It’s hard to say goodbye to this September. Warm and sunny weather throughout, lots of weaving happening in the studio, and many visitors, including quite a number of Sievers Alumni. (Did you know we keep a calendar in the office to write down those who aren’t here for class, but stop in while on the Island? In the last 10 days, we’ve recorded 18 names. How fun!) We continued weaving in September, first with Betty Glynn Carlson and her Navajo Weaving Techniques class. Several students were new to weaving in general, or to Navajo weaving, and a few returned with either a work in progress from a previous class or worked on a piece which needed the last few rows […]
2024 Sievers Preview
February 1st will be here in only three weeks! That day, all of our 2024 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 2024 brochure is the handweaving of Judith Yamamoto. Judie first came to Sievers as a student in Mary Sue Fenner’s 1981 Basic Weaving class and the following year, she offered a class in knitting. Since then, she’s gone on to offer another 100 classes at Sievers and has been a student here 35 times. Thank you, Judie, for being part of Sievers for […]
From summer to fall with weaving and woodcarving
Two classes bridged the gap from summer to fall last week. To begin with, what a pleasure it was to watch new weavers create a finished piece, placing thread by thread through the loom. In our last Beginning Weaving on a Floor Loom class of 2023, taught by Nancy Adams and her assistant, Susan Johnson, some students went beyond the expected by weaving as many as three projects, including table runners and scarves. So many lovely choices, suitable for beginners, were on display for students to choose from. The looms were in motion from the very start. And so were the instructors! There’s an extra level of patience and helpfulness in all of our beginning weaving teachers. Nancy and Susan […]
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, […]
Fall is for weaving
Coinciding with the first days of fall were two weaving classes, Beyond Beginning Weaving with Susan Frame and following that, Beginning Weaving with Nancy Adams and assistant instructor, Susan Johnson. What better time than fall to add to your weaving repertoire or to learn something new? (Actually, any time is good, but fall does have that special “time to start a project” feel.) In the Beyond Beginning class, students had a choice of projects, suitable for the shorter, four-day time frame. Susan wove and brought several examples including doubleweave blankets, scarves and samplers. Not only was it time to start fall weaving projects, it was time to finish them, too, as one scarf was woven and off the loom on […]
Blue leads the way
Blue led the way during the week of June 14-21, starting with Anne Landre’s Shibori & Indigo Dyeing class. Using the Japanese technique of resist-dyeing with the option of several indigo vats in a range of light, medium and dark intensities, students stitched, clamped or folded cotton, silk and linen fabrics and then dyed them for predicted (and surprising) results. The blue sky each day of class seemed to be reflected directly into the fabrics. As Anne says, “Jump into the blue!” Besides blue, all colors were incorporated in the scarves, table runners and twill samplers in Susan Frame’s Beginning Weaving class. Of the eight students, seven were new to Sievers and one had taken just one class previously, Basic […]
Two by twos
Weaving two by twos refers to the foundation of weaving pairs at the start (and end) of a Navajo textile, which is characterized as a child taking their first steps. With our most recent weaving classes, Navajo Weaving with Betty Glynn Carlson and Beginning Weaving with Nancy Adams and Susan Johnson as her assistant, weavers took those first steps and beyond. Using authentic Navajo patterns and wool yarns, students new to Navajo weaving worked on a small piece while those who had works in progress or wanted to explore techniques they had not tried before had the opportunity to do so with Betty’s guidance. Warping the loom as well as weaving isn’t (or shouldn’t be) measured in hours, but in […]
Learning and making
Learning something new and making by hand is an exciting adventure. That being said, we’ve been fortunate to witness a lot of good adventures this year, including those in our August classes. Lynn Stracka Schuster guided several new basketmakers in her recent Covered Coiling Basket class. When travelling down a new path of learning, it’s good to have an experienced guide, and Lynn is that and more. This is her 40th year of teaching at Sievers. Lynn likes to tell the story of finding a notice about Sievers while studying art in college and realizing it was in Door County, a family vacation spot. A short time later, after graduating, she paid Walter Schutz a visit and he said that […]
