During a workshop presented jointly with the SA Handweavers Guild, Sharpee will introduce Diamond Rag weaving --  an Ikat-like effect achieved by the carefully planned use of repeating weft colors. In its simplest form, the method yields strong diagonals in the finished piece. The effect is usually associated with more complex looms or more labor-intensive techniques; however this workshop will show how it can be accomplished with only two shafts and some arithmetic. There are countless variations on the technique making it a useful tool to incorporate into one’s weaving repertoire. Students will weave placemat-sized examples of their own or computer generated designs, creating a series of unique samples that function as useful items.

DEB SHARPEE is a rug weaver who has taught workshops in the techniques of rag weaving throughout the U.S., as well as at local and international conferences. Her articles on the subject have appeared in Weavers, Handwoven and The Crafts Report.

Focusing on book binding methods practiced in Egypt during the seventh to eleventh century, Leino's workshop will help students to construct a book with laminated papyrus boards covered in elaborately worked leather. Blind tooling, punching, piercing, lacing and stitching will be choices for embellishment. A peg and loop closure will be fashioned from brass and leather. The range of textures, scent of material, handwork techniques and the feel and weight of the completed book are what makes this book particularly pleasing.

SHANNA LEINO integrates historic binding methods with new book forms; at the moment, her focus is on small books with covers of carved bone. She also produces simple hand tools for binders and craftspeople. Shanna has taught workshops for the Garage Annex School for Book Arts, Wells Book Arts Summer Institute, The Center for Book Arts and Penland School of Crafts.

In addition to her public demonstrations of ta moko and her artist’s talk, Kipa will also present a Special Class -- Tapu & Noa: Practical Design.  In Maori society the concept of duality structures every level of cultural belief; the balance between equal and opposite forces.  This workshop examines how elements of Maori design adhere to this concept.

During her residency, Kipa will be available to give school workshops for middle school and high school students to examine Polynesian design elements, specifically tattoo designs, through painting and printmaking. 

Julie Kipa is an active painter, ta moko (tattoo) artist, multi-media installation artist, designer and writer in her native New Zealand. 

Moore leads a hands-on workshop to share techniques and methods for altering and assembling wheelthrown and handbuilt parts to construct utilitarian based pieces.  Moore will discuss the benefits of making one's own tools, as well as his methods of speed drying to aid the alteration process, glaze applications, firing methods and post-firing sandblasting.  Throughout this workshop, participants will be challenged in their construction skills, form design, and their concepts of utility.

ROBERT ‘BOOMER’ MOORE holds his BA from Montana State University, Bozeman and his MFA from Utah State University, Logan.  He is currently an instructor and Ceramic Technician at Ohio University, Athens.  His recent workshops include The St. Petersburg Clay Company, FL; Texas Tech University, TX; Wesleyan University, DL; and NCECA Pre-Conference in 2005.

DeBanks will engage students in designing elegant forms from materials found as close as a local food store. Her focus will be on creating sculptural forms using layered techniques in a wide variety of commonly-found media — toothpicks, matchsticks, bamboo skewers, twigs, thread — and unique materials, such as hog gut. These and other materials will be transformed into sophisticated forms by layering linear elements over paper and wire structures. Students will explore sculptural possibilities as well as surface pattern applications that will include stitching, burning and color.

DIANE BANKS is an Associate Professor of Art and Coordinator of Foundations at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  She received her MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University.  She has had residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and most recently at the Julia and David White Artist Colony in Costa Rica.  She is a recipient of an NEA grant in Sculpture and her work is in the collections of the Renwick and the Mint Museum, among others.

In an 3-day class, King will challenge students to explore something new in their exploration of this ancient art form  ― whether it’s color, light, texture, cutting or laying techniques. Students will work with materials such as vitreous glass, smalti or stone, either directly or indirectly.  This workshop will be repeated in May.

SONIA KING received a BFA from California College of Arts and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.  She is a founding member and Past-President of the Society of American Artists. King is an instructor in mosaics at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas, teaches advanced classes internationally, and authored of Mosaic Techniques and Traditions.

Through demonstrations, slide lectures and group discussion, this 3-day workshop focuses on basic wheel forming skills such as: throwing forms based on the cylinder, bowl and plate; lids, handles, spouts and trimming; altered forms and inverted throwing; gesture; and giving attention to the ‘skin’ of the pot.  This workshop will help the student to discover strategies for finding unique articulated pottery forms.

ROBERT BEDE CLARK holds a MFA from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a BA from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL.  He has taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia since 1992.  His work was included in the 2007 NCECA Clay National Biennial Exhibition and is also in the collection of Ichon World Ceramic Center, Korea; the Taipei County Yingko Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; and the Tainan National College of the Arts, Taiwan, among numerous others.

Kieffer will lead a workshop that focuses on utilizing wheelthrown parts in building forms (flower vessels, teapots, boxes, cups and more) that are then enhanced with surface detail.  The integration of ornamentation with these defined forms completes a detailed yet functional piece.  Demonstrations include throwing, altering and building off the wheel, darting, slip-decorating, stamp-making and stamping.  The group will discuss aesthetics and proportion, timing in clay, idea-generation and progressing one’s own work with learned techniques. 

KRISTEN KIEFFER holds a MFA from Ohio University, Athens, a BFA from NYSCC at Alfred University, NY and an Associate Art Degree from Montgomery College, MD.  She is a Ceramic Instructor at Worcester Center for Crafts, MA and has been a Studio Potter in Baldwinville, MA since 2003.  Recent workshops and lectures have included those at the Peters Valley Craft Center, Rhode Island School of Design, Sierra Nevada College, University of Wisconsin-OshKosh and University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

At a weekend workshop, even novice printmakers will learn how to create a two-block color linoleum-cut print.  Working in an 8-by-10 inch design format, Montoya will demonstrate safe and proper use of tools, specific carving techniques, proper inking methods, and registration of the linoleum-block. Montoya will talk about this relief print process and present visual examples.  Each student will pull a small edition of 5 to 10 prints.

EMMANUEL MONTOYA is a native Texan, now residing in Oakland, CA. He holds a MFA in printmaking from San Francisco State University. Montoya teaches at colleges, public schools and community art centers throughout the Bay Area. He was a SSAC Guest Artist in 2003, working with teens.

Visiting artist Bailey will lead a collaborative print project,  creating prints about family and future. Attendees  bring photos of family and ancestors, which will be incorporated into prints using color and black and white copies, and using chine collé and monotype to bring them together. Together, the group will produce an edition of three prints: one for Bailey, one for the McNay and one for the Southwest School.

RADCLIFFE BAILEY was born in 1968 in New Jersey and now lives and works in Atlanta. He earned a BFA from Atlanta College of Art. His work is in numerous permanent collections including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Smithsonian Institution.  He seeks to understand the present by massaging the past experiences of his forebears. “Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and great-grandparents,” Bailey says, “and I feel like that’s lost in most families today. In my art I try to restore some of the lost kinship between people.”

This workshop will begin with a handsome, thin volume and explore various leather embellishments for its cover, such as blind panel stamping, cold tooling, and cuir-cisele (cut leather). After making the decorated leather covers entirely off the book, it is then sewn as a concertina, two-sections-as-one with a pocket in the middle.

BONNIE STAHLECKER uses the format of the book to tell a visual story.  She uses time periods ordered by the sequential nature of bound pages to give abstractions of thought tangible form.  Her work often contains hidden messages, layering of images, or a push towards the third dimension by utilizing the folded pop-up structures.

Working with Caballero-Perez, students will explore several techniques of surface embellishment as they design and fabricate a ring.  Decorative surface marks will be created with chasing tools and textured hammers; the flexible shaft and the gas-fueled torch will also be used as texturing devices. Students will integrate a gemstone and its setting into the comprehensive ring design using various stone setting techniques (such as surface setting, channel setting and advanced tube setting).

JUAN CARLOS CABALLERO-PEREZ, a native of Mexico City, Mexico, came to the US in 1986.  He received his MFA and BFA at Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Crafts where he is currently an Associate Professor in the Metals Department.  Caballero-Perez was winner of the 2006 NICHE Award for jewelry, and his work has been included in many publications and two recent Lark Books: 500 Bracelets, and 500 Pendants, among others.

Gallagher considers concrete an artistic medium to create sculptural and/or functional art pieces. In this workshop, students will design an object to cast from concrete or construct for ferro-cement. Techniques include the building of armatures, mould-making, casting, coloring, ferro-cement layering, polishing and finishing processes.

CHERYL GALLAGHER holds a BFA in Furniture Design from California College of the Arts.  She designs and produces furniture and mosaics, including  community mural projects, and has worked with concrete as an art medium for over 20 years.