LEARN
#BLUBIRDTEACHES: MODERN FIBER
As the daughter of a farmer and artisanal weaver, I've grown up with fiber my whole life. I'm still connected to the larger American cottage wool industry in a professional capacity. As such, I have first hand perspective at the slow decline in accessibility of fiber arts, and the recent post-pandemic resurgence is exciting - it makes me think of the "Return to the Land" movements of the 1970s and all of the things that we now know grew from that reconnection to the land gives me hope. BlubirdTeaches works to discover new ways to apply fiber as a medium in fine art and encourage new interest in the fiber arts. All public workshops and single lessons are focused around small projects that can be accomplished in two hours. Longer curriculum is open to students who want something more or are hungry for more advanced skills and need help.
Public workshops are running in the East Aurora, city of Buffalo, Niagara County and Rochester area.
OUR SCHEDULE FOR 2025 IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW and will be published on our
N E W website January 10, 2025. Please use the #communicate option for private learning or workshop inquiries in the meantime and Subscribe to our newsletter to get a notice when our new website is live.
For now, enjoy 2024 in review.
Any public workshop is bookable as an individual studio session, or a cocoon for 5 persons or more up to 20. Email to book a private workshop.
Most topics can be modified to suit all ages upon request.
Learn | Share 2024
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Magical Indigo: a Dye at Source Experience
Natural Dye | Crown Hill
Indigo is one of the most ubiquitous and mysterious dyes on the planet, and the blue produced by indigo, both in fresh leaf and vat dye, has captivated the world for thousands of years.
Notoriously complex to extract and simultaneously easy to work with in Shibori resist applications, working with Indigo is the perfect introduction to working with natural dyes. Learn how to work with Shibori resist methods while diving into a journey with indigo and deepen into working with this magical plant while experiencing the dye gardens and indigo plot of Crown Hill Farm with access to our personal fructose vat, on the grounds of Historic Crown Hill Farm.
This workshop includes a tour of the Crown Hill Dye Garden and as part of Women in Wool project, also includes a personal visit with Missy's flock of Border Leicester and Shetland Sheep, a light snack and beverage and the opportunity to dye a personal supply of Border Leicester from the Crown Hill flock, grown and shorn right on the farm.
A one of a kind access to behind the scenes and a unique opportunity to experience indigo in all the stages of its life cycle. Connect with the land, the art, the process of dyeing and experience a rooted sense of place, at source.
Dye to Dine
@
Buffalo AKG
July 13 + July 27
In a collaboration with Chef Jessica Arends of Cornelia AKG and the Buffalo AKG Learning + Development
Spend July 13 with me in Studio A at Buffalo AKG learning how to work with natural plant dyes, using local rhubarb as the plant of focus. This beautiful plant, which yields a surprising range of earthy pinks, yellows, and even oranges, dazzles as a natural dye. Students will dye a linen placemat and a coordinating shibori folded linen napkin.
Come back July 27 for an after hours private meal by Cornelia Executive Chef Jessica Arends in the central atrium. Not only is the menu centered around the same plant students learned to dye with, participants will dine on their very own hand-dyed linen place setting, carrying a memory of the plant and the experience.
Limited Space | Discounted rate for AKG Membership.
Retreats at Olmsted
July 7 + July 21 + Aug 11
Sunday Fundays for Introverts
a collaboration with Springville Center for the Arts and the family of H.O. Olmsted
These retreat based sessions through Summer 2024 were created to offer plenty of time for individual instruction and experimentation on the beautiful secluded grounds of the private Olmsted Camp on the banks of Cattaraugus Creek in Sardinia, just 20 minutes south of East Aurora on the edge of the Cattaraugus Creek gorge.
Classes will be held outdoors on select Sundays through the summer and fall, weather permitting, in order to draw inspiration from the natural world and provide a restful setting for creation.
July 7: Foraged Forms Basketry + Off-Loom Weaving FULL
July 21: Plein Air Meditative Tapesty Weaving
Aug 11: Foraging, Force + Light: Capturing Foraged Botanicals with Pigment Expression and Alternate Photography
PUBLIC CLASS SCHEDULE
Monthly workshops are geared towards exploring fiber as a creative medium, and are focused around small projects that can be accomplished in two hours.
All topics rely on some basic fiber skill set that can be used to explore new ways to create, and are developed for beginners, unless specifically noted. Modern, rooted in heritage technique.
Any group concept can be tailored to fit individual private groups, or private one-on-one instruction, either in studio, or as a "cocoon" for 5 or more participants. Inquire for group rates, or book a consult.
CLASSES FOR GREATER BUFFALO
#MYO: Any published group concept is always available as a private group booking in-studio.
Indigo Silks: Dye @ Source
AUG 2: Crown Hill Farm | Eden
Mindful Stitch: Sashiko On the Meadow
AUG 7: Gypsy Meadow | East Aurora
Needle Felt 101: Organic Suncatchers
AUG 15: Making Waves Studio | Buffalo
Steam, Set, Print: Capturing the Meadow
AUG 17: Gypsy Meadow: East Aurora
Ebru: Marbling for Beginners
SEPT 5: WNY Book Arts Center
Gel-Git, Comb + Stippling: Ebru Intentional Techniques
*required requisite: Marbling for Beginners | Sept 5 (above)
OCT 3: WNY Book Arts Center
AUG 2
Crown Hill Farm | Eden
Adventures in Indigo:
Shibori Silks
Learn how to work with Shibori resist methods while diving into a journey with indigo and deepen into working with this magical plant.
Experience the dye gardens and indigo plot of Crown Hill Farm while working with Tami Fuller and Missy Singer DuMars' personal indigo vat and leave with a shibori dyed habotai silk wearable in addition to a small sample of indigo dyed wool yarn grown right at Crown Hill Farm by Missy’s Border Leicester Longwool sheep.
AUG 7
Gypsy Meadow | East Aurora
Sashiko: Mindfulness in Thread
Meditative Stitch on the Meadow
We return to our fierce friends at the Meadow to spend an evening next to the garden exercising the technique of Sashiko, an ancient Japanese geometric stitch technique that focuses on mindful "little stabs" to create striking patterning. Sashiko dates from Edo Japan and is the basis for Boro Textiles.
Learn it, sip and stitch in the meadow as we celebrate the beginning of the wind down of a very busy summer.
AUG 15
Making Waves Studio | Buffalo
Artful Stabbing:
Needle Felt + Composition
for Beginners
Pleased to join the roster of fine teachers at Making Waves Studio in downtown Parkside. I've been looking for a new 14214 venue for a long time!
Dip into modern fiber arts by exploring natural mixed media materials and needle felt basics: create your own “stained glass” suncatcher entirely from natural elements.
An oldie but goldie, and super easy: it always delights.
Rochester Museum of Science
Cumming Nature Preserve
July 20 | Aug 4
Outdoor | Weave
The Cumming Nature Center is a 900-acre environmental education facility located near Naples, New York owned by the Rochester Museum & Science Center. The preserve features over fifteen miles of trails and offers educational programs and service-learning opportunities.
Two weaving classes will be offered in Summer 2024:
July 20: Foraged Forms Basketry + Off-Loom Weaving
Aug 4: Plein Air Meditative Tapesty Weaving
#BOOK STUDIO LEARNING
IN STUDIO SESSIONS on pause fall 2024 | Accepting Private Groups and Bookings
1 hr
30 US dollars
2 hr
60 US dollars
1 hr 30 min
45 US dollars