News from Sievers School

The Summer Solstice yesterday brought with it, as promised, real summertime weather which will continue all this week while Nancy Adams is here teaching Beginning Weaving and Mary Jo Scandin is teaching Batik.  Already by this afternoon, students were well on their way to a creative week.

Last week’s Sewing with Exotic Silks class finished on Sunday morning with an inspiring fashion show:

 Next Fashion Show:  Mary Sue Fenner’s Weave, Cut & Sew class on July 3rd!

To help celebrate our 30th anniversary, Sievers is collecting recipes (and has been for some time) for a three-ring bound hardcover cookbook.  Recipe collection sheets will be in each student folder, or you can mail or email a recipe to us.  We are asking that the recipes are returned to us no later than November 1 so that we can send them to the cookbook publisher in time for us to have them by the start of our 2010 season. 

Sievers Scholarship Awarded to a 2009 Island Graduate

Again this year, Sievers has awarded a scholarship in the amount of $500 to a graduate of Washington Island High School who has benefited themselves and the community though their participation in the arts (music, theater, dance or visual arts).  This year’s scholarship was awarded to Rylee Johnson who will be attending the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, majoring in Education.  Rylee has been very involved in Island Players (the Island’s community theater group) and has shared the stage several times with Cindra.  Last year’s Sievers Scholarship recipient, Lydia Foss , will actually be working at Sievers this summer while on her break from Lawrence University.

                    How many colors of green can there be?  It’s wonderful to see all the newly unfurled leaves on the trees. The flowering crab trees on the lawn of the barn are just starting to open and the bees are busily flying between them.

We will be welcoming Darcy Love as a new teacher this year.  She will be teaching a 3-day Beginning Silk Painting class from June 7 - 10.  Darcy incorporates nature into her silk painted and printed pieces as you can see from this piece:

Following Darcy on the weekend of June 12 - 14 will be Donna Kallner with her Willow Garden Structures class and Karen Buell teaching Mixed Media Fabric Pendants using felt, Paintstiks, Angelina fibers, tulle (and more) embroidered with metallic threads and embellished with beadwork.  What a fun way to experiment with a lot of new materials and techniques.  Karen sent us this photo as an example of the class project:

Spring is full of possibilities!

Our first class of the 31st season at Sievers School of Fiber Arts began this morning at 9 a.m. with seven weavers in Judie Yamamoto’s Summer & Winter and Other Tied Weaves class.  As you can see, they were already threading their looms this afternoon.

 Also, the Washington Island Art Association is renting the Walter Studio for it’s Spring Open Studio this week.  Twelve painters arrived this morning to take advantage of the sunny studio space.  A visit with the weavers on Thursday is already planned.

Many beautiful handmade items have arrived for the shop and new things are coming in every day.  It’s an exciting week at Sievers!

          Our 30th Anniversary Open House on Saturday, May 2nd was a great success!  The beautiful weather brought many Islanders and visitors out to Sievers to tour the buildings, see the displays of the past 30 years of Sievers history and the many lovely “Sievers in Winter” finished class projects, and to “make and take” a hand painted silk scarf with Kathy Sorensen.  So many comments were heard about how adorable the Teacher’s Cottage is and how cozy the dorm feels.  Kathy’s silk painting demonstrations and teaching more than 50 people who painted their own scarves was a definite highlight.  So many people got the chance to experience just a little bit of what a Sievers class is all about and how you can surprise yourself with what you can create in a short time.

It was fun to see Judy Hasheider and her group of quilters come for the morning, and Sandy De Master and husband Larry, who bicycled from the ferry dock.  Our long distance visitors were from Sweden, who had been staying in Door County and wanted to see the School. 

Here’s a few photos from Saturday:

The ice isn’t completely out of Washington Harbor yet, but with today’s sunshine and warm temperatures, it won’t be there much longer!

Some of the events planned on Washington Island for 2009 are:

May 9-10 - W.I.A.A. “Let’s Just Draw” Class (at Sievers)

May 18 -22 - W.I.A.A. Open Workshop (at Sievers)

May 24 - W.I. Music Festival Chamber Music Fund Raising Concert

June 1- 5 - W.I.A.A. ”Plein Air Oil Painting Class (at Sievers) 

June 12 - Art & Nature Center Opening Reception

June 19 - 21 - W.I. Canoe and Kayak Race, Expedition and Symposium

June 22- 26 - Wisconsin Council of Churches Forum

June 26 - Maritime Museum Grilled Whitefish Dinner

July 3, 5 & 6 - Island Players “Salute to Musical Comedy II”

July 4 - W. I. Fire Department Pancake Breakfast; American Legion Fish Boil; Bicycle Parade; Fireworks at the Ballpark  

July 11 - Art-in-the-Park at the Art & Nature Center

July 18 - Fly-In Fish Boil

July 24 - Women’s Club Food Festival

July 25 - Rec Center 10K, 5K and 2K Walk/Run

August 3 - 14 - W. Island Music Festival

August 7 - 16 - “Big Art/Small Frame” Show at Red Cup Coffee House

August 7 - Scandinavian Fest Kaffe

August 8 - Scandinavian Dance Festival

August 15 - Island Fair

September 5 - American Legion Fish Boil

September 28 - October 2 - W.I.A.A. “Plein Air Oil Painting” (at Sievers)

October 10 - W.I. Fire Department Open House; Fall Harvest Dinner at Trinity Lutheran Church; Fall Fun Fest& Cider Party at the Farm Museum

For more information on some of these events, visit the Washington Island Art Assocation (W.I.A.A.) at www.washingtonislandarts.com and the W. I. Canoe and Kayak Event at www.washingtonislandcanoeandkayakevent.com

Open House

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sievers School of Fiber Arts, we will hold an Open House on Saturday, May 2nd from 10am to 4 pm.  All of the school facilities, including the dormitory and teacher’s cottage will be open to view.  Kathy Sorensen will be in the Walter Studio, demonstrating and teaching Silk Scarf Painting and anyone age 12 and up is invited to “make and take” a hand-painted silk scarf, free of charge, sponsored by Sievers.  We will also have on display 2008/2009 “Sievers in Winter” projects and a 30-year retropective of Sievers history.  New yarns and items in the shop will be out, refreshments will be available and there will be a drawing for three $30 gift certificates.

 Sievers is pleased to have Kathy Sorensen share her artistic talents with us for this Open House.  Kathy has the distincition of being the current Sievers student that has taken the most regular season classes - 45.  The first class she registered for was “Make Money in Fiber Arts” in May of 1986.  Kathy has taken all types of classes from weaving, spinning and felt making, to silk painting, dyeing and fabric printing, to bead embellishment, needlework and basketry.  Kathy’s own business, Island Fibers, along with other ventures, sold her hand-dyed silk ribbons and threads through major quilt and sewing suppliers.  She continually adds new elements to her fiber arts repertoire.  Kathy is definitely a “Sievers Achiever”!

Sievers Scholarship

Congratuations to Kelly Kroon who is this year’s recipient of the Doreen Speckmann Scholarship.  Kelly will be attending the weeklong Quilt Design class in July.  Again this year, Sievers will be offering a scholarship to a Washington Island High School graduate who has been involved in music, dance, visual or theater arts on the Island and will be attending college or technical school.

Sievers is one of several residental craft schools featured in the March/April 2009 issue of Handwoven magazine.  In the article, “Camp for Weavers”, Terry Walker-Wedell of Antioch, IL says, “Sievers is my favorite.”  She relates that she likes the rural feel and relaxed social atmosphere. (Thanks, Terry!)

The article’s author, Karen Donde, writes, “The biggest attraction of such weaving vacations, craft proponents agree, is being able to immerse themselves in the subject matter with no distractions.  Most of these schools are in remote, rural locations that the real world stands little chance of interfering.  Cell-phone service can be spotty, on-campus lodging usually does not include TV, and the mountains, trees, lakes or oceans that dominate the landscape keep you in the moment.”

At Sievers, we know that it is also you, our teachers and students, who help make our school so special.

      The Island Weavers, a study group of ten, began weaving their first round-robin project at Sievers yesterday.  They plan to spend at least three days weaving Twill napkins with each weaver threading a loom in a different pattern so that everyone will go home with a new set of napkins.  (Not to mention a few new recipes from their homemade soup, bread and cookie lunches!)

Within the next two weeks we will be mailing the full Sievers printed brochure, so look for a little bit of Washington Island coming your way.

Monday, February 2 was a busy day at Sievers with both online registrations and phone calls.  (Registration opened on February 1st.)  At the end of the day, 120 students had registered for class! 

   Cindra making notes on the student chart.

Sievers Scholarships

Each year we offer two scholarships based on artistic merit and financial need to students who wish to attend a Sievers class.  The Elisabeth Beinert Scholarship, given in memory of a former student, is designated for weaving classes, while the Doreen Speckmann Scholarship, given in memory of a former quilting instructor, applies to all classes.  The application deadline for 2009 is April 1st, with notification of award on April 10th.  Contact us by phone, email or through the online registration form for a scholarship application.  In 2008, we also began offering a Sievers Scholarship to a Washington Island High School graduate who was active in the visual or performing arts to be used at a university, college or technical school of their choice.  The 2008 recipient was Lydia Foss who is attending Lawrence University. 

Sievers in Winter Classes

Our last two classes this winter took place in February.  Connie Westbrook taught Random Warps/Mixed Weaves to four lucky students who made beautiful projects and were spoiled with fantastic lunches. Barbara Heike is here today(!) with her Viking Knit Bracelet class.  Barbara had taught this as a 3-hour workshop at the Gathering, and returned with an expanded one-day version for nine students.