It’s hard to pick a favorite season of the year, but fall seems to edge the others out. Maybe because it never lasts long enough. Maybe it’s the intensity of colors combined with the desire to take in as much beauty as we can, before the leaves are gone that makes it so special. In a comment from a previous Sievers blog post, Barbara S. wrote, “I have always loved the fall season on the Island, with its cool, crisp breezes, smell of woodsmoke in the evening, days with bright sunshine filtering through the glorious, vibrant colors of the changing leaves, walks on Schoolhouse Beach wrapped in sweaters and scarves of soft, fragrant wool; caramel apples and bread baked in […]
Wrapping up with willow
After our last class ended, we began to look forward to one more highlight of the season! An event coordinated by Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke Lee, Willow Connection 2023 brought together a group of willow basketmakers and enthusiasts from all parts of the country for four days of willow harvesting, basketmaking and sharing. The group harvested the entire Sievers willow patch in one morning, which ended up being the one time it didn’t rain during the time they were here! The fresh cut willow, along with other materials brought by the participants, was used for making baskets and sculptural pieces. Wrapping our season up with willow added more wonderful memories to the ones we already made in 2023! We’re also […]
Pop-up and pop in
We’ve got one more pop-up shop to share with you before our regular hours for the Sievers Shop end on Friday, November 3. On that day, November 3, we are holding an Open House for Cindra’s retirement from 1-3 pm in the Sievers Shop. Although Cindy won’t officially retire until December 31, we want all our Sievers and Island friends to have the opportunity to honor her 37 years of working here. Please join us if you can! Afterwards, all the handmade items in the shop will be returned to the artists, our wonderful students and teachers who share and sell their work here. We’ll still be in the office from Monday-Friday, so if you have a need for yarn […]
Weaving – Scandinavian style
Classic (and classy), with clean lines and simple designs that are visually pleasing, is what comes to mind when describing the handwovens in Connie Westbrook’s Simply Scandinavian class. Connie brings so many of her own beautifully woven pieces as samples of projects suitable for the students. We’re sure choosing just one or two to weave is not an easy decision to make! Some very fine threads go into these woven treasures, used for special occasions or everyday. We remember one of our weaving instructors saying that handwovens are meant to be used on a regular basis. Only when they’re part of the collective memory of family and friends over time, are they considered heirlooms. This is true of any work […]
A trio of classes
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 […]
Sharing Sievers and Washington Island
Sievers and Washington Island have recently been mentioned in several media formats, starting with this book, Small-Town Wisconsin. The book covers towns and villiages with populations of under 5,000 and twenty of the fifty places featured have a population of under 1,000. In the introduction, the author writes, “This book features fifty examples of destinations with something significant in their character that defines and enriches their location.” We were pleasantly surprised to see Sievers as the featured story for the piece about Washington Island. The 195-page book has lots of interesting stories and many color photos. We have this book for sale in our shop at $27.95. If you would like a copy, please use our Contact Us page to […]
Ways of weaving
There are many ways of weaving and many types of looms. Last week in one class, upright frame looms were used to teach the ways of Navajo weaving, and in another class, students learned the basics of weaving on a table loom. Although geared for beginners, each class could be used as a refresher, too. In the Navajo Weaving Techniques class taught by Betty Glynn Carlson, the looms are warped with one continuous warp and authentic Navajo wool yarns are used to create the designs. There are no mechanical parts involved in Navajo weaving, it’s just the wool placed in the warp and tamped down with a comb-type beater in the hands of the weaver. Betty has offered Navajo weaving […]
One, two, three…it’s August: Part 2
You can never have enough of a good thing! In Stephanie Robertson’s fabric dyeing and printing class, all available resources are used to create art on cloth. Screen printing, rust and ice dyeing, direct painting, mono-printing, photo emulsion…all that and more are part of the fabric journey taken by students during the week. Realizing there were 45 photos of people, processes and works in progress from this year’s class, it made sense to create one post to show as many as we could! You’ll see most of the techniques featured in the fabrics and garments below. How did the fabric, shown above on the right, come to be? By a process similar to the photo below, on the left, with […]
