When the schedule is set for the season, we immediately begin to wait (with great anticipation) for the classes to begin and to see all of you! That certainly applies to the Batik Alumni Week, led by Mary Jo Scandin. Mary Jo first taught Batik here in August 1982. The last line of her biography in the Sievers brochure that year read, “Her work and products are outstanding and her students learn so much.” These words were added the following year, “Her enthusiasm about the art makes learning the batik process a delight.” How time flies! Here we are forty years later having the great pleasure of so many batik classes either taught or co-taught by Mary Jo, who now […]
The latest four
In the past four classes, four separate fiber arts were represented in the Sievers studios. Those four were: surface design (Batik Alumni Studio), weaving (Beyond Beginning: Weaving with Nancy Adams), stitchery (Japanese Temari Techniques with Judith Yamamoto and Kathy Broer) and basketry (Splint-Woven Basketry: Independent Study with Jeanette Biederman). The Batik Alumni Studio was a way for previous batik students at Sievers to return and work outside the formal class structure to share ideas, get feedback from each other and design/wax/dye…repeat. Mary Jo Scandin, who taught Batik classes here for many (wonderful) years, came as part of the Alumni group. Reviewing the warping and weaving process and choosing projects appropriate for next-step weavers was the focus of the Beyond Beginning: […]
Batik & Beyond
It was 1982 when Mary Jo Scandin first came to Sievers and offered a class in Batik and Direct Dye Painting. Every year since then we have delighted in the return of “batik week”. Some of the students in this most recent class first came for batik in the mid-1980’s! What a wonderful journey it’s been together. Mary Jo’s piece, “Nighttime on a Hill” appeared on our brochure cover last year. Now, thanks to her, it is part of our permanent collection, a gift for all who walk through the doors of Sievers. Batik is a multi-step process and there are both active times dyeing and rinsing and quiet, meditative times drawing, waxing and ironing. The results are beautiful. Pam […]
A Washington Island week
We’re taking this opportunity to share Washington Island with you sending along some end-of-June scenes and happenings. We hear over and over again that time spent on Washington Island is an important part of the experience when attending a class at Sievers. So, here are some recent north, east, west, south and in-between scenes. After taking in the views, for those who are on Washington Island this week, there are a number of events on the calendar. On Saturday night Cindra performed “If Once You Have Slept on an Island” with our friend Dan Hansen at the TPAC in Julian Hagen’s Washington Island Musical History program. This week is the Wisconsin Council of Churches Forum, the annual Grilled Whitefish Dinner […]
Summertime
For us, Batik with Mary Jo Scandin and Thom Scott together with their students means summertime! Like all of our classes, it’s one we look forward to long in advance and then while here, the time goes by too fast. So much is accomplished in those five or seven days. In some cases, clothing is brought to class, ready to wax and dye. Other projects are created from start to finish in the studio. A design challenge is part of the week, too, as is the delicious smell of beeswax and freshly ground gourmet coffee! A puzzle, perhaps, to read this in reverse, but the message is worth the effort. I think it’s fair to say the subject was found this week in the Batik studio. A mix of […]
Two weeks…three classes
There have been great things to share with you from the three classes that took place through the end of June, Batik with Mary Jo Scandin and Thom Scott, One-of-a-Kind Jacket with Mary Sue Fenner and Knitting on Location with Carol Anderson. Taking advantage of the sun when it appeared, the batik class sometimes had to resort to “inside sunshine” to dry their pieces. Nothing could detract, however, from the artworks these talented students made or worked on during the week. The official title of this class is Batik: Ancient and Modern. We know the “ancient” doesn’t really refer to our early days, shown in a photo from a 1989 class with Mary Jo Scandin (in the aqua sweatshirt), but we wonder now, […]
Fiber friendships
We received a wonderful surprise gift from the Batik class of 2015 and instructors Mary Jo Scandin and Thom Scott after this year’s class introduction. Last year, each of the students and teachers had made a batik panel based on a color challenge that was later assembled, backed and sewn by Thom (he also did the bottom Sievers School of Fiber Arts panel). Now hanging from the beams in the Walter Studio, this is really a gift to all of Sievers – including you! Thank you batik artists for the banner and for your friendship! [intense_row padding_top=”0px”] [intense_column size=”6″ medium_size=”6″ small_size=”12″ extra_small_size=”12″] [/intense_column][intense_column size=”6″ medium_size=”6″ small_size=”12″ extra_small_size=”12″] [/intense_column][intense_row] The buckets were brimming and the wax pots were in use for the next seven […]
Weeks go by too quickly
How can seven days go by so quickly? It seems as if Mary Jo Scandin and Thom Scott’s class of batik students just arrived and now the certificates have been handed out and the fragrant beeswax is missing from the Walter Studio. Wonderful work was seen during these past days, including some of what you see here, starting with a view of one piece before, during and after. The television program Discover Wisconsin was on Washington Island this week filming at several locations including Sievers. Video was taken in the batik class as well as in Judie Yamamoto’s Polymer Clay class. They expect to air this Washington Island version on February 20 or 21. One last view […]
