Workshops :: Instructors 2004
Who was here in 2004? Lots of names you'll recognize! See this year's instructors.
Gibsons Landing Fibre Arts Festival guests have enjoyed meeting instructors from the Sunshine Coast, Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and further afield.
Names are listed below in alphabetical order, by surname. Workshop codes are linked in parentheses at the end of each bio.
See past instructors: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003; 2002; 2001 & earlier.
Kris Abshire
Workshops: 2004-9, 2004-10
Kris has lived and worked in Alaska 35 years, increasingly pursuing
her creative muse during the past 20 years, as a self-taught weaver and
surface design fiber artist. Inspiration for her work comes from many
years of venturing into Alaska's wilderness, and from the wildlife and
seasonal colours and textures surrounding her studio in the magnificent
Matanuska Valley.
Rosalind Aylmer
Workshops: 2004-6, 2004-27
Rosalind has taught the advanced-level Textiles Program at Capilano
College and has presented many workshops throughout the Pacific
Northwest, including Convergence 2002. Rosalind is a member of the
Vancouver Guild of Fabric Arts and her works have been shown in
galleries throughout British Columbia such as the Crafthouse on
Granville Island.
Keith Burdon
Workshops: 2004-32,
2004-33
Keith has been a
carver for over ten years and loves sharing his gift with others. His
colourfully painted pieces show a great sense of humour and reflect
images from a life lived by the sea. He currently operates the Redfish
Studio in Sechelt B.C., where he creates his one of a kind sculptures
and furniture.
Joan Carrigan
Workshops: 2004-1
Joan discovered basketry in 1991 and has since studied with numerous
outstanding basketmakers, acquiring a broad based knowledge of basketry
techniques and materials. She teaches extensively, exhibits in
international juried shows and is a recipient of a Handweavers Guild of
America Award.
Donna Cochran
Workshops: 2004-2
Donna's passion for basketry evolved over twenty years of international
development work throughout Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
Since 1995, she has been exploring traditional and contemporary basketry
techniques, teaching workshops, and exhibiting. She is a founding member
of the Salt Spring Basketry Guild.
Dianne Cross
Workshops: 2004-28
Dianne has been spinning for 30 years and has a Master Spinner
Certificate from Olds College. She has taught numerous workshops on all
aspects of spinning throughout B.C., the U.S. and the Yukon. A recent
interest of hers is traditional rug hooking using handspun yarns
featured in this year's Festival.
Margie Davidson
Workshops: 2004-24, 2004-25
Margie first made a quilt to wrap around her newborn daughter. 18
Years later, she has a quilt in every room of her home, teaches in an
Edmonton quilt shop and travels to teach for quilt guilds in Western
Canada. Currently, Margie's projects include painting, discharging and
dying cloth to include in her art quilts, she sells in art galleries and
has displayed at Quilt Canada and the CQA/ACC National Juried Show.
Pam Godderis
Workshops: 2004-19
Pam is a fibre artist
known throughout North America. Pam works as a fibre artist exhibiting,
teaching, lecturing, judging, jurying and doing commission work. She has
authored two books, numerous articles and correspondence classes. She
strives to unlock the creative potential of all her students with a
sense of humour and calm professionalism.
Ellen Hamilton
Workshops: 2004-11, 2004-12
Ellen was introduced to a spinning wheel in the early 1970's, and
from there has made a personal journey researching many ideas and
techniques concerning fibres and textiles. She has attended many
workshops and conferences. Her interests include spinning, dyeing,
weaving, felting, basketry, kumihimo, shibori, bokashi and passementarie.
Linda Hancock
Workshops: 2004-26
Linda is a regular instructor at retreats, Quilting Festivals and
quilting stores throughout B.C. She brings her enthusiasm and humour to
all the classes she teaches. She has been an avid sewer all her life and
honed her skills by becoming a MacPhee instructor in Vernon. She travels
the province as a textile representative and has melded her newfound
interest in quilting with her flare for Fabric Art.
Wendy Henderson
Workshops:
2004-14, 2004-15
Wendy Henderson
designs and knits garments that highlight her interests in colour and
fine-finishing details. She is a published designer and has won awards
for her work. Wendy teaches at both the Okanagan and Island Knitting
Retreats, where she endeavours to inspire all knitters to try new
techniques and challenges with no "knitting police" in sight!
Lucinda Hepting
Workshops: 2004-29
Lucinda began her formal training in fashion and design attending
Lydia Lawrence Fashion Inst. then apprenticing for Helen Lefeaux
Couturiere. She began traditional rug hooking 14 years ago with Beatrice
Day and has won several awards for her work in many shows and exhibits.
Her rug "Angelic Vision" was chosen to be in Celebration of
Hand Hooked Rugs VII 1998. She is a member of the Dogwood Traditional
Rug Hookers of Nanoose and teaches in the area.
Les Józsa
Workshops: 2004-31
Les has been drawing and
painting all his life, and discovered the medium of wood in his mature
years. His woodcarvings range from small decorative wall hangings to
water fountains and monumental garden gates. Much of his work reflects
the folk art traditions of his native Hungary. He is a recognized expert
on wood, having published over 150 scientific papers, technical reports
and articles.
Gary Kelly
Workshops: 2004-34,
2004-35, 2004-36
Gary is a self-taught
wood turner. He has been hooked on turning wood since purchasing his
first lathe in 1980. His work, which ranges from tiny miniatures to
architectural columns nine feet tall, has found its way as far as Europe
and South America. He enjoys working with the local high school
woodworking students in his hometown of Gibsons, B.C.
Alison Kobylnyk
Workshops: 2004-18
Alison has lived on the West Coast for over 30 years and her art
depicts a true love of the natural wonders of B.C. She has won several
awards for her works and has been awarded scholarships and bursaries to
continue her studies. She has had numerous exhibitions and given many
hands on demonstrations. Alison is Chair for the fibre arts group
Uncommon Threads.
Eric Langley
Workshops: 2004-4
Eric has over 25 years experience working with traditional wax-resist
batik combined with studies in design, fashion and diverse cultural
experiences from his 20 years in the Foreign Service. He is now a
resident on the Sunshine Coast. His wall hangings & wearable art
have been shown in Galleries and in fashion events in Canada & the
U.S.
Marg Marlow
Workshops: 2004-22
Marg is an accomplished quilter and embroiderer who uses her sewing
machine like an extension of herself. She has sewn all her life and
opened a fabric store in Squamish in 1982. As she taught her customers
to sew and quilt, she discovered free motion quilting and free motion
embroidery. Her specialized techniques include trapunto, stippling,
embroidery, and lace making...all on the sewing machine!
Kristin Miller
Workshops: 2004-23
Kristin has quilted for 29 years and still can't follow a pattern!
She sews without measuring, pre-planning, or copying, using
"decide-as-you-sew" methods explained in her book, "The
Careless Quilter." Kristin makes dazzling medallion quilts,
free-form patchwork spirals, richly textured 3-D landscapes, and
abstract art quilts. Her workshops are lively, unpredictable, and fun.
Shan Melzak
Workshops: 2004-3
Shan has been weaving since 1970 and making baskets for about 15
years. She started working with fine metal wires in 1995 developing her
own adaptations of classical basketry techniques to produce unique
miniatures and jewellery.
Ellen Munro
Workshops: 2004-7, 2004-8
Ellen is a Master Spinner, from Edson, Alberta. She was in the first
group to complete the six level program at Olds College in 1990. Her
in-depth study entailed four types of chemical dyes using six handspun
yarns. Using only the primary red, blue and yellow she obtained over 100
colours. She teaches the level one spinning at Olds College during fibre
week in July, and did two workshops at the HWSDA, 2003.
Fran Nadeau
Workshops: 2004-5
Fran studied basketry
and chair caning in England in the early 1990's. Her passion for caning
inspired her to start a business called U-Neek Chairs, which grew to
service a widespread clientele and several ongoing contracts with
furniture refinishing companies. She now works from Victoria, British
Columbia, surrounded by her collection of over seventy-five antique
chairs gathered in the United Kingdom and Ontario.
Gibsons Quilters
Workshops: 2004-21
A fun loving group of quilters having many years of experience who
meet regularly to share and perfect their skills, be stimulated and
enjoy the creativity of fabric. This group is known for its
prize-winning quilts. We invite you to come and explore your hidden
talents, share a laugh and take home a new skill.
Dan Richter
Workshops: 2004-37
Dan has been hand
making custom guitars and other stringed instruments for nine years. He
uses his own unique designs, incorporating a wide variety of exotic
woods and inlays. The inlay decoration is where he feels he can truly be
artistic and "paint" with wood, shell or metal. Dan currently
works from his studio, Dragonfly Instruments, on the Sunshine Coast.
Carola Russell
Workshops: 2004-17
Carola has been
an avid Independent Canadian Sewing Educator for nineteen years and is
well liked for her patient teaching style. She travels extensively
across the U. S. and Canada teaching and sharing her knowledge at sewing
shows, workshops and retreats. Several of her projects have been
featured in magazines including Creative Machine Embroidery, and Threads
Magazine, and when you see the samples she brings to her classes, you'll
know why!
Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers
Workshops: 2004-30
The Guild abounds with talented spinners willing to share their
expertise and enthusiasm using state-of-the-art spinning wheels to
ancient drop spindles to give you an opportunity to explore this ancient
art of making yarn.
Catherine Thomson
Workshops: 2004-16
Catherine is an international award-winning lace knitwear designer.
Her work has been exhibited around the world. She works in fine natural
fibres such as cotton, silk and hemp as well as wool. She also designs
casual infant-toddler knitwear.
Ann Vicente
Workshops: 2004-20
Ann is a Vancouver based paper and book artist who has been showing
and selling her work throughout Canada and the US for more than 10
years. Ann says, "Art has contributed greatly to the quality of my
life and I delight in being able to make and share my art with
others."
Pamela Westhaver
Workshops: 2004-20
Pam has studied art in various forms over the past 20 years,
discovering papermaking in 1984 while at Emily Carr College of Art and
Design. This was the start of her very successful business of
"Pam's Papers", which she ran for 12 years. Her art works and
books have been exhibited across Canada and the US.
Sharon Wickstrom
Workshops: 2004-13
Having taught numerous courses in spinning, weaving dyeing, sewing,
lacemaking and felting Sharon feels right at home in the classroom.
Whether at the workshop level, college night school programs, or in her
home / store / studio called Homespun Haven, students enjoy both her
teaching skills and her enthusiasm for textiles.