Sunday, April 22, 2012

Workshop at Teahouse Studio

 I traveled down to Berkeley, California recently to experience a two-day workshop at the Teahouse Studio,
 which is the workplace of artist, and gracious host, Mati Rose McDonough.


 The star of the workshop titled "Layers of Lines, Layers of Meaning: Thick Embroidery" was our instructor, Rebecca Ringquist, who is a wonderful fiber artist from Brooklyn, New York.
 Rebecca shared with us her techniques for creating richly layered, embroidered pieces.  These are some examples of her beautiful stitched art.

 Rebecca, on the left, checks out the work of her students on the sunny patio outside the studio, where we also gathered for delicious catered lunches.

 One of my classmates, Penny, had a clever way of organizing and storing her threads...wrapped around photographic slides in a carrier.

 One of the exercises in the workshop was to do some timed embroidery sketches...I was Penny's subject for one of her pieces. :o)

 Here's a portrait of our class group, from left; Mary, Jessica, Rebecca, Penny, Leah, and myself.

Below is a sampler I made in class, using hand and machine embroidered sketches on sheer fabric and linen, and applique.  I came away from the workshop with new embroidery techniques and a load of inspiration!