Lectures and Seminars

Sierra Nevada Reimagined Lecture

As a California native, Ann has frequented many of the high trails of the Sierra Nevada. She has spent many more hours of her artistic life trying to imagine how to put her appreciation and understanding into cloth and stitches. The resulting body of—so far—42 large-scale quilts called The Contact, includes both geologic and historic influences on the landscape. Her compositions are both realistic and abstract, looking inside what we see through a microscope and beneath the surface of the land, imagining geologic events. Please join her to see the sources of her ideas, how they developed, and where next.

Which Came First? Lecture

Using images of her quilts over the years, Ann will discuss making design decisions and how her approach has evolved. She will describe the different kinds of starting places she has used in her recent work and explain in detail how the work changed during its creation--from inspiration to result.

Focus on Texture Lecture

There are lots of ways to organize your thinking about design. Every book has a slightly different twist on it. In this presentation, you will see how Ann thinks about the design element of actual texture in quilt design. It is a uniquely essential tool that quilters and fiber artists get to use.

She uses inspirational images paired with details of her quilts to demonstrate all the work texture can do in our quilts including these: define the background, create a line or shape, emphasize an area, create patterns, make a new layer of design, create rhythm, and unify the other elements in the design. Her quilts and descriptions illustrate actual texture, what functions it performs for us and the importance of making sure that the choices we make ultimately enhance the meaning we intend.

Hand-Dyed Fabric Explained Lecture

Ann will use slides to show and explain in detail all her fabric dyeing techniques: low-water immersion variations and many surface design processes. She will refer to the use of hand-dyed fabrics as design elements in quilts, but the emphasis will be on how the fabric was dyed. Many pieces of fabric are shown in her books, The Contact, The Quilter’s Book of Design, and Color By Design. She will answer all your questions about processes.

The Stitches Matter Lecture

It’s not done till it’s quilted. That’s Ann’s fascination with quilts. She uses her own quilts going back over 40 years to show how the quilting adds pattern, texture, dimension, and most importantly—meaning—to a quilt. This lecture explores the potential of quilting by hand as well as with domestic and longarm sewing machines. Ann will discuss the physical realities of different stitches, methods and patterns—advantages and disadvantages—that accompany them.

Pour On The Dye Seminar

Ann will demonstrate a series of low-water immersion dye techniques in front of the group. There will be samples and handouts to further explain the hows and the whys of the processes, as well as slides of her quilts using LWI. Ann will plan the seminar according to the interests of the group.

Make Your Own Mark Seminar

Starting with the basic information, Ann will demonstrate surface design techniques using thin and thickened dyes. The group will be able to see the step by step process that goes into a fabric with layered colors and patterns. There will be samples and handouts to further explain the hows and the whys of the processes, as well as slides of her quilts that use dye painting and printing processes. Ann will plan the seminar according to the interests of the group.

Monoprinting With Dye Seminar

Ann will demonstrate a variety of possibilities for printing one-of-a-kind designs directly onto fabric while the participants are watching. She will bring fabric samples and show slides of quilts that illustrate various types of monoprinting. There will be time for further discussion.

Water-Soluble Resists Seminar

Ann will explain and demonstrate how she uses water-soluble resists for some of her fabrics. She will particularly focus on the issues and approaches to mixing and using corn and potato dextrin, as well as the various results that can be achieved with them. A question and answer session will address her samples and slides.