Tag: In the Studio

October 5, 2021

IN THE STUDIO – October is our month!

In the Studio is having quite the month! Make sure you’re caught up with all that’s going on so that you don’t miss anything.

#showingupinthestudio2021

Search Instagram using this hashtag. We at In the Studio are urging folks to jump into our new daily “challenge” that’s not so much a challenge as it is a gift to yourself. As Meryl Cook put it: “Just do something to stretch yourself creatively for the rest of 2021.” And, hey, if you can only do it every other day or weekly, do that. Just do it for yourself. Because I had a show this past weekend to prep for, I only got to join in the fun yesterday. I started an improv stitching mini-project that I’ll work on a little each evening because I haven’t been good at starting a stitching PROJECT earlier in the year like I wanted to. This will put me on a path of exploration so that I can really get into something come 2022. There are almost two months to see where this takes me. Find more examples at @artwools and @karenmillerstudio .

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A post shared by MerylCook Engagement by Design (@merylcook)

Workshop Weeks 3 and 4 In the Studio Workshop Week logo

Last year the In the Studio artists began Workshop Week (WW) to fill a hole that Covid dug. Sure, we couldn’t attend workshops and classes in person, but we put our heads together and technology to work and managed to come together anyway. It stuck! We’ve realized that getting together via Zoom allows students and teachers (most of us have played both roles) to meet one another and learn new techniques for a fraction of the cost of traditional schools. (Not that we’re giving up on those, but WW is a nice complement and the only thing available to many of us.) We don’t limit ourselves to rug hooking, but encourage the presentation of other arts and complementary techniques and subject matter. If you haven’t perused the WW3 options, check them now as classes have been filling. Personally, I have room in my October 23 session of Hooking with T-Shirts. Contact me at Laura@highonhooking.com if interested. We are currently soliciting proposals for this winter’s WW4. Teachers, find more info here.

In the Studio Online with JESS STEPONAITIS – October 22

Join Nova Scotia textile artist, Jess Steponaitis, as she discusses how she uses bold colours and unique designs to approach the traditional craft of rug hooking with a fresh perspective! You can find tickets for this online talk HERE.

About Jessica Steponaitis:

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Jessica has been designing and crafting hooked rugs since 2002. Her work is best described as “contemporary folk art” or “folk art meets pop art,” and she frequently creates work inspired by her proximity to the ocean and all of its creatures. All of Jessica’s work is created using linen foundation cloth. She cuts all of her wool by hand and frequently dyes wool to create custom colors. The edges of each rug are carefully finished using locally sourced wool yarn.

Jessica’s work was featured in Rug Hooking Magazine in 2020 and she has been invited to participate in the Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival. She is also a member of the Rug Hooking Guild of Nova Scotia.

To learn more about Jessica and to see her work, you can find her on Facebook and on Instagram @rughookerjess.

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ FOR ALL IN THE STUDIO TALKS:
The Zoom link for this presentation will be emailed to you the day before the talk (or after you purchase your ticket, if you purchase on the day of the event). If you don’t receive it, you can contact the organizer at info@karendmillerstudio.com.
Tickets will be on sale until 10 am the day of the event. After that time you will no longer be able to purchase tickets.
Please note that the time of the talk is 1:00 pm EASTERN (EST).
FAQ’s
* 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.
* 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 one hour before the talk 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.
* What Time Zone is the time of the talk in?
The time indicated on all ‘In the Studio’ talks is the EASTERN (EST) time zone. If you live in a different time zone, be sure to check what time you should tune in to ensure you don’t miss the talk.
*I can no longer make it to the talk. Or, I missed the talk. Can I get a refund?
Unfortunately no- the price of the ticket is so low that it is not cost-effective to refund those amounts. If you are unable to make it to the talk and you already have a ticket, or you forget to attend, please do contact me at info@karendmillerstudio.com. I always offer a ticket to the next talk to make up for it. All of the artist speakers receive a portion of the ticket proceeds so we very much appreciate your contribution to supporting artists!

The artists of In the Studio – Karen Miller, Susan Feller, Beth Miller, Meryl Cook, and myself – hope that you’ll join us for at least one of these events in October!

September 7, 2021

Change coming this fall

Change is good. I really believe that. Most of the time. Unfortunately, occasionally it’s painful.

Photo of neon sign reading "Change." — “Change”: Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash.

Case in point: The US Post Office and other shipping companies announced that they’ll be instituting a surcharge on shipments come October 1. That is not a good change. Worse, this means that I’ll have to change, that is, raise some of my prices slightly to compensate. I don’t anticipate having to do it for small items – like mug rugs and the sunflower wall hangings and similarly sized items – but the shipping costs for larger items are WICKED these days even without a surcharge.

Please be advised that I won’t do anything till October 1, so if you’re interested in something, order it on Etsy NOW! Or message me to let me know your concerns. I’m sure we can get a rug to you somehow. In fact, if you wish to purchase anything in the shop before or after October 1, contact me directly rather than going through Etsy. You’ll get a bit of a price break anyway as then Etsy won’t take their bite out of it.

Also note that I’m reviewing options to Etsy, including WooCommerce and other such apps. If you have any words of wisdom or other advice for me, please, please share!

Unfortunately, our two forays this year into public sales (one outdoor, one indoor) haven’t had the best results. Damn you, Covid! While we usually do the Fall Fiber Fiesta in Santa Fe, I’m just not that sure it’s a good bet given the virus and its mutations. It’s indoors and three days and a lot of driving or hotel rooms. I usually love this event, but maybe next year. Another bad change…

Now that the unpleasant stuff is out of the way, I’m reminding everyone of the coming In the Studio Workshop Week 3 in October. I’m teaching two sessions of Hooking with T-Shirts. I have a few spots left in each class (both on Saturdays, October 23 and 30). Some workshops are full or almost full, while others have some room. Contact each teacher if you’re interested in their class. More info HERE. Besides myself, teachers include the very cool and fabulous: Susan Feller; Karen Miller; Beth Miller; Meryl Cook, Carmen Bohn, Charlie Dalton; Anastasia Tiller; and Lisa Meecham.

No change here, two dogs on hooked rug. — No change here – Tynan and Bowyn bring you the current WHAT’S ON THE FRAME. It’s the rug that I started while traveling and have finally gotten back to (repurposed t-shirts on monk’s cloth).

So, how’s your fall shaping up? Are you back to the usual stuff or is Covid still cramping your style too?

August 24, 2021

Take time to smell the sunflower!

Will you be at Mountainair’s Sunflower Festival Saturday?

Dog with hooked sunflower wall hangings. — **Bowyn will be sad if he doesn’t get to meet you at Saturday’s Sunflower Festival.**

Unfortunately, last weekend’s textile art sale in Santa Fe was a bit of a logistical bust. But is it really a loss when you spend time hanging with a bunch of other talented fiber artists here in New Mexico or anywhere. NO! Fortunately, Cathy, my partner in crime, and I have the Sunflower Festival in just a few days. It’s always a fun time what with the arts, the music, the food… And Mountainair is a cool, little mountain town, very BIG sky country.

As you can see, I’m ready for the Sunflower Festival. Sunflowers are truly one of my favorite flowers, and if you’ve been following me for at least a year, you know that I like to hook some version of them annually. This year I went small, three wall hangings. And instead of keeping it all t-shirt all the time, I mixed it up. Each one has some amount of t-shirt, bed sheet, wool strips, and wool yarn. The variegated backgrounds were dyed by my own little hands during my “retreat week” back in June. Oh, and I included itty-bitty glass seed beads in the – what else? – sunflower seed heads!

Sunflower wall hanging. (Old t-shirts and bed sheets; wool strips and yarn; glass seed beads.)

It’s the end of summer here in New Mexico, and while the sunflowers are blooming and it’s still warm, you can see that fall’s on its way. Kids have been in school a couple of weeks. (Being from the East Coast, that’s still weird for me.) Already I’ve spied some turning leaves here and there. The Hatch chiles are roasting in the grocery store parking lots. That heavenly aroma!

Fall is a looking forward time for me. How to change up the house decor – pumpkins and candles, of course. The holidays! We just rented a house for a week’s vacation in Arizona (which lets us be self-sufficient in this unnecessarily continued time of Covid, but I digress). New rugs and other textile projects. Workshops.

On that workshop note, I want to remind everyone that In the Studio Workshop Week 3 will be here in two months. Less than that, actually. I’ll be teaching two sessions of Hooking with T-Shirts. The first will be Saturday, October 23. There are a few places still open in each class, so if you’re interested, email me at Laura@highonhooking.com. Some workshops are full but may have a waiting list available. Others still have room. Just contact the teacher of the class you’re interested in.

Lastly, a gentle reminder. The rug hooking week at Sauder Village just wrapped up. Trolling Facebook, I’ve seen wonderful photos of the gorgeous rugs that were on display. One thing, though, that I noticed about many of the posts was the lack of attribution. We need to remember that when we post pics of others’ artwork, we need to give the artists their due and provide their names. An easy way to get that info is to take a quick pic of the little card that’s invariably right next to or just below the rug, painting, quilt, or other piece of art you’re photographing. Then you’ll have everything together when you go to share the art porn.

As summer winds down here in the northern hemisphere, what plans are you making in order to really appreciate and enjoy the autumn? Maybe you’ll head out to Mountainair!

August 16, 2021

IN THE STUDIO – Sept. 22 with Deirdre Pinnock

Textile work by Deirdre Pinnock intersects with her advocacy for mental health and diversity.

Picture of Deirdre Pinnock yarn-bombing. Also one of her hooked rugs.

Deirdre Pinnock is a talented rug hooker, ardent mental health advocate, aspiring entrepreneur, and self-identified “woman of colour” based in Vancouver, BC. She is passionate about fusing different materials, vivid colors, and therapeutic qualities into her work along with a dash of playfulness.

She is best known for yarn-bombing positive and uplifting messages such as “be kind” and “you are enough” into public fences around the city. You can also find her performing stand-up comedy about being Black in Vancouver. Her work expands to hosting workshops, guest speaking on the issue of diversity through art, and creating memorial pieces known as Hearts of Honour, which act as living memories to allow families to grieve their loss. Courtesy of CTV, she is publicly known as the Vancouver Yarnbomber.

The purpose behind Deirdre’s art revolves around self-healing and empowering one to battle through grief, anxiety, and pain. She also weaves the current political climate into her fiber art, confronting issues in a whimsical and humorous way.

To learn more about Deirdre and her work you can find her on Facebook at Deirdre Pinnock Designs and on Instagram @deirdrepinnockdesigns. See her website HERE.

MPORTANT PLEASE READ:

The Zoom link for this presentation will be emailed to you the day before the talk (or after you purchase your ticket, if you purchase on the day of the event). If you don’t receive it, you can contact the organizer at info@karendmillerstudio.com.

Tickets will be on sale until 10:00 am Eastern the day of the event. After that time you will no longer be able to purchase tickets.

Please note that the time of the talk is 1:00 pm EASTERN.

Find tickets for this event at Ticketscene.

FAQ’s

* 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.

* 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 one hour before the talk 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.

* What Time Zone is the time of the talk in?

The time indicated on all ‘In the Studio’ talks is the EASTERN (EST) time zone. If you live in a different time zone, be sure to check what time you should tune in to ensure you don’t miss the talk.

*I can no longer make it to the talk. Or, I missed the talk. Can I get a refund?

Unfortunately no- the price of the ticket is so low that it is not cost-effective to refund those amounts. If you are unable to make it to the talk and you already have a ticket, or you forget to attend, please do contact me at info@karendmillerstudio.com. I always offer a ticket to the next talk to make up for it. All of the artist speakers receive a portion of the ticket proceeds so we very much appreciate your contribution to supporting artists!

June 28, 2021

Retreat week

Supplies for being on retreat. — Retreat supplies: journal; pen; colored pencils; *String Felt Thread* by Elissa Auther; watercolor brush pens; iced tea; and great weather.

I’m officially on retreat.

As mentioned last week, my workshop up north at Ghost Ranch was postponed which was a pretty big bummer for me. But then I realized I had a whole week of days I’d kept unscheduled, thinking I’d be away. What to do with that time??? Given how distracted I’ve found myself these last few months (okay, really the last year+), I find that I need to step back and redefine what it is I want and need out of life. Sure, I’m hooking and teaching, but my attention has…wandered. My daily routine isn’t working, and productivity has been affected.

It’s not at all helped by so many local, national, and even global crises. The collapsed Maimi condo, race and gender issues, folks refusing to get vaccinated thereby prolonging the whole Covid thing, some family health difficulties, climate change which really hits home here in the desert Southwest… I seem to be catching my kid’s anxieties. That we spent over a week with temps in the 100s certainly didn’t enhance my mood. But you – I – can’t live like that, in dread all the time.

Last week after deciding on a couple of new projects – not hooking!!! – I grabbed my coupons and started out for Jo-Ann Fabrics to get supplies. It occurred again to me that it’s summer. A time for lighter things, as I also said last week. But this time I really heard myself. Remember how we used to feel in summer? Even when bad things were happening around the world? (The reality is that good and bad things are always happening.) I put some Jimmy Buffett on the Fit’s stereo and off we went.

Hooked rug — ABUNDANCE (15″ x 48″) is finished! As part of my retreat efforts to shake things up, I sewed yesterday morning rather than during the evening, my usual MO. She’s the newest in 2021’s #happyrugseries and was hooked with all kinds of fibers. And, yes, those are holes in her. Life takes from us, but we still have so much to share.

Friday evening Tom and I had a lovely time sipping wine at a local winery, Casa Rodeña here in Albuquerque. They have a pond. It was cool and calming. I realized that I could take the next week to change up my routine, get some things done that I’ve been planning but been too paralyzed to do. In short, get myself out of this funk.

I started yesterday by learning a new “trick.” Okay, a new fiber art medium. I’m very excited and will share down the road. I even used YouTube to learn how to do it. Generally, I prefer to learn in person, not via a video. Again, it’s about getting out of the comfort zone, something I used to do without thinking too much about it.

An article about the Ribbon Rug Journal is on the retreat’s to-do list. Planning my next rug for when I’ll be on the road in a couple of weeks. More sketching and journaling. Reading for pleasure and “work.” Getting back to morning yoga for my arthritis. Not on the list: vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen, meetings, a lot of social media, worrying…

_________________________________________________

But life does still go on. To that effect – note that In the Studio’s Workshop Week 3 classes are filling. Sure, it’s not till October, and we have more events and teachers than ever, but folks want in. Also, my own workshop, Hooking with T-Shirts, on October 30, had enough interest that I opened a second session for Saturday, October 23, also at 1:00 PM Eastern. Email me if you’re interested.

Dogs, hooked rug — Both boys bring you WHAT’S ON THE FRAME today. No title for it yet, but it’s the #ecohooking rug in recycled plastic bags. I should’ve added Static Guard to my list of retreat supplies!

Is it just me or do I sense many stepping back a bit to reevaluate as we move back into a post-pandemic world?