September 10th, 2009

Altered Arts is a personal craft. It’s tons of fun, but in order to allow yourself to express yourself you need a teacher with patience and exuberance to give you the comfort and encouragement to try new things within a 4 hour class. Guest teacher Sasha Harris is seriously amazing. Not only is she a talented improv actress, she also has an uncanny ability to take her skills as an actress into the crafting world. You’ll be inspired, productive and proud of what you’ve done. Her class, Altered Art Techniques is one of our most popular and fun classes – the best part is that you’ll also walk away with a book you’ve made filled with new skills to apply to any crafting endeavor!

I sat down with Sasha last week to learn a little bit more about her and about what she is looking forward to most in her upcoming class, Altered Art Techniques, this Saturday September 12th, 11-3pm. $65 non-member/$60 member

Q: What is your experience as a crafter?

If I tell you I was a Girl Scout does that say enough? That was the early years. In 2000 I made a New Year’s resolution to make a quilt. When I enrolled in the class I had grandiose visions of a puffy duvet type item. But of course, I was quickly met with geometry, rotary cutting, and so many triangles! I fell in love with quilting and I made three (non-puffy) quilts before I started graduate school. Most importantly I became a devoted lover of fabric.

Q: What drew you to altered arts?

Altered arts came into my life In the midst of graduate school when I was dealing with a significant personal loss. I took several classes in mixed media book arts and reveled in these tangible creations – so opposite of my graduate training. It was fantastic to be able to manipulate paper, paint, rip, tear, paint over, ink, write on, and best of all SHARE while creating with an ever expanding group of artists. Every day there is something new to learn, a new book or magazine to be inspired by, and new tools or supplies to play with. Every supply seems limited only by the imagination of the user and I am constantly surprised by the creativity of other artists.

Q: What would you say to someone who is doubtful of their creative ability?

It is 100% okay to be nervous about messing up. If you weren’t nervous it might mean that you didn’t care about the end result. But wherever you are just begin. Even if the first step is saying, “I have no freaking idea how to do this! Help!”

Keep in mind that once you learn how to use the tools you are 99.9% there.

It’s like learning any new skill, like, driving or riding a bike. Once you learn how to drive the car you are good to go, all that’s left is deciding where you want to travel. Same deal here, you want to make pillows, pants, or books it’s okay to spend some time learning about the tools first. You don’t have to be mean to yourself for not knowing all about the stuff right away. Be nice to you! Eventually you will make your masterpiece.

Q: Describe your upcoming class. What do you hope students will come away from the class having accomplished?

The Altered Book class is a playground class. The focus here is practice and learning – not the final product. That said, students will leave with a book full of techniques for their future projects. Students use a provided hardcover book to explore tools and techniques to alter the structure of the book. They’ll cut the cover, create sections, insert tags, create a block niche, cover-the-cover, and work with folds. Once the basic architecture of the book has been altered, students play with decorative elements to embellish their sections: gesso, fibers, stamps, and other findings.

My hope is that students will have either experienced something new or played in a way they didn’t expect of themselves when they walked in the door. Everyday that we create is a good one.

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