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Our Instructors
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Lorrie Grainger
Abdo
In 1995 Lorrie learned how to make
handmade paper at Sievers. That weekend changed the direction
of her professional life and she has not stopped playing with paper
and pigments since! Her paper mosaic pieces feature the freedom
of colorful expression through a surface design technique called
paste painting, yet highlight precise craftsmanship as well. Lorrie
is detailed in her instruction and fun with her delivery, encouraging
students to play. She serves on the Handmade Paper Guild board,
is a member of Signature Artists Cooperative, and teaches
workshops throughout her home state of Michigan.
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Nancy Adams
Nancy’s interest in fibers and weaving ran the gamut from
owning and raising her own flock of sheep, to spinning their fleece,
to weaving with it. She came to Sievers in 1986 for her first
weaving class, and has returned almost every year since that time
for more. In 2002 she became an assistant instructor with
longtime friend and fellow weaver Louise French for intermediate
weaving classes at Sievers. Now Nancy is excited to have
the opportunity to share her love of weaving by teaching it to
others. Nancy makes her home in Rochester, MN.
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Carol Anderson
Designer and owner of Cottage Creations, Carol publishes
and supplies knitting patterns to over 500 shops
nationwide, including the Sievers Shop. Her illustrated booklets
have particular appeal for the advanced beginner or intermediate
knitter and range from scarves to afghans to sweaters, with the “Wonderful
Wallaby,” no doubt, her trademark design. A retired
teacher of Special Needs students and mother
of four, Carol lives with her husband on their St. Ansgar, IA farm. “A
perfect day,” says Carol, “includes at least two or
three hours of knitting!”
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Jeanette Biederman
Jeanette is an accomplished artisan whose work
shows a great respect and appreciation for the history and
lore of basketmaking. She enjoys working with color,
and makes a wide variety of traditional and contemporary basket
styles. Jeanette and her husband Rich Prange offer basketry
classes at their Merrill, WI home studio, Tisket A Tasket, and
teach throughout the Midwest. Interested in other fiber
arts, Jeanette learned to make ‘Stained Glass’ Sweater
Vests and Coats from their originator Linda Davis in a 2001
Sievers class and has continued to create more ever since,
teaching it and selling her work in the Sievers Shop.
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Jo Campbell-Amsler
Teaching throughout the United States for guilds,
basket conferences and art schools, Jo instructs her students
in rib-style techniques for baskets made of willow and other
gathered materials. From her eastern Iowa home studio, Willow
Ridge, she creates a wide range of baskets, from traditional
forms to sculptural one-of-a-kind pieces. Jo’s
work has been featured in magazines and books, and selected
for numerous exhibits across the U.S. including a permanent
exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in
Washington, D.C. In November, 2012 she hosted her 2nd
basket tour to Ireland, visiting with willow basket weavers
there, and learning new skills and techniques. |

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Betty Glynn Carlson
Betty has been a weaver since 1972, but when
she discovered Navajo weaving she felt a special kinship with
this simple way to weave that invites stillness and reflection. In
the Navajo tradition it has been said, “You must spin
your warp threads strong enough to hold your prayers.” When
Betty sits at her Navajo loom she seeks to honor this tradition. Each
rug grows out of her contemplative practice, and in the process
of weaving, the wool yarns are woven together with the threads
of life. Betty’s rugs have been exhibited at juried
shows in the Midwest, and she regularly teaches Navajo weaving
at the Weavers Guild of MN.
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Sandy De Master
An avid knitter since 1970, Sandy took up spinning
in 1988 and soon began a life of raising and breeding Finnsheep,
and marketing their wool. Her main interest is in ethnic
and traditional knitting, and she enjoys designing traditional
mittens, socks and sweaters based on the patterns for Fair
Isle and Shetland, as well as those from Latvia, Estonia and
Finland. Sandy and her friend and co-teacher Mary Germain
co-published an article and pattern on Latvian knitting in Piecework magazine. They
have taught knitting classes at Sievers since 1999, as well
as throughout the Midwest, and offered Latvian Mittens classes
on both coasts.
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Christi
Eales Ehler
Christi enjoys exploring many different on- and
off-loom fiber techniques, including weaving and basketry. She
finds inspiration in historic textile traditions from all over
the world and in her love of nature, as well as contact with fellow
weavers and students. Past President of Wisconsin Handweavers
Inc., Christi has taught weaving to area guilds, and at the Wisconsin
Spin-In and Midwest Weavers Conference. Her work
has won awards at the WHI annual exhibit, other juried WI
art fairs, and been featured in Handwoven magazine. |

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Daniel Essig
Born in St Louis, MO, Daniel studied at Southern
Illinois U., Penland School and the U. of Iowa. In 2000
he moved to Asheville, NC where he maintains a full-time studio
at Grovewood Gallery. Dan lectures and offers
workshops at book centers, craft schools, colleges, and artist
retreats as well as privately. He has created wooden and sculptural
books for over 20 years and is a recipient of the NC Artist
Fellowship Grant. His work is exhibited nationally
and in numerous private and public collections, most recently
the Smithsonian Renwick Museum, U. of Iowa Libraries and Topeka
Library. Many of his sculptural pieces are featured
in The Penland Book of Handmade Books.
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Mary Sue Fenner
A Clothing, Textiles and Design major at U. WI-Stout,
art studies at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Polytechnic, England, Kansas
U. and a UW-Milwaukee MFA gave Mary Sue an excellent background
in fibers. Now retired from teaching Marketing Communications
at N.W. Technical College, she maintains a business, Fiber
Designs, in her Abrams, WI home. Noted for use of
bright colors and her own handspun yarns, Mary Sue’s
clothing and accessories are seen in area shows, galleries
and shops, and featured in such magazines as Handwoven, Belle
Armoire, Altered Couture, Sew Somerset and Haute Handbags. Recently
she won the HGA Award at the WHI Inc. “Loominosity” show. |

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Diane Fitzgerald
Beads and beadwork are Diane’s means of creative expression. Along
with that, she loves to share this passion with others through
writing and teaching. Author of 11 books and frequent contributor
of articles on the subject to magazines, Diane’s awards have
included Bead & Button Magazine’s “Excellence
In Bead Artistry” and Textile Center of Minnesota’s “Spun
Gold Award” for her lifetime commitment to fiber arts. She
loves to travel, including trips to South Africa to study Zulu
and Xhosa beadwork, and to Europe and Japan to learn about the
glass bead industry, as well as to use these opportunities to meet
other beaders.
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Marianne
Fons
A summer regular among the Sievers faculty for
nearly 20 years, Marianne retired from teaching
in 2001 to become co-owner and editor of Love of Quilting magazine. Now
a part-time Washington Island resident, she returned
last summer to Sievers, her all-time favorite teaching venue. Marianne
is well-known among quilters as author with Liz
Porter of many best-selling quilting books including Quilter’s
Complete Guide, and as host of Love of Quilting nationwide
on public television, now co-hosted with her “quilty” daughter
Mary Fons.
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Nancy Frantz
Nancy’s weaving journey began in 1977 when she received a
loom as a gift. Since 1985 she has shared her love of weaving
and fiber arts with students through the Sheboygan Recreation
Dept., from beginners and up, ages 6 – 86! Her
work has won awards at county fairs, WHI Annual Shows, and Midwest
Weavers Assoc. Conferences, including two “Weaving For
The Home” Awards of Excellence from Interweave Press. Very
active in the Sheboygan Shuttlecraft Guild, Nancy was Co-Chair
of the 2005 MWA Conference. |

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Mary Germain
A knitter most of her life, Mary has taught knitting,
weaving and other fiber arts since 1983, and was owner of The
Wool Works yarn shop in Milwaukee from 1985-96. Her
woven and knitted garments have won awards at the WHI Annual
Shows and Harrisville Designs’ Convergence Contests. Inspired
by a Latvian friend, Mary co-published a Latvian knitting article
and pattern in Piecework magazine with friend and fellow
teacher Sandy De Master. Trips to Latvia in 2001 and
Estonia in 2005 provided Mary with more knitting inspiration,
which she enjoys sharing with her students.
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Ellen Graf
In 1992 Ellen made her first quilt
in a class at Sievers. Since then, she has
made many more and received numerous awards, including the American
Quilter’s
Society Show in Paducah, KY, and International Quilt Festival in
Houston, TX. Her quilts have been seen in Quilter’s
Newsletter Magazine and the AQS Quilt Art Calendar, and Ellen
was recently a featured guest on Mary Fons’ “Quilty,” an
online program for beginning quilters. Her
year-round home on Washington Island allows
Ellen to share her love of quilting in summer and winter classes
at Sievers, teaching good technique while encouraging students’ individual
creativity. |

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Chad Hagen
Chad has explored the resist dyeing and surface design of handfelted
wool since 1979, with BA and MS degrees from U-WI and MFA
from Cranbrook. Her dyed, pieced, beaded and stitched
felt work has been seen on the covers of Surface Design Journal,
Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot, and Fiberarts magazines
and in major collections. Chad writes extensively on art
and feltmaking, including 3 Lark books: Fabulous
Felt Hats, Weekend Crafter: Feltmaking, and Fabulous Felted
Scarves. She teaches workshops in the U.S. and Europe,
and maintains a full-time studio in Asheville, NC, where she is
currently exploring the use of handmade paper for bookmaking.
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Rita Hagenbruch
Rita is inspired by the textiles she has examined
on her travels to Sweden, particularly those for the table. In
2012 she was fortunate to see the 100th anniversary “Hemsjlöd
Väv Show” in Stockholm’s Nordic Museum, featuring
current woven work from all over Sweden. Weaving brings
joy into her busy life, and Rita loves to share this and inspire
others through teaching, at conferences and workshops throughout
the Midwest. Rita’s work has been featured in Handwoven magazine,
and she is currently weaving lacy plaid baby blankets in preparation
for becoming a new grandma. What pleasure it will be
for her to teach weaving to a new generation! |

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Judy Hasheider
Nationally known quilt teacher, Judy’s main focus is on the
traditional patterns and techniques that make
quilting enjoyable, along with the friendships
that evolve when quilters are together. Her
work has been featured in quilting magazines
and in the book Color
Harmony For Quilts. Judy publishes her own patterns as
well. She has taught quilting for almost 30 years and gives
instruction throughout the year at Stitcher’s Crossing in
Madison, WI, and at quilt conferences, as well
as organizing and offering weekend retreats in
Door County. Judy
and her husband have 3 grown children and own
a working homestead dairy farm near Sauk City, WI. |

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Barbara Heike
Barbara’s background is in fiber art, but wire-worked jewelry
has a special appeal to her. Since learning and refining
the techniques for Viking Knit jewelry, she has enjoyed working
with this ancient art form and teaching it to others. Recently,
her work was awarded Honorable Mention at the “Artists of
the New North” exhibition at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah,
WI. Barbara has taught beading and weaving classes at Sievers,
throughout the Midwest and in her Green Bay home studio, Windflower
Studio Arts. |

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Deb Jones
Living in Black River Falls, WI, Deb is an enthusiastic handspinner
and has taught workshops throughout the state, including the Wisconsin
Sheep & Wool Festival. She is the owner of The
Fiber Garden, a year-round fiber arts school, gift mercantile
and fiber shop that has been featured in such magazines as American
Small Farm, Impressions, and Positive Thinking. (More
information can be found at: www.fibergarden.com) For
Deb it’s a means to promote fiber arts and combine her love
of spinning, teaching and country living!
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Donna Kallner
In Donna's work, ancient textile techniques and old-school
natural dyeing combine with new-school surface design and digital
technologies to tell timeless stories. As a fiber arts teacher
and writer, she helps others share their own stories in ways that
are unique to each one of them. Based in rural northern Wisconsin,
Donna teaches and exhibits her work across the country, and is
the author of New Age Looping: A Handbook for Fiber Artists. Learn
more at www.donnakallner.com or facebook.com/donnakallnerfiberart. |

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Joyce Krueger
Joyce is a fiber artist teaching Traditional
Rug Hooking since 1980, at national and international rug schools,
for private rug groups, and in her Waukesha, WI home studio. An
accredited McGown Teacher, she is an active member of the Assoc.
of Traditional Hooking Artists, McGown Guild, and Cream
City Rug Hooking Guild. Joyce enjoys personalizing
commercial patterns as well as helping students with original
design ideas. She writes articles for and has had her
work featured in the ATHA and McGown Newsletters, Rug
Hooking magazine, several rug hooking books, and has received
awards for her rugs. |

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Daryl Lancaster
A handweaver and fiber artist known for her award-winning
handwoven garments, Daryl has been creating and constructing
garments for more than 45 years. From her home in New
Jersey she travels widely, giving lectures and workshops to
guilds, conferences and craft centers all over the United States
and Canada. The former Features Editor for Handwoven magazine,
Daryl frequently contributes articles to various weaving and
sewing publications as well as maintaining her own blog (www.weaversew.com/wordblog). |

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Kay Normann
Starting in 1994 with Jeanette Biederman’s Beginning Basket
class at Sievers, a passion was born for Kay. She now has
a studio in her Arizona home, where she teaches friends to weave
baskets. And, her friends bring their friends… After
spending 22 summers on Washington Island, Kay and her husband sold
their vacation home. She now returns to the Island and Sievers
to weave in classes with fellow ‘basket babes’ she
has met at Sievers, continuing their mutual love of basketry, and
to teach Beginning Basketmaking with her good friend (and former
Island neighbor) Drew Tibbetts. |

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Carol Huebscher Rhoades
Living in Madison, WI, Carol has researched traditional
knitting in Scandinavia, with a special interest in the wools
and techniques for traditional handspun and knitted garments,
particularly those of Scandinavia and England. She is
Technical Editor of and frequent contributor to Spin-Off magazine,
writes for Piecework, and translates Swedish, Norwegian
and Danish knitting books into English. Carol’s
teaching has taken her around the U.S., including SOAR (Spin-Off
Autumn Retreat) and the WI Sheep & Wool Festival,
as well as to Canada, England, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand. |

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Carol Riedner
As a retired K-8 Art teacher, Carol brings her
love of and talent for working with color
to her life as a fiber artist. Over the years, she credits
classes at Sievers for having inspired her
work in silk painting, batik, fabric design
and garment construction. Nuno
and wet felting are ongoing creative pursuits
for Carol in recent years, and art to wear
is her passion. Carol
sells her work in galleries, shops and shows
in Wisconsin and North Carolina. She and
her husband, who enjoys woodworking, make
their home in Fond du Lac, WI. |

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Stephanie Lewis Robertson
Much like a musical conversation, Stephanie sings
to her hand-dyed and –printed fabrics while she works,
creating constructions that reflect her interest in spirituality,
ritual, music and the power of women. Her current work
includes images of labyrinths, spider webs, brain scans and text,
and has been seen in area collections, exhibits and shows. Awards
include 3 Indiana Arts Commission “Individual Artists
Grants.” Stephanie’s day job is Program Chair
for Fine Arts at Ivy Tech Community College in central
Indiana. She is also a teaching artist with Young Audiences
of Indiana in her ‘abundant’ spare time. |

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Mary Jo Scandin
Mary Jo's students are motivated in their surface
design work by her enthusiasm for color and design, plus her
sense of fun which she readily shares. She and her husband
recently began a new chapter in their lives by moving to Minneapolis,
where Mary Jo has been busy creating a studio in their new
space and continuing to work with fibers and surface design
on a regular basis. She has licensed and marketed her
designs as posters, notecards and plaques, and 3 children's
books feature her painted silk illustrations. Mary Jo’s
original work can be seen at the Seasons On the St. Croix
Gallery in Hudson, WI as well as the Blue Dolphin shop
in Door County. |

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Lynn Stracka Schuster
A handweaver and feltmaker since 1978, Lynn has
expanded her interests to a wide and varied
repertoire of fiber arts. She still enjoys handweaving
and feltmaking, and has added silk ribbon embroidery,
beadwork and covered coiled basketry to the
list. Lynn’s
work has been seen in a number of magazines,
at art museums and galleries, and sold at an
annual Christmas Open House in her Sturgeon
Bay, WI home. Lynn
has offered classes at Sievers since 1981. She enjoys sharing
her artwork and creativity through teaching,
and believes that art is a celebration of life. |

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Deb Sharpee
Deb’s interest in weaving was first sparked as a small child,
watching her grandmother weave rag rugs. She now can’t
believe it has been over 30 years since she wove her first rag
rug. Many miles of warp later, Deb has much to share with
her students. Her work has been published in Weaver’s,
Complex Weavers Journal, Crafts Report and Handwoven magazines,
as well as in the book Weaving Contemporary Rag Rugs. Deb
and her husband live on a small farm near Madison, WI, where she
maintains a herd of angora goats. |

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Robyn Spady
Robyn is a fiber artist and master weaver who has been weaving
for over 40 years. In 2004 she completed HGA’s “Certificate
of Excellence.” Weaving has always been a part of her
life, beginning with the baby blanket woven for her by her great-grandmother
on a loom that Robyn now has and uses daily. She teaches
throughout the United States and Canada, and has authored many
articles and publications. (See www.spadystudios.com for
more information.) Robyn is committed to turning the weaving
world on to four-shaft weaves, uncommon weave patterns, double-faced
fabrics and narrow warp weaves.
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Karen Tembreull
As an artist focused in basketry, Karen is continuously
inspired by the abundance of natural material
that surrounds her Upper Michigan home studio. She has made baskets
since 1983 and taught since the early 90’s, primarily
with locally gathered barks, roots and fibers. Her work
has won many awards, including “Best Teacher’s
Natural Piece” at the 2011 AMB Convention and “Best
Professional Mixed Media” at the 2010 NCBA Convention. Inducted
into the MI State Univ. Museum Heritage Program’s “Heritage
Basket Collection” project, 3 of Karen’s baskets
will be permanently housed, exhibited, and featured in its
accompanying book. Her work is also seen in Lark’s book, 500
Baskets.
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Drew Tibbetts
20 years ago Drew took her first basket weaving
class from Jeanette Biederman at Sievers. Since childhood
she had enjoyed all types of handcrafts, but after making that
first basket, Drew knew she’d found her favorite. She
feels so lucky to have summered on Washington Island for a
number of years, giving her the opportunity each year to take
more classes and improve her skills. Drew and husband
Jim have now retired to the Island, and she looks forward to
sharing her love of basket weaving and Sievers with aspiring
new weavers, co-teaching with her friend and former neighbor
Kay Normann.
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Connie Westbrook
Connie discovered weaving at a local art fair
and immediately knew that sitting behind a loom was where she
belonged. She has passionately pursued handweaving since
her first Beginning class at Sievers in 2003, patiently and
diligently studying the work of some of the most respected
weavers in the country. She felt truly lucky when she
was asked to join the Sievers staff in 2007. Connie is
a volunteer weaver at the Island’s Farm Museum,
active in study groups, has been published in Handwoven magazine,
and recognized for her outstanding abilities as an innovative
weaver. She believes weaving is meant to be shared, and
is eager to teach others what she has learned.
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Heather Winslow
As a fiber artist Heather specializes in nature-inspired,
classical handwoven clothing. She envisions her garment
designs as 3-dimensional sculpture, using subtle simplicity
to adorn the body in a positive way and make the wearer feel “special” by
the very act of putting them on. Heather loves teaching
and does so locally at The Fine Line in St. Charles,
IL, nationally, and internationally. She is the author
of More On Moorman: Theo Moorman Inlay Technique Adapted
To Clothing, and numerous articles in fiber magazines such
as Handwoven, Spin-Off and Weavers. |

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Ken Workowski
While paging through Mother Earth News magazine in 1977,
Ken came across an article on building willow
furniture—the
perfect opportunity to combine his carpentry
skills with his love of nature. Thus began a home business
for Ken and his wife Michelle, The Nature of Things, building
home furnishings that use such materials as willow, birch and poplar
bark. They
craft furniture, baskets, lamps and shades, brooms,
mirror frames, and one-of-a-kind pieces, selling their creations
through art shows and shops across the U.S., and enjoying their
self-sufficient lifestyle. |

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Judith T. Yamamoto
Judie enjoyed her Beginning Weaving class at Sievers in 1981
so much that she just kept coming back for more. Now she
teaches and lectures nationally, and writes about weaving and related
topics for magazines. Notable for its use of color and blending,
her woven work and polymer clay jewelry have been featured in Handwoven magazine
and seen at a variety of fiber shows, galleries and shops. Judie
lives on Washington Island and demonstrates handweaving at the Farm
Museum on an antique loom she and her husband Dave restored. |
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Our Staff
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Howard & Ann H. Young,
Owners
Ann’s involvement with Sievers began in 1979, when founder
Walter Schutz asked her to be General Manager
of the school. She
soon became an enthusiastic weaving student and
later a basic weaving instructor. Over the years she was
more and more involved in the school’s operation and, when
Walter retired in 1987, Ann and her carpenter husband Howard (Butch),
became the owners of Sievers School and Sievers
Benchwork. In
1989 Ann added a retail consignment shop, selling
the fiber arts and fine crafts made by the teachers and students. |
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Cindra Hokkanen
In 1986 Cindra began working in the office for
Walter Schutz and hasn’t strayed since! She thoroughly
enjoys the variety of her duties at Sievers, such as writing
and editing the school brochure and web site copy, registering
students, working with the consignment artists and inventory,
processing mailed and online inquiries and orders, and interacting
with the many Sievers visitors. Cindy and her husband
Tom, who teaches at the local K-12 school, are both active
in a number of Island organizations and groups. Her favorites
are singing and community theater.
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Carolyn Foss
Carolyn has worked at Sievers since 1990, even
returning in the summer when she and her family spent six years
in Washington State. Besides bookkeeping, Carolyn is
the Sievers photographer whose pictures are seen in the brochure,
online newsletter and Facebook page that she created and maintains. She
is responsible for the yarn, book and supply purchases for
the shop, and sometimes has the pleasure of giving an impromptu
knitting lesson to a visitor. In addition to knitting,
Carolyn enjoys reading, and walking or jogging her way through
quiet Island mornings. |
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Many of our instructors have their
own web sites not mentioned here. Check out our 'Links' page
on the Sievers web site for the full list. |
Return to Top
For class hours, go to the Contact & Registration Page
For housing information, go to the About The School Page
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