Schedule

All times are in Pacific Standard Time

Friday, October 8

2:00 - 3:00PM
3:30 - 4:30PM
7:00 - 8:15PM

Mini-workshop: Creating Your Family Crest
Mini-workshop: Sashiko Stitching Techniques
Opening Speaker, Margaret Roach Wheeler, "The Legacy: A Woven Biography of Margaret Roach Wheeler

Saturday, October 9

9:00AM - 10:00AM
11:30AM - 12:30PM
2:00PM - 3:15PM

5:00PM - 6:00PM
7:00PM  - 8:15PM

Mini-workshop Check-in: Family Crest
Mini-workshop Check-in: Sashiko
Speaker, Dolores Mercado, "Mexico Narratives in Textile Art on Both Sides of the Border"
Happy Hour
Speakers, Miwako Kimura and Noriko Koyama, "Exploring Traditional Japanese Fibers and Designs in Quilting"

Sunday, October 10

10:00AM - 11:00PM
12:30PM - 1:30PM
2:00PM - 3:15PM

Mini-workshops: Show & Tell (all)
Discussion:  How Does Your Cultural Background or Environment Impact Your Art?
Closing Speaker, Torreah "Cookie" Washington, "Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now"

Fees 
Save $35-$50 with full package! Includes all four lectures, one mini-workshop of your choosing, and both free events!  
$85 Members/$100 Non-members

Individual lectures:  $25 each
Individual workshop: $35 each

Registration

Speakers

Margaret Roach Wheeler

 

The Legacy: A Woven Biography of Margaret Roach Wheeler
Friday, October 8, 7PM PST

Chickasaw textile artist/weaver Margaret Roach Wheeler has an innate belief in and commitment to the tradition and artwork of her ancestors. Trace her fiber trail from the Mississippian Culture of 900 BC, to the Chickasaw Removal to Indian Territory in the early 1800’s, to the present day tribal lands in Oklahoma. Hear her personal story and follow a history of fibers, a 1000 year journey of Native American Garments.

Margaret has become known internationally as a painter, sculptor, educator, Native historian, and award-winning weaver. From her earliest business in handwoven fashions to creative textiles to the field of fine arts, Margaret’s art and work continue today in selling original handwovens and in the national brand of Mahota Textiles, both collaborations with the Chickasaw Nation. Margaret has also received a research fellowship to study at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Her intricate textiles have exhibited works at prestigious institutions, including the Museum of Art and Design and the Museum of Contemporary Native Art (MoCNA), Oklahoma, New Mexico, New York, Colorado, Indiana, and Arizona museums.

https://www.margaretroachwheeler.com/
https://www.mahotatextiles.com/

Included with full package price: $85 members/$100 nonmembers
Purchased separately: $25

Chickasaw Hunting Jacket and Nitak hullo Nagoya (Sunday Dress) - photo by Greg Hall

Rosanne's Jacket - photo by Greg Hall

Registration

Dolores Mercado

 

Included with full package price: $85 members/$100 nonmembers

Purchased separately: $25

Mexican Narratives in Textile Art on Both
Sides of the Border

Saturday, October 9, 2PM PST

This presentation will explore how an ancestral, utilitarian, sacred tradition, and in many occasions undervalued, textile art has become a source of expression on both sides of the U.S.-México border. Dolores will show powerful and dynamic voices who have connected the textile art traditions with ideas and visual narratives of immigration, identity, environmental issues, social justice, and materiality.

Dolores Mercado (born Jalisco, Mexico) studied art at The School of Visual Arts of the University of Guadalajara, the National Institute of Fine Arts La Esmeralda in Mexico City, and has also taken courses at La Academia de San Carlos from the UNAM in Mexico City, and The School of Video of the University of Guadalajara. From 1999 to 2006 she was the host of two live talk art radio programs Camino Tierra Adentro and Alquimia at WRTE 90.5 FM. For the past twenty-three years, she has worked for the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago as Sr. Arts Education Coordinator, Associate Director of Education and currently as the Associate Curator. Since 2008 Mercado has coordinated the quilt and fiber arts group Stitches of the Soul / Las Puntadas del Alma.

Cristina Carlos, artist

Martha Dominguez, artist

Registration

Miwako Kimura & Noriko Koyama

Exploring Traditional Japanese Fibers and Designs in Quilting
Saturday, October 9, 7PM PST

Both Miwako and Noriko were deeply inspired by American quilt making and learned its history, fabrics, patterns, designs and so on. As a result, even though the subjects and aesthetic are Japanese, the quilts still resemble American examples. But when they were invited to show their quilts, they decided to show quilts focusing on the unique varieties of Japanese traditional fabrics, motifs and designs used on our quilts. This presentation will explore the many traditional fibers used in Japanese design, as well as the most common motifs.

Included with full package price: $85 members/$100 nonmembers

Purchased separately: $25

Miwako Kimura, formerly the director of the Hanatsunagi-Kai Quilt Club of Tokyo, is one of the most recognized fiber artists in Japan. She used to work as an interior designer and became an expert in Japanese design color, motif pattern, and craftsmanship in the textile industry, which are deeply based on Kimono culture. Japan has a tradition of needlework and recycling fabrics. When women in Japan wanted to learn how to do American quilting, a very specific way to teach them was established. “I have a hope and mission to let them know not only the practical beautiful art works but the enjoyable and meditating hand work,” Miwako said. Once students decide on a teacher they commit for their entire instruction period and most of Miwako’s students have been with her for many years.

Noriko Koyama, the leader of NUNOZAIKU, graduated from Joshibi Art University and worked as a commercial interior designer before opening her quilt studio. She was a finalist five times at the AQS Quilt Contest in the U.S.A. and awarded the Gold prize and Silver prize in the Banshu-ori Patchwork Contest in Nishiwaki, Hyogo. One of Noriko’s wearable quilts was shown in the International Quilt Fashion Show in the U.S.A. in 1996. Her work has also been featured at the Quilt Expo Fashion Show in Germany in 1997. Noriko was a part of the New Horizons Quilt Show at Himeji City Museum in Himeji, Hyogo, from 1996 to 2001 and takes part in the Hearts and Hands Quilt Festival in Shibuya, Tokyo, almost every year. She teaches all areas of quilt making.

 

Encounter with Indigo by Miwako Kimura

KABUKU Cube by Noriko Koyama

Registration

Torreah "Cookie" Washington

 

“Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now,” borrowing a title from the late Dr. Angelou.
Sunday, October 10, 2PM PST

Cookie, as she is lovingly known, will speak about the passion and drive many of us have to create quilts and put our imprint on our work, as for some of us, it may be the only tangible material item we can leave our loved ones as a legacy. We put our voice in cloth. Whether in sorrow or joy, many of us quilt thru the pain or to celebrate the joy at hand. She will also touch on her journey as an independent curator of almost exclusively African American fiber arts exhibitions.

Torreah “Cookie” Washington is a fourth generation needle worker. Her mother, aunts, grandmother and great grandmother were all experienced dress makers, fashion designers and master tailors and she is proud to have learned at the knees of her mother’s family. Cookie is the first in this long line of needle workers to take up art quilting. Yet she feels her connection very deeply to her foremothers, whenever a needle and bit of cloth is in her hands.

Cookie has been creating with textiles for more than five decades. Born in Rabat, Morocco, she has traveled extensively, and has made her home for the last 33 years in Charleston, SC. Ms. Washington's current passion is fiber art muralism that celebrates the Divine Feminine and the contributions of her African ancestral heritage. For 16 years Ms. Washington has also been guest curator of the African American Fiber Arts Exhibit that is part of the North Charleston Cultural Arts Festival.

Included with full package price: $85 members/$100 nonmembers
Purchased separately: $25

Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now

A Piece of Peace

Registration

Mini-Workshops

Mini-workshops are designed to get you started on a project on Day 1, with a "check-in" session on Day 2, and a "Show & Tell" session on Day 3.  Each session will last approximately one hour. You should have a finished project by the end of the symposium.

Creating Your Family Crest

 

Instructors:  Drew Betz and Amy Green

Family crests and coats of arms are powerful family symbols passed down through generations. They were commonly used throughout many centuries through out Europe, Asia, and by Native Americans, and they can still be meaningful reminders for families past, present, and future. This workshop will encourage you to create a family crest using pictures and images that reflect your cultural heritage or where you are in your current life.  Sewing machine is not required. Material list will be provided.  Suitable for ages 12 and up.

Material & Equipment List:

• One piece background fabric; 8.5"x11" up to 11"x14", any type of natural fiber, cotton, linen, even wool or use an old shirt to cut up
• A selection of misc. other fabrics to create your design, various sizes.  Fabrics with prints are useful to cut out the pattern to use as a design element, such as a flower.  These fabrics should contrast with your selected background fabric
• Any embellishments you may want: buttons, sequins, etc.
• Steam-a-seam Lite (double sided fusable, light weight) or similar
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Pencil & paper
• iron
• Freezer paper
• Optional:  needle & thread, sewing machine.

Want some inspiration and ideas?  Click here!

One mini-workshop is included with a full package registration.
Purchased separately:  $35

First Session: Friday, Oct 8, 2PM PST
Second Session, Saturday, Oct 9, 9AM PST
Third Session, Sunday, Oct 10, 10AM PST

This is an example of a beautiful family crest made by Artist: Emily Taylor www.CollageQuilter.com Provided for inspiration only! Copyright Emily Taylor

Registration

Sashiko Stitching

 

Instructor: Kneil Kameron - knittedkneil.com

Sashiko is a form of Japanese folk embroidery using a variation of a running stitch to create a patterned background. Traditionally made in geometric patterns with white cotton thread on indigo blue fabric, the designs include straight or curved lines of stitching arranged in a repeating pattern that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional.

Sashiko embroidery has been used in Japan for centuries, dating back to the Edo era of the 1600s to the 1800s. The Japanese word sashiko means "little stabs" and refers to the small stitches used in this form of needlework. This style of embroidery and the "sashiko stitch" was used to reinforce or repair worn fabric or tears with patches, making the darned piece ultimately stronger and warmer. 

Kneil will show you  how to draw the grid, how to use the needle and thread (unshin), and  make the offset crosses pattern. Sewing machine not required. Material list:

• large square of cotton or linen - solid dark color, 14-16” square
  
• white sashiko or cotton embroidery thread
• sashiko or similar embroidery needle (Long needle shaft allows you to load multiple running stitches at a time, the large eye will enable you to thread the thicker sashiko thread onto the needle)
• removable fabric marker pen, white.  For example,  Clover White Marking Fine Pen
• Pair of small sharp scissors
• optional: Darice 10 count plastic canvas (this allows you to create a dot grid)
• optional: ruler

Suitable for ages 12 and up.

One mini-workshop is included with a full package registration.
Purchased separately:  $35

First Session: Friday, Oct 8, 3:30PM PST
Second Session, Saturday, Oct 9, 11:30AM PST
Third Session, Sunday, Oct 10, 10AM PST

Registration

 

Free!

Happy Hour!
Saturday, Oct 9, 5-6PM PST
Join us in a Zoom chat room.  Meet some of the presenters and other fiber artists.  BYOB!

How Does Your Cultural Background or Environment Impact Your Art?
Discussion Group - Sunday, Oct 10, 12:30-1:30PM PST
Bring your lunch and talk about what you've learned in the symposium sessions.  Tell us how your cultural in reflected in your art and why is that important?

You must register for free events to receive link to access. 

Register for Free Events!

Call for Entries
Dia de los Muertos: A Day For Remembrance
Exhibition Dates:  Oct 13 - Nov 29, 2021

Entries in any fiber art category will be considered:  quilting, stitch work, felting, knitting, wearable, basketry, paper, etc. This is not a juried exhibit but one that will be curated from the art submitted to form a cohesive exhibit.

Deadline for submissions extended to September 6, 2021, 9PM PST!

More Info

Here are the correct answers, starting at top left:
1.   Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
2.   Jack Be Nimble
3.   Humpty Dumpty
4.   Little Bo Peel
5.   Old Mother Hubbard
6.   Tom, the Piper's Son
7.   Little Jack Horner
8.   Ride A Cock Horse
9.   The Old Woman in the Shoe
10. Sing a Song of Sixpence
11. Old Woman Tossed in a Blanket
12. The Cat & The Fiddle
13. Mary Had  a Little Lamb
14. Little Tom Thumb
15. Old King Cole
16. Hickory, Dickory, Dock
17. Little Miss Muffet
18. Simple Simon
19. Barber, Barber, Shave a Pig
20. Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
21. Pussy in the Well
22. Cock Robin
23. Little Boy Blue
24. Three Wise Men of Gotham
25. Mother Goose

And the one everyone got wrong?  No. 24.  All entries put it in as 'Three Men in a Tub."   Although it was a natural guess, there was no tub, no butcher, baker, candlestick maker hats or accessories.  The picture on the quilt actually represented the poem below, 'Three Wise Men of Gotham."

RECENT VOLUNTEER PROJECT

And Down It Came!

Thank you to the volunteers who helped us last Saturday take down our old fence and spruce up the yard, in spite of a gloomy day!  We are really excited that our new fence will be installed soon.   We still have a few panels of the old fence available for anyone who wants a unique souvenir or a good source of some aged wood for just $30!  A special "Thank You!" to Elinor Nakis, our Buildings & Ground Committee Chair, for making this whole project possible!  A few other work-day notes of appreciation:

• Christianson's Nursery for the discount on some seasonal color
• Discount Fences for their donation of the labor to install our new fence!
• Skagit County Work Crew for "muscle" and hauling away our debris!

More pictures to come!