Class Description: In rural areas, the art of barn quilt painting has become a popular way to celebrate America’s agricultural and cultural past while adding cheery pops of color to outdoor structures. Create your own 24” x 24” barn quilt painting- the perfect size for mounting on your shed, home, or business! Using a quilt block design that you bring from home for inspiration, you will learn how to transfer the pattern onto a prepared wooden board, then you will be guided through the process of taping, painting, and sealing it. Most complete projects will have one or more coats of protective sealant by the end of the class; students will be given enough sealant to complete the process at home. If time allows, a smaller 12” x 12” painting can be started for an additional fee.

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Saturday, June 22nd, 2024 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Total teachable hours are 7 hours.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $28, covers 24”x24” board (prepared on both sides and sealed on the back side. The front side is prepped for the design and will be sealed afterwards. All board designs will have a white background.) Yard sticks/rulers, pencils, scissors, erasers, wall paper rollers, samples of border designs, white paint for sealing the design tape, sponges to make textured designs, and protective Spar varnish to seal the design. Additional 12”x12” prepared boards if a student finishes early ($10)

Items Students should bring: 

• A printed, hard copy of their design. Student may not work from a cell phone image.
• ½” masking tape is best, but 1” will work.
• Exterior paint for each color in your design, and another for the background color if you want a color other than white. Exterior samples from Home Depot are fine. Lowe’s only has interior samples. Michaels and JoAnn’s also have small containers, but be sure they are exterior paint. “Craft paint” is not appropriate for this project, as it will fade.
• 1” foam brushes. Try to get the ones that are 1” wide and 1” long.
• Wear old clothes or bring an apron. Rubber gloves are not effective because the tape sticks to them.
• Lazy Susan (optional, but makes painting easier).

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Vyvyan Rundgren has lived in Virginia for over thirty years. Her interest in art began as a child and stretched from watercolor to oil to painted floor cloths and then to barn quilts.   For eight years she was an instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School in NC.   Her book, Floor Cloths, Quilts & Pages was released in 2015.  She is also an avid gourd artisan using only pyrography and carving to enhance each gourd.  Her gourds saved her emotionally for two years while her second husband battled cancer (passing away recently).   She serves as an officer on the Board of Directors for the Art Guild of Greene County and with the support of the Greene County Economic Development & Tourism she founded the Blue Ridge Barn Quilt project which has grown to be the largest barn quilt trail in Virginia, now having over 150 on display in Greene County.  She not only paints many of the barn quilts, she also conducts workshops each month to teach others how to create their own.

Class Description: Our workshop begins with identifying dye plants in the wild and to grow, and dyes from historic professionals. We will examine a range of natural fibers, and learn historical precedents for our techniques. I will show a brief set of visuals about foraging and gardening dye plants, and the quest for sustainability in the textile industry.I will show you specific principles for extracting color from plants and adhering them to textiles and provide sample skeins in dye baths for everyone. You may bring sample skeins, particularly unusual fibers, to dip for personal experimentation. Natural fibers work best; synthetic yarns resist natural color. We will all leave with dyed samples from our personal explorations.We will use a range of natural dyes, such as: Tropical colors -- orange from annatto seed, purple from logwood, fuschia from cochineal insects. Old World colors -- madder red, weld yellow, lichen purple. American dye plants: walnut, oak bark, pokeberry and goldenrod. And the plants grown at home for dye, such as Japanese indigo, bidens, orange cosmos, marigold.We may venture beyond wool into a range of fibers and natural dyes to color them. Which plants will dye alpaca, rabbit, llama, and other animal fibers? We will research to discover dyeing characteristics of dogbane, flax, okra, and others.We will also examine making lake pigment extractions, to preserve dyebaths or to make paints. Each participant will reveive a copy of my book, Gardening and Foraging Natural Dyes. Assorted seeds and plants for a dye plant garden will be available.

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Saturday, May 18th, 2024 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Total teachable hours are 7 hours.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $50, covers a copy of the book for each student, sample skeins to dye, and dye garden seeds. Garden dye plants will be available for purchase.

Items Students should bring: Clothes that can get messy or an apron and bring gloves to protect hands in hot or cold liquid. Students may bring sample skeins to dye.

Dye Plants: Will be available for purchase at the class. $8 (woad, weld, orange cosmos, Japanese indigo, & dyers coreopsis), and $10 for madder. Plants will be in quart containers. Payment made directly to instructor in cash. Plants are first come, first serve.  

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Pat Brodowski, well-known as the former Vegetable Gardener at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, has given natural dye workshops for fiber arts groups and museums in the Mid-Atlantic area for 20 years. In 2022, she researched the plant histories and dye methods of 57 dye plants to grow, forage, or purchase and published them in a manual to encourage experimentation. Her workshops include plant lore from antiquity to link today to dyers long ago.

Class Description: Marbling provides infinite means of self-expression: selecting just theright colors, tools, and patterns to create one-of-a-kind works of art. Learn the essentials of marbling with acrylic paints on a carrageenan bath using rakes, combs, brushes and other tools. Practice classic patterns (including Stone, Nonpareil, Chevron, Peacock, Bouquet, Feather and more) and experiment with new techniques. We’ll work with both paper and fabric, and every student will take home a silk scarf with a beautiful pattern you've marbled yourselves! We’ll also try out some low-stress crafts that transform your marbled papers into beautiful gifts, including note cards, origami boxes, and hand-stitched notebooks. This class is a great introduction for curious beginners and casual marblers, as well as those with more experience.

Class Date and Time: This two-day workshop is hosted on Saturday, June 22nd from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday, June 23rd from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm with a one-hour lunch provided each day. Total teachable hours: 12.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $75, covers all supplies and tools including gloves, paper towels, etc.

Items Students should bring: Apron and/or clothes that can get wet or paint-spattered, and wear closed-toe shoes with non-slip soles.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Sasha Trosch has channeled her lifelong love of all things paper into her creative venture, Rock Springs Paper Craft. Specializing in marbling (paper, fabric, and 3D objects) with a growing practice in decorative and handmade paper, Sasha creates vivid artwork for the home and whimsical gift items for any occasion. Sasha has studied with master crafters at the John C. Campbell Folk School (NC), Snow Farm:The New England Craft Program (MA), and the School of Bookbinding Arts (VA) since 2015. She is a founding member of “Next Level Marblers,” a collaborative of artists committed to promoting and sustaining the craft of marbling in the U.S.

Sasha earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Wittenberg University (Ohio) and an MBA from the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte (NC). She has spent her professional career in higher education and the nonprofit sector and currently serves as associate vice president of philanthropic partnerships for BellXcel, a national education nonprofit. Sasha and her husband Carl, a retired art teacher, live in the small town of Pleasant Garden, NC.

Class Description: 

Students will create handmade paper from unwanted mail (yay recycling!) and plant material. Students will experiment with different size and shaped deckle and molds as well as adding decorative items to the pulp. Students will then create a Japanese stab binding journal using their handmade paper. Students will learn bookmaking techniques—covering a book, binding, surface design, and much more.

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Saturday, June 22, 2024 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Total teachable hours: 7.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $25, covers mixers, trays, junk mail, plant sheet molds, mold and deckle (students will take home with them), paper, decorative materials and use of bookbinding tools.

Items Students should bring: Ruler, pencil, apron, shoes that can get wet, any decorative materials students might want to use to decorate their paper or their journal.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Elizabeth resides in Charles Town, West Virginia where she offers workshops in her studio, teaching Book Arts, Papermaking, and Papercutting. She accepts commissions for special projects and paper arts.

Elizabeth has taught art through The Council for the Arts, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the Art Center, Sarasota, Florida. Elizabeth worked as a resident artist in the Jefferson County, West Virginia school system and served on the board for the Jefferson Arts Council, Teaching Arts Creatively (TAC). She is a participating juried member of the Over the Mountain Studio Tour, Jefferson County, West Virginia and a juried member of Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia.

Class Description: Pine needle basketry is a craft tradition developed by American Indians in the Southeastern and Western U.S. states. Learn how to coil and stitch long leaf pine needles to create a useful basket. Students will select from a variety of centers; wrapping and stitching techniques will be taught, and historical techniques will be discussed. No previous basket weaving experience is necessary!

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Saturday, June 22nd, 2024 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Total teachable hours are 7 hours.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $30, covers pine needles, needles, sinew, and a basket center.

Items Students should bring: Scissors.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: After graduating from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, I was employed by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Clark Summit, Pa from 1973-1978.

I married my husband, Jack Ryan, in 1973. We had two sons and now have two grandsons who live near us now in the Charlottesville/Waynesboro area.

In 1978 I moved to Richmond, Va to work for Dominion Energy (then VEPCO). I worked at Dominion until 2009 when I retired after 32 years in the IT department, working as an application developer.

After retiring in 2009, we wanted to move to be closer to family in Charlottesville. We moved the Ruckersville in 2015.

Art was always a hobby and my therapy from the stressful IT job. I started with folk art and had a goal to learn something new as the years went by. I learned to make baskets from long leaf pine needles from my friend’s mother. She learned from her mother. The art is very old. Back in the day, raffia was used to wrap the pine needles coils but it didn’t hold up so today we used waxed thread or sinew.

Currently I am retired, enjoying making art just about every day to display and sell at a local craft shop in Ruckersville.

I also teach a variety of classes, ranging from Mandala Dot Art, Quilling, painting a gourd bowl, and pine needle basketry. These classes are held for the Art Guild of Greene County, Albemarle county’s adult learning program and at Qute Scraps Handmade Boutique. I am now serving my fourth term as President of the Art Guild of Greene.

Class Description: This storage basket would make a beautiful addition to your home. It measures 10 1/2” x 20” x 9 1/2”. It can sit proudly down the middle of your dining room table, be featured on your sideboard, used to showcase bread and rolls at your next buffet or used to show off your favorite potted plants. The basket features bushel basket handles and oak runners to support whatever they hold. You can choose to weave it natural or add color to create a pattern – the choice is yours! Whether you are a novice or an advanced weaver, this basket will make the perfect addition to your home.

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Saturday, June 22nd, 2024 from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Total teachable hours are 7 hours.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $60, covers all materials for the class. 

Items Students should bring: Towel or apron.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Working over wooden molds, in the method of the Shakers, Karen’s baskets are traditional in shape and materials.  She weaves both Shaker reproductions in ash and traditional, utilitarian baskets of reed.  Native hardwoods such as ash and oak are used to make the rims and handles, and all of her baskets are lashed using ash.  Each basket takes on its own character as it is woven in a quatrefoil, twill or fancy lace pattern to appeal to both eye and touch. Karen was an art teacher for 22 years in the Neshaminy School District, Langhorne, PA, before becoming a middle school principal for 15 years in both the Neshaminy School District and the Central Bucks School District.

She is a member of the Bucks County Craftsmen’s Guild, the Bucks County Hand Weaver’s Guild and the PA Guild of Craftsmen.  She sells her work at various shows and galleries throughout the northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, and Ohio), and has the earned the distinction of Waterford Landmark Artisan for her commitment to the Waterford Fair and the Waterford Foundation. She is also president of the Penn-Jersey Basket Weavers Guild and teaches both children and adults.

Class Description: Students will create many cyanotype prints using prepared sheets for images as well as preparing their own ink sheets Each student will leave the class with a variety of colored cyanotype images as well as the opportunity to create some note cards.

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Sunday, June 23rd, 2024 from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. Total teachable hours are 5 hours.

Materials fee (included in total class fee): $20, covers prepared cyanotype sheets, chemicals to prepare their own printing sheets, images on transparencies, flowers and leaves to print from, note cards, glue, trays for water baths.

Items Students should bring: Any images to print from.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: Elizabeth resides in Charles Town, West Virginia where she offers workshops in her studio, teaching Book Arts, Papermaking, and Papercutting. She accepts commissions for special projects and paper arts.

Elizabeth has taught art through The Council for the Arts, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the Art Center, Sarasota, Florida. Elizabeth worked as a resident artist in the Jefferson County, West Virginia school system and served on the board for the Jefferson Arts Council, Teaching Arts Creatively (TAC). She is a participating juried member of the Over the Mountain Studio Tour, Jefferson County, West Virginia and a juried member of Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia.

Class Description: Spend a relaxing day learning the basics of wool embroidery (or crewel wool embroidery) with Stuart Moores Textiles' plant dyed wool embroidery floss and fabric. We will cover all of the stitching techniques necessary to create a small embroidered motif inspired by 18th century wool embroidery. Each student will receive all of the materials needed to create a motif in class as well as a pattern and all of the materials needed to make a large embroidered pin keep (biscornu) at home.

Materials Fee (included in total class fee): $75, covers all supplies students will need to complete a sampler in class as well as supplies to create a biscornu at home.

Items Students should bring: Thread snips, tweezers, reading glasses and a craft light if the student normally uses one for crafting. A chair cushion is also useful for sitting for a long time.

Class Date and Time: This one-day workshop is hosted on Sunday, June 23rd from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. Total teachable hours are 6 hours plus 1 hour of presentations.

Lunch: Lunch is included in the class fee. If you have any dietary restrictions, please note them when you register.

Instructor Bio: My name is Shelagh (sounds like Shay-la) and I am the one-woman-show behind Stuart Moores Textiles (Stuart was my great-grandfather; you can read about our story on the SMT website). I am a textile artist and professional natural dyer, specializing in traditional natural dyes and dye techniques. My art is predominantly inspired by the history of textile arts and crafts, from grand tapestries made by 11th century master artisans to hand stitched home goods made by 18th century homemakers. I have a degree in Textile Design and a two-year certificate in Horticulture. I currently work out of my home-studio along the Potomac river in Maryland and share my passion for textile craft as an instructor, teaching in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.