It's Thursday, September 4th and I am off for four days in a row, so you will be hearing from me a lot in the next few days! We just returned from a nice vacation in Michigan and Indiana where we had the wonderful opportunity to visit family and friends and meet our beautiful new granddaughter Maria, adopted by my son David and his wife Sue. Maria is a Mayan child from Guatemala and so very beautiful... you just can't imagine that a child could be living in an orphanage for many years (she is 5) before someone chooses to love and protect her. Maria will have a wonderful and very blessed home with David and Sue, and her little sister Zara, just three years old and the oh so beautiful child of Dave and Sue born to them in 2004 after waiting for her for 13 years.... and Maria also now has a beautiful new quilt to wrap up in, thanks to a very generous and love-filled gift from my close friend, Susan Maclean... thank you Susan! The quilt is truly beautiful and so are YOU!
Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Limestone Quilters Guild meeting in Kingston and see many old friends again after a summer break! MARTA SMITH was the Guest Speaker, and gave all of us a delightful introduction to her work and passion, ART DOLLS. Please look for Marta's work at the PEC Studio Tour coming up the weekend of Sept. 20/21st. Please see the Prince Edward County Studio Tour website for more details.
The meeting was great, and I have to admit that I am likely NOT in the good graces of our President as I took (stole to be truthful) 20 minutes of time during the meeting's end to introduce the wonderful courses that are available at ST. LAWRENCE COLLEGE this fall. Those of you who know me well also know that I am a hugely committed and determined advocate of the Textile Design Diploma Program at the college here in Kingston, Ontario. As an Instructor with St. Lawrence since 1997, I have developed and supported the educational programs for Summer School for the Arts in Brockville and developed and delivered eight of the the courses for the 10 course Full Credit Diploma Program since January of 2005. The students in this Program have been very active as participants in the fibre art community here in Kingston, with some as members of the Kingston Fibre Artists Group, others members of the new Fibre Arts group meeting at the Scout Hall on Monday evenings and working toward community Shows in this new year. Others are active members of the Cataraqui Guild of Needle Arts and are hugely involved preparing for the National Seminar of the Canadian Embroidery Association which will come to Kingston in Spring 2009 at St. lawrence College. Many are Studio Artists now, as a result of creative work done at St. Lawrence College, which gave them the courage to strike out and develop new work which is exhibition worthy. Others are submitting work to national and international Shows and competitions, and placing their work for sale in Galleries in our area and beyond.
Many of the courses at St. Lawrence College this fall are filling nicely, and I am sad to say that the TEXTILE DESIGN course in the program which I will Instruct (and which would be in it's third presentation in three years to ensure that everyone has a chance to take the course for their diploma) is NOT filling well. Only five students are registered and we need a minimum of 10 to get the course rolling. This course will be an exciting opportunity for students to come and explore the amazing and important aspects of creating ORIGINAL DESIGN... whether a Traditional Quilter or a Contemporary Fibre Artist, students would have the chance to explore design in an all new way - through the development of a delightful and important course required JOURNAL/Sketchbook that will be submitted at the end of the course an assessment tool for the course grade. The goal of the course is to introduce commitment to design principles into the student's planning processes and add some fun and excitement to the 12 weeks of work in the classroom. Students will be working with paints, dyes and of course stitch, both by hand and machine. Developing new work is challenging and dynamic to the design process. Having the courage to step up to the plate and get work done rather than "intending to" is something that all of the students in this program have committed to throughout the past three years.
I invite you to join in on the fun and excitement of taking on a DESIGN journey with like-minded students. Please know that this appeal for enrollment is not to fill a personal need for ME (though I love sharing with my students), but a need that YOU might consider - taking those first steps toward your development as a serious and committed Fibre Arts enthusiast. Yes, there are dollars and time required for taking courses in the College's line-up this fall, and YES, I do definitley know that your discretionary dollars are limited. Fall is always a busy time, and with so many options open to students, there have to be courses that do not run. The college cannot afford to support courses with low enrollment, so I will happily defer to those courses that students DO support, but if you can join us or if you have a friend who would like to be introduced to the fun of original design, please share the information and invitation to join us! And yes, you can be a traditional quilter and work on advancing your love of traditional patterns, colours, fabrics and perspective in this course - just do come play. Be inspired by the work of new friends and area fibre artists and quilters who are working through the diploma requirements or as an "interest only" participant. Let colour, exciting materials, techniques and developing all new design provide new excitement in your life as a textile lover. Consider taking our Textile Design Course as an investment rather than a challenge or a cost...making new work is an inspiring and awesome experience. Watching and participating as friends develop THEIR new work is even more fulfilling. We all learn from each other at every step in the process.Please feel free to call me for more information or email me at garner@kingston.net
There are huge obstacles to filling this course for Fall 2008... there are MANY choices for students in the course catalogue line-up this fall. I have mentioned here before the FIBRE TO FABRIC course being presented by Beth Abbott of Godfrey. I encourage anyone who is wanting a great foundation for study of the history of Textiles to enroll for this course - Beth will share many samples of fibre with her students, and create a dynamic study environment for exploring the various Fibre types and their use. Janice VanDijk is the Instructor for several Photography Courses at the College this fall and some of our students from the Textile Design Program are required to take the courses in lieu of the Portfolio Development Course which did not run this summer. Janice's courses are hugely popular and will offer those who are wishing to learn more about Digital Photography, Image Editing and Photo Transfer the opportunity to get those skills under their belts for future exhibition and project development work. Christina Barnes will Instruct not only a three level FLORAL DESIGN course at SLC this fall, but is also the Co-Instructor of the SILK PAINTING Course with talented and experienced Silk Artist, Zahra Husain. This course will run in competition with the Textile Design course on Thursday evenings, Sept. 11-November 27th... and that means huge decision dilemmas for students. Which courses to take and which courses to pass on..
I will sign off for now, but encourage you to visit the College's website at SL.on.ca or simply get on the phone and sign up for the courses that are of most interest to YOU. The college phone number to register for classes is 613-544-5400, ext. 60.
Have a GREAT Day and enjoy the beautiful sunshine.... take a walk. I intend to do just that all of the next four beautiful days.
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