October | 2012 | Mandy Greer

See new WORKSHOP tab!

I had such a great response to my recycled fiber giant Cowl Making Workshops at last January’s ON/OFF festival — with them selling out in a few hours — I’ve decided to offer them again in Seattle at The Silver Studio (my studio), in Columbia City. And it’s finally cold enough to wear them! I’ll have tea and some brunch-like snacks, you are welcome to bring something to share. Read below the Registration to find out more about the workshops!

FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS, really!

DATES/TIMES

– Nov. 3, SAT, 2 – 5:30 pm (2 SPACES LEFT)

– Nov. 4th, SUN, 12 – 3:30pm (SOLD OUT)

COST: $20 per person, ONLY 11 SPACES PER CLASS

MORE CLASSES TO COME LATE NOV / EARLY DEC

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TO REGISTER:

-Choose below the day you want and click the corresponding PayPal button

-Be sure to include your contact email address and name in the “note to merchant” box if different than the email you use for Paypal, so I can send you class confirmation, material list, where to buy them, and the studio address. If you don’t see the box, send me an email with it.

– If the class you want fills up, please email me your desired day and I will put you on the waiting list and/or notify when I hold another series of workshops.

– 48 hours before your class, workshop fee is non-refundable, but can be transferred to another person.

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NOV. 3, SAT, 2 – 5:30 pm

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NOV. 4, SUN, 12 – 3:30pm (SOLD OUT)

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The Cowl Making workshop comes out of a a project called “Gleaning, Redeeming, Surviving and Thriving”, where I’ll be facilitating for workshop participants the process of taking discarded cheap materials, investing them with one’s time and creating an amazing wearable piece.

We’ll be investigating slow process, re-thinking use, and re-examining self-esteem via self-sufficiency rather than purchasing power.

You’ll be gathering your own materials, engaging with a site of contemporary gleaning: the bins at the Goodwill Outlet.“ The Bins” are an overwhelming striking visual scene of our contemporary way of life of intense consumption, of using goods for a very short time, discarding them before they are worn out, and the massive amount of energy spent on just what to do with this constant flow of fabric.

Our cultural critics today tell us we have moved from being people who can produce to people who only consume. During the course of this project, step back and examine this, examine the art of ‘gleaning’ and slowly making something from the leftovers of our over-buying and over-production. Participants are asked to spend an afternoon at “The Bins” before attending the workshop, picking through the mountains of discarded fabrics, choosing about 5-8 garments made of ‘t-shirt’ knit material.

Using handmade looms that are adaptations of a childhood craft called spool knitting — rake looms from Germany date back to 1535 – I’ll be leading participants through the gleaning process to creating ‘yarn’ to creating a dramatic handmade wearable work, a giant cowl scarf.

This workshop is an homage to the anonymous gleaners and artisans who continually make amazing things from the discards of our throw-away culture.

Despite the transition away from the slow process of harvesting, hand spinning, hand weaving and hand-sewing of cottage industry textile making to the mass produced textiles that so marked the age of the Industrial Revolution, a long-surviving culture of inventive hand-making of usable goods continued, particularly among the textile workers of these massive mechanized factories. To survive, to cloth their own family, warm their own floors, to have pride in their own resourceful creativity, these workers gleaned the wool scraps and selvedge edges, the cigar wrappers, the broken buttons, the extra thread, the used burlap bags, to create remarkable works of art.