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Portraits in 2025

While 2024 was a year for making fiber vessels, 2025 is quickly turning into the Year of Fiber Art Portraits!

By the way, if you’re new here, welcome. This isn’t just the first post of 2025, it’s the first post I’ve made in six months! I’ll try to be better, but to see what I’m up to on a daily basis, see my Instagram page. (For now; that could change, but I’ll let you know.)

Stitched portrait
Mid-project: Stitching up my mom.

Back to the portraits at hand. Last year, the Adobe Wool Arts Guild here in Albuquerque, began planning to host a 3-day workshop with Tammy Pavich for 2025. If you’re a hooker, you probably know of her. My favorite book of hers is HERE.  We’re in the midst of full-out planning for the class right now, in fact, as it’ll happen in March. The topic? Impressionistic portraits. I’m still debating what to do: Bowyn? Tom? A selfie? Gotta get my sh*t together and let her know ASAP!

 

Meanwhile, In the Studio Online’s Workshop Week 2025 looms in less than two weeks from today. Yay! While I’m not teaching a class this year, I am the administrator of the school. Yes, there’s still plenty of work ahead of me making sure it all goes well. And, yes, there’s still time for you to register. Find the info HERE. As administrator, I can attend the classes and talks. Guess what Wendie Scott-Davis, instructor extraordinaire, is teaching? How about Creating a Value-Based Portrait from a Photograph. Yep, another hooked portrait! Again, to feature Tom or the dog???

BTW, Wendie’s opened a second session of that initially sold-out class for Saturday, March 8. Again, see the link above.

A couple of weeks ago, TextileArtist ran a free online workshop. I try to avail myself to all of their free classes when they happen. They’re that good. In fact, if I had more time and wasn’t soooo into rug hooking, I’d join their Stitch Club in a heartbeat. But I digress. The free workshop: Get Started with Stitched Portraits with Susie Vickery. Yep, more portraits, albeit stitched, not hooked. While I haven’t finished that project yet, I decided to do my mother. Sadly, she’s falling further into aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. I’m trying to grab what I can of her now. But it’s hard with her living back east in Connecticut and me here in the desert.

Lest you think I couldn’t find any more portraiture opportunities, you would be wrong. Most mornings I do yoga and various forms of PT (that ankle reconstruction last year really did a number on my whole lower body) to YouTube before I ever leave my bedroom. Want to know what showed up in my feed four days ago? The ladies of the Expressive Stitch Collective: Liz Bessel and Hayley Perry. If you haven’t tuned into them, you really should.

Hooked art, "Bowyn's Mule"
“Bowyn’s Mule” was hooked and sold last year. (21.5″x12″; hooked with repurposed textiles and wools on Scottish burlap)

While both are accomplished artists and teachers, they like to try new things and invite us to go along with them. Find their YouTube channel HERE. BTW, Hayley’s taught for In the Studio Online before and Liz will be participating in WW2025!

Anywho, the Expressive Stitch Collective is just beginning their first challenge of the year. Wild guess on what it is? Selfies! In your fiber art medium of choice. So, there’s that now too.

I’ve done animal portraits before but haven’t had the opportunity of a human face thrust upon me. Or even come up. Looks like the art gods are making up for that. It’s gonna be a longggg 2025 (for so many reasons, really). Portraits demand more of your time and attention. There’s choosing a medium, a style, drawing the face, colors, textures, backgrounds… The list goes on and on. At least I’ll be distracted this year. You can’t watch the news while you’re concentrating on getting someone’s face just right. Especially if it’s someone you know and love.

Hooked or stitched a portrait yet? Maybe we can show it off in the next post.

 

 

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Workshop Week 5

WORKSHOP WEEK 5 Registration

Sunday, October 23 – Sunday, October 30, 2022

Announcing that Workshop Week 5 is open

 

This is an FYI for all who have been a part of In the Studio Online’s Work Shop Weeks in the past:

Registration for Workshop Week 5 is upon us!

If you’re a past student, you should’ve received the catalog this past Friday evening via email. If you didn’t, then contact me at Laura@highonhooking.com ASAP! If you haven’t had the pleasure of taking a class with us YET, then also send me an email requesting the catalog. It will go out to all interested on Monday, August 15.

Please note that In the Studio Online Workshop Weeks are not just about rug hooking. We look to provide contemporary rug hooking artist/teachers as well as:

“…additional instructors who can offer something – not necessarily rug hooking or even a textile art – beyond the expertise of the original In the Studio artists. We look for complimentary/ancillary/supporting arts and skills.”

Teachers this time around are a mix of prior and new. They and the classes they’re offering during Workshop Week 5 are:

Anastasia Tiller
LANDSCAPE IMAGERY FOR A TEXTILE PATTERN USING IMPRESSIONISTIC TECHNIQUE

Susan Feller
FINISHING IS AN ELEMENT OF YOUR DESIGN – CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONE

Domenica Queen
PLASTIC IS AN HEIRLOOM

Nadine Flagel
THE RUG DOCTOR

Meryl Cook
CHAKRA COLOURS BY DESIGN – 101

Karen D. Miller
POINTILLISM AND PAINT: EXPLORING NEW TECHNIQUES IN TEXTILE ART

Elizabeth Miller
DESIGN YOUR OWN MISSION RUG: INSPIRATION FROM OUR COLLECTIVE PAST

Rebecca Martin
EXPLORING YOUR CREATIVE SIDE WITH ALTERNATIVE PUNCH NEEDLE RUG HOOKING TECHNIQUES

Yours truly won’t be teaching this WW, but I’ll be handling all the admin, so if you have a general question or one about our two bonus sessions, please give a yell. If you’re wondering about specific classes, you’ll do best to contact the specific teacher. All contact info can be found in the catalog.

Information regarding some of our previous Workshop Weeks can be found HERE and HERE.

We hope you can join us at Workshop Week 5 in October.

 

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Time to register for Workshop Week 4!

Workshop Week 4 classes announced; registrations are open!

A little déjà vu…Classes offered for Workshop Week 4

Thanks to Covid, a new type of “art camp” was born last year, one that lets folks from all over come together without worrying about the high costs (in money and germs!) of travel and hotels. Those of us involved in In the Studio – brought together by Karen Miller – had such success and fun, that we did it all over again in Februaryand then again last month. So as not to get too complacent or predictable, we now regularly invite other artists to join us.

Workshop Weeks are a little different than the usual rug hooking camps. While we have plenty of classes involving hooking in some way, we also look to offer new skills to our students. New skills can involve different textile arts traditions. They also might be about ancillary arts and processes that can enhance your hooking or your other artistic endeavors. “Why limit ourselves?” is a big part of our philosophy at In the Studio.

Artists participating this go-around include the usual suspects: Elizabeth (Beth) Miller; Meryl Cook; Susan Feller, and myself. You’re probably familiar with at least a few of our guest teachers: Charlie Dalton (you might know him by his Instagram handle @thehookingcolonel); Yvonne Iten-Scott; Hayley Perry; Jane M. Mason, and Deirdre Pinnock.

Again, all Workshop Week 4 classes will be conducted on Zoom. I know, I know, it’s not the same as being there in person, but how else could you be part of these incredible line-ups? And we’ll have the two bonus sessions again during the week – an evening gathering (February 6) and a panel discussion (January 30).

Just like Workshop Weeks 1-3, there is a wide array of workshops available. Scroll through the document below to find your favorite(s). Feel free to take more than one. Email individual instructors directly for registration and more info. Don’t tarry, as classes filled up pretty quickly last time.

BTW: If you see a workshop that you’d love to take with your guild or other social group, most of us are happy to run our classes again.

 

WORKSHOP WEEK 4 – Scroll away to see the classes being offered. Enlarge image by clicking on bottom right symbol.

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Rug hooking workshop this week!

Poster for rug hooking workshop
WORKSHOP COMING WEDNESDAY!

Maybe you forgot to sign up? Or you’re stuck at home, bored, having to quarantine? Actually, I hope you’re just looking to try something new with your hooking. The workshop runs this Wednesday, August 19, at 1 PM Eastern (that’s 11:00 AM Mountain, my time!) on Zoom. We’ve got a couple of openings still, so if you know how to pull a loop, you might want to join us. More info here.

KEEP STAYING HEALTHY AND WEAR THOSE MASKS!

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IN THE STUDIO – August 5 with Charline Collette

 

Charline Collette is all about using color with confidence!

 

charline Collette speaks at In the Studio August 5
IN THE STUDIO WITH CHARLINE COLLETTE – AUGUST 5, 2020; 1-2 PM EASTERN (11-NOON MOUNTAIN)

 

Charline Collette is a Canadian Textile Artist who lives and works in New Brunswick. She uses rug hooking as her principal medium of expression. Charline has exhibited her work regionally, nationally and internationally, including in the Fiber Art Now Excellence in Fibers Annual Juried Exhibition.

Join Charline as she discusses design principles that all artists use to make lively and engaging art. Her principal focus will be on colour and value. Through the use of many examples she will show you her own personal colour planning and choice considerations when hooking with fibre.

If you love colour and would like to learn more about how to use it with confidence in your own work, you will not want to miss this talk!

You can see more of Charline Collette’s work on her Instagram page @hookingloops.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

 

IMPORTANT:
This talk will be held on August 5, at 1:00-2:00 pm EASTERN. This is a ticketed event ($6 Canadian) and you must purchase your ticket before the event using the link in this event. Find tickets on the Eventbrite page. After purchase, Eventbrite will send you an email with the link. If you do not receive this after purchasing, look in your spam filter as it may be there. On the day and the time of the talk, you will use the link in the Eventbrite email to access the talk. You may be asked to log into Eventbrite so keep a note of the email address that you used and your password. Also, if you are not familiar with Zoom and how it works you may want to go to the Zoom website where there are free online tutorials of the Zoom features.

In the Studio FAQ’s: PLEASE READ

* Will this talk be recorded for viewing later?

Unfortunately, no. Due to the logistics involved, we decided some time ago to keep these events live. Hopefully if you can’t make it to this talk, you’ll be able to make it to a future talk.

* Help! I bought a ticket and I can’t find the link. Now what?

It is strongly advised that you log in, or make an Eventbrite account, BEFORE purchasing tickets. This will help to avoid any problems with accessing the link on the day of the event. On the day of the event, you will need to LOG INTO YOUR EVENTBRITE ACCOUNT to use the event Zoom link. If you are having trouble finding the link, look at the top of your Eventbrite account and click on your profile. A drop down menu will appear and you will see a link for “tickets”. Clicking on this will give you access to all of the tickets you have purchased and you will easily be able to access the link that way.

* It’s the day of the talk and I’m having trouble finding or using the link for the talk. How can I find help?

It is very advisable to LOG INTO THE EVENT A FEW MINUTES EARLY to be sure that you have no trouble with the link, and if you are having trouble the organizer can help you out. You can email or message the event organizer up until 12:30pm Eastern on the day of the talk for help. ONCE THE EVENT STARTS, however, messages and emails are not able to be monitored.

* I’m finding it distracting during the talk seeing all of the other participants on my screen. What can I do?

During the event the organizer will put the screen setting on “spotlight view” so that the presenter is the focus on your screen. Depending on your device, you may still see audience members on your screen and changing your setting from “gallery view” to “speaker view” should help with that.

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