Immersing into Fabric Collage: Susan Carlson On the Road—Bar Harbor, Maine—Part 2

The messy-scary stage happens, but it doesn’t last. The worst of it occurs in the first couple days of a class, when projects haven’t had time to “flesh out” yet. You gotta trust in the process and keep going. Day three is usually when projects start to coalesce—in the general scheme of a fabric collage. By the time a regular five-day class is finished, I feel that most folks have what they need to carry on and finish on their own, and many do make the time to do so.

Of course, time is the main thing that sets this first two-week “Fabric Collage Intensive” held in Bar Harbor, Maine, apart from all the other classes I’ve taught—the time to relax into the collage process—as Sandi Bond was able to do with the colorful portrait of her dog, Chloe (photo above), in a somewhat messy pinning stage, but not scary anymore.

With ten days there’s time to have the support and incentive to keep working on the collage well past the messy scary stage. Even getting to a finished first draft with a background in the works or figured out, which means the foundation fabric is covered and the basic image is done. There’s time for understanding what is further needed—adding second draft details and additions of sheer fabrics for shadows and highlights to further enhance the image.

There’s the time to talk with and hang out with your fellow students—to hear their stories and to get to know them just a little more. This group of the same fourteen students for ten days of class and a weekend in-between now have an amazing bond with each other. They saw what others needed—fabric, encouragement, a cup of coffee—and provided it to each other. As a teacher, it was quite lovely to see, and two weeks later, to still see it happening through the class text message group. It’s been quite active with continuing support in both fabric collage and life.

My September 2025 Class with MISA in Bar Harbor, Maine

Our Classroom

Click on the smaller gallery photos to see them larger and to scroll through the rest of the sequence photos.

Anyone who has attended one of my classes, knows that I ask housekeeping not to vacuum the floor for the duration of the class—those bits that drop from our scissors can become valuable finds before the end. You can see the transition in the photos above: Darleen, beginning to pull from her suitcase of fabric on day one; Nan, relaxing with her wonderfully tousled stash on day nine.

For fabric collage, a variety of smaller pieces is more important than amount of yardage. These students understood that idea. In photo’s below; Nan’s tabletop, the class share table, and Kiyomi’s neat bags containing her pre-cut fabric palette pieces. It was good to see that by the end, Kiyomi had just as many shards of fabric on the floor as anyone.

One of the things I appreciate teaching for MISA—Madeline Island School of the Arts—is that regardless of the location of the campus, they always provide a mirror over the demonstration table (below), allowing students to easily view what I’m presenting from various angles and distances from my table.

I have divided the process of fabric collage into five presentations, one for each day of a class week. However, this class was double the length, so for the second week, these women could choose what they wanted to see or know more about—such as how do you decide where and how to apply sheer fabrics.

Another sunrise over Frenchman Bay, another morning demo on the “topic of the day” (photos of both below).

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Backgrounds and Collaboration

More talk about backgrounds was requested for week two. Sometimes it’s not until you get to that point that you realize how difficult it can be to come up with a background you’re happy with. In the photo sequence below, Liz Warters spent a day working through her ideas and honing down how she wanted to present this serene swan pair.

I’ll usually ask, “what’s the story?” when talking about backgrounds. When I saw these photos one after the other I thought of Goldilocks—the first was too much, the second not enough, the third just right. Liz knew it, and so did the rest of us when Liz found the third and final option.

I think that the two weeks of class built on the confidence these women have to help each other by sharing thoughts and ideas and fabric. By week two when backgrounds became an issue, they collaborated on their own, making great decisions as I was circulating around the class with individual consults.

In front of the fanciful backdrop of finished quilts by Brenda Carter (above), Liz and Darlene discuss the background of Darlene’s portrait of “Sal.”

A high percentage of students in this class got to the point of auditioning or deciding on backgrounds for their subjects (below).

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If you missed the two Dispatches from Bar Harbor posts—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 the two Fabric Collage Immersion posts—today’s Part 2, and last week’s Part 1.

In last week’s post, I started my “walk around the classroom” introducing seven of the fourteen students and their works-in-progress—ending with Ann Carr and her magical swan (above left). This week’s post I’m continuing my rounds beginning with Sandi Bond (above right) and her sweet pup, Chloe.

This class was open subject matter and all levels. Scroll over the photos below to see the artists’ names. Click on the photos to see them larger and to scroll through the gallery for a sneak-peek of the amazing collage work to follow!

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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. At the beginning of the second week of class, 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, below.

Remember to click on the gallery photos to see them larger and to scroll through the rest of the sequence photos.

Sandi Bond

Sandi drove from another country—Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada—to take this class. I just learned, through the class text group, that Shubenacadie (shoe-ben-acadie, both a’s have short vowel sounds), is a Mi’kmaq word, Sipekne’katik, which means “where the wild potatoes grow.” Cool. Sandi seemed to have a Mary Poppins bag sort of car that contained all sorts of things that came up in the course of the two weeks—class supplies, fabrics, specialty Canadian chocolates, candies, potato chips, and muscle pain salve—all brought with the intention to share. Thanks, Sandi.

Sandi’s second week goal was to: get as far as possible—therefore ensuring her success on accomplishing her goals! Truly, Sandi achieved a lot through diligently working on this portrait of Chloe, asking very good questions and embracing the fabric collage process. Chloe is lovely.

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Susan Repp

Susan flew across country from Tacoma, Washington, with her long-time friend, Lucy. Susan has a very straight-faced and dry sense of humor which surprised and entertained me when I talked to her about Froggie—a tree frog/poison-dart frog hybrid. She definitely benefitted from the length of this class—telling me how she needed the two weeks to understand this process well enough to finish. I believe she will.

Susan’s second week goals were to: create Froggie’s appendages—done; add shadows to his neck—successfully achieved with Susan’s first venture into the world of tulle; give him a branch to perch on—done, with the realization that a branch does not have to have straight edges; decide on squares of fabrics for a background—check; and add a bug on the branch for Froggie to aim at—yet to come, though there was a turtle in the frog’s sight for awhile.

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Lucy Lowry

Lucy flew across country from Milton, Washington, with her long-time friend, Susan. Lucy was in a May 2018, class of mine in Colorado and created a beautiful and peaceful Buddha face and lotus collage. Her Tree of Life subject for this class has a similar feel of something spiritual. She has included satins and other fabrics with a shine such as gold-printed cotton, and layers of tulle—adding a richness to the story.

Lucy’s second week goals were to: add blue leaves to the tree, and to blend greens into the border—both done. Lucy worked upwards from the tree roots, creating a gnarly trunk and a beautiful canopy with a great illusion of depth for this ancient-feeling tree. Another beautiful collage.

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Barb Grant

Barb and her husband Irv, made their cross-country trek to Bar Harbor from Pacific Grove, California. Barb attended the Bar Harbor 2024 class where she began Montgomery the Rooster. I’ve know Barb and Irv for years (more than we can figure out) and I have fun when I’m around them. Barb has a larger goal of collaging a “Plaid Barnyard” of animal characters that contain collaged plaids and checkerboard fabrics. She has Edison, a plaid pig in the works, but these two weeks concentrated on Montgomery’s family.

Even if you haven’t spent time around Barb, I think you get the idea from her photo below, that she’s as much a character as Montgomery—even dresses like him. 😉

Barb’s second week goals were to: add some netting and glitz to Franklin, the first of two chicks—she did add a little bit, but he is quite little to start; create the “upper countenance,” a.k.a. the head, of Meadow the Hen—done beautifully. Meadow’s name changed to Talulah for a day or so, and is now Liberty, inspired by the tempting assortment of Liberty of London fabrics Barb discovered and went home with after leaving Bar Harbor. Liberty will (eventually) have tail plumage to compliment her rooster, Montgomery.

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Darlene Determan

Darlene is a Maine Snowbird, flying to Sanibel Island, Florida, for a warmer climate in the winter. In the summer she lives close enough to me that we carpool to and from Bar Harbor—and we manage to have a lot of laughs and small adventures along the way. She is one of four students returning to this Bar Harbor venue, having attended all three years I’ve taught here. Though we think she began taking classes with me 20 or more years ago?

Darlene’s second week goals were to: finish the portrait of her sister’s “white” dog, Sal—getting her “glued and glitzed.” Since last year when this two-week class was set up, Darlene has been planning that this pup was going to a subject for her to finally have the time to play with sheer fabrics on—which she did. Her secondary goal was to make a plan for her next collage project, an octopus. As you can see in the photos below, forget the plan, she jumped right into it and made amazing progress in just the final couple days.

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Nan Sorensen

Nan joined us from Buckeye, Arizona. Nan has also taken a class with me, in the summer of 2021, with MISA at their original Madeline Island campus in Wisconsin. There I helped her begin a portrait of her son when he was about three years old, and it’s as wildly colored and filled with as many bold and brightly patterned fabrics as the portraits of her three grandchildren are going to be. I love being surprised by what fabrics she chooses—she has an artistic touch that makes it all work out.

Nan’s second week goals were to: get green granddaughter Maya glued and into the second draft—done; get the other two portraits of siblings Jackson (in blue) and Hannah (in red) started with their eyes, noses, and lips—done for Jackson, eyes done for Hannah. A great start for an ambitious trio of portraits. Can’t wait to see how they progress.

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Liz Warters

Liz lives in Newport News, Virginia, and took a relatively leisurely three-day drive to and from Maine, stopping along the way to see some sights and stop as some fabric stores. She has good energy and

Liz’s second week goals were to: finish and glue her swans’ first drafts—check; figure out a background—more than done, playing with three different versions. She too had a second project in-the-wings, an owl, that she wanted to get a start on—done, getting two great eyes and one lovely beak collaged in just a couple days.

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Did you miss last week’s post highlighting the first half of the classroom and and their fabulous fabric collage art? Be sure to check out the post: Immersing into Fabric Collage 2025: Susan Carlson On the Road—Bar Harbor, Maine—Part 1.

A big thank you for all the photo (and video) contributions provided by members of this class and Annie. I’ve totally lost track of where many of the photos came from, but they are appreciated.

So long, farewell, aufwiedersehen, goodbye, to Bar Harbor. If you’d like to join me for a one-week Maine fabric collage adventure in September 2026, you can learn more about it and sign up here with MISA!