Dotti Day – Eco Printing

Long time TTAG member, Dotti Day, will share her experience and research in Eco printing and dyeing.  Eco printing can be used with paper and various fabrics.  Silk and wool are the most receptive to color but cotton and linen can also be used.

“Eco printing or eco dyeing is a contemporary application of the traditions of natural dyeing. In eco printing or dyeing, plants are enclosed in textiles or paper, bundled by winding over rods or stacked in layers and then steamed or immersed in hot water to extract the pigments and produce a print made with plant dyes.” – Threadborne

Dotti will demonstrate the various processes and the group will be able to experiment with the techniques of bundling and wrapping.  She will bring several steamed items ready to unwrap so members can see the surprises of the results.

Members who attended the November TTAG retreat are asked to bring samples of their projects.  Their materials and examples will be discussed. If other members have tried this technique, please bring your items to share.

Laura Pierce – Rug Hooking

Laura is a fourth generation rug hooker, growing up with rugs made by her mother, Emma Webber.  Laura took up the hook in 1996 when a new ATHA chapter started up in Sonoma County. Since then, six of her rugs have been selected for Rug Hooking Magazine’s Celebration of Hooked Rugs; ‘Emmy’, the little girl blowing bubbles, is her most famous.  Primarily a wide-cut artist, Laura has a broad appreciation for the Art, Folk Art and Craft of Rug Hooking.

Laura offers Rug Hooking instruction at her studio in Sonoma County, and at rug camps and workshops around the country.  She is known for teaching Portraits, Animals, Landscapes and Reflections. She blogs frequently at ‘Laura’s Loop’ www.laurawp.wordpress.com.

Dan Steves: Alternative Looms: Beauty From Beyond the Standard

As weavers, we often think of looms as either a multi-shaft table loom or a large floor loom, good for creating yardage. But there are plenty of weavers using a variety of looms, often doing more than plain weave, and creating wonderful works that are surprisingly beautiful and complex.  Dan Steves will provide a survey of these other looms – small, portable, and much more versatile than expected, showcasing works created on some of these fantastic little machines.

Annual Potluck and Planning Meeting

Our June meeting is our annual potluck gathering, and will be our last meeting for the 2015 – 2016 program year.  We will break for the summer as usual.  Our first meeting for the 2016 – 2017 program year will be September 19, 2016.  People are encouraged to bring something to pass, and to come hungry and eager to talk about program ideas for the coming year.

Charlie Kennard – California Indian Basketry Techniques and Textures

Charlie Kennard of San Anselmo is a long-time basketweaver and a student of California Indian and European techniques.  He has taught for The Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM), Pt. Reyes Field institute, East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, and in many schools and at teacher trainings.

Tule boats made in his workshops can be seen at the California Academy of Sciences, the Bay Model in Sausalito, and another is in the collection of the Oakland Museum.  You can also visit a basketry plant garden he has created at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross.  Charlie is active in native habitat restoration in Marin, managing several projects for Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed.

A list of Charlie’s workshop schedule for the summer can be downloaded by clicking here: Charlie Kennard 2016 Workshops

Ruth Anderson – Textiles in Japan

Ruth Anderson has been interested in Japanese textiles, especially tsutsugaki (paste-resist surface design) and kasuri (ikat) textiles for many years, and visited textile collections and museums in Japan several times.  She is an Advisor to the Board of the Textile Arts Council, Fine Arts Museums. Previously, as Program Chair, she organized lectures on East Asian and Southeast Asian Art. Now retired, Ruth worked at several museums in the SF Bay Area and at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC.

Last October Ruth Anderson visited textile artists in the Matsue and Izumo region of Western Honshu, Japan. Izumo was an important center for the production of tsutsugaki (freehand-drawn paste resist surface design) textiles. Today, there is only one tsutsugaki workshop left, and that has been designated a Shimane Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property.  The fourth-generation master craftsman, Mr. Nagata, is one of the few remaining traditional tsutsugaki artists in Japan.  Ruth spent time with him, observing and photographing the traditional paste-resist and indigo-dyeing processes.

Hirose kasuri, in Matsue, is one of the principal types of kasuri produced in Japan today. Ruth toured the training facility and private studio of the Director of Hirose Gasuri Center, and photographed the unusual method of transferring patterns to the weft, as well as samples of older kasuri weavings.  At Susshai-ori workshop, in the countryside of Izumo, she talked with a weaver who cultivates and spins her own brown cotton and who produces wonderful shades of indigo-dyed yarns in her traditional-style dye vats.  At the Izumo-ori workshop she met with an 88-year-old weaver who still weaves kimono fabric using a variety of materials including local bast fibers and plant dyes, indigo-dyed and brown cotton.  At the Izumo Quilt Museum she met with the artist-director who uses a variety of old kimono fabrics to create wonderful quilts in beautiful installation settings.

Ruth will present an overview of the textiles and techniques she observed, and will show a few textiles brought back from this trip.

Lisa Kokin – Stitchery

Lisa Kokin will present Sew to Speak, a 25-year survey of her work in books, fiber, found photos and sculpture. To see a preview of her work, please visit lisakokin.com.

Lisa Kokin lives and works in El Sobrante, California with her spouse Lia, three Chihuahua studio assistants and Bindi the cat. The daughter of upholsterers, Kokin stitches everything she can get her hands on, including discarded books which she rescues from the local recycling center. Kokin received her BFA and MFA from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA, and is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including a WESTAF/NEA grant and a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation. She maintains a thriving studio teaching practice, including critique groups, mentorships, workshops and classes.

Kokin’s work is in many private and public collections in the United States and abroad. She is represented by Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, CA, Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum, ID, Tayloe Piggott Gallery in Jackson, WY, Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, MA, and Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, TX.

Joanne Salz – Indigo Dyeing

Joanne Salz will present an overview of indigo dyeing with lots of examples and recourses.

She says, “I’ve done indigo dyeing periodically through my years as a weaver, but always under someone’s supervision, and hesitated to try it myself because it seemed difficult and tricky. I love the the color and magic of it though so when I tried the simple Dharma kit it was a revelation. I’ll show you how it works and tell you about other ways, from Japanese masters to local classes. I have lots of lovely books and dyed examples to share!”

Will anyone who has done indigo dyeing (and I know there are some experienced and new dyers in our group) please bring something old or new to share.  And feel free to share examples of items dyed with indigo that you have collected.

Peggy Osterkamp – Stitching

Peggy Osterkamp’s work with Yoshiko Wada about stitching has inspired her, and some of our members asked her to share her thoughts and ideas. You may remember the book with pages of stitches she showed at one of our meetings.
Peggy will bring threads, needles, needle threaders and cloth pages for members to make their own needle books during the program with their stitchings.

PLEASE BE SURE TO BRING YOUR EYE GLASSES.

Peggy will also talk about mending—as art and as a way to save your own garments. A simple and fast way to mend sweater holes and how to darn socks as well as darning as art, relaxation, and fun will be part of the program.

The program is meant to be relaxing, pleasurable and creative. The needle books you make can be taken home and used as is or added to later on your own time.

Peggy will show stitching and mending from India, Japan, books, and give lots of ideas to try and to think about. She found a handwoven table cloth from her almost-ancestors that was mended—it used to be that people mended things rather than throwing them away. It’s a great way to reuse/refresh/recycle!!

* Meeting schedule for this month only:
6:45 – Social Time
* 7:00  – Program starts with Peggy getting people started on the stitching projects
7:30 – 8:00 – Business meeting while people are stitching
8:00 – 9:00 – Finish program on stitching, mending, etc.

Carole Beadle – Fiber Sculpture

Carole Beadle has an MFA in Textile Arts from California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA.  She has received many awards, and participated in numerous juried and invitational exhibits.  Her work is also featured in numerous collections.

Artist’s Statement:
http://www.fiberdimensions.com/beadle/
Permission to express a natural order of life through visual means allows for understanding and respect to human needs, concerns and dilemmas. These works are frankly confessional, illustrating, interpreting, mirroring moments and observing the fragility of life in its on going process. With such visual connections, understanding the informed, compassionate and personal environment can reflect the global environment.