Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop Make a Joyful Noise - offered twice.

Lonnie Holley

$75 includes 15 lab fee

October 20 or 22 - Class Limit 12

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Holley’s need to create borders on the compulsive. He sketches faces on napkins in restaurants, pastes together collages in notebooks while riding from one show to the next. — Mark Binelli, New York Times.

Lonnie Holley is a man constantly transforming the world around him. As an artist he sees potential in every object. And as he works he explains the meanings behind what he is doing in a monologue that is part music, part performance art, and part pure inspiration.

This will not be a workshop in the traditional sense with technical instruction and projects. Rather it is an opportunity to spend time  working and creating beside one of the most imaginative artists of the twentieth century.

Lonnie Holley’s works are in the collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and many others.

This workshop is offered twice. Lonnie Holley joins us from Alabama, USA.

Instructor Bio

Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950, in Birmingham, Alabama. Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, out of hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley’s sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African-American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop Gee’s Bend Quilting - offered twice

Gee’s Bend Quilters

$295 includes 25 lab fee

October 19, 20, or 21, 22  - Class Limit 16

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Working beside the quilters of Gee’s Bend is an experience not soon forgotten. 

For well over a century, quilters living in the isolated community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, have created handmade pieced quilts using available fabrics. The distinctive designs gained national and then international recognition for their bold geometry and creative spirit. Despite world attention, most of the women continue to make their quilts by hand in the same way they always have.

This is an opportunity to thread a needle beside some of the most remarkable artisans working in quilts today. Join in as the quilters of Gee’s Bend share stories of their community and their approach to quilting and life.

About the Quilters of Gees Bend

The Gee’s Bend Quilters are a group of artisans living in the isolated area of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The quilting tradition in Gee’s Bend goes back to the 19th century, when the community was the site of a cotton plantation owned by Joseph Gee. The quilts came to wider attention when they were spotted by Matt Arnett as he was documenting African-American art with his father William Arnett. The Arnetts have produced several volumes and a documentary film featuring the quilts and their makers.

The quilts have been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. The Whitney venue, in particular, brought a great deal of art-world attention to the work, starting with Michael Kimmelman’s review in the New York Times which called the quilts “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced” and went on to describe them as a version of Matisse and Klee arising in the rural South. 

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop Natural Dyes

Charllotte Kwon

$495 includes 120 lab fee

October 19, 20, 21, 22,  - Class Limit 16

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

What magic does the dyer use to coax colour from nature? Throughout the world this knowledge was guarded carefully, and learning the art often involved elaborate ceremonies and traditions. To this day, natural dyeing retains the same air of mystery and exotic intrigue that has compelled artists and craftspeople for centuries. 

Charllotte Kwon’s passionate study of natural dyeing techniques has led her to visit and work with cultures around the world. In this workshop she shares her vast knowledge of natural dye history and use. In addition Charllotte offers insight into her own in-studio processes and demonstrates how to get the most from a range of dyes and fabrics. The student will obtain a good technical understanding of the mordanting processes and the varied uses of such dyes as indigo, cochineal, madder, fustic, and many others. Gorgeous Turkey reds, indigo blues, and Indian yellows are just a few of the colours achieved as students work on cotton, silks, wools, and linen.

The full spectrum of more than 80 rich colours dyed in class will form a source book for each student. These books are a great inspiration and reference for years to come. Students will also complete several natural-dye projects. A variety of shibori techniques will be used and then dyed with natural indigo.

This is a practical workshop with many vats and some lifting. As we like to put it: if you can get your suitcase on an international flight—you should be fine.

Instructor Bio

Charllotte Kwon is the owner of Maiwa Handprints Ltd. and the director of the Maiwa Foundation. Through Maiwa, Charllotte also runs a textile archive and research library located on Granville Island. Under her direction Maiwa has produced four documentary films and a number of print publications. She also guides Maiwa’s substantial web presence.

Charllotte travels extensively each year to research handcraft and to supplement her natural-dye research. Always looking to extend natural dye use, she also teaches dyeing workshops with artisans around the world and has planned a series of natural dye master classes to bring exceptional practising artisans together.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: The Creative Studio - offered twice

Natalie Grambow

$295 includes 65 lab fee

October 16, 17, 18,  

or 23, 24, 25 - Class Limit 14

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

This workshop is one of our most inspiring and creative, so much so that we have students who have taken it more than once. Students come to answer the question: How can creativity be tapped, mined, or made to flow when we need it most? In this original workshop, students will travel on an exploratory adventure, discovering techniques and letting go of assumptions that may hold them back.

The class will provide a wealth of images, sounds, and sensory inspirations. These will be combined with a variety of studies exploring the elements and principles of creative design. Such ideas as balance, symmetry, harmony, contrast, and unity will provide a toolbox that may be opened to understand both what we like about an artwork and what we want to work toward in our own work.

Using collage, image deconstruction, mono-printing, writing, and drawing, students will learn to narrate their stories incorporating personal references and applying design principles. Students will leave the workshop with a creative journal, the beginning of their ongoing artistic journey, as well as a series of small textile art pieces.

Natalie joins us from BC’s Sunshine Coast.

Instructor Bio

Natalie Grambow has an extensive background in design, teaching, and textile arts. An accredited Interior Designer, she spent many years in Ottawa working within the architectural design field and teaching Design Theory. Natalie’s first deep exploration of textiles began during her Visual Arts/Photography studies at the University of Ottawa when she experimented with non-silver techniques of transferring photographic imagery onto cloth. She subsequently studied at the École d’Impression Textile à Montréal and later travelled to Asia and Latin America where she spent six months learning to weave with local Mayan weavers in Guatemala. Shortly after completing the Textile Arts program at Capilano College in 2001, she was awarded the BC Craft Association’s Award of Excellence. 

Natalie has exhibited her textile art installations in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Sunshine Coast. She  has also developed a line of naturally dyed and printed fabrics and has been commissioned by such clients as the city of North Vancouver. Currently living in Roberts Creek, BC, she continues her art practice and studies from her studio. 

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Expressive Painting and Printing with Procion MX

Sue Benner

$595 includes 100 lab fee

October 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,  - Class Limit 14

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

Sue Benner is well known for her large-format textile works which combine a painterly approach with a love of colour and fabric. This year she returns from Dallas, Texas, to give this much anticipated class.

Bold and expressive use of Procion MX dyes is the goal of this workshop. Sue teaches her layered painterly approach to surface design using direct application, monoprinting, and various other techniques on cotton, silk, and other natural fibres.  Emphasis is also placed on developing sophisticated colour combinations using interesting tools, along with adding touches of metallic and opaque fabric paints.  There will be an opportunity to explore working on Maiwa’s various weaves of scarves and shawls.

Make your marks, brush your strokes, and record it all on fabric. 

Instructor Bio

Sue Benner is an innovator in her field, creating original dyed and painted fabrics which she combines with recycled textiles to form fields of structured pattern, vivid beauty, and riotous variation.

Sue’s artwork is in many private, corporate, and institutional collections. She also lectures and teaches workshops nationally and internationally in the fields of surface design, textile collage, fused quilt construction, and artistic inspiration. Her work has been juried into Quilt National seven times, and she served as a juror in 2009.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Uncommon Cowls

Sivia Harding

$140 includes 40 lab fee

October 15 - Class Limit 12

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Cowls are certainly a simple idea—a covering for the neck. However, the same neck covering can be a lovely blank canvas on which to project ideas as complex as anything the knitter’s imagination can conjure up.  Cowls can be shaped to conform to the body as well as adding the elements of asymmetrical design. We will make creative design wizardry using draping to create your own shape, your own style of cowl. We’ll use some basic templates, T-shirt fabric, and fusible tape to develop a shape for your personal cowl in this experimental, no-holds-barred exercise. Once you have the shape, I show you how to knit it without the need for a pattern, using your gauge swatch as your guide. You will strategically use increases, decreases, and short rows to maintain the structure of the shape.

Instructor Bio

Sivia Harding says knitted lace is her first and enduring love. As a teacher, Sivia appeals to the creative spirit, and few can remain untouched by her verve and passion for her subjects. In her classes, technique, though important, is a means to an end, which is always the delight of following the joyful knitting muse wherever it may lead.

Sivia’s classes and workshops are often built around making a particular project, but only as a jumping off place for discussions on all sorts of related knitterly things. Students will often find themselves inspired to experiment outside the realm of the original project, sometimes coming up with highly original designs of their own as a result.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Fitted Cowl

Sivia Harding

$140 includes 40 lab fee

October 14 - Class Limit 12

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Cowls are certainly a simple idea—a covering for the neck. They can be as simple in execution as a circular knitted tube. However, the same neck covering can be a lovely blank canvas on which to project ideas as complex as anything the knitter’s imagination can conjure up. Aside from adding stitch patterns found in dictionaries, fitted cowls that are shaped to conform to the body are especially versatile because they can be worn inside or outside of outer garments, or instead of outer garments. You will receive a cowl template based on the shape of round yoke sweaters that works for any size, and we develop ideas for decorating this shape.

Instructor Bio

Sivia Harding says knitted lace is her first and enduring love. As a teacher, Sivia appeals to the creative spirit, and few can remain untouched by her verve and passion for her subjects. In her classes, technique, though important, is a means to an end, which is always the delight of following the joyful knitting muse wherever it may lead.

Sivia’s classes and workshops are often built around making a particular project, but only as a jumping off place for discussions on all sorts of related knitterly things. Students will often find themselves inspired to experiment outside the realm of the original project, sometimes coming up with highly original designs of their own as a result.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Decorative Mending

Sivia Harding

$140 includes 40 lab fee

October 13 - Class Limit 12

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Never thought that mending your knits could be creative? Come and celebrate your worn or damaged knits in a new way. From vintage books on mending to the Japanese Boro Boro techniques that celebrate the beauty in something preciously old and frayed, I introduce and show you the traditional, then take you into the world of decorative mending where texture and colour meet. When knitting is used to mend knits, you can transform damaged areas into beautiful and whimsical design elements. Use your imagination to choose colours and interesting stitches to embellish what was once a sad hole or worn elbow into a new object of pride!

This workshop includes a slide show of historic and modern examples of mended textiles.

Instructor Bio

Sivia Harding says knitted lace is her first and enduring love. As a teacher, Sivia appeals to the creative spirit, and few can remain untouched by her verve and passion for her subjects. In her classes, technique, though important, is a means to an end, which is always the delight of following the joyful knitting muse wherever it may lead.

Sivia’s classes and workshops are often built around making a particular project, but only as a jumping off place for discussions on all sorts of related knitterly things. Students will often find themselves inspired to experiment outside the realm of the original project, sometimes coming up with highly original designs of their own as a result.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Studies in Contrast, Colour, and Design through Log Cabin Piecing

Barbara Todd

$495 includes 85 lab fee

October 6, 7, 8, 9,  - Class Limit 12

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Log cabin is one of the most delightful, versatile, and forgiving piecing techniques in all of quilt-making. A log cabin quilt can be bold or subdued, sombre or playful, meticulously organized or haphazard. The technique allows for the mixing of different types and weights of fabrics in the same quilt. 

In this workshop traditional log cabin piecing will be our framework.  Using both painted paper and sewn fabric, we will develop our instinct and awareness of colour, value, and pattern. 

The first day will be spent creating a broad palette of painted paper swatches, from brilliant pure hues to greys barely identifiable as colour. We will then create sample collage squares, exploring degrees of contrast between dark and light, warm and cool, and different levels of saturation. 

The paper pieces completed, we will move on to the sewing machine to create fabric squares.

Participants will experience how the type and degree of colour and contrast can create a variety of moods, how scale and viewing distance affect the way the colours work together, and, perhaps most importantly, how individual fabrics and combinations can contribute to and enhance an overall work. Barbara joins us from New York, USA.

Instructor Bio

Barbara Todd is an interdisciplinary artist best known for her innovative quilted-textile works. She marries a minimalist aesthetic to a poetic and politicized sensibility. Her work is featured in museums, private collections and public commission spaces, in Canada and the U.S.

Quilt images courtesy the Textile Museum of Canada.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Baskets - Process and Material Explorations

Joan Carrigan

$395 includes 70 lab fee

October 5, 6, 7, 8,  - Class Limit 12

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

Basket weaving is an ancient skill found in all cultures in a wide variety of forms. We will be exploring weaving techniques and variations associated with twining and wicker construction. These techniques offer a solid framework allowing us to focus on shaping and pattern design. A variety of weaving techniques will be covered including randing, variations of twining, twill and open weaves. We will look at symmetrical and asymmetrical shaping with an emphasis on the sculptural potentials of three-dimensional weaving. Our base material will be dyed reed or vine rattan with a wide selection of natural materials for incorporation, such as barks, rush, vines, and roots. Demonstration and discussion will cover how to harvest and prepare local natural materials for use in basketry. Joan joins us from Salt Spring Island.

Instructor Bio

Joan Carrigan is a full-time basketmaker and basketry teacher living on Salt Spring Island, BC. Over the past 24 years, her passion for baskets has led her to study, travel, and explore many different techniques and materials. Joan studied Fine Art and Art History at the University of Guelph, and her love of history has fuelled her research in traditional techniques. Her background in fine art has fuelled her enthusiasm for the sculptural and creative potential that the medium offers. Her inspiration comes from the plant materials she respectfully harvests from nature. 

Joan’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has received two Project Grants from the Canada Council of the Arts and is the recipient of two Handweavers Guild of America Awards. Joan teaches extensively both close to home and in Europe and finds this to be a very rewarding aspect of her career.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: The Colour Workshop

Natalie Grambow

$295 includes 75 lab fee

October 2, 3, 4,  - Class Limit 14

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

Few things can influence us in the way colour does. Working with our conscious desires or subtly playing off our deeper natures, colour can move our emotions and influence our thoughts.

This workshop will give students a theoretical and creative grounding in working with colour. Classical theories of colour put forth by Newton, Goethe, and Itten will be introduced. The language of colour will be covered, giving a grounding in harmony, value, saturation, and hue.

Students will be led through various exercises to help them observe the effects that colours have on each other, their relativity to the human eye, and the way they respond to different surfaces such as paper and cloth. Students will use various materials such as fabric paints, watercolours, colour crayons, pre-dyed fabric and fleece, and paint chips.  

This workshop will provide the tools for students to investigate and analyze the effects of colour, create their own colourways and palettes using inspiration from different directed sources, and develop their senses to better appreciate and work with the chromatic world.

Natalie joins us from BC’s Sunshine Coast.

Instructor Bio

Natalie Grambow has an extensive background in design, teaching, and textile arts. An accredited Interior Designer, she spent many years in Ottawa working within the architectural design field and teaching Design Theory. Natalie’s first deep exploration of textiles began during her Visual Arts/Photography studies at the University of Ottawa when she experimented with non-silver techniques of transferring photographic imagery onto cloth. She subsequently studied at the École d’Impression Textile à Montréal and later travelled to Asia and Latin America where she spent six months learning to weave with local Mayan weavers in Guatemala. Shortly after completing the Textile Arts program at Capilano College in 2001, she was awarded the BC Craft Association’s Award of Excellence. 

Natalie has exhibited her textile art installations in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Sunshine Coast. She  has also developed a line of naturally dyed and printed fabrics and has been commissioned by such clients as the city of North Vancouver. Currently living in Roberts Creek, BC, she continues her art practice and studies from her studio. 

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Story Painting on Cloth

Susan Shie

$495 includes 75 lab fee

October 1, 2, 3, 4,  - Class Limit 14

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

In this four-day class, students will begin with a “page” of white cotton fabric, then, through a variety of techniques, create story paintings. Each day the class will start by choosing an optional theme together. The theme may then be worked up in a sketchbook to come up with ideas for the day’s work.

Students will draw freehand on cotton with fine-tip black permanent markers, then brush-paint in the colours, and finally use the markers again, as well as airpen (optional), to write freehand on the surface, creating a typographic texture over the images in the story.  

As Susan describes it: “You’ll be drawing like you did as a child, in relaxed wonder over your abilities, and writing off the top of your head, just like when you write a letter. No planning ahead. This spontaneity is what makes naïve art and children’s art so appealing to the viewer and so inspiring for the artist.”

Susan will demonstrate each process and spend time with each student, making sure the work progresses smoothly. Special emphasis and instruction will be given with the airpen with ample time for students to discover whether it might be for them.

In addition students will learn how to make a self-bordered quilt sandwich and then do “crazy grid” quilting.

Susan is an encouraging instructor whose goal is to bring out the student’s freer inner self and to get the creativity really flowing. Susan Shie travels from Ohio, USA, to join us.

Instructor Bio

Susan Shie has taken art quilting into new territory with her interest in handwritten text and narrative imagery. She has combined these interests with an iconic style, a developed line, as well as her personal diary and socio-political commentary. She is very interested in healing through art and in using artmaking to help balance everything from our own selves to the Earth.  She believes that healing can occur more easily when we are stress-free. So when we are happily creating art, we are in that sweet state of unstress, of joy, and we can do some healing.  

With both her BA and MFA degrees in Painting, Susan Shie sees her stitched paintings on cloth as soft paintings more than as art quilts. Working out of her Turtle Moon Studios in Wooster, Ohio, she is in great demand as a lecturer and workshop instructor. Her work is widely exhibited throughout the world and she has received generous acclaim for her creative vision. In 2008 Susan was awarded Teacher of the Year from the International Association of Professional Quilters. www.turtlemoon.com

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: 1 Day of Islamic Geometric Design

Eric Broug

$150 includes 20 lab fee

September 28, - Class Limit 16

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

In today’s world, with ready access to powerful computers, it may be surprising to learn that complex geometric patterns can be made using only a compass and straight edge.

For Islamic artists and philosophers, such designs showed how the complex universe was in truth a reflection of simplicity. 

In this workshop (suited for anyone ages nine  to 99), Eric Broug will give a visual introduction and historical background to the essential design principles. Participants will work on their own designs, some of which may be tessellated to make a bigger composition. Eric joins us from the UK.

Instructor Bio

Eric is an independent author and educator. He also manages a dynamic social media community dedicated to Islamic art and teaches courses on the principles and execution of Islamic geometric design. Largely self-taught in this subject, he obtained his MA in the History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. He is widely sought after as a consultant and is involved in several collaborative design projects. Eric joins us from the UK.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: 2 Days of Islamic Geometric Design - offered twice.

Eric Broug

$250 includes 25 lab fee

September 26, 27, or 29, 30 - Class Limit 16

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

The beauty of Islamic geometric designs, and the breathtaking skill of the craftspeople who created them, are admired the world over. The intricacy and artistry of the patterns can seem almost beyond the powers of human ingenuity.

In this workshop Eric Broug will introduce students to the process by which these complex designs were achieved. The genius of the art lies in its simplicity. Most designs are created using only a ruler and compass—no mathematical equations are needed. 

Eric will showcase inspirational examples from both architecture and the textile world before leading students through a series of designs.

In  this two-day class, students will also be guided through a larger project. By playing to their own strengths and preferences, each student can work independently. Through adherence to some basic rules, the individual works may be combined to show how the group result is much more than the sum of its parts.

Instructor Bio

Eric is an independent author and educator. He also manages a dynamic social media community dedicated to Islamic art and teaches courses on the principles and execution of Islamic geometric design. Largely self-taught in this subject, he obtained his MA in the History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. He is widely sought after as a consultant and is involved in several collaborative design projects. Eric joins us from the UK.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Knitting, Fulling, Felting

Aya Matsunaga 

$495 includes 85 lab fee

September 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,  - Class Limit 14

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

When machine knitting is combined with fulling and felting, exceptional textures with distinctive character are the result. In this five-day workshop, students will gain a full understanding of working with a domestic knitting machine and the short-row knitting technique. 

The class will learn how to translate inspiration into sample textiles while working with a range of fibres from lambs’ wool, merinos, and silks to stainless steel. Aya will demonstrate how to achieve different patterns and geometric forms. Students will progress to the art of fulling and felting. 

Students will design, knit, full, and felt one completed wearable sculpture. They will complete the course with a variety of samples in texture and colour as well as a sketchbook of collected images and ideas. Aya joins us from Japan.

Instructor Bio

Aya Matsunaga is a Japanese textile artist who tempered her formal studies by moving to Nottingham, England, and embracing the UK fibre art scene of the 1990s. Her work is a synergy of knit and felted techniques. Aya Matsunaga knits with multiple dyed fine wool yarns—both by hand and also using a hand-cranked knitting machine.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: The Nature of Colour

Michel Garcia

$395 includes 75 lab fee

September 23, 24, 25,  - Class Limit 16

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

For dyers, this is our most talked-about workshop. Michel Garcia’s deep knowledge of dye chemistry is communicated in metaphor, humour, and wit. Students learn not only what happens with dyes but why. 

A founder of the Botanical Garden of Dye Plants in Lauris, France, Michel returns each year to share the results of his most recent research. Students can expect a fast-paced workshop packed with ideas, concepts, samples, and demonstrations.

Students will be exposed to a wide range of natural dye knowledge from mordant types to families of tannins to water chemistry. Michel brings the latest research and discoveries from his own experimental studio to share with students.

As the class progresses, students will begin to see all the threads come together—for example, how thickening techniques for dyes can also be used with mordants, how the dye matter gives up its colour, and why it fixes to the cloth (or doesn’t). 

Students with prior experience with natural dyes will benefit the most from this class.

Instructor Bio

Michel Garcia is a French national born in Morocco. He was nineteen when he first discovered natural dyes. Since then he has followed his love of both plants and pigments. In 1998 he formed the association Couleur Garance (Madder Colour). The association hoped to connect young ecologically sensitive artisans with the substantial expertise of an older generation of dyers. Under his direction, Couleur Garance produced over twenty monographs on natural dyes and dye plants.

In 2002 Michel founded the Botanical Garden of Dye Plants at the Château de Lauris. In 2003 an international forum and market for natural dyes was added. A year later a resource centre was established.

In 2006 Michel handed over leadership of Couleur Garance so that he could further pursue his interest in colour and dye techniques. He has published three titles on natural dyes showing the range of shades available and how to obtain them.

Michel teaches and advises internationally on natural colours and dyes.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Indigo - The Organic Vat  

Michel Garcia

$295 includes 60 lab fee

September 21, 22 - Class Limit 16

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

Dyers can spend years mastering the quirks and personality of a specific indigo dye vat. Indigo has a reputation for being the master of the dyer, and sometimes it keeps its magic to itself.  

Michel Garcia comes to the vat with a fresh perspective. A background in botany and chemistry and an intense knowledge of colourants combine with his eagerness to share information. During this workshop, some new possibilities for making a natural vat will be presented using henna, dates, figs, pears, or grapes as reagents. Students will be able to easily establish a fast natural vat that can be used to dye any natural fibre. 

The natural or organic vat can be fed and maintained with many things. The vat can also be maintained and revitalized through natural ingredients. Students will gain an appreciation of the mechanics of the vat and move beyond any single recipe. They will leave with a thorough knowledge of the indigo process and will be able to select the appropriate vat to match their technique.

Michel arrives from France to teach this workshop.

Instructor Bio

Michel Garcia is a French national born in Morocco. He was nineteen when he first discovered natural dyes. Since then he has followed his love of both plants and pigments. In 1998 he formed the association Couleur Garance (Madder Colour). The association hoped to connect young ecologically sensitive artisans with the substantial expertise of an older generation of dyers. Under his direction, Couleur Garance produced over twenty monographs on natural dyes and dye plants.

In 2002 Michel founded the Botanical Garden of Dye Plants at the Château de Lauris. In 2003 an international forum and market for natural dyes was added. A year later a resource centre was established.

In 2006 Michel handed over leadership of Couleur Garance so that he could further pursue his interest in colour and dye techniques. He has published three titles on natural dyes showing the range of shades available and how to obtain them.

Michel teaches and advises internationally on natural colours and dyes.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Cloth and Memory - Exploring Memory Cloths

Beverly Gordon

$250 includes 20 lab fee

September 23, 24,  - Class Limit 15

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

A “memory cloth” is a piece of handwork that, through the meditative processes of stitching and appliqué, allows us to feel good as well as capture memories or ideas. It may help us preserve and/or release the past, get closer to our own stories (and thus learn about ourselves), keep close to loved ones, and embed new ideas in our consciousness. In this workshop, we will explore the concept of memory cloths by looking at expressions from around the world—e.g., Chilean arpilleras, South African embroideries, Afghan war rugs, American album and memorial quilts, teddy bears made from loved ones’ clothes, and contemporary fibre art. We will use easy, exploratory writing exercises to bring out our ideas, and work on our own cloth in ways that feel comfortable and fun.

No special skills or background are needed—this is a workshop to explore, experiment, and discover. You can stitch, embellish, knit, or otherwise work with fibre and fabric, uncovering images and words that help you express your own voice and experience.  (Embroidery /embellishment instruction will not be provided, but the instructor and the group itself will provide a resource for getting started, feeling confident, solving problems, and stitching something meaningful.) Beverly joins us from the USA.

Instructor Bio

Beverly Gordon retired in 2011 from 30 years as a professor in the Design Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has also worked as a curator and fibre artist. She writes and publishes extensively on textiles.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Adventures with World Textiles

Beverly Gordon

$250 includes 15 lab fee

September 21, 22,  - Class Limit 15

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

We will not produce textiles in this seminar-like class but will delve into an eclectic study of world textile traditions with the goal of discovering, appreciating, and exposing ourselves to new techniques and ideas. The instructor will provide slide shows and videos on selected textile traditions (examples: Ugandan barkcloth, Cuna Indian molas, Wounaan baskets, Central Asian felt, American Indian quill and beadwork, and African wax and “fancy” prints), and students are encouraged to bring textiles they may have and to share what they know about these and other topics. Together, we can better understand the creativity and commonalities of people’s relationships with textiles, the full range of materials and approaches that textile-making may entail, and issues that threaten or enhance fibre traditions (including world markets). No experience or knowledge base is required—just interest and a sense of curiosity. It is inspiring and energizing to share this exploration with a group of fellow textile enthusiasts, and we will all come out feeling more connected, both to one another and to textile-makers throughout the world. Beverly joins us from the USA.

Instructor Bio

Beverly Gordon retired in 2011 from 30 years as a professor in the Design Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has also worked as a curator and fibre artist. She writes and publishes extensively on textiles.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: The Wayfarer’s Wandercoat Workshop

India Flint

$795 includes 50 lab fee

September 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,  - Class Limit 14

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

Participants will hand-stitch a beautiful hooded travel garment with pockets for poems and passports, pens and pencils, hipflasks and notebooks, some visible and some hidden from plain sight. There will be places to keep needles and threads because you never know when you might need them [that’s why those pointy things are called needles]. It will be comfortable enough to sleep in while on the road or in the air (but not behind the wheel), easily removed for scanning when boarding magic carpets, and broad enough to be spread over an unfamiliar bed for cheer if needed. 

The coat (or jacket, if you wish it to be shorter) will be built on a pre-loved garment such as a sturdy long-sleeved T-shirt, cardigan, windbreaker, or linen shirt so that the hard parts (set-in sleeves and so on) are already done. 

We shall gather windfalls and weeds, dye threads for stitching, ecoprint samples that will become pockets, and develop and stitch personal protective signs and perhaps even poetry. During our five days together, we will also create a small notebook to slip into one of the pockets so that we can sally forth into the whirled well prepared.

For those with a leaning toward adventure, an indigo dye vat will be available on the last day. We can bless the garment with a celebratory dip into the protective blue of the heavens [Japanese tradition has it that it not only strengthens cloth but keeps snakes at bay] and watch the subsequent alchemical transformation and development of the colours we have harvested from the gutters.

This class goes beyond stitching and dyeing, embracing design, drawing, storytelling and a little poetry. India joins us from Australia.

Instructor Bio

In 2008, with the publication of her first book, Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles, India Flint brought a radical new perspective to an ancient practice. She rethought the entire dye process. Her book forcefully and eloquently champions ecologically sustainable plant-based printing processes to give colour to cloth. When it first arrived on the scene, Eco Colour was both an eye-opener and a game-changer. India joins us from Australia.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop: Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word

Sandra Brownlee

$495 includes 40 lab fee

September 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 - Class Limit 14

Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC

This workshop will help students find their own living language through the creation of a vibrant notebook practice. 

The main objective of this workshop is to support you in establishing a dynamic, tactile notebook practice that is meaningful and rewarding. You will use your notebook as a reflective space and mobile studio in which you document and give expression to your daily experiences. 

Motivated by haptic considerations, we will use all of our senses to stimulate and awaken perception, guide the making process, and enhance the way you communicate both visually and verbally. Throughout the workshop, we will create tactile pages, playing with materials, techniques, and words to make concrete the vital elements of our sensory experience. 

Each day there will be a notebook sharing, a period for writing, an introduction to the day’s topic, and a hands-on workshop. Sandra Brownlee joins us from Nova Scotia.

Instructor Bio

Sandra Brownlee has exhibited her work extensively throughout North America in both solo and group exhibitions since the late 1970s. Recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition at the David Kaye Gallery in Toronto, GGVMA Award exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, and Innovators and Legends: Generations in Textiles and Fibers organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art.

Sandra Brownlee has earned her MFA in Fibers from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and her BFA from the NSCAD University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has received numerous awards including the 2014 Governor General Visual and Media Arts Saidye Bronfman Award, a Canada Council B Grant, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. Sandra joins us from Nova Scotia.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am.
2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium
Workshop: Made in Japan: Transforming Meaning Through Innovation
Diana Sanderson
$75 includes 10 lab fee
September 14, - Class Limit 18
Maiwa Loft: Above the Net Loft, Granville Is. Vancouver BC


From WWII until the mid-seventies, “made in Japan” was synonymous with inexpensive mass production. That perception was dramatically shifted by people like Junichi Arai who re-articulated an approach to making that emphasized innovation, hand manipulation, and  high quality. The fabrics that emerged from this shift were used by a new generation of designers to catapult Japanese fashion onto the world stage.
Ann Sutton admired and collaborated with Arai for three decades. In the process she collected over two hundred pieces from swatches to scarves, shawls, and garments. Diana Sanderson acquired the collection in 2013 with the promise to make the collection available to textile artists and the broader public. With the endorsement of Junichi Arai and Reiko Sudo, Diana Sanderson, Darlene Ochotta, Carly Hulse, and Amanda Wood have been researching and documenting the textiles, amassing a wealth of technical material and background. During the salon they will share much of what they have learned.
Participants will spend the day immersing themselves in the history and culture of Junichi Arai and the Nuno Corp. Explore this collection with opportunities to touch and examine individual pieces.

Instructor Bio

Diana Sanderson has been owner of the Silk Weaving Studio for the last 29 years. She studied weaving with Ann Sutton in the early eighties and has been inspired by Junichi Arai ever since. Diana spearheads the collaboration between Maiwa and the Silk Weaving Studio. Multiple trips to Japan have deepened her knowledge, fascination, and understanding of contemporary Japanese textiles.

Registration Opens June 22 at 10am

2015 Maiwa Textile Symposium

Workshop Human Marks

Dorothy Caldwell

$595 includes 100 lab fee

September 11 - 15 - Class Limit 14

Maiwa East: 1310 Odlum Drive, Vancouver BC

The marks we make record time and human energy. Working with paper and cloth, this workshop will examine different kinds of marks including stitching, resist and batik, discharge, drawn and painted marks, and more unconventional marks such as burning, piercing, and mending.  Each of these will address a different aspect of physical movement and gesture that, through time and repetition, evolve into richly activated surfaces. Simple bookbinding techniques will be demonstrated for constructing book forms, and participants will be able to expand on workshop experiments applying them to their own materials and imagery. Resource material will include slide talks, examples, and videos. Dorothy Caldwell joins us from Ontario.

Instructor Bio

Dorothy Caldwell is a graduate of Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and maintains an active international exhibition and teaching schedule from her studio in Hastings, Ontario. She has carried out research projects in Japan and India and is currently  doing on-site work in the Australian outback and the Canadian Arctic.  She is the recipient of grants and awards including the prestigious Bronfman Award given to one Canadian craftsperson each year.  Her work is included in private and permanent collections including the American Museum of Art and Design,  the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the International Quilt Museum and Study Center University of Nebraska, the Canadian Consulate Bangkok Thailand, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.