Summer Workshop at Shakerag

I have had the pleasure of attending the Shakerag summer workshops in Sewanee, Tennessee, many times.  I have taken spinning and dyeing with local fiber artist Lynne Vogel, two workshops with wearable clothing artist Jean Cacicedo, a felting workshop with Scottish artist, Jeanette Sendler, and natural dyeing with Rebecca Burgess from Northern California.  This summer my friend, Margie, and I had a wonderful experience learning about Japanese boro cloth, shibori, stitching, clamp resist dyeing, Japanese tsunobukuro carrying pouch, and indigo dyeing. Our amazing teacher was Yoshiko Wada, author and shibori artist, from Berkeley, CA.  

There were 17 in our workshop and each person brought their unique artistry and creativity to the class and their work.  It was remarkable how the work of each student was so different. 

Some samples of boro cloth from Yoshiko's collection.

One of our indigo dye pots. 

Here are pictures of the work some of the students in our class.  Where I can remember whose work it is, I will give their name.  (I apologize to my classmates when I can't remember who did some of the work in the pictures.)

A couple of my indigo dyed pieces - clamp resist

Tsunobukuro carrying bags

Patricia's meticulously stitched quilt which she bravely plunged

 into the indigo pot with miraculous results

Lovely indigo dyed pieces

My hand stitched vest - work in progress

Appliques of eco printed handmade felt

Pamela's indigo dyed silk pieces and her work stitching pieces from
 a quilt made by her grandmother 

Margie's handstitched boro cloth, indigo dyed yarn and clamp resist pieces

 Jody's fabric book - hand stitched on linen embellished with pieces of 

cloth from old book covers

More lovely indigo dyed pieces

 Chris' eco printed pieces, one over dyed with indigo

Judilee's display of yarns and embellishments on a leaf

Dakota's work -- including a handwoven ethnic bag deconstructed

Claire's quilt -- a work in progress -- started in our natural dye class

with Rebecca Burgess in 2013

I believe this is Judilee's work

Melanie's indigo dyed shibori piece

I think this is Ilse's work

More pictures, but I'm not sure whose it is. Very nice.

What a wonderfully creative time we had at Shakerag this summer. How can you not love it when -- for a week --  you are tucked away in a creative environment, fed the most delicious meals, free to work into the night, take walks, swim in the "Res", have an opportunity to make new friends and see and commune with old friends.  I'm hooked and already looking forward to my summer camp at Shakerag in June 2015.