Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Bringing the joy of working with TEXTILE and Stitch at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, April 15, 2023


 TEXTILE LANDSCAPES - A Day to Paint with Cloth
Bethany Garner, Instructor
9:00 am to 4 pm, Saturday April 15th
Activity Room, Level One
Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning
370 King Street West, just east of Sir John A Blvd.
Parking in the Upper Lot on King Street next to the Tett/Isabel Bader

Hoping you will join me and also the Kingston Fibre Artists Exhibition right next door in the Gallery on Level One.

Come spend a day working along with Beth as she guides you through the ease of cutting, stitching, and embellishing your collection of cloth pieces chosen for your artwork. Bringing the vision to life as a "Maker" is what this workshop is all about, and sharing time with like-minded artist friends in the classroom will get you started or support your love of the landscapes you love. Feel free to bring photos, or your own landscape cloth artworks to share.

We start at 9:00 am - and enjoy time together until 4 pm and we will be working on pieces that will finish about 12" square (includes adding cloth that equals a 2" border all around for framing if you like). Colour play is always good fun, so bring a palette that makes you happy!

Sewing machines are welcome...handwork encouraged.

While the Tett does not have a mask mandate in place, we invite you to feel comfortable wearing a mask to help support others. We do not provide food for the class, but the Juniper Cafe is just down the hall and welcomes students.

Tickets

$65+ | 18+ | Limited Capacity | Click here to purchase your tickets


Instructor,Bethany Garner, is a seasoned contemporary artist, traditional quilter, Restoration Specialist, Quilt Conservator, and is a retired Professor of Textile Design at St. Lawrence College, Kingston. She has inspired her students to take chances, try new things, and explore their favourite techniques in the classroom and at home.

Beth has been sharing her favourite techniques in the classrooms since 1996, and brings her students a number of mixed-media, and cloth based colouring workshops based on the application of easy to use Procion MX Dyes, acrylic paints, inks, and silk paints for cloth, fibres and threads. Bethany’s courses are technique based, fun and developed to ensure that every student is accepted and feels included, supported and making their way forward on their own creative path.






Monday, March 13, 2023

UNIQUE BORO ART

Creating with Japanese Shibori Stitch… 

April 1, 2023

9:30-4:30 In the Activity Room, 

Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning , Level One




Bethany Garner, Fibre Artist, and Workshop Instructor

      

AN INTRODUCTION:

BORO ART is the result of repetition stitching over time and is a quiet, even solemn path to artwork as a selection for those who love the art of working with cloth. Japanese, who lived in small villages surrounded by mountains, had to repair their clothing and fabric by hand-stitching because of limited resources. They didn’t have enough money or logistics to get the new fabric from the market. In other words, they had to repair instead of replace their fabric. They patched a hole in one piece of fabric, then kept using it. When they found another hole, they patched it or mended it. The repetition of hand-stitching/repairing made a great art piece, and it is called Boro.

Today we create artwork that is often made with hand-dyed indigo-colored cloth and sometimes using items that we have in our closets and drawers, like the pocket of a pair of a family member’s jeans, or a small pile of cloth that is cut up using items from thrift stores or household linens, work a bit and often with holes of tears that leave the cloth in conditions that require mending.

The focus for our workshop day is building on the fabric we have, using the art as a learning session to encourage working along with the handouts/samples I will share and encourage you to be inspired by and strive to create your own designs. There is nothing better than a day with a few small scraps of fabric that can translate into ART… celebrating your decisions with threads, cloth, and some new friends in the classroom that will have their own path to follow and encourage you and share as you work together.

This class will bring you closer to sharing a connection with the art of Japanese BORO art and perhaps start you on a journey with bits and pieces that will inspire all new work. Join me for a full day with some samples from my handy work – and you will only need to bring some of your favourite pieces of cloth, scissors, needles, and thread. 

Oh, and don’t forget, you will need the willingness to try a new technique that reminds you of years of work done by those around the other side of our world that walked before us.     

Contact me to register and the full-day fee is $60, by e-transfer (email me at bethanygarner.art[at]gmail.com)

or through Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unique-boro-art-tickets-560599537307

A comprehensive handout will be supplied with registration... bring your lunch and a drink! (The Juniper Cafe at the Tett Centre is just down the hall! Come enjoy!!