with your imagery, stitches, ephemera and own personal aesthetic embedded in it.

I hope that you can join me at one of these wonderful venues. And, I know I keep reminding you about this, but it is such a great resource no matter where you are: I have classes available on Creativebug, an online learning site where I am in amazing company with some truly stellar instructors.