A trio of classes certainly set a lively tempo in the first two weeks of September! Kay Rashka’s Metalwork Jewelry Boot Camp, Susan Frame’s Portable Weaving: Inkle/Kumihimo and Splint-Woven Basketry with Jeanette Biederman comprised quite a medley of materials, equipment and techniques. One word comes to mind for each piece of finished work done by the students… brava! The “brass section” of this trio was definitely the Metalwork Jewelry class. By applying patterns freehand or by etching them using textured mats on various metals (copper, silver, nickel and brass), imaginative, meaningful and playful designs emerge. Then the pieces are fabricated by cutting, sawing, filing, piercing, soldering and more, to create one-of-a-kind art jewelry. Representing the “strings” was the Portable Weaving […]
Batik and willow basketry
Two of our favorite fiber art classes (along with the other 35 this year!) are batik and willow basketry. Luckily for us they were recently in session, back-to-back, in the Walter Studio. For each, their signature fragrance fills the studio, with either the warm beeswax or the sweet scent of willow and other fresh-cut botanicals. In the Introduction to Batik class taught by Anne Landre, students layered colors on cotton fabric, working with beeswax. Designs were created by drawing or tracing directly on the fabric, by using templates or by working with antique copper stamps (tjaps). Then, a repeated series of wax applications and different dye baths were repeated to achieve fabulous results. With a combination of precision and surprise, […]
Evolutions
When Sievers first offered fiber arts courses in the summer of1979, fifteen classes were scheduled. There were seven weaving, six spinning, one stitchery and one textile printing class listed in the brochure. The following year, quilting, basketry and dyeing were added. Fast forward 45 years and you’ll find those subjects (and many more) included in the 2023 list of classes. The three most recent classes show an evolution in the subjects of stitchery, basketry and weaving as compared to those very early classes at Sievers. Japanese Temari, taught by Kathy Broer and Judith Yamamoto, is an example of a stitchery class that’s evolved beyond “the basic embroidery stitches applied to a pillow or tote bag, trapunto wall hanging or stuffed, […]
It’s about the friendships
Fiber arts may be the focus of Sievers classes, but many times, it’s equally about the friendships. That’s certainly true of the Batik Alumni Studio, facilitated by Mary Jo Scandin as well as the two overlapping classes last week, Your Latest, Greatest Quilt with Ellen Graf and Independent Study in Basketry with Jeanette Biederman. In each group, long-standing friendships have been formed, with some of those Sievers-class friendships going back more than 30 years! We know from each group that several get together during the Sievers “off season”, maintaining their connection not only to their chosen fiber art, but to each other. In the batik studio, there’s an ever-changing landscape of pieces in various stages of drawing, dyeing, waxing and […]
2023 Sievers Preview
February 1st will be here in only three weeks! That day, all of our 2023 classes will be open for registration and the class descriptions, along with complete information, will be available on our website. The site will be in “maintenance mode” soon, but available again for registration on February 1. Featured on the cover of the 2023 brochure are some of the many colorful splint-woven baskets made by Jeanette Biederman. Thank you, Jeanette, for all the beautiful baskets and equally beautiful friendships you’ve made with us and your students over the past 32 years! Many of our instructors are returning in 2023 and we welcome two new teachers this year, Joyce Gitter and John Rezachek. Both Joyce and John […]
Sievers season postscript
After our last class ended on October 22, we began to look forward to the postscript of our season! An event coordinated by Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke Lee, Willow Connections 2022, brought together a group of willow basketmakers and enthusiasts for three days of willow harvesting, basketmaking and sharing. Over 20 people from all parts of the country gathered in the Walter Studio and Tomson Hall (the barn) for “all things willow”. It was a delight to see Sievers alumni and to meet many new willow friends during the (too short) retreat. As always, at the end of the season of classes, we have numbers to share. Our class registrations totaled 380, the highest since 2013. Over 78% of […]
The nature of things
The season of fall is well upon us and as always, it reflects the changes that occur in nature and in all things. However, something that hasn’t changed at Sievers during the fall for many years has been a class in making a bent willow chair with Ken and Michelle Workowski. Fall happens to be the best time to bend the heavy-duty Sandbar willow used for the arms and back of the chair due to its ability to flex in the extreme without splitting when nailed . Ken Workowski first came to Sievers as an assistant to Rich Prange for the Bent Willow Chair class held in October of 2004. With Rich’s retirement from teaching the class the following year, […]
September days are here
The first several days of September have certainly mirrored the lines from the poem by the same name, capturing the “.. summer’s best of weather, And autumn’s best of cheer.” Other bests of September have been happening in our recent classes, including Splint-Woven Basketry, Navajo Weaving and Metalwork Jewelry Boot Camp. Basketmakers used their five days in the studio to full advantage, creating baskets of all shapes, sizes, colors and patterns. Add to that the new and renewed friendships, the many offers of helping hands with each others’ baskets and simply, but most importantly, spending treasured time together. Putting most of the week’s worth of baskets in one photo makes for quite an impressive display! From preparing the Navajo loom […]
