Kathy Patterson - Making and Marketing Traditional Quilts

Kathy Patterson is the Senior Editor of McCall’s Quilting (mccallsquilting.com) and McCall’s Quick Quilts (quickquilts.com) magazines. She also serves as managing editor for McCall’s Quilting newsstand-only special issues, such as America Loves Scrap Quilts and America Makes FAST Quilts. Her work with McCall’s includes quilt patterning and quilt design and fabrication. Kathy left a career of over 20 years as a mental health professional to join the McCall’s staff in 2004. She loves the combination of artistic expression and mathematical rigor inherent in traditional quilt design and patterning.

Traditional quilt-making, from antique reproduction to contemporary piecing and applique, follows a unique creative path, one influenced by centuries of history, mathematical principles, and the modern marketplace. In her presentation, Kathy will give you an insider’s view of traditional American quilting, a $3.3 billion-a-year industry (Quilting in America, 2006). She’ll discuss the difference between art and traditional quilts, resources to help you begin or advance your traditional quiltmaking, and avenues for marketing your work and selling quilts, quilt designs, and related products. Not to be missed!

Daryl Lancaster - Weave for the Body, Weave for the Soul

Daryl Lancaster received her BA cum laude degree in Fine Arts in 1977 from Montclair State College, Montclair, NJ and has been actively working since then as a weaver/fiber artist. She teaches garment construction and related topics to weavers and other fiber enthusiasts across North America. In addition, Daryl exhibits her artwork in galleries across the country. She was the Contributing Features Editor for six years for Handwoven Magazine from Interweave Press and wrote their Fashion and Color Forecast Column.

Join Daryl Lancaster as she takes us into the personal world of decorating and celebrating the body through the use of handwoven cloth. Daryl will talk about her journey as a handweaver and fiber artist. Listen as Daryl shares how she approaches the creative process, how she encourages her students to reacquaint themselves with their bodies, especially once they have passed through menopause, and how her experience as a breast cancer survivor has changed the way she views life and her work.

[visit Daryl’s website]

Lisa Call - Facebook, Twitter and Blogging, Oh My!

Lisa Call is a visual artist who creates abstract contemporary textile paintings composed of richly colored hand dyed fabric. Her award-winning artwork is exhibited internationally and is included in numerous private and public collections. She is also the creator and author of MakeBigArt.com – a website and blog to empower artists – to think big about their art, their marketing and their lives.

In this presentation Lisa will discuss how textile artists can benefit from the new social media. She’ll cover both the marketing and sales aspects of an active online presence in addition to focusing on the personal, artistic and other less intangible benefits of social marketing. Pondering such questions such as: Why join Facebook? What do I write about on my blog? How do I find readers? What is the purpose of Twitter? How are Facebook and Twitter different? Does any really care what I had for dinner? And more!

Listen to Lisa and learn how the new social media can benefit you!

[visit Lisa’s website]

Eva Weaver - Weaving Bridges

The German-born, British-based performance artist, arts therapist, and creativity coach Eva Weaver has taken thread in a completely different direction—she uses thread to “weave bridges” and provoke reactions from passersby. Red Crossing is her ‘performance-intervention’ piece that draws from shamanic elements and the theme of connection: the physical connection created by the bridge as well as the metaphorical space of ‘crossing over’ and ‘moving in-between.’

Eva has also created works for shop-windows, promenades, public squares, music halls, churches and theatres. She holds an MA in Performance from Queen Mary University, London and has shown her work widely across the UK, including at the National Review of Live Art, East End Collaborations, Tract, Arnolfini and OMSK as well as internationally . Join Eva as she describes weaving the bridges of Europe with her signature red thread—and open yourself up to the performance possibilities of the fiber arts!

[Visit Eva’s Wild Wing website] [More information on Eva]

Elaine Quehl - From Healing Stitch to Meaningful Livelihood

Elaine Quehl, quilt artist, teacher, and dyer, is an award-winning Canadian quilt artist whose work has been juried into numerous national and international exhibits. Her colorful pieced and appliquéd art quilts are often described as bold and sensual and are recognizable for their depth and contrast, exuberant color and abundant texture. Elaine grew up on a farm in Southern Ontario (Waterloo County) where she was surrounded by traditional quilts made by her great grandmothers, grandmothers, and mother.

She was drawn to quilt making because of the calming and healing influence it had upon her while losing her mother to Alzheimer’s. She soon found herself seduced by the art quilt’s possibilities for self-expression. She feels like the luckiest woman in the world to be able to share her journey and the joys of the art quilt with others. In great demand as a teacher, Elaine travels across the country delivering workshops and lectures—and in this session will come right into your living room to share with you her expertise!

[visit Elaine’s website]

Brecia Kravloic-Logan - Knitting NAKED: Using your Natural Authentic Knowing to Explore and Discover your Unique Textile Talents

Brecia Kralovic-Logan is the director of pebble in the pond art studio in Santa Barbara, CA. Fostering and supporting creativity in the world has been her lifelong joy. Over the last 20 years she has taught over 2,000 art workshops at conferences, in schools, for guilds, at shops, in museums and at her studio. Her award winning fiber work has been exhibited nationally.

Brecia invites you to think creatively and to allow yourself to completely engage your intuition, your senses, and your keen perception in order to discover and create something truly your own. An award- winning fiber artist and creativity coach, Brecia will share techniques from her forthcoming book “Knitting NAKED.” Learn how to follow your intuitive thread and explore and discover your creative possibilities. Not just for knitters, this session is a creativity workshop for anyone who wants to express her individual spirit.

[visit Brecia’s website]

Donna Druchunas - The Lure of Researching Textiles in Faraway Lands

Donna Druchunas left the corporate world some 20+ years ago to pursue her love of fiber art, knitting and fiber history and is a popular teacher as well as author. She is the author of the popular Arctic Lace and Knitted Rugs and her latest book, Ethnic Knitting Discovery, will be out in October.

Join Donna as she describes how she researches ethnic textiles by traveling to their homes of origin—how she plans her trips, what research she does beforehand, what she’s learned to look for in her travels, and what she’s learned to look out for!—and how you too can create a plan to live your dream of researching textiles in faraway lands.

Donna lives in Longmont, Colorado.

Betty Busby - A Fine Art Approach to Fiber

Betty is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where she majored in ceramics. As far back as she can remember, Betty has done things her own way. In Kindergarten, her teacher was quite disturbed by a purple squirrel she’d drawn, though young Betty insisted that that was precisely the way she’d wanted it. She has been working as a full-time fiber artist and teacher since she moved to New Mexico in 1994.

The techniques Betty uses are varied and always changing. Currently, she is using a combination of piecing and appliqué. All of her fabrics are dyed by hand—many by herself. Betty will explain how to make alterations to enhance the impact of the piece as the work progresses and how to go beyond the easy allure of the fabric so as to give more meaning to your work. Come join Betty and learn her fine art approach to fiber!

[visit Betty’s website]

Deborah Robson - Writing and Publishing the Knitting Book

Deborah has been explaining through print, slide programs, guild talks, and keynote addresses how (and why) to make fabric. In addition to loving textiles, she has devoted large portions of her life to books. For fourteen years she edited textile books and magazines for Interweave Press, including twelve years as editor-in-chief of Spin-Off: The Magazine for Handspinners. She also edited Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot for the Handweavers Guild of America and served as production editor for the University of Massachusetts Press.

Currently Deborah runs Nomad Press, whose goal is to provide creative knitters with the tools to make real whatever their imaginations can invent. Deb will provide an overview of the textile publishing marketplace and the submissions process, share her top tips on how to interest editors and get published, and explain how to get your book started and keep it on track. Join a longtime publishing professional and learn whether you have a book in you—and, if you do, what to expect from the publishing process.

[visit Deborah’s website]

Lisa Sonora Beam - Identify Your Ideal Customer

Lisa Sonora Beam thrives as a mixed-media artist, writer, and founder of Digital Hive EcoLogical Design, a San Francisco–based communications firm that works with green businesses. She earned her MBA in Sustainable Enterprise and has learned over the years that most creative people shy away from the strategic skills necessary to make a living doing what they love.

Over the course of 20 years of teaching workshops, Lisa has honed her techniques for transforming passion into livelihood. She’s taught at leading learning centers like Esalen Institute and Hollyhock and has been featured in Entrepreneur and Business Week. In her session, Lisa will help you identify the ideal customer for your fiber art products and teach you the principles and techniques you need to know so that you are better equipped to sell what you create.

[visit Lisa’s website]

Absolutely No Risk!

We appreciate the trust it takes to order anything on the Internet. So, if for any reason, after attending the live event or listening to the recorded version you are unsatisfied, we will cheerfully refund your money. Just let us know by December 15, 2009 and we’ll take care of your request right away.