Quilting Bee: Embroidery and Sewing for Photos & Books

There are no available registration dates at this time.

During this one-week workshop, we will explore many different sewing techniques to make new, experimental pieces. Using embroidery and other stitching techniques, including modified bookbinding techniques, we will create unique tactile surfaces on your photos, prints, and paintings. We will quilt with Tyvek and use sewing machines as well as hand-sewing techniques to stitch together paper.

We will also use the sewing machine as a mark-making tool. We will experiment with materials: dyeing Tyvek, experimenting with different kinds of papers, as well as with your photos and prints. The class will do a collaborative piece—in keeping with traditions of quilting as a group, sewing bees, and knitting enclaves all over the world. The group will determine the process and the final piece. There will be an opportunity to print you photographs on fabric to incorporate into these projects.

Students should bring:

  • Favorite tools and materials
  • Photographs
  • Interesting fabrics and papers

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Instructor: Erin Sweeney

Erin Sweeney lives and works in southern New Hampshire. She received her MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she was awarded the Elizabeth C. Roberts Prize for Graduate Book Arts.  She also has a BFA in Sculpture from the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine.

Sweeney exhibits nationally, most recently at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts and at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. In 2019, Sweeney was awarded a Ruth and James Ewing Award for Excellence in the Arts, and in 2020 was a juror for the Awards.

Additionally, Sweeney is the Coordinator of the Art Education program at Plymouth State University. She teaches Art Education and studio courses; develops curriculum, and assessment strategies, and loves to talk about teaching! She also teaches workshops at her Lovely in the Home Press and travels to teach workshops.

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