WORKSHOPS

2020    I have retired from teaching.  Quiltmaking continues and I hope to share my process and discoveries here on the blog.  Thanks for checking in....pam



Quilt Study Workshops---from the Liberated School of Design

The quilt study workshop is about process and creativity. I facilitate the classroom atmosphere to promote independence and discovery.  Learning is enhanced when we are engaged and enjoying the task at hand. The workshop format includes a lecture and "trunk show" sample of quilts to introduce the focus of the session. Technical demonstrations are conducted individually and in small groups. A student "show and tell" will often close the class to allow student's to consider doing more of what works for them. Questions are happily answered before you schedule a workshop, or before you register for one.

"Crayons" in process

Note to Students: Adventurous quilters from beginners to advanced students will be comfortable in these workshops. Students work at their own pace. Our aim is to relax, explore, have fun and indulge our love of quilting. The quilts in the photos are samples to illustrate the theme, not a project you will sew.  No patterns are used. You will generate your own ideas and make original quilts. You will learn how to: work without a pattern; develop improvisation--meaning you will start from the familiar, experiment with making parts and arranging the parts in a design that pleases you; consider sources of inspiration and next steps in your growth as a quiltmaker. I have studied and taught with Gwen Marston, and I borrow from her Liberated approach to quilt making. I like to say I am from the Liberated School of Design! 

SAVE THE DATE! 

2019 

Join me at the 10th Annual Spring Needle Art Seminar at the GRAND HOTEL  Mackinac Island, Michigan  May 5-10, 2019...registration opens December 3, 2018
details here   CLASS DISMISSED.  The Grand Hotel really is grand. Do treat yourself to a Needle Art Seminar!!!!

OCTOBER 7-11 QUILTS : PIECING ABSTRACTION Madeline Island School of the Arts
details here


2020

RETIREMENT ---  Perhaps I should say that I am retiring to the sewing room for discovery and reinvention along this liberated path.  




                                           -----IMPROVISATION IN CLOTH------


STUDIO HAND QUILTING

Hand quilting offers a look at the handwork of the artist. It sculpts the quilt top enhancing the visual and textural presentation of the quilt. Improvisation is key to successful design and developing your style in stitches. 

The whole cloth quilt offers the perfect format to explore stitching and design. It provides space for wandering lines and ease of quilting with no seams to cross. 

A QUILTER'S MARK MAKING STUDY

Mark making quilts explore and suggest a style of abstract quilts. Think of improvisational piecing and appliqué as invitation to add marks and repetition to your quilt creating visual interest and movement. Consider lines, squares, triangles and circles as the vocabulary of mark making. Little pieces and parts coming out of nowhere, seemingly going nowhere. The very curiosity of it interests the maker and the viewer. 

optional resource:  Minimal Quiltmaking by Gwen Marston, AQS Publishing 2014

SMALL STUDY SERIES

An immersion in design. Explore color, line and technique through a series of small quilt studies. Grow as a quiltmaker and artist. Small studies offer a good challenge, allow ideas to develop and improvisation to flourish.

ABSTRACT DESIGN IN QUILTS

Improvise on tradition and consider the trusted square, medallion, log cabin, strings and dare I say "sew" on. Amish quilts were first to enthrall the arts community followed by the quilts of Gees Bend. Then we can travel around the globe for inspiration. We have a long and rich tradition to inspire us!

   

MINIMALIST DESIGN

Explore enough. Create your interpretation of minimalism in quiltmaking. Crisp, clean, spacious design. Restful and exciting, spare yet expansive, complete. There is good challenge in the process of designing simplicity.

"Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication." ____attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

optional resource: Minimal Quiltmaking by Gwen Marston, AQS Publishing 2014

                              ------------------------------------------------------------


overheard = comments from students about my workshops  

"I've taken classes with many nationally known teachers and I have really enjoyed this class"... "I thought this would be my last quilting class, but you have opened my eyes to another way of making a quilt and I'm excited again"..."This class was so much fun"..."I was way out of my box and loved it"..."You and Gwen were seamless"..."My quilt took on a life of it's own"..."It's exciting to have the ability to innovate--truly a liberation"... and, "I gained so much more confidence"



*previous engagements---Madeline Island School of the Arts; Teamed with Gwen Marston; American Quilter's Society; Woodland Ridge Retreat; Annual Needle Art Seminar at the Grand Hotel; Bonifas Arts Center

Workshop Fees

 plus travel/lodging expenses

Details to be determined when we talk
*limited engagements by design

Contact

Pam Beal

pambealartquilts@gmail.com