Teaching at Rhinelander School of the Arts

Last week I left the Boundary Waters Canoe Trip two days early (see previous post) so that I could teach at the Rhinelander School of the Arts in Rhinelander, WI. I taught two week-long classes: Fabric Dyeing and Surface Design on Fabric and Jump Start Your Creativity. Both classes were fun, but I particularly enjoyed the surface design class. The creativity class was the first time I had taught it in 5 consecutive days and I think it works better as a once/week class, unless I really change up the format which is a possibility.

I have a few photos from the Surface Design class below.

students washing fabric

Every morning students arrived early to wash out their fabric they dyed the day before. This sink scene was a common beginning to the day.

student screen printing

I use and teach a non-traditional screen printing style that allows the image on the screen to dissolve as you go so that each print looks a little different. It's tons of fun and the results are exciting and unexpected.

student adding more dye to her screen printed piece

Students were encouraged to do multiple processes on each piece of fabric. This produces depth and complexity to the fabric making it more interesting.

a proud student!

A wall of finished fabric

Rhinelander 2008 class! (I am kneeling in the front)

student work

more student work

show 'n' tell on the last day

It was a great week and I really enjoyed the students - they always make teaching so much fun. Students - I hope you all will keep dyeing, experimenting, and playing with fabric! Have fun out there!

Boundary Waters Canoe Trip

I went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area on a 5-day canoeing trip with 4 friends. It was a great trip and my first multi-day canoe trip. The Boundary Waters are beautiful and we saw many loons and eagles, including a pair feeding their young in their nest.


Here we are on the first morning before leaving. Left to right: Julie, Liza, Ricardo, Mo, me. It was pretty buggy so we wore bug head nets a lot while on land, especially Liza, they like her more than anyone else.

We paddled a loop of about 50 miles or so. The first day we did 17 miles and then had to slow down so we didn't get to the end too quickly. This made for a rather relaxing trip. We got into camp on most days by 2pm and had time for swimming, reading, napping, etc. One day Mo even baked us bread over the fire. It was delicious!

Liza duffing (when you sit and the middle and don't paddle) and feeding Ricardo a peanut.

A perfect reflection in the water. This was a common view.

Ricardo sleeping in our hammock. We have this great, lightweight, small hammock made by Eagle's Nest Outfitters. I highly recommend one. It's awesome for camp!

Storm clouds coming in.

Mo, Ricardo, and Liza chilling out at camp.

Sunset at our campsite.

Mo enjoying the sunset on night four.

Julie happy in the stern of the boat.

Drying our socks on night four. Most of us wore neoprene socks in our shoes since our feet were wet most of the day. They kept us warm and the bugs can't bite through them.

Mo and Julie portaging the large packs. The first day we only had one portage, but the other days we had 2-5. The longest was probably 1/4 mile and most were shorter.


Two bald eagles we saw on Day 4. One was keeping watch and the other was feeding the young in the nest. We saw quite a few bald eagles, in fact it was the most common raptor we saw.

Julie chilling in the hammock on Night 4.

Ricardo and Julie making dinner. Ricardo is stoking the fire with a hose he brought along. It's a long plastic tubing with a short piece of copper tubing at the end. You put the copper tubing in the end by the fire and then you can get very direct air at the fire without having to get that close. It was a brilliant set up and made fire making much easier. We cooked over a small fire almost every night.

The last morning we got up really early so I could get dropped off at my car to drive to Rhinelander, WI to teach for Rhinelander School of the Arts (see next post). The rest of the group continued on for 2 more days. The morning paddle out was gorgeous and one of my favorite days. The sun was rising and Mo, Ricardo, and I were paddling behind Liza and Julie.

Mo paddling and Ricardo map reading with the sunrise hitting their faces.

What a great trip! The Boundary Waters are beautiful and very peaceful. I hope to go back again!