2018 Program Archives

List of Services

A look ahead to 2019:  Priority:  Fiber Arts Education

We are pleased to introduce our new Community Service project for 2019, Priority: Fiber Arts Education , combining the importance of teaching fiber art to young students with a program to support and educate teachers in fiber arts.


As our main ongoing charitable focus, this is a long-term project and serves multiple needs. By being a nonprofit, charitable organization, we are committed to contributing to our community. Our mission states that we exist to promote Fiber Arts, its education and influence. It feels great to join our purpose and our responsibilities together in one project!


Our members contributed 9” x 12”  art pieces that were auctioned in November and December 2018. This auction raised funds for fiber art supply kits to be provided to area art educators who attend our fiber education workshops. The goal is to promote fiber art education in elementary and high schools in 2019.


We will host two weekend workshops for up to eight art educators this summer. We will hold a workshop to assemble the support kits we give to the art educators. The kits will include tools, teaching materials (instructions), a written curriculum, and materials. 


As you can see, there’s a lot of work left to do, and many opportunities to be more involved. We hope to have many ways for you to be hands-on with this project even if you weren’t able to give to the auction.

We will share additional information and dates as the program is developed.


We are glad for your encouragement and interest, and hope you will contribute your talent and time to this wonderful cause!

April Soncrant
Director, Community Service Chair

2019 Priority: Fiber Arts Education

Important Dates for Priority: Fiber Arts Education


Applications Open
April 8, 2019


Applications Deadline
Wednesday, May 15, 2019


Notification of Applicants
May 22, 2019

Workshops
Sunday, June 23, 2019
Sunday, July 14, 2019

Kit Delivery to Art Educators
At your workshop

Feedback from Art Educators
December 1, 2019

Current Project - Priority: Fiber Arts Education

Here at Dallas Area Fiber Artists, we bring together our families, friends and our community partners to volunteer and make change happen in local communities.

We are pleased to introduce our new Community Service project Priority: Fiber Arts Education combining the importance of teaching fiber art to young students with a program to support and educate teachers in fiber arts.

As our main ongoing charitable focus, this is a long-term project and serves multiple needs. By being a nonprofit, charitable organization, we are committed to contributing to our community.  Our mission states that we exist to promote Fiber Arts, its education and influence.  It feels great to join our purpose and our responsibilities together in one project!

The program Priority: Fiber Arts Education will be funded by an online auction featuring 9” x 12” mini quilts and art pieces made and donated by our members.

We ask our members to make 9” x 12” pieces of art made from fiber materials using fiber techniques. Donate as many as you like. Why 9” x 12”? We ask for this specific-sized pieces of art, so that when shown online, all items will be the same size.  This should help avoid confusion, and fit the concept of the project, Priority: Fiber Arts Education , that art will ship in a 9" x 12" Priority mail envelope to the auction winners.  

The money from the online auction will fund fiber art education and support kits for the teachers who are in the program. We will host weekend workshops for teachers next summer. Close to the end of the school year in 2019, we will hold a workshop to assemble the support kits we give to the teachers. The kits will include tools, teaching materials (instructions), a written curriculum, and materials.   

As you can see, there’s a lot of work left to do, and many opportunities to be more involved. We hope to have many ways for you to be hands-on with this project even if you aren’t able to give to the auction.
We will share additional information and dates as the program is developed.

We are glad for your encouragement and interest, and hope you will contribute your talent and time to this wonderful cause!

April Soncrant
Director, Community Service Chair

December 2018:  Auction to benefit next year's initiative, Priority:  Fiber Arts Education

Just in time for the holidays!
Our online auction featuring one-of-a-kind handcrafted art from our members is now open.

To register to bid:

1. From your web browser go to https://www.benefitbidding.com/dafa

2. Click on “Register” (found below our banner at top of page)

3. Fill-in the registration form

4. You will receive an email and a text with your verification code.  Enter

this code after you login using the username and password you setup during

registration.


To  bid on an item click on the item and then click the "BID" button.


To purchase an item at the Buy it Now price, click on the "Buy This Item Now" button.


The auction will end on December 9th at 10 p.m.


The auction proceeds will fund Priority: Fiber Arts Education our 2019 Community Service project.


Enjoy shopping and thank you for your support!

Current Project - Priority: Fiber Arts Education

Here at Dallas Area Fiber Artists, we bring together our families, friends and our community partners to volunteer and make change happen in local communities.

We are pleased to introduce our new Community Service project Priority: Fiber Arts Education combining the importance of teaching fiber art to young students with a program to support and educate teachers in fiber arts.

As our main ongoing charitable focus, this is a long-term project and serves multiple needs. By being a nonprofit, charitable organization, we are committed to contributing to our community.  Our mission states that we exist to promote Fiber Arts, its education and influence.  It feels great to join our purpose and our responsibilities together in one project!

The program Priority: Fiber Arts Education will be funded by an online auction featuring 9” x 12” mini quilts and art pieces made and donated by our members.

We ask our members to make 9” x 12” pieces of art made from fiber materials using fiber techniques. Donate as many as you like. Why 9” x 12”? We ask for this specific-sized pieces of art, so that when shown online, all items will be the same size.  This should help avoid confusion, and fit the concept of the project, Priority: Fiber Arts Education , that art will ship in a 9" x 12" Priority mail envelope to the auction winners.  

The money from the online auction will fund fiber art education and support kits for the teachers who are in the program. We will host weekend workshops for teachers next summer. Close to the end of the school year in 2019, we will hold a workshop to assemble the support kits we give to the teachers. The kits will include tools, teaching materials (instructions), a written curriculum, and materials.   

As you can see, there’s a lot of work left to do, and many opportunities to be more involved. We hope to have many ways for you to be hands-on with this project even if you aren’t able to give to the auction.
We will share additional information and dates as the program is developed.

We are glad for your encouragement and interest, and hope you will contribute your talent and time to this wonderful cause!

April Soncrant
Director, Community Service Chair

November 26, 2018:  Annual Holiday Party

October 22, 2018: Details are Divine; mini-workshop Mini Mannequins, both with Liza MacKinnon



Our October mini workshop, Mini Mannequins with Liza MacKinnon, starts at 5:30 p.m. You will have the opportunity to "dress-up" mini chip-board mannequins.  Liza will supply ephemera, accessories, mannequin bases and mixed papers all in little baskets. Participants are welcome to make as many as they like. Please bring your To Go Kit, $5 fee, your favorite tacky glue (if you have one), and any ephemera you might want to add to your pieces.

The October program, Details are Divine, features the whimsical work of Liza MacKinnon. Liza’s presentation will illustrate the journey towards her sculptural pieces.  Join us as she describes the evolution of style and form from 2 dimensional fashion designs to 3 dimensional paper dresses while extolling the spiritual virtues of tiny details.

There will be Show and Tell.

October 22nd Meeting

Our October meeting is on Monday, October 22

Our October mini workshop, Mini Mannequins with Liza MacKinnon , starts at 5:30 p.m.

The October program, Details are Divine, features the whimsical work of Liza MacKinnon , Liza’s presentation will illustrate the journey towards her sculptural pieces.


Please go to Programs and Workshops for more details.


There will be Show and Tell.


September 24, 2018
Perfect Improvisations:  How to Design and Construct Improvisational Quilts with Kerri McQueen Green
Followed by Artist Trading Card (ATC) Exchange

The September mini workshop at 5:30 will be the annual ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap which is an opportunity to obtain a small piece of fiber art from many talented members. These collectible 2.5” x 3.5” collages have mixed media techniques ranging from quilting, paper, painting to stitching.

The September 24th program starts at 6:45 p.m. and features Improvisational Quilting and the exuberant work of Kerri McQueen Green, whose quilt Fractured Fractals won Best of Show at the QGD 2017 Show.

Her presentation Perfect Improvisations: How to Design and Construct improvisational Quilts will highlight Kerri’s signature style of contemporary design. She will include her successful pattern-making techniques used to achieve precision in pieced construction, three-point corners, and construction with curves. She will also address construction challenges that many quilters face in executing their designs.

Kerri is an active member of Dallas area SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) and has shown her work nationally.

We will have Show and Tell.

All are welcome to attend.

July 23, 2018:  Mad Hatter Tea Party and Art Swap

July 23rd Meeting

No Mini Workshop in July.

July is our annual Birthday Party and Birthday Card and Art Swap!!!

Happy Birthday to us! Happy Birthday to Us!
Our birthday celebration, The Mad Hatter Tea Party starts at 6:45 p.m. Wear your favorite madly embellished hat. We'll enjoy fun decorations,  refreshments and surprises!

At the Art Swap each participant will draw for another member's art piece and the maker will share the how and why of her piece. It is the best Show and Tell of the year!

We will trade our handmade blank birthday cards. So bring your fiber art swap piece and a card you have created to the July meeting.

Membership fees are due.

June 25, 2018:  A Fiber Art and Textile Tour of Japan with Natalie Friedman & Heather Pregger; BORO! BORO! mini-workshop with Lu Peters

June 25th Meeting

Mini Workshop
The Mini Workshop starts at 6 p.m.

Lu Peters gives a BORO! BORO! demonstration that explores the ancient and artful Japanese technique of mindful mending using tattered patchwork to further extend the life of textiles.

Program
A Fiber Art and Textile Tour of Japan
Dallas Area Fiber Artists members Natalie Friedman and Heather Pregger will recount their adventures and what they have learned during their nine days in Japan.

For  more information about the June meeting, go to the Programs and Workshops page.

Silent Auction - bring your checkbooks, we will have a silent auction during the meeting.

We will have Show and Tell this month. Please bring up to two items to share.

Membership fees are due.

June 25 Member Meeting

Dallas Area Fiber Artists members, Natalie Friedman and Heather Pregger, are excited to present an account of their experiences in Tokyo and Kyoto on Craftours’ “Fiber Art and Textiles of Japan Tour.” Natalie and Heather will share photos and experiences from their trip, including the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, which is on every quilter’s bucket list.

They will present highlights from a kimono fashion show, a master doll-maker at work, and the classes they took in fan-painting, cloisonne, and kyo-yuzen kimono dyeing. They will share amusing anecdotes, such as being ambushed by sacred deer in Nara. And then there was the shopping!!! Natalie and Heather bought lots of vintage kimono silks, dobby cloth, washi paper, and more! They will have it all on display for you to see. Join us at the June meeting to enjoy their lively travelogue!

Silent Auction - bring your checkbooks, we will have a silent auction during the meeting.

We will have Show and Tell this month. Please bring up to two items to share.

Don’t forget your yearly dues are due. You can pay by check at a meeting or on the website through our PayPal account on the Join page. We do ask that you also fill in a new membership form to keep our records up to date.



Natalie Friedman 

I’ve been a mixed media artist for a long time, working with acrylics, collage, and printmaking. My career began at age 11 with a $10 sale of a picture of toys on a shelf rendered in pastels. In recent years, I have become smitten with textile art. 


As my art has developed, one element has remained a constant, and that is the process of layering. Fabrics, beads, paints, decorative papers, found objects, and whatever else tickles my artistic fancy all become layers in my work.


While living in Oklahoma City, I was affiliated with two different galleries in the historic Paseo arts district. As soon as I became a Texan, I joined Dallas Area Fiber Artists, as well as other local arts organizations.

Heather Pregger

Heather Pregger is a Fort Worth, Texas, based quilt artist. She has studied with Nancy Crow, David Hornung, Jan Meyers-Newbury, Terry Jarrard-Dimond and Carol Soderlund. 


Her work is abstract, using her own hand-dyed solid and shibori fabrics as well as commercial cottons. She has exhibited internationally, and has won awards at International Quilt Festival, AQS Quilt Week in Paducah, Visions 2014: the Sky’s the Limit and Form Not Function.  

BORO! BORO! with Lu Peters


Explore the ancient and artful Japanese technique of mindful mending using tattered patchwork to further extend the life of textiles. Lu Peters will show examples of her Boro patchwork. She invites members to bring their clothing and textiles in need of repair for brainstorming ideas for both practical and artistic solutions. No charge.

May 21, 2018:  Making Kanzashi Folded Fabric Flowers with Traci Hutton; board installation and director presentation

May 21st Meeting

Please note that due to Memorial Day, our meeting is scheduled one week earlier than usual!

We meet at 5:30 p.m. for our mini workshop, Making Kanzashi,folded fabric flowers , presented by Traci Hutton . $5. Please bring your Go-Kit with basic sewing supplies.


Our member meeting starts at 6:45 p.m. We will have a general meeting followed by our 2018-2019 Board installation and director presentation. Each Board member will give a short biographical presentation. We will then honor our special volunteers who have contributed to the success of the Dallas Area Fiber Artists.

The board will provide delicious desserts and we will serve coffee and water.

We will have Show and Tell this month. Please bring only one item to share.

Dues are due.


May 21 Member Meeting
Please note that due to Memorial Day, our meeting is scheduled one week earlier than usual!

We will have a general meeting followed by our 2018-2019 Board installation and director presentation. Each Board member will give a short biographical presentation. We will then honor our special volunteers who have contributed to the success of the Dallas Area Fiber Artists.

Your 2018-19 Board
President – Lisa Covert
Vice President – Karen Zupanic
Secretary – JoAnn May
Treasurer – Carrie Noess
Membership – Lila Warman
Community Services – April Soncrant
Exhibits – Lu Peters and Jules Rushing
Mini Workshops – Carol Kovacs
Historian – Traci Hutton
Communications – Open
Programs – Open

The board will provide delicious desserts and we will serve coffee and water.

We will have Show and Tell this month. Please bring one item to share.

Don’t forget your yearly dues are due this month. You can pay by check at a meeting or on the website through our PayPal account on the Join page. We do ask that you also fill in a new membership form to keep our records up to date.

May 21 Mini Workshop


Starts at 5: 30 p.m. Making Kanzashi, Folded Fabric Flowers . Led by Traci Hutton. Kanzashi are hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles. In the English-speaking world, the term "kanzashi" is sometimes applied to the folded cloth flowers that traditionally adorned tsumami kanzashi or to the technique used to make those flowers. Please bring your to-go kit and $5.


April 2018:  The Origins of European Handmade Lace with Judy Cogan

April Member Meeting

The Origins of European Handmade Lace
with Judy Cogan


Having grown up in New Jersey in a home built in 1723, Judy Cogan has always been interested in antiques. She developed a particular interest in handmade textiles. For the past 15 years Judy has been buying, restoring and selling antique linens, handmade lace and Edwardian clothes. New to Dallas from the Boston area, Judy had the good fortune of acquiring museum quality examples of European lace from collectors and private estates throughout New England.   Although numerous pieces have been sold over the years to dealers, collectors and designers, Judy retained samples from each European country to create this program, The Origins of European Handmade Lace.

Judy will talk about how lace is made and its spread throughout Europe. You will have an opportunity to see rare examples of handmade lace yardage, collars, berthas and shawls made with such lace as Irish Carrickmacross, English Honiton, French Chantilly, Italian Reticella and Belgium lace. Included in this beautiful program will be a discussion of techniques used, design motifs and how lace was used in fashion and in the home.

We will feature a lace and trims raffle during the general meeting.

March 26, 2018:  Escapades in Fiber closing reception and awards ceremony

March Member Meeting

We invite you to join us at our closing reception and awards ceremony for Escapades in Fiber on Monday, March 26 at 6:45 p.m. at
The Point Center for Arts and Education
Campus of C.C. Young Retirement Community
4847 W. Lawther Dr.
Dallas, TX 75214

No Mini-workshop in March.

2018 Escapades in Fiber

Our annual show, Escapades in Fiber in March was a big success due to the strong fiber art entered by our members, the impressive work by juror Peggy Epner and all the show volunteers who contributed efforts to make this exhibit happen.

Our award winners and entrants are in a gallery on the Shows page.



February 26, 2018:  Lyn Belisle presents Shards and Mirrors: Life Is Just One Big Mixed Media Collage, and the mini-workshop Enduring Kimono:  An Origami Interpretation

February 26th Meeting

We meet at 5:30 p.m. for our mini workshop, The Enduring Kimono: An Origami Interpretation Mini- Workshop , presented by Lyn Belisle. $5.


Our member meeting starts at 6:45 p.m. and features a Japanese Needle Ceremony and a program by Lyn Belisle, Shards and Mirrors: Life is Just One Big Mixed Media Collage. We will accept entries for our annual show. Please see Programs and Workshops page or email   prgms@dallasfiberartists.org for more details.


Shards and Mirrors: Life Is Just One Big Mixed Media Collage

About Lyn Belisle:


Spirit dolls, earthenware assemblage, beeswax, photography and fiber are just some of the ingredients in Lyn Belisle’s collage of life. Trained as a studio artist at Trinity University in the 1960s, Lyn’s path took her into art education for at-risk teenagers for 35 years. During that time, she established a reputation as an outstanding teacher (she was a finalist of Texas State Teacher of the Year in 2000) and as a Fine Art Collagist with her large-scale origami kimonos and her acrylic paintings on paper which were exhibited nationwide. 


She retired from public school in 2003 to join the Computer Science faculty at her alma mater, Trinity University, and taught Essential Information Technology for 12 years, sneaking in art and design at every opportunity. In 2013, she established the Lyn Belisle Studio in San Antonio, where she designed and taught over 100 sold-out workshops on topics such as Indigo and Rust dyeing, Wax and Tissue Collage, The Magic of Spirit Dolls, Lotus Book Construction, Altered Photography Transfers on Fiber, Abstract Painting for Beginners and Shaman Cat Assemblage. 


Lyn is the author of two popular ebooks, one on encaustic collage and the other on creating mixed media talismans. She has written two articles for the magazine Cloth Paper Scissors and has made six mixed media DVDs for Artful Gathering. Lyn has taught mixed media workshops in Washington State, Boston, Santa Fe and Colorado. She is on the board of San Antonio Fiber Artists and is the President of the San Antonio Art League. Her favorite book is Steal Like an Artist .


She invites you to take a look at her work so you can find lots of ideas to steal and make your own. Visit her website at  www.lynbelisle.com or reach her via email at lyn@lynbelisle.com .

February Mini-workshop

Our next mini-workshop is planned for February 26, 2018 . The start time is 5:30 p.m. We charge a materials fee of $5, with exact change encouraged and appreciated. We encourage you to bring your Mini-workshop To-Go Kit just in case there is something you may need. 


Lyn Belisle, our speaker for the evening, will lead the mini-workshop around the theme “The Enduring Kimono: An Origami Interpretation.”


We will accept entries to the 2018 Escapades in Fiber annual show at the meeting.

January 22, 2018:  Mixed Media Madness! (Tree edition)

The 2018 MMM is scheduled at 6:00 p.m. on January 22, 2018, and is themed around “trees.”


We will have a brief general meeting at 6:00 p.m., and our main event starts at 6:30 p.m. with three different stations on a time rotation. The three projects are making a tree with wool bands and balls, making a music paper tree, and painting and binding tree branches to create original art pieces. Our instructors are JoAnn May, Donna Joy and Traci Hutton. 


The kit fee for the entire evening is $10. Exact change is encouraged and appreciated. If you plan to participate and partake in the projects, please RSVP to Traci Hutton, Mini-Workshops at miniworkshops@dallasfiberartists.org , so we can plan accordingly. 


This would be a great opportunity to invite a friend who you think would love to be a part of this creative group. 

2018 Annual Workshop

Creative Mixed Media Collage and Composition Techniques

Lyn Belisle has taught her signature workshop from Provincetown to Santa Fe with much acclaim. This two-phase workshop takes a lively approach to exploring and mastering composition through layering and image manipulation using her hugely successful AB3 System of composition as a springboard for ideas in mixed media, including fiber, encaustic work and photo collage.

The first phase allows participants to envision several “right answers” to each composition while creating journal-like collage studies. The second phase brings these simple composition-mastery exercises into the photo-collage process. This is done through manipulating and arranging photographs; veiling them with beeswax and encaustic medium; layering, and then scraping and applying translucent surface treatments to produce a fail-proof, viewer-engaging encaustic work.

Participants can complete at least one piece. The ideas developed in this workshop work for any medium and provide a formula for success from the very beginning of a piece.

Duration: 2½–3 hours

Materials provided by Lyn at a fee of $10 per student include:

• Non-copyright images, ephemeral scraps and partial images
• Collage paper, fiber and tissue
• Substrate: archival mat board, watercolor and drawing papers, and Bristol board
• Glue sticks
• White tempera and acrylic paints
• Prismacolor and graphite pencils
• 1" flat paint brushes
• Tsukineko walnut ink
• Small stencils, rubber stamps, natural stamps
• Stamping ink
• Mats for isolating compositional elements
• White (clear) beeswax
• Metal leaf and book foil, optional: pigment sticks, wax metallic finish
• Incising tool
• Scissors
• Hake brushes
• Equipment for melting beeswax
 

Creative Mixed Media Collage and Composition Techniques
with Lyn Belisle

Thank you, Lyn, for one of the best workshops we have attended!

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