Our purpose: art by artists responding to contemporary events in the world. We invite you to reflect on your own responses and consider creating art that reacts to our current times.
IN THE STUDIO ONLINE was created by a group of five artists during the first “dark days” of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. Spearheaded by Karen Miller of Ontario, it was an attempt to bring audiences into the studios and work spaces of fiber artists throughout Canada and the US using the “new” technology of Zoom. Initially, Karen interviewed an artist weekly so that they could tell their stories and show their artwork. Q&A was an important part of the series as we all got to know one another from afar despite being hunkered down in our private spaces.
By late summer of that year, we realized that folks were chaffing under our communal house arrest and were missing the comradery of rug hooking as well as workshops in which we could learn from teachers and each other. We decided to do something about that, and a new type of fiber arts school was born: Workshop Week.
The first WW, running in late October, 2020, consisted of five classes. We each taught one.
- Karen Miller,
- Susan Feller,
- Meryl Cook,
- Beth Miller, and
- Me, Laura Salamy of High on Hooking.
That first WW proved popular enough that we went on to WW2 in the winter of 2021. We ran WW3-6. Beginning in 2023, with WW6, we moved from a twice/year school to a larger, more encompassing, annual school in February. During this time, we’ve created a growing COMMUNITY of teachers, students, friends.
While rug hooking remains a focus in each WW, other fiber, textile, and ancillary arts have been added as a natural progression. Examples include journaling, stitching/mending, and painting. We now feature guest teachers with new and exciting specialties every time we run. We keep our workshops small to allow for good give and take between teacher and students and often students and students too.
We’ve added LECTURES to our line-up. Lectures are talks given by well-known folks on a variety of topics. They’re about an hour and cost $25. Most run in the evening, a perfect way to complement your classes or settle into after dinner or work. WORKSHOPS are 2-3 hours and may include two or three sessions. Single session classes are $65.
Although we’re back to in-person learning, Zoom workshops and lectures aren’t going away. They’re a boon for the price conscious and those who can’t travel. They allow us to access teachers we might never have been able to meet otherwise. To that effect, WWs have had students from Alaska to Europe. We have all created a COMMUNITY based in art for each other.
Find our Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/inthestudioonline/
Find our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/IntheStudioOnline/
WORKSHOP WEEK 2027
FEBRUARY 4 – 14, 2027!
As of June 1, we invite teachers to submit workshop and lecture proposals for WW2027. See the CALL below. Note that it is a 2-page document and requires scrolling. Questions can be sent to Administrator Laura@highonhooking.com.