Arts Learning Grant
Arts Learning Grant
Quilting studio mentorship workshops and open sew.
Tara Makinen: executive director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, cultural programming coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children’s Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Tammy Mattonen: visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Amy Varsek: education director, Duluth Art Institute; Kendra Carlson: writing and theater instructor, University of Minnesota Duluth; David Marty: former director of the Reif Performing Arts Center, Grand Rapids.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
I am seeking Arrowhead Regional Arts Council funds to support weekly workshops and open sewing sessions at my studio from April four to December 19, 2019. Basic sewing, design, piecing, quilting and binding skills will be taught in a hands-on environment tailored to the needs of individual participants. Funding will be used to purchase fabric, batting, patterns and thread to augment what participants can themselves afford to provide. I will expand my reference library, develop a web kiosk with curated links to patterns, method videos, artist websites and opportunity listings. This grant will also be used to partially fund my teaching time and ongoing mentorship role. Participant projects and progress will be recorded after each session to help me better anticipate next steps for each person. A studio journal will be available for participants to write through their experience and a comments box will be used to gather feedback. I will assist participants in setting learning goals and will provide a list of specific resources and skill-building steps to help them meet those goals. A computer will be set up with reference materials and a curated set of web links highlighting quilters working in the field and opportunities for membership and exhibition. A library of reference books will be available for how-to instruction and inspiration.
I provided each student with instruction (one on one) weekly to finish to complete a quilt of their own creation in my studio. I provided the fabrics, batting, threads, use of equipment such as industrial steamer iron, sewing machines, longarm quilting machines as well as rotary cutters, mats, rulers etc all at no charge to each student. Instruction included sewing instruction, quilting instruction and binding instruction based on skill level which generally was a newbie or beginner. Because of the ARAC grant - I was able to help students finish over eight completed quilts plus several dozen other projects -100% completed from many different skill set students. As a direct result of the grant award over a dozen at risk students, now how to sew a completed quilt on their own andor assisted and have quilted several different projects on their own. Students continue to utilize the studio on a weekly basis after the grant has expired and I continue to mentor at no charge.
Other,local or private