“Fabric and Form: Vessels” Workshop
Shown above: New Zealand Quilt Symposium 2017 “Creative Construction” 5-10 October, 2017 in Christchurch, New Zealand. I taught the “Fabric and Form: 3 D Vessels” and “Fabric and Form: Pop Up Quilts” workshops. Workshop Description: Old and new, familiar and innovative, building on the past and exploring the unknown – these are the successful themes that form the approach of our workshop. In this workshop we put old, familiar skills to use in creating new and unique art forms. We will learn about using fabric to make vessels or “textile sculptures”, then design and construct our own new vessels using a simple, systematic process that allows for a great range of invention. 2-3 days, max class size 20 Outline: Class members will design and create a 3 dimensional vessel or form, using my step-by-step process. 1. Introduction to 3 D fabric structures, examples and inspirations, discussion of 3 D design elements, symmetry/asymmetry, opportunities and limitations presented by fabric medium. 2. Design work: sketching the form, creating a template on paper, planning the construction sequence 3. Constructing the panels, embellishment and “polishing the pieces” 4. Assembling the form, putting the pieces together, wiring technique 5. Finishing touches: Creating the base, labeling, final embellishment 6. “Accessorizing”: storage/carrying box, photography tips “Fabric and Form: Pop Ups” Workshop Workshop Description: Remember those favorite pop-up books you loved as a kid? In this workshop we learn to create pop ups with 2 dimensional quilted surfaces in a book page format. We will learn about 3- 4 basic pop up designs and how to “translate” them in quilted pages. 3-4 days, max class size 15 Outline: Class members will design and create a pop up page using my step-by-step process. 1. Introduction to basic pop up techniques with examples and inspirations 2. Design work: creating templates from paper, planning the construction sequence 3. Constructing the elements of the page, embellishment and “polishing the pieces” 4. Assembling the page, placing the elements on the page, testing, and adjusting 5. Finishing touches: covering the backs of pages, labeling, final embellishment 6. Planning more pages for a book, storage/carrying case, photography tips “Fabric and Form” Presentation(45 minute – 2 hours as requested) Fabric and Form is a trunk show of vessels and pop up pages in quilted form with an accompanying talk and Q/A session. Old and new, familiar and innovative, building on the past and exploring the unknown – these are the successful themes I discuss. The goal is to open the audience’s perception of 1) What is 3D fiber art, 2) How is it made, and 3) Where is it going. I use many visual images and a full display of my own art as examples to show the audience these concepts. Audience members are encouraged to put on the white gloves I bring, and touch the art, hold it up, and move it around to get the full 3D experience. “Fabric Can Be Funny: The Humor in Fiber Art” Presentation(45 Minutes – 2 Hours as requested) Fabric Can Be Funny is a visual display of images and some “live” examples of how many artists have used humor in the fiber art. The talk starts with a discussion of what makes something funny and how it is shown across many media. Then we explore what properties of fiber art lend themselves to the expression of humor. The talk concludes with audience participation in a “Make’em Laugh” exercise to create a humorous twist to samples of fiber art. |