Teachers
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.
Barbara Vassallo, Sashiko visible mending (fall, winter)
Barbara Vassallo has been a fibercraft maker for more than 50 years encouraged by both grandmothers who first taught her to crochet and embroider. After a first career as a lawyer/lobbyist and then stay-at-home mom, she recently opened Rabbit Row Yarns & Haberdashery in Corning, NY - featuring sustainable and traceable fiber and needle craft products. “Rabbit Row” origin story: her maiden name means rabbit in German (Haas); her mom is Rosemarie (Ro).
Chantal Kendrick, Fox 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.
Maria Klemperer-Johnson, Kumiko woodworking (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 maybe her 8 year old kiddo or at Gourdlandia where she is studio mates with another FLAIRina Graham Ottoson.
Christina Alario, Kumiko woodworking (fall, winter)
Christina joined the Hammerstone School of Carpentry for women after working many years in the food service industry and was a formerly a restaurant manager. Starting in January of 2016, she was hired as a full-time carpenter. Now she fills her work days with measuring, sawing, and putting all the carpentry skills she learned into practice. In her free time, Christina enjoys biking, being outside, swimming in the lake, and enjoying Ithaca.
Louise Felker, Textile Portraits (fall, winter)
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/
Renee Baum, Leatherwork 101 (fall)
Renee comes to us from Uncle Joe's Saddlery and Forge, where she crafts beautiful purses, bags, and horse equipment! She loves living in the Finger Lakes region, and taking advantage of the natural beauty that surrounds us, especially Seneca Lake.
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.
Bryn O'Brien, Woodworking (fall)
Bryn has been working with wood since he was a wee lad in his father's Trumansburg workshop. He is a carpenter by trade, and loves to do furniture making and lathe projects on the side. He is equally enthralled by boats and can often be found on Cayuga's waters with his lovely bride and their two selkie children.
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)
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, Enameled Jewelry (fall, winter)
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, Wood burning (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.
Kate Downes, Printmaking (fall, winter)
Kate is an outdoorswoman of upstate NY vintage...that's what you get when you are raised by a bona fide maple syrup producer! She loves all kinds of making, from sewing to leatherwork to carpentry. You may see her raising awareness for mental health in her role at NY FarmNet, but you're more likely to find her creekwalking with her two feral offspring.
Rachel Nascimento, Sewing 101 (fall)
Rachel's years of elementary teaching make her the perfect introductory sewing guide! Her patience is legendary, honed by corralling three active kids and a dog when she's not in the classroom. Rachel loves sewing all kinds of projects, from garments to aprons to baskets to stuffies and anything in between. She is fearless in the face of zipper feet and will happily encourage all aspiring sewists to give it a whirl!
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.
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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 (fall, 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 is the wizard behind Metalmorphosis Studio in Syracuse, NY. She loves introducing students old and new to the delights of jewelry making. Kelly also enjoys lake life here in the beautiful Finger lakes region, and has been known to take advantage of our abundant wineries! https://metalmorphstudio.com/
Stephanie Allen, Garment Sewing (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)
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.
Laura Rowley, Bookbinding
Laura Rowley is a teaching book artist from Trumansburg, NY. She studied bookbinding, letterpress printing, and papermaking at Wells College and The University of Alabama where she earned her MFA. Laura is the founder of Illuminated Press, a small business dedicated to sharing these crafts. This mission is pursued through collaborative projects and by teaching community classes at universities, public schools, after-school programs, libraries, community art spaces, small businesses, and more.
Heather Scott, Improv Quilting & 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.