When “happiness is in your hands”, it shines through in the finished work, just like the baskets made in class with Jeanette Biederman and the bluebirds from Jerry Landwehr’s Carving Songbirds class. The week was filled with patterns, colors and a multitude of baskets just like previous Independent Study classes! A number of students focused on trays with many complex designs seen in the studio. We like to think the happiness generated in class was tucked inside all these baskets before they went home! Using basswood or butternut and starting from a rough-cut form, the carving students brought their bluebirds to life in just two days time. If “happiness is in your hands” could these be […]
Three classes and one message
We’ve had the joy of seeing all the students and their wonderful work in Marbling on Paper and Fabric with Nancy Akerly, Beginning Weaving with Nancy Adams and Susan Johnson and Independent Study: Splint-Woven Basketry with Jeanette Biederman all within this past week! Looking back, it was 1999 when we last held a class in marbling. After 19 years, new were so many detailed designs. The options of printing on paper (from plain to pages from books, sheet music, maps and more) or fabric gave great options for students. This was the first time marbling has been held in the Walter Studio as 19 years ago, it was about a month away from being finished. As you can imagine, we could share dozens of photos from each […]
Fiber eclipse
Although we witnessed a darkening of the sky (some of it due to general cloud cover and a small rain shower) during the total eclipse on August 21, it turned out that these crescent shadows were our most visible evidence of the event at Sievers. With one of the definitions for eclipse or eclipsing being “to surpass; outshine”, we felt that for us, the classes held that week joined our other 37 classes in their own “fiber eclipse”. Watching the baskets in Jeanette Biederman’s Independent Study Splint-Woven Basketry class come together is always inspiring. Sunrise to sundown, busy hands were weaving colorful patterns. Luckily, there’s no need to hide your eyes from this kind of eclipse! Not to be outshone, students in Daniel Essig’s two classes, Tools of the Trade […]
Fiber in common
Do baskets, barks and mittens have anything in common? Yes, especially when they’ve been the focus of recent classes at Sievers School of Fiber Arts! Stacks of baskets were created in Jeanette Biederman’s Splint-Woven Basketry: Independent Study class, with some completely finished and some ready for the final touches at home. Next year, the plan is to take a photo that includes all the baskets made during the week. Might need to stand over by the barn to fit them all in the camera lens! Instead of a stack of baskets, how about class time spent on one perfect Winnebago Picnic Basket? Even Schoolhouse Beach may not be ready for this beauty! Learning the techniques of making Latvian mittens followed by a separate class on Latvian Mitten Design with Sandy […]
Weaving Patterns
There were a number of comments this past week from Rita Hagenbruch’s Overshot Odyssey class and Jeanette Biederman’s Choctaw Diagonal Basketry students how the woven patterns in each seemed to mirror each other. Starting with one plain length of reed or cotton, the intricate designs of each were built row by row. Most overshot is woven with a light-colored warp, but this blue on grey turned out splendidly! Basketry may look dangerous, but it’s not. (Until you get hooked on making them.) It’s good that digital cameras have no film…you can take as many photos as you wish of the beautiful weaving patterns in baskets and handwovens! We’re already on to our next classes with introductions held this afternoon for […]
Patterns, Part One
Patterns in basket designs and in Fair Isle designs have surrounded us this past week. Jeanette Biederman’s Splint-Woven Basketry: Independent Study class worked on baskets of all shapes, sizes and colors. The students in Sandy De Master and Mary Germain’s Fair Isle Techniques class had a choice of two colorways to make a teddy bear sweater, the small size allowed it to be completed in class. The little sweaters incorporated corrugated ribbing, two-color knitting, armhole and neck steeks and finishing. Many teddy bears, a sheep and a sock monkey came along to class for their “fittings”. New and continuing friendships were an important part of these past few days, a “pattern” that’s repeated in many classes at Sievers. […]
Terrific Towels and Twills
Yes, the towels and twills were terrific, but more importantly this past week was terrific, led by instructors Connie Westbrook and Jeanette Biederman. Many of Connie’s students chose handwoven towel projects based on samples she brought to class. Students in the Twill Basketry class also had many choices for patterns and colors, inspired by Jeanette’s work. It was a week of terrific students having a terrific time making terrific towels and twill baskets!
What’s important
With books and with baskets, generally it’s what’s held inside that may seem the most important feature. This week at Sievers, both the inside and outside are equally important. Daniel Essig taught two classes in book arts, Reliquary: Window and Niche and Greek & Centipede Stitch Book. At the same time, Jeanette Biederman’s Splint-Woven Basketry class has been in session. Treasures used in the making of these books represent family, Island and Sievers memories and no doubt, similar memories are woven into all the baskets this year and in so many past years during “basket week”. While class was in session, Ann Young and Connie Westbrook awarded a Quilt of Valor they had made to one of the students in the basketry class. Penny Newton, Air […]
