Mississippi Adventures!

I was approached to teach at the Mississippi Art's Commission's Winter Institute  where 160 educators would gather for art enrichment. I was thrilled! Their theme was Elvis Presley, as it was held in Tupelo, MS, his birthplace. 

The experience was incredible, with a stunning nuno felt piece created by the educators themselves, great food and people and sweet Southern hospitality. What a privilege and joy to share my passion for fiber art with the folks down South! 

I've put together memoirs of the trip along with my reflections. It shows the preparation and thought process behind the piece, the place I went and people I met, and stories galore. Check out the photo album and memoirs!

Up North

It's been a fun month traveling to different places spreading our love of fiber arts. I got to enjoy a wonderful time with my husband at the Wisconsin Art Educators Conference in Lacrosse, WI. I had never been to Lacrosse, which is on the Mississippi River, so I enjoyed the beautiful fall drive there. I think that Wisconsin always picks the most perfect time of the year for their conference, when the leaves are at their peak of color. It was spectacular. We saw bluffs and rolling fields and forests ablaze. Such a feast for the eyes. 

When we were there, we discovered Grandad's Bluff, which was pretty unique. A natural limestone bluff that had been preserved since its' limestone was quarried in the early 1900's, it's a stunning 600 feet above Lacrosse. Equally stunning was the fact that I had a donut burger there the first night. Yes. It was delicious. 

The town was cute, with lots of bars and eateries. The little ice cream and candy store was adorable and the ice cream was homemade and wonderful. A fun place to explore during the conference! 

We had a fabulous time making candy corn at the demo table at our booth. We had some darn creative folks who even added faces to their candy corn! Jonathan was a delight, reminding me just how much I enjoy working with him. He's a pretty great felter and a superb fiber sales man. In fact, he's even got a sense of humor. When someone was adoring a blended sparkly batt in soft pastel colors, they commented that it looked like unicorns. To this he answered that it was unicorn fiber indeed, as we curry comb our flock and then make the batts from that fiber. Gotta love it! 

I had two back to back filled classes in which we made little "leapfrogs" with needle felting and wet felted flowers. Everyone had a fabulous time. We actually for the first time sold out of fibers! I felt like Macy's on Black Friday... I had people waiting, arms weighed down with fiber in our checkout lines! What a great feeling. 

So thank you fabulous Wisconsin Art teachers! Do keep felting, and share your creations with us. It's so inspiring! We look forward to seeing you next year in Fort Atkinson, WI! 

Trekking East

To another place AND another time zone this weekend! Well it wasn't far from home, but our neighbors Indiana, for their art educator's conference. Held in a suburb of Indianapolis, at a high school (great idea by the way!), we had the treat of sharing fiber with a bunch of excited Hoosier folks. 

After a three and a half hour drive, it makes you feel pretty good when you start unloading your things and teachers walk by and literally start cheering that Esther's Place is here. I mean clapping, hootin' and hollerin', and everything! What a welcome wagon. 

The day started out with my class first thing, which I really liked. We made leapfrogs and trumpet flowers to demonstrate wet and needle felting techniques. What an awesome feeling when you keep watching people trickle in and you run out of seats. I had standing room only and I think almost 30 teachers in the class. I was very pleased to have three male teachers attend. I strive to minimize the genderization that sometimes subconsciously occurs with fiber art, and having confident male teachers helps that cause out! 

The class was great but my favorite part of class is when we do introductions. I really like to get a group of people to learn about each other and find common ground that gets them sharing. In this instance, they share their name, where they teach and what ages, and I ask them to share their passion. Art teachers are artists first, and their insatiable desire to create sometimes gets pushed aside for the practical. Hearing about their passion, whether it was blacksmithing, stained glass, mixed media, etc, was inspiring. We really needed a session or social media platform just to share pictures and ideas and interact about what we do, and learn from one another (hint, hint!).  

The booth was hopping, of course, and thanks to my dear friend Amber, lots of folks were making super cute candy corns! I know there will be lots of creativity going on, because lots of fibers went home with new felters. I did enjoy seeing one gal, Kendra, who shared with us the picture of her felt rooster she created. She won a grand champion for it at the fair! How exciting to see what can happen in a year. 

The show was a great success and I now have lots of things I want to offer for art educators- resources, lesson plans, video tutorials, that I will be working on in the weeks to come. In the meantime, check out how to make the leapfrog and flowers here! 

Well, a trip isn't complete without a little fun, so we did enjoy some local sushi and I visited my favorite Indy attraction, Saddleup Saloon and Dancehall,  where I enjoyed my pastime of line-dancing with some boot-scootin' fun. I love dancing, have danced my whole life in some form or another, and dance at Saddleup near us.  It's been a great trip! 

A Vote for the Underdogs

I will admit it. I am a bandwagon fan. My brother has been a true Cubs fan, the one who through the most major sports drought in history, kept believing. Kept cheering. Kept watching. It's admirable. Really! He's got the jersey, he's got the lingo, he's genuine. 

Me, on the other hand, I just like to see the underdog get a chance. When I heard the Cubs were going on to greatness, I was kind of doubtful. But when they kept pushing forward, proving their strength and dedication, I jumped on the bandwagon full force! Why, I even learned the "Go Cubs Go" song (I'm a little ashamed that I didn't know it, but believe you me, it's etched into my memory forever now. Like it's never gonna leave. It's stuck permanently. LOL)

As I watched the team rally together, and watched the fans join in harmonic support, it was truly inspiring. In light of the current political environment of slander and negativity, the fact there was something we could all believe in together felt surreal. It felt patriotic! There was a feeling of unity as we saw the impossible becoming a reality.

And then there was that 7th game! What a nail-biter! What a victory! And we all celebrated with them. Why? Because when an underdog wins, all of us other underdogs feel a fire stir within us. I feel like I am an underdog at times. Art teachers. Farmers. Small Business Owners. Even the lowly sheep. Those who swim upstream in the river of societal culture. 

We're all underdogs. Yet watching the Cubs, I realized so many things. Deep life lessons. Teamwork. Dedication. Belief and faith. Talent. Persistence. Discipline. Passion. Here are the traits of success. The Chicago Cubs have reminded us how to dream and with all those attributes, how to dream big. Congratulations on making history! 

We celebrated their win at the Illinois Art Educator's Conference in Normal, IL . Here art teachers gathered from around the state to learn, share, inspire and engage in their passion of art education. For me, art teacher conferences are like the World Series of my year. Something I look forward to, something where we can all celebrate together what we love doing. Where we get support and a shot in the arm to keep going. Art teachers are really the best!

It was fun hanging out with all of you and getting to celebrate our victory together. And especially fun was creating and crafting with you, Cassie Stephens, another kindred spirit who loves life, fun, fiber just as much as me. She's a great resource with her art teacher blog and an awesome person to know.

So on behalf of all the underdogs of the world, we congratulate the Chicago Cubs on winning the World Series after 108 years! If this is possible, ANYTHING IS! Dream big my friends! 

Skylines and Smiles

Having a shop and being an artist can be challenging at times. But there are other moments that just blow your mind at the impact you have in the world and the lives you touch. I had a moment like this just recently that was amazing! 

Chris is a very talented artist who does needle and wet felting, making all kinds of things with a focus on felted mittens.  She came in a few months ago and told me about a project she was going to do with her staff. I suggested she nuno felt the project, a larger landscape wall hanging. She picked out a navy/gray prefelt and some pretty, vibrantly dyed merino top and she was on her way. 

Well she came in with show and tell and let me tell you, I was blown away! Her team of about 6 or 7 was skeptical at first at her creative team building activity. Several people confessed a lack of skill and creativity. She made it very approachable for them, laying out the background for them. They then designed the colors and created the sky and the river. The prefelt was cut into the buildings of the skyline and laid on top. This was then wet felted and everyone got involved in the rolling process. Laughs and smiles were shared as they bonded in this creative process. When it was unrolled for the last time and unveiled, the feeling of pride and amazement was shared by all. Chris added the stitching and dozens and dozens of hot-fix crystals to the piece. It really makes the little details pop and gives those Chicago architectural highlights definition. 

What makes this piece even more intricately involved is the fact that Chris works for a department of the USDA, in Chicago, and Esther's Place was born out of a USDA Rural Development grant back in 2016. Ten years ago we dreamed of merging the worlds of art, agriculture and education. Ten years later, fiber art has found its way into the lives and hearts of so many, and now, the staff of the USDA itself! Local wool will be decorating the walls of the USDA office in Chicago, and they are even talking about doing another project. This next project would have a more agricultural bend to it. 

How inspirational is that? There is nothing that drives a point home like being able to actually experience something for yourself. Here I got to observe it in action, and see a full circle come around. It's been ten years of hard work and dedication to the cause, but I am so thrilled be a part in change. It all begins with a sheep, some skylines and ends with smiles. 

Giving Back

I taught a brand new class this last fall at the Illinois Art Educator's Conference titled "Think Big- Fiber Art Installations". Turns out it was a big hit! We had about 20 teachers in the class and what a team-building experience it was! 

I divided the group into three. Each group had a station. They were given about 10 minutes at each station, then rotated. One station was creating the background, laying wisps of merino wool on the silk gauze background. Another station made prefelts- merino wool that is wet felted only enough to hold up as a fabric, but still fuzzy enough to attach to the base. These were to be made into circles. The last station created a large sphere of colors with fun bits of sparkles, bamboo and yarn incorporated in. 

When we got all the components made, we arranged it together on the background. The entire design, along with colors and shapes, was decided by the group on the spot. I provided expertise and supplies, the rest was them! 

Then it got messy. In a fun kind of way. Water. Soap. Bubble wrap. You can guess what happened next. Laughter ensued. Sleeves got rolled up. We rubba-dubbed and splish-splashed our way through the wet felting process of fusing the fibers to the silk fabric base. Nuno felting as it is called, it makes a splendid fabric that is lightweight yet solid. It is the technique I use for all my art wearables. This time, we were using it to make a large 4' x 7' wall hanging. 

We were so giddy from the fun and creativity, that the rolling process went by quickly. Before long, the fibers were fused and we has a wonderful piece of art. Oooos and ahhhhs were exchanged among the group. We decided such a fabulous piece could only have one purpose: to become a donation back to the organization. 

Well, as happenstance would have it, I saw the President and Vice President of IAEA a few weeks before the National Conference, and I casually mentioned that we wanted to give the piece to them. They were ecstatic, as they were looking for something really eye catching for their display and raffle at the National Art Educator's Conference. 

So how about that for the right time and place? Our art got to not only touch the 20 teachers who created it, but thousands of teachers who saw it at the NAEA conference.  A noble cause I'd say! Giving back always results in something more in return. Generosity has a way of sowing sparingly the seeds to reap a bountiful harvest! 

Acorns, acorns and more acorns!

At every show we do, we try to offer a make-and-take so people can try out felting. I have the fun challenge of coming up with easy, quick ideas... and lots of them! I strive to have a different project each year, so folks can collect the "souvenir" button of the year. It's a fun way to spread the love of felting, and everyone enjoys it. 

At the National Art Educator's Conference, we made acorns. Since it was St. Patty's Day, we made green ones the first day, using my hand blended Cheviot batts, which are full of color and sparkles. As I sat at the demo table in the first few minutes of the show opening, people began to wander over. Before long, there was a table of teachers laughing, felting and comparing notes on how stress-relieving this was. People strolling by peeked through masses to try and see what they were doing. 

What I love about art teachers is that they are always eager to try something new. They don't hold back! At other shows, lookie loo's might gaze in at the felting. I'll lure them in and ask if they want to make a cute acorn too, and there's a 50/50 chance they'll say no thank you. But here? I barely got the words "do you want to make" out of my mouth and they were nodding enthusiastically. Didn't matter what we were making, they were in. They'd elbow in to find a little space on the table and the rest would gladly scoot a little closer so they'd fit. I'd turn to help get another person started and at the other end of the table, new recruits were getting taught by "veteran" felters almost done making their first acorn. 

It's a giving spirit, and so refreshing to see. People helping people! Strangers connected by community; connected by this drive to create, to learn, to make art. What I get to see, as I am at that demo table, warms my heart and sends joy to my spirit. We laugh together, we share our stresses and the candid conversation that flows as we create together is priceless. My face hurts from all the smiling, but it's a great feeling. 

That is art; in it's truest sense,  art imparts beauty to the viewer. But when we participate in art, it beautifies us from the inside out. It brings out a smile that lights up our face. It lifts burdened shoulders and we radiate with strength. It refines our character and lets our joy shine through. 

It might be just an acorn, but I believe it is a whole lot more than that. A person leaves with more than just an acorn. They carry that transforming beauty into the world, as they paint the canvas of their life. 

Finding where you belong

Have you ever been someplace where you felt instantly at home? Where you looked around and said to yourself, these are my people? I experienced that recently at the National Art Educator's Conference at McCormick Place in Chicago, and let me tell you... it was awesome! 

We've been working with art educators since we first met a local high school teacher at a local show seven or eight years ago. She was intrigued by the needle felting, and wondered if she could do it in her classroom. She decided she would do pictorial needle felting, first having the kids pick out their photo for inspiration and then felting it on a "canvas" made of an old t-shirt! It took off, and before long, that teacher was not only felting in one class, but now in multiple schools. She and her colleagues invited me to my first Illinois Art Educator's Conference as a guest presenter in their class on needle felting. We had a booth with all our wool roving. It was a huge hit, and I began to meet some fabulously inspiring teachers from all across the state. 

As each year grew, we kept infusing more schools with the creativity of fiber and our booth became a favorite mainstay at the Illinois conference. We developed some wonderful relationships with these teachers, and I even have done some artist-in-residency programs in their schools. 

Their creative vision for fiber arts has energized me, and I knew this was a place I belonged. There was such enthusiasm, it was just contagious! So when a little bird told me nearly two years ago that the national conference was going to be in Chicago, I knew we had to be there. It was big; bigger than anything we'd done before. But as they say, "go big or go home"! 

So we sent in the application, wrote the check, crossed our fingers and sent up prayers. Yet deep in my heart, I felt we were taking a big step in the right direction. Big changes are not easy, and not without some trepidation about the unknown. Though sometimes you get a gut feeling and you just have to go with it. It's a little thing called blind faith. A lot of amazing people did amazing things this way. A lot of things in this world were changed this way. A lot of the future was forever transformed by this belief. 

So for three surreal days, I watched my dreams come to life as we met teachers from across the country! I heard stories of how fiber was transforming their art programs in places from coast to coast, and shared my skills and ideas with hundreds and hundreds of educators eager to learn. We felted acorns as a make and take and were one of the most popular booths in the vending hall! (Which is really something considering we were among the likes of Blick, Crayola and Sharpie!) 

It was energizing, invigorating, fulfilling and encouraging, and I'll be sharing more in upcoming posts. So..... am I glad to have taken the plunge? I can truly, wholeheartedly, say YES! So what ever is in your dreams but beyond your bravery, be encouraged to jump into that place of change, growth and uncertainty. You never know what awaits you!