Experience the art of relief block carving and repeat pattern printing on fabric. Demonstrations and exercises teach students how to create, transfer, and carve designs onto soft rubber blocks and print on fabric using high quality, water-based Textile Pigments. Explorations in registration and color overlays will create multi-layered hand printed fabrics unique to each student. Carving is done with a basic set of inexpensive tools that last a lifetime. Textile pigments are permanent once heat set and the perfect medium for creative printing on fabric. take home your hand-carved blocks and printing skills for continued use.

Wet cyanotype is a form of sun printing that becomes highly experimental with the addition of kitchen chemistry. Begin by coating papers in a dark room and leaving them to dry. Then arrange compositions with a focus on natural forms, both brought and foraged. Discuss the basics of traditional cyanotype, explore how to intervene with wet techniques to create a variety of spontaneous effects, and learn about bleaching, toning, and layering. The beauty of this process is in its unpredictability and accessibility. All levels welcome.

New 2024/2025 Studio Workshop Registrations OPEN 4/15 12:01 am

Early Bird Registration through 4/16 11:59 pm

Instructor: Suzanne Connors

Eco Printing is a process of using plants to dye and print on fiber through contact printing methods. Botanical Printing is the additional of using natural dyes for added color.

During our workshop’s; participants will explore the alchemy of water, plant materials, heat, and metal and finish the class with beautiful prints on natural fiber fabrics.

In these workshop's we will be creating samples and experimenting with different fibers. We will be using natural plant materials gathered near my Florida home or brought with you from your garden. I will show you processes that have worked well for me and the equipment and bundling techniques that are used.

Be prepared for the wonderful smells that can only come from eucalyptus, and other natural leaves and be open to the magic

The 3-Day workshop will cover:

• THE MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR ECO-PRINTING

• FABRIC SELECTIONS & PREP (PLEASE PRE SCOUR FABRICS PRIOR TO CLASS)

• CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLANTS FOR DYEING AND UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE TANNIN PLAYS

• UNDERSTANDING THE PRINT PROCESS ON BOTH PROTEIN & CELLULOSE FIBERS

• MORDANTING COTTON & LINEN FIBERS: we will discuss methods of mordanting cellulose fabrics and mordant all fabrics on day 1

• DIFFERENT METHODS OF PREPARING THE LEAVES FOR CONTACT PRINTING

• DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES FOR LAYING OUT YOUR LEAVES

• METHODS OF ROLLING, TYING AND COOKING BUNDLES

• BUNDLING OVER SIZED FIBER AND CLOTHING

• USING DYE BLANKETS TO GET BACKGROUND COLOR

• INDIGO AND ECO PRINT

Class Time: 9:00 am-4:00pm

Start with a layered textured background, then embellish nine small vases with hand-dyed indigo fabrics, threads and beads.

This small wall quilt features a soft neutral, hand-dyed wool background with nine small vases filled with flowers.

For homework you will prepare a layered and textured background.in class we will embellish the small vases incorporating hand-dyed indigo fabrics, threads and beads. We will then fill each vase with textural stems and leaves. Then using my newest techniques we will create dimensional flowers using many different techniques.

This workshop explores all of the exciting ways in which Instant Indigo can be combined with encaustic. Instant Indigo is a pre-reduced indigo crystal and can be used as a vat dye on fabric as well as a painting medium on both paper and fabric. Instant indigo is unique, very versatile and can create interesting collage material that can be embedded into your encaustic layers. What is most exciting is that it can be painted directly on top of the encaustic surface, which allows for the painting of thin lines with tiny brushes, applying layers of lines or thin pools of translucent indigo color. The rich indigo color is unmistakable in that there really is nothing else like it’s clear blue with a hint of green hue. The crystals can also be mixed with a variety of media other than water, such as soy milk,

orange juice and ink, to enrich the color and/or reduce the beading of the media on the encaustic surface.

Collage, mark-making, rust printing on paper and fabric and the combination of other natural materials such as horse hair and pyrography in combination with indigo and encaustic is also explored.

Deconstructing Nature

With nature as your muse, explore a different facet of screen-printing on fabric; the unpredictable, the intuitive, the “happy accident”

Let Nature be your muse as you embrace and trust the unexpected and unpredictable. Explore line, texture and form via fiber reactive dyes and easily removable screen stencils such as wax and paper, deconstructed screen-printing, polychromatic printing, direct dye application and more.

In this workshop, we will use the screen in an intuitive, experimental way as well as in a stencil based, more traditional way.

Expect to come away with personal rather than technique based forms of expression. Eco printed fabrics and papers as well as plain cellulose and silks are appropriate.

A box is a wonderful container but it is so much more in the hands of an artist. It provides many surfaces for embellishment, collage, stitching and story-telling. It also lends itself to many sculptural possibilities.

Learn several surface design techniques, collaging and stitching as well as how to make reusable patterns and to work with different papers.

We will make a Japanese-inspired triangle bag that can fold flat and learn how it can also be the basis for other sculptural box form.

PATTERNING THE PATTERN

Pattern is an essential key to our work as we continue to explore the process of developing surface design while deepening our understanding of the elements and principles of art that go into our textile work. Perhaps we have discovered the essence in a piece we’ve created yet wish to develop further. Do we envision this on the body, in the home or as an installation? 

In this workshop, we will continue our textile mind- bodypractices through focused work with brush, paper and scissors to explore size, scale, repetition, rhythm and balance. There will be particular emphasis on deconstructing and/or layering a patterned cloth that we’ve already created. We will investigate placement of shapes, pattern repetition or changing the pattern of our surface design with added hand or machine stitching. 

Through creative patternmaking, we may also choose to develop a garment design pattern for our textile, perhaps by altering a historical shape such as the kimono to fit our body. Always paying attention to both the inside and outside, there will be demonstrations of seam construction and finishing techniques.

Depending on the complexity of your design, a fully finished piece may not be fully realized during the course of the workshop, though working in a community will facilitate our textile piece moving into the world.

A brief movement qigong/meditation practice will begin each day to encourage presence and awareness. By paying attention to not just the form we are creating, but also to our own form as we create, we encourage mindbody connection to deepen our studio practice and discover relationships and connections to inform our own evolution. 

*Process + Awareness + Connection workshop is a recommended prerequisite, but not required. 

Process is a key component of exploration, discovery and creation within the arts. How do we listen to where the materials want to go, while at the same time, guide with what we already know and are discovering in our practice? 

In this workshop, we will begin our exploration with exercisesusing brush, paper and scissors towards a vision of two-dimensional or three-dimensional work on cloth. We will then work with natural fibers, dyes (both natural and man-made) and fabric manipulation techniques found in the soft blurry edges of Shibori or the defined edges seen in textile printing or Katazome. Through exploration of the elements of art such as line, shape, color and texture, in this surface design, we mayfind a visual language to express our current experience and further this work through additive or subtractive techniques such as deconstructing, piecing, seaming and/or layering.

Dyeing and fabric manipulation techniques will be demonstrated throughout the workshop which will be appropriate for beginner to advanced. The flexible structure of the workshop will also allow for some independent exploration so that each individual will realize their own unique textile through learning and sharing in community. Generally, small samples of the varying techniques will be made which may be incorporated into a larger piece. 

A brief movement qigong/meditation practice will begin each day to encourage presence and awareness. By paying attention to not just the form we are creating, but also to our own form as we create, we encourage mindbody connection to deepen our studio practice and discover relationships and connections to inform our own evolution. 

Joomchi is a unique Korean traditional way of making textured handmade paper by using water, and eager hands. The terminology originated from the meaning, “making a Joomoney (Pouch)”. Record says that the Koreans started making Joomchi in Goryeo Dynasty, A.D.918 – 1392.. There are a few remaining Korean treasures made with this technique: purses, folding pouch, outfit for rain, etc. Joomchi creates strong, textural and painterly surfaces by layering and agitating Hanji (Korean mulberry papers), not easy to rip/tear and creates elegant looking surface: As time goes, the surface becomes more and more elegant and aged looking, surfaces sometimes look like leather.

This class offers students the opportunity to become acquainted with its history, usage and role in Korean society, as well as the hands-on techniques and reinterpreted adaptations into contemporary art form.

Joomchi’s usages are diverse and it can be incorporated into surface design, collage, new way of drawing, one-of-a-kind book art, wearable, unconventional body ornament or sculptural object: 2-D & 3D either functional or fine art oriented works. The possibilities are endless!

Learn the spirit and skills of sashiko stitching from the authentic sashiko artist, Atsushi Futatsuya!

Sashiko is the traditional Japanese art of decorative mending stitches. In this 3-day workshop, you will learn about the art and history of Sashiko, how to use a long needle and make beautiful stitches, and how to find joy in stitching. You will learn how to transfer patterns to fabric and we will discuss ideas for future projects and how to use sashiko as part of a mindful mending practice. This is a unique opportunity to learn authentic Sashiko stitching from a traditional master, Atsushi Futatsuya, a third-generation Sashiko artist. You will be learning directly from his traditional family wisdom and years of experience as a Sashiko educator. Following a lecture and demonstration by Atsushi, students will practice this meditative art and advance their Sashiko skills with lots of hands-on guidance.

Explore some of the many ways to add color, pattern, texture, and visual interest to your fiber art with beads in this new workshop. Students bring an unembellished art quilt, garment, or piece(s) of art cloth to class along with a selection of beads and buttons and an eagerness to experiment. We'll address design, composition, secure stitching with a variety of bead embroidery stitches, and the amazing array of beads available today.