Author Archives: Tien

Katazome, Then and Now with Karen Illman Miller

A thorough discussion of the traditional art of Japanese stencil dyeing, with slides and examples of antique fabrics and of my own work, illustrating where it has taken a contemporary surface designer and fiber artist.

Karen Miller was born in Oakland, CA in 1946. She was a marine biologist before becoming an expert on katazome, the art of Japanese stencil dyeing. Using her own hand cut stencils to apply a resist paste she produces fabric for art quilts, as well as silk garments, linen hangings and indigo dyed cottons.Her work has been exhibited twice in Japan. She has shown her work in numerous juried and group shows. Her work was accepted to Visions 2002, In 2009 she had Oregon solo shows at the Newport Visual Arts Center, Benton County Historical Society and the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center in Portland. She shows regularly at the Japanese Garden in Portland and Kobo in Seattle. Her work is in numerous private collections and hangs in the Washington D.C. office of Jane Lubchenco, the head of NOAA.

She has taught katazome nationally and internationally and published several articles on katazome. She was invited lecturer at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe New Mexico. She was featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting TV Oregon Art Beat in October 2007.

Karen’s website is: http://www.nautilus-fiberarts.com/

January 19, 2012:

Stephenie Gaustad

Will present a program on

Spinning for Weaving

cotton blossom courtesy of J. Ruane

Stephenie is an artist, designer, illustrator, weaver and experienced teacher. She has just produced a DVD on spinning cotton for Interweave Press.

December, 2011: Holiday Party, Potluck and Gift Swap

Dinner setup with live music began around 6 pm, Potluck at 6:40, and a new method of running the gift-swap by means of a clever poem, so all swapping happened before any unwrapping, was a delightful success.

November, 2011: DVD and Discussion

October, 2011: Kathy Rousso

Kathryn Rousso weaves, writes about, and photographs baskets and bags. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington, a Certificate of Merit in Northwest Coast Basketry and Textiles from the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, and a Master of Fine Arts in Textile Arts and Costume Design from the University of California, Davis. Her first baskets were woven under the guidance of Delores Churchill, Holly Churchill and many others at the Totem Heritage Center. Rousso was exposed to Mayan textiles as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala during the late nineteen-eighties and later discovered new weaving techniques and materials in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Indonesia, and New Zealand. In 2001 she was awarded a Fulbright grant to conduct research on maguey net bags in Guatemala. Her time is now split between Ketchikan Alaska, Guatemala, and Mendocino, California where she is the textile coordinator at the Mendocino Art Center. Her contemporary baskets incorporate elements of twined, looped, and braided maguey fibers, cedar bark and spruce root, plus a few surprises.

Here is her website for those people who would like know more about her, and see some of her current works.