Teachers
Cady Fontana, Needle Felting (winter)
Cady Fontana is a crafter, quilter, fiber artist who loves to teach and share skills. A big believer in improv across media, Cady practices creative problem solving and uses art to shape her life. She holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts with a focus on Fiber Art, which she uses in conjunction with her library degree to run the Makerspace at Tompkins County Public Library. Learn with Cady for a low stress, joyful and funny making experience.
Robin Wilburn, Improv Quilting (fall)
Robin is a natural figure-outer! She loves a challenge, whether it's wrangling DC-area high schoolers through the rigors of math or renovating her own kitchen. Robin is also a mother of three creative souls who keep her busy with an infinite number of musical rehearsals and assorted other teenage endeavors. She has been sewing since she was a kid and loves to encourage novices to take a machine out for a spin. Robin can also be found crossing the lake for Women Swimmin every year, or lounging lakeside afterwards.
Leisa Morris White, sewing (winter)
Leisa Morris White is the fabric and flower obsessed owner of Morris Textiles which is located in Corners Community, Ithaca. Morris Textiles specializes in British design and carries fabrics by Liberty of London, William Morris as well as contemporary British designers. Leisa is originally from Liverpool, England but has been in the US for 16 years. She moved last year from Austin, Texas and is happy to have found such a great, creative community in Ithaca.
Denise Milito, Mosaic (winter)
Denise Milito owns and operates Studio Manifest, a mosaic studio open during the summer months. She has been doing mosaic since 2001 when she ripped out her bathroom floor and built a custom mosaic floor. Since then she has designed and fabricated several floors, walls, and public mosaic installations including; Dryden High School, Trumansburg Schools, American Red Cross public fundraiser, Mackinac Arts Council, and private home installations. Denise enjoys inspiring her students in the creation of custom pieces.
Betz White, SunBroidery (fall)
Betz White was born into a family of makers. Everything from knitting to macrame, sewing to embroidery, photography to screen printing, and any other crafty pastime was an everyday occurrence in the home Betz grew up in. Following her passion for textiles and design, Betz earned a degree in fashion and became a designer in the children’s apparel industry.
Leaving the corporate world after becoming a mom, Betz set out to share her creativity through blogging, teaching and inspiring others with her unique aesthetic. betzwhite.com launched in 2006 as a community for creative do-it-yourself crafters, sewers, and makers.
Chantal Kendrick, Stuffed Animals (fall)
Chantal is the daughter of a crafty mom, and granddaughter of a seamstress. She was an art major (among many other majors!) and has always loved making and crafting of all kinds! She has experience in jewelry making, printmaking, quilting, embroidery, painting and drawing, gardening, faux finish painting, music, photography, writing, and just plain old having a good time! She is mostly occupied in “Unschooling” her 9 and 11 year old daughters in Rochester, NY.
Wendy Vaughn, Knitting Beyond the Basics (fall)
Wendy is a lifelong maker. She started sewing as a grade-schooler and started knitting as a teenager, mostly knitting sweaters and mittens. Now she engages in sweaters, shawls, socks, and cowels. She enjoys dabbling in many creative endeavors such as batik and sourdough baking, but knitting is a particular passion and one that is shared with daughter Kristen Olson. After moving from Virginia Beach to Ithaca in 2022, she lives and gardens with her husband and a sweet old cat (who needs a sweater) in Cayuga Heights, where she is learning about the plants in her garden. She is known by her Stitch-and- Bitch group in Virginia Beach for jumping in to the challenge of any knitting problem, pattern or stitch.
Maria Klemperer-Johnson, Kumiko woodworking & Parquetry, Chip carving (fall, winter)
Born into a family of makers, Maria was destined to land into some type of creative career. Growing up, she dabbled in the fiber arts with her mother and woodworking with her father and grandfather. While she still feels an affinity for both soft and hard media, as a career she ended up as a carpenter. In 2013, Maria began teaching carpentry skills to women with Hammerstone: Carpentry for Women. After years of delving into large scale construction, she finds herself drawn back towards smaller and more delicate woodworking projects. Hence: Kumiko.
Jenny Pope, Ceramics (fall)
Jenny is a printmaker, ceramicist, storyteller, creative creature researcher and full-time artist. She splits her time making colorful ceramics, and colorful woodcuts. She has lived in Ithaca since 2005, you may find her on a trail somewhere with 2 big poodles and her kiddo!
Louise Felker, Landscape Quilting (fall)
By day, Louise works in Cornell's Food Science department. By night, she is a pet portraitist...in fabric! Louise also enjoys running, hiking, gardening, and theater. She is a community theater director in her "spare" time. And a devoted cat mom, to boot! You can see more of Louise's work--and commission your own pet portrait!--at her website: https://www.cartographyquilts.com/
Christina King, Intermediate Sewing (fall, winter)
Christina started sewing as a tween, learning from her mother who worked in a dress factory in the fifties. She worked her way from simple printed doll kits to her senior prom dress and beyond. Despite all this experience, she is still learning new skills with every project. She loves making and building in all kinds of media. Her favorite newly acquired skills are upholstery, quilting and caulking.
Emily Hirshorn, Paper Making and Basketry (fall)
Emily is a Jane-of-all-trades who loves to dip her toes into crafty waters! She is a wiz at mosaics, printmaking, creative sewing, and many other crafts. Emily has become passionate about paper mulberry in recent years and is happy to guide us in paper making and basketry from this invasive species. Emily comes to us from Philly, where she and her pup Rodney like to run amok and harvest from vacant lots.
Sophie Armstead, Spoon Carving (fall, winter)
An amateur naturalist and wildcrafter, some of Sophie's favorite things to create are those that can be made with materials she forages and processes herself. She teaches at a nature preschool and spends many weekends hiking the Finger Lakes Trail; when the nest is empty, she plans to do long-distance backpacking. Sophie, her husband, cat, and two kids live in Ithaca but also have land in Van Etten where they grow a big garden and keep chickens.
MaryAnn Carroll, Wire Wrapped Jewelry (fall)
MaryAnn, a retired special education teacher, has been creating jewelry for over 14 years. Her interest started in a local bead shop stringing beads for gifts. After a time of making new jewelry to match work outfits, she began to branch out to metal and then to ceramic. Loving the rustic look, she found that there were not too many beads out there to match her style, so what better thing to do than to create them yourself? Creating her own personal ceramic beads led to a successful side business selling handmade beads through Etsy. Experimenting with different styles evolved into creations using copper wire, industrial tubes, enamels and, of course, ceramic beads Those materials alone open up a world of variation in jewelry styles. MaryAnn loves teaching and sharing her ideas with those curious to learn them and encourages students to get creative during her classes.
Carlee Norberg, Dried Flower Wreaths (fall, winter)
Carlee lives and work on Plenty of Posies cut flower farm in Newfield, NY. She love laughing together with her fairy coworkers while picking flowers, arranging bouquets, and making dried flower wreaths on the farm, and she can't wait to share her skills with you!
Kristen Olson, Knitting beyond the basics (fall)
Kristen is an art major and former lumberjill, a collector of feathers and interesting rocks, and an avid knitter. She earns a living looking at historic buildings and loves making things and being outdoors with friends. She lives and gardens in the Village of Freeville, but aspires to someday be a shepherdess.
Marissa McKown, Restorative Yoga (fall, winter)
Marissa McKown is an alignment-focused yoga teacher who strives to create a nurturing, yet challenging environment - ripe for deep exploration.
With a background in theater arts, Marissa utilizes her knowledge of anatomy, body mechanics, and safe alignment. She prides herself in meeting students where they are - no matter their body, experience, or so-called-ability. She hopes to inspire her students to challenge themselves in a compassionate and non-injurious manner, while engaging with a light-hearted approach.
Using an intersectional feminist lens and trauma-informed training, Marissa aims to do-no-harm (Ahimsa) while being inclusive of folks of all kinds of backgrounds, identities, and bodies. She strives to honor the lineage of yoga and integrate the teachings of those wiser and more experienced, weaving them into modern western life in a practical and accessible style. The practice of yoga and asana is open to anyone who wants it.
____________________________________________________________
Practicing Asana since 2000; certified 200h RYT since 2016; ongoing advanced teacher trainings
Styles practiced and taught: Alignment-Focused Vinyasa (Iyengar informed), Hatha, Vinyasa, Mindful Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Power Vinyasa, Yin, and Restorative.
Teachers of note: Amber Cook, Diana Oppenheim, Rich Logan
Link to my resource page:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ka6LLFLKQi8I8nNH6_YwOuJZyRNnuV6w?usp=sharing
Graham O, Gourds (winter)
Graham is the creative genius behind Gourdlandia, a gourd workshop and studio here in Ithaca, NY. She loves a vast array of crafts, and has had as many artistic phases as most people have haircuts. Gingerbread houses and midwifery are among her secret talents, and her asparagus bed is second-to-none! www.gourdlandia.com
Kelly Diemond, Metalwork Jewelry (fall, winter)
Kelly did not even realize she was creative until her mid 40's when she decided to start making jewelry, quit her Admin job of 19+ years and open her own Metalsmith Studio in Syracuse. She now spends her days sharing her passion with aspiring metalsmiths who are just discovering the joy of cutting, hammering and soldering metal into jewelry they are proud to say they made. Kelly's the owner of Metal Morphosis Jewelry studio in Syracuse where she guides aspiring metalsmiths through the process of making jewelry from scratch, using sheet metal, wire and lots of heat! https://metalmorphstudio.com/
Stephanie Allen, Garment Sewing & Mending (fall, winter)
Stephanie was born into a family of seamstresses and has sewn since age five. Stephanie is petite 5’1.5” and the driving force behind her sewing is having clothing that fits. She studied sewing and pattern adjustments in college, and later sewing with knits. She believes that if your clothing doesn’t fit the clothing is to blame, not you! She teaches sewing classes at Quilters’ Corner in Ithaca, NY and is known as the garment-making expert. Stephanie lives and gardens in the country with her husband, young daughter, and two fur babies. Stephanie shares her sewing projects at http://www.instagram.com/thepetitesewist and at thepetitesewist.com.
Simone Lackey, Wild Basketry (winter, fall)
Simone came to basketry through her love of foraging, herbalism and living a life connected to the land. Working with the seasonality of the plants and trees, Simone harvests her materials from the local landscape and emphasizes healing through the creation of functional art that is made to return to the earth.
Heather Scott, General Shenanigans
Heather cooked up the idea for FLAIR because she loves nothing more than goofing off with kindred spirits by the lake. She loves improv quilting because she does not pay close attention and drives her vintage sewing machines into the ground. When not scheming up nonsense for FLAIR, she is either jumping into Cayuga lake with her two kids, corralling Food Science grad students, or trying to talk someone into drinking cocktails in the backyard.
Cady Fontana is a crafter, quilter, fiber artist who loves to teach and share skills. A big believer in improv across media, Cady practices creative problem solving and uses art to shape her life. She holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts with a focus on Fiber Art, which she uses in conjunction with her library degree to run the Makerspace at Tompkins County Public Library. Learn with Cady for a low stress, joyful and funny making experience.
Robin Wilburn, Improv Quilting (fall)
Robin is a natural figure-outer! She loves a challenge, whether it's wrangling DC-area high schoolers through the rigors of math or renovating her own kitchen. Robin is also a mother of three creative souls who keep her busy with an infinite number of musical rehearsals and assorted other teenage endeavors. She has been sewing since she was a kid and loves to encourage novices to take a machine out for a spin. Robin can also be found crossing the lake for Women Swimmin every year, or lounging lakeside afterwards.
Leisa Morris White, sewing (winter)
Leisa Morris White is the fabric and flower obsessed owner of Morris Textiles which is located in Corners Community, Ithaca. Morris Textiles specializes in British design and carries fabrics by Liberty of London, William Morris as well as contemporary British designers. Leisa is originally from Liverpool, England but has been in the US for 16 years. She moved last year from Austin, Texas and is happy to have found such a great, creative community in Ithaca.
Denise Milito, Mosaic (winter)
Denise Milito owns and operates Studio Manifest, a mosaic studio open during the summer months. She has been doing mosaic since 2001 when she ripped out her bathroom floor and built a custom mosaic floor. Since then she has designed and fabricated several floors, walls, and public mosaic installations including; Dryden High School, Trumansburg Schools, American Red Cross public fundraiser, Mackinac Arts Council, and private home installations. Denise enjoys inspiring her students in the creation of custom pieces.
Betz White, SunBroidery (fall)
Betz White was born into a family of makers. Everything from knitting to macrame, sewing to embroidery, photography to screen printing, and any other crafty pastime was an everyday occurrence in the home Betz grew up in. Following her passion for textiles and design, Betz earned a degree in fashion and became a designer in the children’s apparel industry.
Leaving the corporate world after becoming a mom, Betz set out to share her creativity through blogging, teaching and inspiring others with her unique aesthetic. betzwhite.com launched in 2006 as a community for creative do-it-yourself crafters, sewers, and makers.
Chantal Kendrick, Stuffed Animals (fall)
Chantal is the daughter of a crafty mom, and granddaughter of a seamstress. She was an art major (among many other majors!) and has always loved making and crafting of all kinds! She has experience in jewelry making, printmaking, quilting, embroidery, painting and drawing, gardening, faux finish painting, music, photography, writing, and just plain old having a good time! She is mostly occupied in “Unschooling” her 9 and 11 year old daughters in Rochester, NY.
Wendy Vaughn, Knitting Beyond the Basics (fall)
Wendy is a lifelong maker. She started sewing as a grade-schooler and started knitting as a teenager, mostly knitting sweaters and mittens. Now she engages in sweaters, shawls, socks, and cowels. She enjoys dabbling in many creative endeavors such as batik and sourdough baking, but knitting is a particular passion and one that is shared with daughter Kristen Olson. After moving from Virginia Beach to Ithaca in 2022, she lives and gardens with her husband and a sweet old cat (who needs a sweater) in Cayuga Heights, where she is learning about the plants in her garden. She is known by her Stitch-and- Bitch group in Virginia Beach for jumping in to the challenge of any knitting problem, pattern or stitch.
Maria Klemperer-Johnson, Kumiko woodworking & Parquetry, Chip carving (fall, winter)
Born into a family of makers, Maria was destined to land into some type of creative career. Growing up, she dabbled in the fiber arts with her mother and woodworking with her father and grandfather. While she still feels an affinity for both soft and hard media, as a career she ended up as a carpenter. In 2013, Maria began teaching carpentry skills to women with Hammerstone: Carpentry for Women. After years of delving into large scale construction, she finds herself drawn back towards smaller and more delicate woodworking projects. Hence: Kumiko.
Jenny Pope, Ceramics (fall)
Jenny is a printmaker, ceramicist, storyteller, creative creature researcher and full-time artist. She splits her time making colorful ceramics, and colorful woodcuts. She has lived in Ithaca since 2005, you may find her on a trail somewhere with 2 big poodles and her kiddo!
Louise Felker, Landscape Quilting (fall)
By day, Louise works in Cornell's Food Science department. By night, she is a pet portraitist...in fabric! Louise also enjoys running, hiking, gardening, and theater. She is a community theater director in her "spare" time. And a devoted cat mom, to boot! You can see more of Louise's work--and commission your own pet portrait!--at her website: https://www.cartographyquilts.com/
Christina King, Intermediate Sewing (fall, winter)
Christina started sewing as a tween, learning from her mother who worked in a dress factory in the fifties. She worked her way from simple printed doll kits to her senior prom dress and beyond. Despite all this experience, she is still learning new skills with every project. She loves making and building in all kinds of media. Her favorite newly acquired skills are upholstery, quilting and caulking.
Emily Hirshorn, Paper Making and Basketry (fall)
Emily is a Jane-of-all-trades who loves to dip her toes into crafty waters! She is a wiz at mosaics, printmaking, creative sewing, and many other crafts. Emily has become passionate about paper mulberry in recent years and is happy to guide us in paper making and basketry from this invasive species. Emily comes to us from Philly, where she and her pup Rodney like to run amok and harvest from vacant lots.
Sophie Armstead, Spoon Carving (fall, winter)
An amateur naturalist and wildcrafter, some of Sophie's favorite things to create are those that can be made with materials she forages and processes herself. She teaches at a nature preschool and spends many weekends hiking the Finger Lakes Trail; when the nest is empty, she plans to do long-distance backpacking. Sophie, her husband, cat, and two kids live in Ithaca but also have land in Van Etten where they grow a big garden and keep chickens.
MaryAnn Carroll, Wire Wrapped Jewelry (fall)
MaryAnn, a retired special education teacher, has been creating jewelry for over 14 years. Her interest started in a local bead shop stringing beads for gifts. After a time of making new jewelry to match work outfits, she began to branch out to metal and then to ceramic. Loving the rustic look, she found that there were not too many beads out there to match her style, so what better thing to do than to create them yourself? Creating her own personal ceramic beads led to a successful side business selling handmade beads through Etsy. Experimenting with different styles evolved into creations using copper wire, industrial tubes, enamels and, of course, ceramic beads Those materials alone open up a world of variation in jewelry styles. MaryAnn loves teaching and sharing her ideas with those curious to learn them and encourages students to get creative during her classes.
Carlee Norberg, Dried Flower Wreaths (fall, winter)
Carlee lives and work on Plenty of Posies cut flower farm in Newfield, NY. She love laughing together with her fairy coworkers while picking flowers, arranging bouquets, and making dried flower wreaths on the farm, and she can't wait to share her skills with you!
Kristen Olson, Knitting beyond the basics (fall)
Kristen is an art major and former lumberjill, a collector of feathers and interesting rocks, and an avid knitter. She earns a living looking at historic buildings and loves making things and being outdoors with friends. She lives and gardens in the Village of Freeville, but aspires to someday be a shepherdess.
Marissa McKown, Restorative Yoga (fall, winter)
Marissa McKown is an alignment-focused yoga teacher who strives to create a nurturing, yet challenging environment - ripe for deep exploration.
With a background in theater arts, Marissa utilizes her knowledge of anatomy, body mechanics, and safe alignment. She prides herself in meeting students where they are - no matter their body, experience, or so-called-ability. She hopes to inspire her students to challenge themselves in a compassionate and non-injurious manner, while engaging with a light-hearted approach.
Using an intersectional feminist lens and trauma-informed training, Marissa aims to do-no-harm (Ahimsa) while being inclusive of folks of all kinds of backgrounds, identities, and bodies. She strives to honor the lineage of yoga and integrate the teachings of those wiser and more experienced, weaving them into modern western life in a practical and accessible style. The practice of yoga and asana is open to anyone who wants it.
____________________________________________________________
Practicing Asana since 2000; certified 200h RYT since 2016; ongoing advanced teacher trainings
Styles practiced and taught: Alignment-Focused Vinyasa (Iyengar informed), Hatha, Vinyasa, Mindful Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Power Vinyasa, Yin, and Restorative.
Teachers of note: Amber Cook, Diana Oppenheim, Rich Logan
Link to my resource page:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ka6LLFLKQi8I8nNH6_YwOuJZyRNnuV6w?usp=sharing
Graham O, Gourds (winter)
Graham is the creative genius behind Gourdlandia, a gourd workshop and studio here in Ithaca, NY. She loves a vast array of crafts, and has had as many artistic phases as most people have haircuts. Gingerbread houses and midwifery are among her secret talents, and her asparagus bed is second-to-none! www.gourdlandia.com
Kelly Diemond, Metalwork Jewelry (fall, winter)
Kelly did not even realize she was creative until her mid 40's when she decided to start making jewelry, quit her Admin job of 19+ years and open her own Metalsmith Studio in Syracuse. She now spends her days sharing her passion with aspiring metalsmiths who are just discovering the joy of cutting, hammering and soldering metal into jewelry they are proud to say they made. Kelly's the owner of Metal Morphosis Jewelry studio in Syracuse where she guides aspiring metalsmiths through the process of making jewelry from scratch, using sheet metal, wire and lots of heat! https://metalmorphstudio.com/
Stephanie Allen, Garment Sewing & Mending (fall, winter)
Stephanie was born into a family of seamstresses and has sewn since age five. Stephanie is petite 5’1.5” and the driving force behind her sewing is having clothing that fits. She studied sewing and pattern adjustments in college, and later sewing with knits. She believes that if your clothing doesn’t fit the clothing is to blame, not you! She teaches sewing classes at Quilters’ Corner in Ithaca, NY and is known as the garment-making expert. Stephanie lives and gardens in the country with her husband, young daughter, and two fur babies. Stephanie shares her sewing projects at http://www.instagram.com/thepetitesewist and at thepetitesewist.com.
Simone Lackey, Wild Basketry (winter, fall)
Simone came to basketry through her love of foraging, herbalism and living a life connected to the land. Working with the seasonality of the plants and trees, Simone harvests her materials from the local landscape and emphasizes healing through the creation of functional art that is made to return to the earth.
Heather Scott, General Shenanigans
Heather cooked up the idea for FLAIR because she loves nothing more than goofing off with kindred spirits by the lake. She loves improv quilting because she does not pay close attention and drives her vintage sewing machines into the ground. When not scheming up nonsense for FLAIR, she is either jumping into Cayuga lake with her two kids, corralling Food Science grad students, or trying to talk someone into drinking cocktails in the backyard.