Online and video education is on the rise. One can study everything from languages and guitar techniques to Thai cooking or accountancy. Crafts are no different. Join a class on the internet, or buy a DVD and study at your leisure, either way techno-savvy creative types are soaking up lessons in everything from paper making and quilt construction to collage and doll making.
There’s much to recommend the ‘virtual’ classroom. For those who might live a long way from city centres, this method can remove hours of travel and offer the opportunity to participate in up-to-the-minute trends with some of the world’s leading tutors. For carers, parents of small children or those who work full time, this electronic world provides an opportunity for life to accommodate study, not the other way around.
American mixed media fibre artist, Sue Bleiweiss, offers online learning opportunities via her website, Two Creative Studios. She also produces an online mixed media ‘zine’ called ‘Fibre&Stitch’. At Two Creative Studios classes in paper quilting, mixed media fibre collage and surface design, journal and book making, silk fusion and creative box making are commonly offered and several new classes have gone ‘live’ in 2009.
“In 2007 my business partner, Terri Stegmiller, and I formed an official business partnership and launched our online magazine ‘Fibre&Stitch’,” explains Sue. “At the same time we were both teaching online classes through an online retailer and decided that it made more sense for us to host the classes ourselves. We launched twocreativestudios.com [twocreativestudios.com] in 2008, thus giving us more flexibility and allowing us to run our classes continuously throughout the year.”
Sue believes her new teaching platform means she can reach more students than possible were she to try it ‘in the flesh’. “Plus, in an online class there are always enough chairs to go around!” she jokes. “Our reach becomes global... our classes are regularly filled with students from all over the world. We feel (and our students tell us) that a class filled with such a diverse range of people enhances the learning experience because the interaction across cultures and countries exposes students to different materials and methods and gives everyone a chance to see how someone in a different country interprets the lessons.
“Terri and I both strive to provide our students with as close to a live teaching experience as we can. It’s important that we respond to our students’ questions as quickly as possible and, in most cases, our response time is only minutes after a post is made,” she says.
This is how the Two Creative Studios process works. Once a student has registered and paid for a class they receive a welcome email and the supply list for the class. They’re also invited to join a student only Yahoo group set up just for the class they’ve registered for. Sue and Terri open the group as soon as the students begin registering, allowing them to interact not only with the instructor but the other students as well.
On the day that class officially begins students receive an email from the instructor letting them know that the class lesson has been posted and is ready to be downloaded. The email includes a link to a secure site along with a user name and password. They can open the lesson and save it to their own computer so they’ll always have a copy. All lessons remain available for download for four weeks after class has ended. All lessons are in PDF format and include detailed step-by-step instructions along with lots of full colour photos. A PDF is a type of file that enables printing and viewing of documents with all their formatting - typefaces, images - the same regardless of what operating system - Windows, Macintosh - is being used.
Students interact with the instructor through the student group. They can post photographs of their work in progress, finished projects and post questions, or they can email the instructor directly for help. “A lot of times a student will post to the group and not only get helpful guidance from me but also from the other students as well... I encourage this kind of interaction in my classes because I think everyone benefits from it,” says Sue.
Alma Stoller, a fabric, fiber and mixed media artist, is also involved in the online teaching scene but she provides online tutorials and classes for free, she also produces ‘zines’. In the flesh, Alma teaches all over the United States at various art retreats and conferences and her writing has been published in publications such as ‘Somerset Studios’ and is currently working on her first book to be released in the middle of 2009.
“My tutorials are posted on my blog and available to all completely for free. The zines are self published magazines. I have published: The Fabric Arts Zine, Odd Ball Charm and soulcraft zine. They’re available at Etsy shop at www.almastoller.etsy.com [etsy.com],” she says.
Alma has been creating zines and tutorials since 2004 and says, “In my zines, I include how-to information, patterns, fun inclusions and interesting articles on fabric, fibre and mixed media art. I started because I wanted to share my ideas with other artists.”
Alma also loves the process and the feedback she gets from students. She believes the appeal online study lies in the fact that people can work on a project at their convenience. “Many artists crave a new and different creative outlet and perspective,”she explains, “but they don’t have time or resources to travel to an art retreats. I offer then quality classes at a reasonable price. The response is always positive. I love hearing from my fellow artists who have read, tried and were inspired by my work. It is simply wonderful and inspires me to continue to provide and share my work with others.
“Most of my students are drawn to my work and want to learn the various techniques I use. They are also collectors of my zines, art dolls, kits and mixed media pieces. Online classes appeals to the artist that can’t travel or would like to take his/her time with the project. I offer tonnes of pictures and clear step-by-step visual instructions but I always encourage my students to e-mail me if they have any questions.”
In Alma’s virtual classroom the students get to post their work and progress. Students also get to showcase their work. “Since I also teach at various art retreats across the US, I have met a few of my students at these events,” Alma adds.
Creative Catalyst Productions (CCP) is another well known name in the workshop scene having, over the past eight years, produced 15 craft and 53 fine art workshops, currently in DVD format, providing easy access to information.
Lynn Powers from CCP (based in Oregon, USA) says the DVDs are characterised by well defined chapter breaks, a logical sequence of information, plus downloads of printable information on most of the discs or links to downloads on the CCP website. “We also provide a gallery of the teacher’s work,” she explains. “This allows the student to see how the instructor has applied the information that is being taught. Also, we pride ourselves with a quick reply to inquiries and customer service.”
Explaining how the company came about, Lynn says it was due to a “confluence of need, technology and cost effectiveness”. “We saw that artists could ill afford to have a DVD workshop professionally produced. They could, however, benefit from an additional income source,” she explains. Now they have a DVD workshop they can sell in their seminars without the expense of filming and production. Additionally they receive quarterly royalties.
“Consequently we do all the filming and production at no cost to the teachers... We also recognised that baby boomers would look for creative development in their retirement years. We wanted to provide access to top instructors at a reasonable price.
“We are particularly fussy about filming and production,” she says. “We use up to five cameras to ensure an unobstructed view. We correct for colour accuracy, most especially important in the fine arts workshops. Each one is thoughtfully edited by people who are familiar with the artistic process being demonstrated and we encourage our instructors to share the why of their process as much as the how of what they do. This helps student apply what they learn more successfully in a variety of situations.”
Creative Catalyst Productions has held on line art shows (judged by CCP instructors with awards and critiques) in the past and art groups use the company’s workshops as the basis for gathering together.
“By the time readers see this article we hope to have our new site, www.ArtWorkshops.tv [artworkshops.tv], up and running,” says Lynn. “It will provide overseas customers with instant access to CCP workshops without shipping and handling fees. We also hope to have a place for individual artists to post their films and receive a return on their workshops.”
Want more information?
Two Creative Studios and Sue Bleiweiss
www.suebleiweiss.com [suebleiweiss.com]
www.twocreativestudios.com [twocreativestudios.com]
www.fibreandstitch.com [fibreandstitch.com]
• Readers can sign up for a free newsletter to keep informed of updates and new class offerings.
• Sue Bleiweiss is doing some live teaching through the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, MA (USA). Details on her personal website.
Creative Catalyst Productions
www.ccpvideos.com [ccpvideos.com]
Alma Stoller
www.almastoller.typepad.com [almastoller.typepad.com]
www.almastoller.etsy.com [etsy.com]
www.squidoo.com/iheartzines [squidoo.com]
Other interesting sources:
• Study online with Dale Rollerson from Perth’s Thread Studio at
www.thethreadstudio.com [thethreadstudio.com]
• Textile artist, Maggie Grey runs www.workshopontheweb.com [workshopontheweb.com]
• Study collage online with Traci Bautista at www.treicdesigns.com [treicdesigns.com]
• Visit the online home of the Quilting Arts television where you can purchase DVDs www.quiltingartstv.com [quiltingartstv.com]
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