Meet the 2008 Workshop
Instructors
Sharon Costello has been a fiber artist for twenty-four years and has been a full time, professional feltmaker since 1995. She is well known for her prize winning needle felted art dolls and felted vessels. She has studied feltmaking in the US, Turkey and Scandinavia and shares her knowledge of the craft teaching workshops through national and international conferences, fiber and doll guilds, art centers and colleges.* She also sponsors “Felters’ Fling”, a bi-annual conference that brings instructors from around the world to introduce new techniques to American feltmakers. Sharon has produced two teaching videos; one on her felt doll making techniques and one on featherweight felting methods. Her work has been featured in several books: Uniquely Felt (Storey Publishing), How We Felt, (Interweave Press), 500 Handmade Dolls (Lark Books), Needle Felt (Felt Crafts).She has written articles on feltmaking and been featured in several magazines such as Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot (Handweavers’ Guild of America), Fiber Arts, Spin-off and Felt (Interweave Press), Echoes (International Feltmakers’ Association), North American Felters’ Network, Cloth Doll Magazine, Soft Dolls and Animals Magazine, Hudson Valley Magazine, and a wide range of fiber guild and doll makers newsletters in the US and abroad. Her work has been featured in one woman and group shows from New York to California, as well as on the Home and Garden Television Network. Sharon is a member of The International Feltmakers Association, North American Feltmakers, and Original Doll Artists Council of America (ODACA). Her feltmaking business, called Black Sheep Designs, specializes in kits and supplies for needle and wet feltmaking. Sharon has a design degree from Syracuse University and an MBA from the State University of New York at Albany. Website: www.blacksheepdesigns.com
Guest Knitter ~
Aloisia Pollock owns and operates SUNSET CABINS on Damariscotta Lake, a popular summer rental place. She incorporates her love of knitting, yoga and reflexology by offering Knit and Spa Weekends. Aloisia designs knitwear with llama fiber from Hidden Acres Llama Farm in Jefferson, Finnsheep wool from Heron Crossing Farm in Whitefield and commercial yarns from Now and Zen Fiberarts in Northport, New York.
Susan Dewey owns Bee Berry Woods in Southwest Harbor, Maine. She has been knitting for over 50 years, and teaching fiber arts/knitting for 18 years. In “real life” she is an English teacher at Ellsworth High School. At the Fiber Frolic, she'll be teaching “How to Love Charts and Stop Worrying”. She says:
I am a genuine enabler. Most people know more than they think and just need to set aside the little voice saying “you're not up to it.” I have taught beginners – just learning what needles are for – up to people who are quite accomplished knitter who just want to know a particular technique. Most people are transitioning from one level to another.
Her most memorable in-class experience?
The boy in my English class who shouted “Now I don't have to rely on Walmart for scarves anymore!” Or the woman who was validated when we finally figured out how her yarn was getting so twisted – she thought she was crazy.
Debbie Bergman is the owner of Purple Fleece, a weaving, spinning, knitting, and felting shop in mid-coast, Stockton Springs, ME. She sells equipment and supplies for other fiber artists and teaches classes in all the above fiber disciplines. A self proclaimed fiberholic, she has been weaving for 23 years, spinning for 17 years, and knitting all her life.
Trina Carus has been playing with fibers and the like since she began weaving and sewing as a child. She was introduced to felting in 2003. At the time, she was living in a tent with her husband and two children, while her husband built their house. The inexpensive, compact art form, which requires no electricity, captivated her. Her love of felting continues to grow, even now, in a house with electricity.
Marianne DuBois, Arcady Designs, has been a weaver since 1985, and began felting in 1991. Introduced to needle felting in 1995, she has been exploring the design possibilities ever since. She has taught the technique to groups both large and small in Maine and on the West Coast. Marianne will be teaching "Fun With Needle Felting" and "Noodling With Nuno".
Elizabeth Stover has run Spinnakees Farm for the last 18 years with the help and support of her family. Her idea is to have have fun and let the animals pay for themselves. She raises and sells registered "Olde" Babydoll Southdown Sheep, Angora rabbits, registered Angora Goats and registered Keeshond dogs hence the name Spinn a kees. She enjoys creating small workable fun projects with her fiber to share with spinning and hooking friends. She likes natural dyes which she collects around her farm and grows in her garden (Indigo, golden rod, queen Annes Lace, etc).
Linda Whiting grew up in a creative atmosphere, always "making things", and has worked in a variety of mediums but her love of color brought her back to fiber. In addition to learning new techniques herself she most enjoys meeting new people and encouraging them to take pleasure in the fiber arts. In addition to teaching workshops designed to help people feel comfortable using color she demonstrates spinning, dyeing, and tapestry weaving at fiber events in Maine and New Hampshire and in schools, at fairs and local historical sites. She owns two sheep, enough to keep her in fiber, and lives in Denmark, Maine. www.pinestarstudio.com
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