December is a month for preparations, including the Sievers schedule of classes. Before we know it, February 1, 2019 and registration week will be here. Our full schedule is not completely set, but it will be soon. Many of the instructors who have been teaching at Sievers will be returning in 2019. Retiring from teaching are Carol Anderson, Ruth Manning and Thom Scott. Carol began teaching at Sievers in 1995 and has led knitting classes each year since, most recently the popular Knitting on Location. Ruth taught Landscape Tapestry Weaving classes in 2015 and 2017 and Thom was the co-instructor of Batik since 2015, having first been a student in that class in 2010. We thank them for sharing their […]
Seasons
In more ways than one, we are transitioning between seasons. The golds and yellows of early fall… …quickly turned into the browns and bare branches of late fall… …and as of today, turned even more quickly into a winter scene. Seeing the photos above, it is hard to believe only 14 days ago our last class of 2018 concluded! Now, the Sievers Shop items are being returned to the artists and we’ll soon begin to work on the 2019 schedule, marking our official 40th anniversary of Sievers School. This season, we offered 37 classes taught by 31 instructors. The total number of students was 364 and 82% of those enrolled had been here previously. […]
Roll out the Rag Rugs
New fabrics, recycled fabrics, men’s ties, new sheets and old sheets whether plaid, plain or patterned all found their way into works of art for floors and walls in Deb Sharpee’s Rag Rug Weaving class, our last class of the 2018 season. Most people wove at least two rugs or a combination of rugs, runners or place mats. Laughter and conversation within the class provided some of the fuel that kept the weavers weaving, not to mention the few well-placed jokes in Deb’s handout. According to Deb, the nutshell view of this class is: Design…Arithmetic…Prep…Weave…Finish! This class has been “the closer” for the past few years and it’s a perfect and cozy way to take us from […]
The Sievers Gathering
We want to share some images from the Sievers Gathering with you, held September 27-29. Starting with two workshops on Thursday afternoon all the way through the “wine-down” on Saturday evening, it was a fun, fiber-filled weekend! In the Bead Embroidery/Kumihimo workshop taught by Francie Broadie, students added bead embroidery around a cabochon and finished their pendant with a kumihimo braid. Geri Rock’s students completed two splint-woven baskets in the day-and-a-half Beginning Basketry workshop. Saturday’s events began with the ever-popular fiber arts garage sale. Thank you to everyone who donated and helped organize all the many items. The garage sale brought in just under $3,600! Some of the proceeds from the garage sale will be shared with the W.I. Rec Center, Trinity Lutheran […]
Another Gathering Update
We are just a few days away from the 19th Sievers Gathering! Tomorrow we’ll begin our two Gathering Workshops and are looking forward to seeing all of you who plan to attend any of our events. Some of what’s been added to the Gathering weekend since the last update include a silent auction of baskets made by Jeanette Biederman and Rich Prange in the vendor area on Saturday. Joining the demos/show & tell in the Walter Studio on Saturday afternoon will be Cindy Steinke and Ginnie Killough with their handmade, tailored garments. Both Cindy and Ginnie have been long-time students at Sievers and just finished the Garment Construction class with Daryl Lancaster. They’ve brought a beautiful array of their finished pieces. Diane […]
Sievers Gathering Update
It’s getting closer to Sievers Gathering time! The weekend begins with our workshops, Bead Embroidery Basics with a Side of Weaving offered by Francie Broadie and Beginning Splint-Woven Basketry with Geri Rock. The workshops will run Thursday, September 27 at 2pm until Friday, September 28 at 4pm. Some of our updates since the last posting in July: Our Friday evening social time with cookies and refreshments will be held in the Walter Studio from 5 pm to 8 pm. Some of the Sievers history and photos will be on display there. The Sievers Shop will be open until 8 pm as well. Judie Yamamoto will be demonstrating Japanese Temari on Saturday afternoon. Two additional vendors have been added: Island Edibles and […]
Without Boundaries
After learning the basics, there’s no boundaries to what you can create. Experimenting builds new opportunities and that was definitely part of our last two classes. We start by continuing with a few more fabrics; direct painted, dyed, printed and screened from Stephanie Robertson’s Making Your Mark class. A family tree branched out on one piece, and after preparing the first stage of this mountain scene, it was definitely time to sit back and admire it with feet up! An idea proposed by one of Stephanie’s students and carried out in class this year was to hand-dye cotton that could be used in the Washington Island-made Quilts of Valor. Each student participated to create this array of fabrics for these meaningful quilts. […]
The Sievers Gathering – September 27, 28 & 29, 2018
The Sievers Gathering is set for September 27-29! This is a great way to keep in touch with each other, meet Sievers instructors and it’s also an opportunity to return to Washington Island and share of sample of what happens at Sievers School with a friend. All visitors are welcome and all events are open to the public. Here’s what’s waiting for you… Workshops – Two workshops are scheduled during the Gathering. These one and one-half day sessions begin on Thursday, September 27 at 2 pm and end on Friday, September 28 at 4 pm. They are: Bead Embroidery Basics with a Side of Weaving taught by Francie Broadie and Beginning Splint-Woven Basketry taught by Geri Rock. There are limited […]
