The
Excitement is here! Check out the
amazing list of Workshop Instructors
INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES
Gail Denton has made a lifelong study of fiber
arts and natural dyes. She has a long resume of teaching venues,
publications, workshops & shows, including Convergence, Colour
Congress, Penland School of Craft, and gallery shows at The Indigo Thread,
Roshanda Gallery and Denver
Art Museum. Gail’s studio and hoe are in Longmont, Colorado.
Donna Druchunas left the corporate world some 20+ years ago to pursue
her love of fiber art, knitting and fiber history and is a popular teacher
as well as author. She is
the author of the popular Arctic
Lace and Knitted Rugs books
and her latest book, Ethnic Knitting
Discovery will be out in October.
Donna lives in Longmont,
Colorado. Her website and blog can be found at www.sheeptoshawl.com.
Faye Frei comes to us from the Pacific Northwest
with a college Art Minor and extensive teaching experience ranging from
children to adults. She is Past President of Northwest Regional
Spinners Association, a current Board Member and trained Fiber Judge.
She has won numerous awards both locally and regionally. Her Oregon Trail heritage made her an avid researcher of
antique spinning wheels.
Laura Harrawood is a feltmaker, spinner, knitter and basketmaker who
currently lives in Missouri
with her husband and several fiber animals.
She first wrote about this technique of spinning beads onto a
singles yarn for the Spring 2004 issue of Spin Off Magazine. She lives in Leslie, Missouri.
Shawn Hoeffer has always been creative and
artistic, but his knowledge of fiber arts was minimal until WF 2000, when a
wonderful group of women gathered him up and taught him how to SPIN! By the end of the festival he had several
drop spindles, fleece, an angora rabbit and a shepherd's crook. His utter obsession with fiber arts has
led him to also develop a line of wooden handcrafted fiber arts tools. He has recently moved from Colorado to Arkansas,
along with his partner, Jeanette.
Patricia Kalthoff has been
knitting and spinning since her college days. She tells people she traded in her first
car for a spinning wheel and a set of knitting tapes. She has had many designs published,
including several in Knitter’s
Magazine, and is a popular workshop instructor in Texas
and in Taos. Patricia lives in Austin, Texas.
Galina Khmeleva is owner of Skaska Designs and author of Gossamer Webs, the History and Techniques
of Orenburg
Lace Shawls, as well as its follow-up.
A former clothing and costume designer in St. Petersburg, Russia,
she is probably one of the most respected lace knitting instructors in the
country at this time. Galina lives
in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Jeanette Larson has been hooked on crochet since she was a child. Since then, her love of fiber arts has
encompassed spinning, weaving and raising fiber animals, but crochet remains
at her core. She is a former dancer,
yoga instructor and massage therapist.
She has had articles published in several magazines, including Spin Off, and has won numerous
awards. She too has moved to Arkansas from Colorado.
Merce Mitchell has been felting for 15 years
and has been a part of the Wool Festival at Taos for the past 8 years. Her felted artwork has been exhibited in
several local Taos
galleries. Merce graduated from Oberlin College
in Ohio
with a degree in Environmental Studies, Geology and Fine Art. She is self-taught in feltmaking but has
studied with Alexander Pilin. She
lives in Tres Piedras, New Mexico, with her fantastic husband
and three wonderful children.
John Pitblado’s life has been filled with
fibers and textiles, beginning with the click of his mother’s knitting
needles as he was in the womb. He has had the good fortune to
work and study with some of America’s
finest spinners and spinning teachers, including Judith MacKenzie
McCuin. He was the recipient of
the 2006 Spin Off Autumn Retreat scholarship and will chair the 2009
conference of the Association of Southern California Handweavers. He teaches spinning, dyeing and weaving
in the Los Angeles
area and is known for his patient, humorous, and informative style
Coralie Silvey Jones has had a relationship with
fibers and textiles for 35+ years, beginning with textile restoration and
collecting Navajo rugs, moving on to sheep, fleeces, spinning, dyeing, and
weaving. She teaches workshops in these fiber arts as well. She
has served and continues to serve on the MAVWA board as an officer and
festival coordinator. Coralie lives
in Taos, New Mexico.
Suzann Thompson has been knitting and
crocheting for over forty years, was quite thrilled recently, when an
editor described her designs as “fun and edgy.” Suzann packs her workshops with
information and shows lots of samples to illustrate the technques. She is
almost finished with her second book, Crocheted
Flowers, to be released by
Lark Books in spring 2008. See her work at www.textilefusion.com. Suzanne lives in Dublin, Texas.
Erika Thomenius has been teaching fiber arts and Naalbinding since 2000
to members of the Society of Creative Anachronism, both in full classes and
to individuals. She has taught both
beginning and intermediate classes in the technique at Village Wools in Albuquerque since
2004. She lives in the Albuquerque area.
Rose Vigil has an AAS in Fiber Arts and has been working in Rio Grande and
Contemporary tapestry for 18 years.
She has exhibited across the southwest and has taught workshops
across the area, including at the Taos Wool Festival, Ghost Ranch, and at
her studio in Chimayo.
Libby Wilson has a Home Economics education and
taught textiles for a number of years at schools, local yarn shops, and to
private individuals and groups, including Girls Scouts and 4-H. She also does custom knitting for a
NYC-based classical musician. Her
main interest is working in natural-colored fibers and their endless
possibilities. She is looking
forward to teaching her granddaughter the joys of natural fibers and their
many uses. She lives in Austin, Texas.
|
