Teaching and sewing
This year has been a whirlwind of teaching! It has been such an incredible experience. As an Adjunct Professor I have been teaching both 2D Design and Basic Drawing courses. With the drawing course, it has been an incredible seeing how my students have been developing and building their drawing abilities. My 2D Design students have recently created amazing repeating patterns that are well crafted and really show what they have learned over the semester (Shapes, placement, repetition, color, craft, etc). It has been an incredible opportunity to share my love of what art can do or be in someone’s life.
When I am not in the classroom, I am usually sewing these days. Along with teaching at California State University, Chico, I have been giving garment construction classes at a local Quilt Shop, Honey Run Quilters. These ladies have been an incredible group to work with! I love having the contrast of the younger students wanting to start their careers and women who have had these and are ready for another challenge.
I also love that most of my sewing students are retired teachers and this gives a unique kinship with them. I have focused on creating garments that are made from patterns that they can sew. I am able to teach others how to construct these and give my own helpful hints. Below are some of the clothes that I have created. I will go into further posts with some helpful sewing tips.
I will also start a new newsletter that is full of sewing garment tips. On my future projects I will be sharing photos of what I do as part of the fitting process. For my garment classes, I focus on cutting, measuring and adjusting your patterns to achieve the perfect fit for your specific body shapes. I love this part of sewing and my goal is to have my students try this out with their own projects. As an artist, it is easier for me to experiment with different ways of constructing. It doesn’t scare me to try something that the pattern doesn’t show. Sewing garments connects me with women through history. This act of creating has a tradition and currently I am coming up with ways of bringing this into my artistic practice.
