Not On the Road: 2021’s Virtual Fabric Collage Class Reunion—Live Online

This year will be marked with plenty of memories, but I think for Tom and I, it’ll be looking back on the birth-year of our first 5-Day Live Online Fabric Collage Class. An idea that was merely a twinkle in our eyes pre-pandemic, gestated in my studio throughout last year, as we gained online skills and technical experience with dozens of private collage coaching sessions and Thursday Night Live! presentations.

In preparation for our first week-long live online class in early March of this year, we held pre-class coaching to get comfortable with this new way of teaching (and learning). A week later on Monday the 15th, Tom and I gathered with 12 eager students to share the experience of essentially transitioning an in-person class to a virtual format. It went without a hitch—even better than we had dared hope. And a new way for me to teach and share my fabric collage process was born.

If it isn’t clear how my Live Online Classes work, please visit the link to my March 2021 Fabric Collage Live Online Class. That post explains the process in detail. And here’s posts from this year’s other three virtual classes: April, May’s three class posts (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), and September’s trio (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

To be notified of upcoming 2022 live online classes via an email (dates yet TBD), please send your expression of interest to Tom ([email protected]).

Photo above is of Emmy and Boo—a collage-in-progress by LeahGrace Kayler.

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December’s Live Online Reunion Class

A little over a month ago, Tom and I were reflecting on the past year and feeling relief at how well it had gone (so far). We had gratitude to our fabric collage blog readers and supporters, and especially all the students who had made the leap to virtual classes with us.

We set aside a few days on December’s calendar and sent out invitations to those students for a 3-Day “Reunion” class to re-unite any who had the ability (kinda short notice and all), into a wrap-up class to finish what was started or get started on a new collage—with some extra help from me and camaraderie from others.

These six ladies represent all four of the year’s virtual classes, and seemed to have an immediate bond and friendship—if they were saying hi to someone they had worked with before or not.

With the smaller class size, they all got plenty of my input (sometimes they didn’t have quite enough work time between my check-ins!). We also gave students the ability to “wander” through the class and listen to the feed-back I was giving others as they worked on their own subjects.

So instead of separating students into break-out rooms, I was the one to leave the main room and retreat to “Susan’s Studio” where I met with them one-on-one, joined by anyone else who wanted to be a fly on the virtual wall, gleaning additional info for their own current or future work. Otherwise, everyone remained in the main meeting room to work and visit with each other.

Now to present the exceptional progress of our 2021 alumni in December’s Live and Online Reunion Class.

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Cathy Holmes

An alumna of our September Live Online Class.

Overall, I couldn’t see anything that needed improvement for an online format. I don’t consider myself very technical, and I didn’t have any problems. Susan, I especially appreciated your positive encouragement and gentle, kind redirection!

This was Cathy’s first fabric collage, begun in September and worked on quite a bit in the two months between classes. Earlier, Cathy thought she might crop out the rear legs (due to size and work), but I think she fell in love with the faun in particular and the fabric collage process in general, and wanted to keep going. So by the time this December class began, Cathy was prepared to go nose-to-tail with this gal.

 

To start, we addressed the spots, which Cathy’s husband called our attention to. We decided they looked rather flat and “pasted on” rather than integrated into the fur. Cathy trimmed select spots to be less symmetrical and added lace and orange and red tulle to help blend the high-contrast spots into the red fur.

Cathy steadily progressed over the three days—with expert use of subtle changes in red values to create form along the faun’s back and hips—getting all but the final rear leg collaged. We had the chance as a class to talk about a potential background—one possibility is the field-flower panel below. Only time will tell.

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LeahGrace Kayler

An alumna of our March, May, and September Live Online Classes.

Everyone had been to a class and was experienced. That was very helpful. It’s worth reminding folks (I think you did this) that they can look to their classmates for advice and support—without us being responsible for each other’s success, of course, but that we’re here to promote shared learning and a supportive context.

LeahGrace spent much of her year immersed in fabric collage with her own pets and neighborhood ravens. For this class she decided on the pets of a dear friend of hers who has had a tough few years of personal loss, but “has the fortitude of a saint.” LeahGrace describes her subjects, Emmy (the diva) and Boo (the rescue) as geriatric, “to put it mildly,” and just hopes to finish this double portrait while both of these adored babes are still of this world.

Choosing a color and fabric palette for each of these pups was LeahGrace’s first task—she wanted “realistic” but with a touch of whimsey for each. Emmy’s warm browns were complemented with aqua leaf fronds, and Boo’s pale tan coloring translated to pale peach and greens. LeahGrace already has a title: “Diva and Understudy.”

This year’s earlier work by LeahGrace Kayler

Archie the cat, Baayla of the very long tongue, and the ravens of Raven Lane.

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Lesley Beck

An alumna of our May Live Online Class.

I loved the 3 day reunion class. A good jumpstart for a beginner like me still working on my first project from a 5 day zoom class. I benefited from the small class size with tons of input from Susan. Her upbeat attitude & Tom’s behind the scenes tracking of our photos leave me in awe. Thank you!

Lesley’s sweet Teddy, the miniature horse, is not the easiest of subjects—with his long locks, monochromatic coloring, and subtle values—but Lesley is up to the challenge. She made great strides in her fabric selection (below) from one class to the next, now having much more of a variety of prints and color variation to choose from.

I like that Lesley is pushing Teddy’s coloring and visual textures to include warm sun-kissed yellows, sinuous batik corncobs, owl wings, and tufts of bamboo-like leaves—with a few chrysanthemums thrown in. Keep at it, Lesley!

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Mary McKay

An alumna of our March, April, September Live Online Classes.

Susan’s personality definitely comes through on screen as well as it does live. Maybe better, because she is “closer” via Zoom. The biggest benefit of the online format of this class? Being home! The biggest drawback to the online format of this class? Not having Susan’s hands to pick up scissors and do some of the work!

This year I’ve worked with Mary in 5-day live online classes, in coaching sessions, and in monthly Tuesday night Zoom meetings for feedback to Patreon supporters—and so far this year there’s been six collage subjects, counting her current project of grandson and dog as two subjects.

In September’s class, Mary focused on Strider the dog. This past week’s 3-day class was continuing to work on her grandson Jason, getting his eyes and hair figured out.

At one point, Jason almost “lost” all his hair, but with encouragement from her classmates, Mary refrained from that drastic step until I was able to take a look and make my suggestions.

Mary was torn in two directions for this class—to continue with Jason’s portrait or to begin an otter portrait based on a photo that she’s particularly fond of, by Valisa Higman, of Seldovia, AK.

So Mary did both, of course, and it worked out well. I think Mary has enough collage experience now to know when she’s hit a wall, and to recognize that shifting her brain to an alternate subject could be the best solution to moving forward… on something.

Oscar the Otter has a color palette that Mary has not worked in before, browns. But Mary’s sense of fun is coming out in the prints she’s choosing instead—kiwi birds, bunnies, owl bodies. Oscar’s muzzle (above) is heavy with kiwi bodies, with a cluster of bunnies to the right, under the left nostril.

Below, an example of an especially involved consult, with much annotation! But between comparing the screenshot with her notes, Mary kept it straight and moved ahead.

This year’s earlier work by Mary McKay

Elvis the Costa Rican aracari (a relative of the toucan) and her grandson, Jason.

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Nancy Hayes

An alumna of our April Live Online Class.

Loved being able to record and to take screen shots with drawn explanations on it. Very beneficial! I would absolutely take another class just with Susan in person or online. I feel I really learned some new techniques and had a great time doing so!

Nancy’s dog Pebbles, is her third dog portrait since she was in April’s class—what can I say—she certainly has a knack for these companions of hers, expertly capturing their expressions and personalities.

Nancy arrived to class with Pebble’s soulful eyes and dark purple nose done. These sequence photos show the step-by-step progression of depicting wet fur—a job well done.

 

This year’s earlier work by Nancy Hayes

Though not an online project, Nancy created another portrait of one of her dogs, Morgan (above), after April’s portrait of Ami the Golden (below).

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Rain Klepper

An alumna of our September Live Online Class.

I think this was a terrific class, and I’m grateful it was offered on Zoom. I loved Susan’s demo when she was talking about sheers and tulle… her vibrancy and enthusiasm comes through beautifully, and I felt like I was standing right next to her. [And] I really enjoyed the late afternoon roundup of all the various student work.

Rain has had portraiture drawing experience, which is good as she needed to re-draw the face of her daughter-in-law Sarah, three times. And that was okay. Rain realized that taking a portrait from photo, to drawing, to foundation fabric, to fabric collage would be a process, and was ready and willing to put in the time and effort.

The fabric that Rain selected for Sarah’s hair set the tone for this portrait—vibrant and playful—leading her to the rich and sunny palette of fabrics for the face. This is just the beginning of Rain’s journey with Sarah’s portrait—next will come some deep observations on portraying hands in fabric, before moving on to the rest of this portrait of motherhood.

This year’s earlier work by Rain Klepper

A Leaping Lemur!

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At the end of our three days, we gathered as a class one more time for our class photo and to review the slideshow progress of the week—with plenty of accolades to go around. A few pets that had been on the sidelines decided to make their appearances—no doubt happy to soon have the full attention of their people once again.

Pictured are (above) Harry Bosch with Mary, Baayla with LeahGrace, and (below) Gulliver, whose travels led him to Lesley, and Splash with Nancy. Splash is posing in front of his sister’s portrait, probably wondering if his portrait is next.