Three weeks ago was a first—when my first two-week class began. Not just two weeks of teaching, but teaching the same students for two weeks. I’ve been looking forward to this, and wondering how it would go, since it was set up with MISA—Madeline Island School of the Arts—a year ago. I figured that 15 women, working creatively, eating, and staying at the same hotel for two weeks could be a great experience, or not so great.
It was better than I could have hoped.
I still have to finish processing it all. Going through photos for both this week and next week’s posts have been helping me put my thoughts together. I had named the class a “Fabric Collage Intensive”—and it was intense and weirdly relaxing at the same time. More to come about that next week.
If you missed the past two Saturday posts—Dispatches from Bar Harbor—Bar Harbor Here I Come! and Extra! Extra! A Weekend in Maine, these posts covered some non-class aspects of the two weeks and set groundwork for these next two posts.
At the beginning of the second week of class, my husband Tom, was able to stop by before heading home from a weekend of kayaking. He took the photos of me and my students in the following slideshow. I worked my way around the classroom, visiting each person in turn, discussing their work-in-progress and noting their second week goals. Their answers are included in the Student Work Gallery, a little farther below.
Join Tom and I as we walk through the classroom. Click on the play arrow for the slideshow to automatically advance.
Meet My September 2025 Class at MISA in Bar Harbor, Maine!
In this week’s post I’ll be introducing you to seven of the fourteen students in this class of open subject matter for all levels. Scroll over the photos below to see their names. Click on the photos to see them larger and to scroll through the gallery for a sneak-peek of their fantastic collage work in-progress!
Student Work Gallery
Below, you will see each student with their end-of-class collage, next to a beginning-of-class photo to see the two week progress. Remember to click on the gallery photos to see them larger and to scroll through the rest of the sequence photos.
Marcie White
Marcie traveled from her home in Pittsboro, North Carolina, with her friend, Kiyomi (below). Both women worked through my Online Master Class and Marcie was all set to translate her black and white fainting goat, now named “Acadia,” into a purple and lime green specimen. Perfect.
Marci’s second week goals were to: Check off the eye (on our left)—done. Get the “flow” of the molting (purple) wool—she has a good base for that to be a second draft goal. Define Acadia’s legs—done. Find ideas for a background, suggesting a sense of “place”—Marcie did find that nice mottled blue as a goat yard base, we’ll see if the guinea hens and their hen house make the cut or not. Play with netting—that will be yet to come.
Kiyomi Carter
Kiyomi is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and traveled to Maine with her friend-in-art, Marcie (above). Kiyomi has to be one of the most organized and prepared students I’ve met. I was quite impressed with the chameleon design that she researched and designed—then created a full-color drawing to work from. She had all the needed fabric palettes pre-cut, already visualizing how her chameleon, Kevin, would be coming together—and he did so beautifully.
Kiyomi’s second week goals were to: Keep learning tips from me and fellow students, to make the fabric collage process easier—such as constructing an (amazingly detailed) eye as a separate unit for ease of cutting and gluing (below). This class was a relatively even mix of newbies and those with more experience—help and knowledge was freely exchanged. Kiyomi also wanted to get to Kevin’s background—which she did.
Becky Cobb
Becky and her husband Carl, traveled to Maine from Neosho, Missouri. After class, the two were often off to one Maine adventure or another. Becky was one of two students in this class with triple portrait subjects—Becky’s is of her granddaughter and two other young friends from Girl Scouts—in bold and bright colors and fabrics. This is going to be a large, very impressive, and fun quilt.
Becky’s second week goals were to: Finish the facial features of all three girls (her granddaughter’s features were completed in week-one, along with a second draft revision, photos below). It was close, but Becky did complete the first draft of not only the features, but the faces as well.
Julie Peterson
Julie is from Queen Creek, Arizona. Her giraffe took on a sweet and fanciful personality as he came to life. He also took a liking to the flower garden foreground and ended up with a floral snack in his mouth before the end. Julie had time to play with some sheer fabrics and sparkle (which are hard to see in a photograph) for accents on her collage.
Julie’s second week goals were to: Complete the background and gluing of her cute little guy, before they had to head home early—done and ready to travel.
Lizzie Stebbins
Lizzie is one of four students returning to this Bar Harbor venue. She and I are Mainers that have the luxury of easily driving to Bar Harbor, though Lizzie does fly south for the winter where she lives much of the year in Key Largo, Florida. One year she collaged a sweet and purple Key deer. This year she returned to collage another antlered ungulate—she’s becoming a pro with interpreting antlers.
Lizzie’s second week goals were to: Get the first draft of her moose done and glued—check. Start the second draft with some fine tuning on the nose and (our left) eye—done. Plus she added black sparkle netting as great shadows on his antlers. Added goals were to start two new projects—a blue bear (well-in-progress photos below), and a double portrait of her niece and nephew. The portraits kinda got started with the realization that their drawings needed to be further enlarged, which is a good thing to know before you really get going.
Brenda Carter
Brenda and her husband Cal, traveled three days via plane and car from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada to work with me in Bar Harbor—I feel very honored. I’ve known Brenda for a few years through 5-day live online classes and one other in-person class with MISA in Tucson. Brenda has a very painterly style in fabric collage, and just like dabs of paint, her images gradually come to life—it’s fascinating to see it happen.
Brenda’s second week goals were to: Get her horse’s body positioned behind his face—done. Finish the first draft of her husband Cal’s, face—done. Have a plan for collaging the leather jacket he’s wearing in his photo—that we ran out of time for. She does have an interesting brown fabric with a large wood-block-alphabet print that may possibly work as a lapel, though we’ll have to consult about that online.
Ann Carr
Ann lives in Taunton, Massachussetts, a longer car ride than her friend Lizzie has, but oh-so-worth it to bring along a lot of fabric, and to collect more on local excursions. Ann is also a Bar Harbor returnee. She has a way of bringing a magical, fable-like quality to her subjects—such as the graceful and fanciful swan she began in this class.
Ann’s second week goals were to: Finish the swan’s first draft, including the water and reflections, lily pads, and the overall background—done—though questions about how many lily pads remain. Like others in the class, Ann has goals that include other projects, such as finishing her black leopard from last year. We rearranged leaves and flowers around him, and last I knew, Ann was playing with adding sheers and sparkle as well. The third project on Ann’s week-two wish list was her “purple lady”—to get a start with her eyes—and in photos below, she’s just about there.
See you next week with the other half of the classroom and lots more fabric collage art in the post: Immersing into Fabric Collage: Susan Carlson On the Road—Bar Harbor, Maine—Part 2.
Oh I love waking up on Saturday’s and getting a cup of coffee before settling in to read Susan’s latest blog post! Such talent! I’ve wondered how the two week classes would be as I am always wiped out by the end of the five day ones. Looks like a tremendous success and so much fun. Do those who fly to the class buy most of their fabric once they get there? What about the boards? Are you able to get that locally? Finally, is transporting the projects folded into a suitcase ever a problem?
Good morning, Liz! Knowing there are those of you waking up to these posts with your cuppas help keep me going with putting them together! 🙂 Good questions about the class, got me thinking that answering questions like that could be another post! For now; everyone brings their fabric with them, they have a good idea of what they’ll need since we do pre-class coaching via Zoom to talk about that. However, local purchases are made and there was much sharing of fabrics, especially in the 2nd week. Pinning boards are always provided by MISA. Traveling with the collages isn’t a problem, some people roll them on pool noodles that fit their cases or carry-ons. Best to keep them close. Folding is fine, that’s what I do. It’s fabric, it irons out. Aileen’s Tacky Glue stays flexible when dry, avoid steam (this glue is water soluble).
Thanks for the reply! I’m hoping to someday take an in-person class and always wondered how I would get the project home as my projects tend to stay on the foam board for months! In person looks like so much fun and it would be good to meet others who enjoy do collage!
It was a wonderful two weeks. This morning I have been playing with purple hair strands for Lorelai and contemplating edits. It was a dream come true to be in Susan’s class. There was a lot of sharing and collaboration. Without scraps from Brenda’s pants my girls would not have eyebrows or noses! Thanks to Darlene, I keep noticing fabric with large irregular dots, she needs those! Between Susan and Liz I am understanding shading better. I am still struggling with the noses, but I am determined to finish one fabric cut at a time! Love the new friendships and continued contact in the group text. Bar Harbor is gorgeous in September! Thank you Susan for all of your lessons and guidance.