Art of Textile Repair and Reuse Workshop, Summer 18

 I taught a new class recently at Cabrillo Arts. The name of the workshop is:

  

The Art of Repair and Reuse:

Looking at Mending and Re-purposing Traditions in Various Cultures as Inspiration for New Work.

 I did quite a bit of research for the course and showed students examples of repair and reuse traditions in the American South, Australia, Japan, India, China and France.

We also looked at the work of contemporary artists who create in the spirit of repair and reuse, and watched videos that exhibited different stitching techniques.

The students created samplers in the various traditions.

These samplers represented Gee's Bend and Wagga Wagga:

Of course, we made samplers inspired by Japanese Boro mending techniques - I always encourage students to vary from the indigo palette and rather focus on line, shape and texture:

 

 Samplers inspired by Kantha from India:

 When I was in France recently I saw some lovely mends on grain sacks that I shared with students - they interpreted those mends in the most creative way!:

 Chinese Ge Ba has been making the rounds on the internet and social media so we explored creating in that style, too:

 The workshop was only two days and would benefit from being a 3-5 day course where we could make the samplers at a more leisurely pace and then move on to personal projects.

 Some students just focused on the samplers but a few applied these techniques to garments that they brought into class and the results were creative, fun, whimsical and unexpected.

I'm hoping to teach this workshop again so look out for it in the new year!

Summer 18 - Teaching Wrap Up - Mendocino - Ashland - France

Such a long overdue post - but I just can't let my summer adventures go undocumented.

 

I began my summer teaching adventure with a road trip to teach at the Mendocino Art Center where the surrounding natural beauty is almost too much to take in. I was completely enamored of the ocean's color, and the water towers that were scattered throughout the town.

 

While there I taught my Boro Aesthetic workshop (I taught the class as a 5-day workshop last summer at Arrowmont and will be returning there again next summer)where we look at the lines, shapes and textures achieved in Japanese boro textiles, make samplers to learn the language, and then apply those aesthetics to personal art projects. These are the samplers, in progress:

 

This was a three day workshop and students all created impressive finished projects.

 

On the road to Ashland, OR: Mount Shasta

Next, I taught at the Ashland Art Center in Ashland, Oregon. Sometimes I get so caught up in teaching that I don't take pictures - this was one of those times. But, I taught the Boro Books and Boro Bags Workshops and you can see examples of projects for those classes here, here, here and here. And, these are some of the yummy samples I brought for inspiration:

I drove home through some beautiful scenery...

...spent a week at home unpacking and re-packing and then I was off to France to join up with the French General Getaway!

After a night and two packed days in Paris I took a train to the south and met up with the wonderful group at this gorgeous chateau.

 with this gorgeous studio to teach out of:

with a view like this:

I taught the group about Japanese boro textiles and then guided then through the Boro Bags workshop over the course of two afternoons and a morning session so that we could go at a nice gentle pace. 

 The week was full of visits to numerous brocantes, villages, markets, and included lots of wine and cheese!

We visited Albi:

Saint Antonin:

  

and Cordes-sur-Ciel:
 

What an experience - each town was right out of a story book.

I also found great inspiration in the mending techniques I discovered on grain sacks and old linen sheets:

 
and I got to play along with Denise Lambert who came to the chateau on our last day and taught us about the history of woad dye (often referred to as the European indigo) and allowed us to dye our fabric and garments in her woad vats:

A fabulous week with a wonderful group of people.

Oh, France, I hope to return soon.

As always, I post way more pictures on Instagram so please follow me there if you'd like: my instagram account. 


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Upcoming this Fall are only two workshops and they are both full! But it never hurts to get yourself on the waitlist - you never know.

 Here is the information about my two Fall 2018 workshops:

Boro Bags at French General - September 9th

Japanese Mending at A Verb for Keeping Warm - September 29th

The best way to get information about my workshops before they fill is to check the Workshops page on this blog, follow me on Instagram and/or like my Wishi Washi Studio page on Facebook.

Thanks for following along!