Alegre in Spanish means cheerful. And I have to say that a week at the Alegre Quilt Retreat in Gateway Canyons, Colorado would make just about anyone cheerful with its stunning landscapes and bright, desert sunshine.
Last week’s Part 1—”Eclipse” post from the Alegre Quilt Retreat introduced you to the location and my first batch of students. Part 2 today wraps up the week with the other half of my students and their collage works, plus closing activities and banquet.
Alegre is a retreat that Katie Pasquini Masopust, a.k.a. Katie PM ;-), began 30 years ago in Santa Fe, NM—this year was the 15th Anniversary at Gateway Canyons, CO. Katie is one of my art and teaching buddies I’ve met over the years—that’s her between another colleague Sue Benner and I in photo above. Every year, Katie arranges a different group of instructors to join her in teaching at Alegre. This year it was Katie, Sue and I, along with Cat Larrea. Just that combination of friends made for a wonderful week, not to mention students that have also become friends and the majestic scenery that surrounded and inspired us all.
Making time for morning walks are a given when you’re in places such as this. The morning that Katie, Sue and I got out together, the rising sun caught the towering Palisades at just the right angle (below) to cast its shadow on a neighboring butte (above).
Hiking trails take you to striking panoramic vistas, but just walking along the sidewalks from one building to the next highlights details of the desert landscape, below. They may look fluffy but don’t touch the cacti! More outdoor scenic shots can be seen in last week’s Part 1 post.
Now I’d like to introduce you (drumroll please) to the second half of my wonderful class—picking up where we left off on our clockwise tour of my classroom, begun in Part 1.
Mary McKay
Mary McKay has been a student of mine for over 5 years now, and her skills build with each of her many collages. To the left of her display above, is one of the finished portrait quilts of her grandson, this one with the new family puppy, Strider. The collage to the far right, includes a young adult Strider, with Mary’s daughter, Murphy.
One goal of Mary’s week at Alegre was to figure out the background behind Murphy. Greens look great, but since “more is better” (my mantra), she added more greens and more color and now Murphy and Strider are in a lush garden.
Mary’s second goal was to get started on another family portrait, her son-in-law, Steve. In the photos above, you can see her progress going from “messy scary” (a stage all collages will go through) to “wow, this is looking good!”
Linn Jencopale
It’s not unusual for someone to choose a pet as their subject, however the colorful feline you see here is not Linn Jencopale’s cat, nor any cat she has ever seen. This cat just caught Linn’s eye on a copyright-free photo site—Linn wanted to learn the collage technique and she likes cats. Brilliant. Her cat could now evolve in any way Linn, and her fabric colors and patterns, wanted to take it.
With an anything goes attitude, Linn let her fabric “speak” to her, and a fantastically patterned and colorful kitty came to life. In the process, Linn had playtime with her fabrics and learned a lot about the collage process. That’s the way to spend a week at a retreat.
Maureen Hendricks
Maureen Hendricks is the person who had the vision to bring Katie PM’s Alegre Retreat to Gateway Canyons—a perfect match that has promoted a relaxed and creativity supported atmosphere—and keeps people returning to this event year after year. And now I have the pleasure to include Maureen as one of my students.
I loved how Maureen’s idea of a little reef fish literally grew into a big guy with a distinct personality. I talk a lot in class about working in “drafts”—getting one layer down onto the foundation fabric, then adding more interest with details on top. In the photo above, Maureen is already letting go of what the fish is “supposed to be” and going with the colors, values, and patterns found in her fabrics for the first draft.
In the photo above, you can see how Maureen’s second draft details—on top of the variation of the underlying layer—have created a fish with contours and depth. I particularly like the side fin—created with layers of semi-translucent sheers.
Mac Barnes
To say the least, Mac Barnes is not the usual demographic of people who take my classes. He’s still in college, majoring in Computer Science and Fiber Arts—already winning awards with his work in fabric portraiture. He began his fiber life at age five crocheting with his grandmother, and it was his grandmother’s house that he chose as his subject for this class.
Mac really wanted to understand this fabric collage way of making art, and really scoured my brain with questions about value, perspective, and color. This panel is but 1/4 of the size the finished collage will be, but it’s on his way and will no doubt be completed sooner rather than later (there’s already a space created for it over the fireplace at his parent’s house!). Mac has great talent and energy and I very much look forward to seeing where he takes his work in the future.
Catherine Stone
It’s no wonder that Catherine Stone was inspired to create a portrait of her grandson holding a heart he had created for her—what a cutie. From the very beginning, Catherine had the Muse with her and moved right along with what I consider one of the most difficult subjects—children—they’re such perfect little beings to be re-interpreting in fabric.
Catherine did a lovely job bringing out the sun-drenched qualities of the photograph, and blending those fabrics and values around to the shadowed side of his face. And she nailed his imp-ish expression.
Heidi Heuerman Smith
This little bird that Heidi Heuerman Smith found on an online copyright-free site, certainly needs no color adjustments—it’s already a hard-to-believe combination of colors. Kinda underlines the fact that this world contains an amazing assortment of life.
Instead of feather-by-feather, Heidi found patterns in her fabrics that she could cut out as small “clumps” of feathers. Some show the variation of fabric patterns more distinctly than others, but that can lead to a more realistic looking treatment, since we don’t see all the bird feathers in the same amount of detail either.
Brooke Long
Brooke Long arrived with a couple large suitcases packed with beautiful hand-dyed silk yardage. Gorgeous fabric, but not well suited for the fabric collage technique I teach. Luckily, there was an onsite pop-up quilt shop that a nice selection of printed batiks that lend themselves well to collage.
She may not have gotten very far in the process, but every time I checked, Brooke said she was learning and enjoying herself. She’s one of the Alegre attendees that can chalk up all 15 years at the Gateway Canyons location—she was happy to be back with friends.
All Good Things Must Come to an End
There were quite a few husbands that accompanied the Women of Alegre. Frank Sterrett, Mary McKay’s partner (above), was there for the birding in particular. I had met Frank at the first class Mary took from me, but this time I enjoyed the chance to hang around him at meals and such. He’s a pretty nice guy.
An end-of-the-week treat are the classroom walk-throughs. The photos above and below are panoramas of my classroom. All attendees, husbands, and instructors tour one classroom after another, together. It’s like the opening of an art show—times four. This way, every student at the retreat can shine as they stand next to their work in turn.
At every class I teach I’m sure to get a class photo—except for this class (and the one I taught last week in MN as well!)—the end sneaks up so quickly. I did however, get a photo of my two class tables at the Friday evening banquet, so I’ll just have to make do with the following two photos to celebrate my Ladies of Alegre, along with a few of their good men.
My Alegre 2024 Class: photo above—clockwise from lower left—Lisa Charles and Bob, Brooke Long, Mia Glick and husband, Jan Lipsky and husband, Heidi Heuerman Smith, Joe Clark and Nancy Blake.
(A note to my students—I added significant others’ names if my memory served me well, if you would like me to add names where my memory failed me, just let me know in comments section of post!)
Photo below—clockwise from lower left—Catherine Stone, Mac Barnes, John and Maureen Hendricks, Linn Jencopale and husband, Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer, Frank Sterrett and Mary McKay.
A highlight of the banquet is the “Auctioning of the Bags.” Each instructor brought a bag that they had a hand in creating, but the classroom bags were saved for last. That’s Mac above, modeling the tote (front and back) collaged by my students. He did a commendable and very entertaining job walking and talking our tote at the auction itself—which was fitting since he played a big part in completing it—free-motion quilting like crazy—in time. The proceeds of the auction go to sponsor a young quilter to attend the next year’s Alegre Retreat. Mac was the recipient of last year’s scholarship, he returned this year on his own.
Katie, our fearless leader and MC at every Alegre event, tried very hard to outbid others for the Quilter’s Family Tree altered tote above, created by the Independent Study class. Her disappointment was short-lived however, when the successful bidder, her friend Maureen, immediately presented the work of art to Katie as a sort of royal adornment. We all love our Queen Katie.
And finally, a big thank you to the hosts of this conference (photos above): Katie Pasquini Masopust, who began and runs the amazing Alegre Retreat; Maureen Hendricks, a supporter of fabric arts and attendee of Alegre since the beginning in Santa Fe, who worked toward the new home for Alegre at her family’s Gateway Canyons Resort in Colorado; and to John Hendricks, former Discovery Channel founder/CEO, who had the vision for and built the resort that has (among other things) become a dream destination for those of us in the Quilting World.
Below… a parting selfie, like a post credit scene at the end of a movie… Mac, Sue, and myself—ready to head off on our next mode of transportation home, after catching the same flight from Colorado to Texas—”cheerful” from a successful week of creativity, and to have made and renewed friendships, at Alegre.
I am so impressed by the variety and quality of all the collages here! Thank you for sharing!
We all had so much fun!! And you captured it in your post!! Thank you katiepm
Thank you for these posts, love reading about everyone’s experiences and all the ideas and help is so encouraging.