Instructors
Carrie Crawford is a California based textile designer/painter who has fallen deeply in love with the intersection of natural fibers with living dyes. She has a background in commercial and industrial textiles, and spent her fair share of time at a computer screen urning for a more hands-on expression of her talents. Carrie is interested in the history and imperfections of handmade textiles, the convergence of distinct natural bodies, boundaries, and the merging of art + science. Experimenting with natural ingredients developed into an obsession and Mineral Workshop was born. She approaches her medium with the elements of surprise + improvisation necessary when painting with something that wasn’t meant to be used for painting. Carrie manipulates the vats of living dye with temperature, microbial feeding menu changes, and time, to create a studio filled with opportunity. The finished pieces at Mineral Workshop travel through many rounds of layering natural dyes, creating an artists fingerprint that is unmistakably Carrie Crawford’s. When she isn’t instructing workshops she can be found spending precious time with her family, sipping tea with friends, and diving in to inspiration.
www : mineralworkshop.com // instagram : @mineralworkshop
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Jennifer Lazarus stumbled on leather work when someone asked her to make a bag using her naturally hand dyed fabric. She chose leather handles. Through that simple choice, a passion was sparked. The joy of working with the leather quickly turned into an obsession to create the perfect leather bag. Not too polished, not too plain, just right. The one you will grab over and over. The one you love like your favorite pair of jeans. Jennifer is inspired by the Made in America movement and the power of local manufacturing. Everything she makes is designed to inspire a movement towards a culture of quality, and away from the culture of disposable. She embraces the wabi-sabi aesthetic of leather, integrating naturally asymmetrical edges, and highlighting the simplicity and austerity of leather into her designs. When she is not playing around in her downtown Petaluma / Pennyroyal studio, she is attempting to guide two small human beings to find their passion + joy, playing with her sheep, wrangling her chickens, and enjoying the bounty of beauty outside her front door in the Sonoma County countryside.
www : pennyroyaldesign.com // instagram : @pennyroyal_design
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Fine artist Lisa Anderson Shaffer is best known for her modern fiber jewelry designs for Zelma Rose and her fine art needlework installations. Taught by her grandmother Zelma, Lisa first learned to cross stitch at 9 years old and immediately fell in love with the attention to detail and slow nature of the process. With an intergenerational collection of Anderson family needlework as her inspiration, Lisa has been creating her own modern needlework for the past 15 years. As an artist she has partnered with creative companies like Etsy, ModCloth, West Elm, The American Museum of Natural History, SFMoMA, Tiny Prints, and Minted and currently contributes to Martha Stewart Living as a West Coast Expert Contributor. Lisa holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a MS from San Francisco State University and is a 3 time California Arts Council Artist in Residence Recipient, along with an Academy of Handmade Awardee for Best Artist in Needlework. Lisa speaks at creative conferences and teaches needlework and best business practices for artists across the country. She currently resides and works in the mountains of Marin County, California. When Lisa isn’t instructing workshops she can be found alternating between mommying, yogaing, hiking, and looking at art + fashion + music.
www : zelmarose.com // instagram : @zelmarose // the facebook : ZelmaRose
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Meghan Bogden Shimek is a weaver and fiber artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Meghan is inspired by loss, movement, healing and the acknowledgment of uncomfortable feelings. She integrates the natural beauty of her surroundings, the memory of quiet snowy nights, and the sound of the stream running under her home into every weaving. Meghan uses traditional tapestry and Navajo weaving techniques along with organic movements to intertwine raw fibers and objects to create abstract and textural wall hangings. She is currently passionate about reading and weaving tarot cards. When Meghan isn’t instructing or taking workshops she can be found alternating between weaving, eating candy, hanging out with her best pal (he’s 4 and adorable), making sloth crafts, and drinking whisky on the rocks with buddies.
www : meghanshimek.com // instagram : @meghanshimek
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Melanie Abrantes Designs is a Bay Area-based producer of handcrafted, heirloom objects. Founder Melanie Abrantes believes that in order to create something beautiful, you have to get your hands dirty. She founded her company in 2013 when she realized there was a growing American market for handmade goods. Working with a variety of unique materials, Melanie strives to create products of the highest quality that are equally beautiful and functional. Through the technique of lathing, she turns simple pieces of solid wood and cork into one-of-a-kind bowls, plates, cups and stands. Her passion for woodworking originates from the simple fact that every piece is unique as the material it is made from. Time in the studio is dedicated to researching, testing and adapting the product to its user, resulting in a simple, yet unique object of the highest quality. Moving forward, Melanie plans to broaden her line to include furniture and lighting, maintaining her dedication to handmade (which is exactly what she is doing when she isn’t having fun with you in her workshops).
www : melanieabrantes.com // instagram : @melanieabrantesdesigns
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Melissa Ryan is a wedding and family photographer based in Oakland, California. Her work focuses on moments of celebration, intimacy and joy. She got hooked on photography when she was 22, taking a Polaroid in Chennai, India of her rickshaw driver Sami, and his girlfriend. She held the photo to her heart and asked if she could keep it. Quickly, a swarm of children surrounded them – each shouting for their turn. Their skin + smiles glowed against their brightly colored saris, shorts and tees. After them, a man asked to be photographed with his truck – his pride and joy. Next, a business man in a navy suit adjusted his watch and held his briefcase at his side. As the Polaroids developed, vivid colors bleeding into the frame, each person asked to keep theirs. Melissa watched the business man take a long look at his new belonging, and imagined him going home and sharing the photograph with his family. The thought made her grateful, and happy. The seed was planted. Through Marble Rye Photography, Melissa has been able to experience + cultivate her love of travel, long scenic drives, people -platonic, familial, romantic, and food preparing, tasting + sharing. When she isn’t behind the camera she can be found in the wild spending precious time dancing late in to the night, dipping her toes in to the ocean, and catching up with friends + family.
www : marbleryephotography.com // instagram : @marbleryephoto
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Nathan Rose first discovered letterpress while working on his BFA in printmaking at Pacific NW College of art, in Portland Oregon. The tools, type, and presses offered an irresistible balance between craft and creative expression. After graduating, he worked his way up to head press operator at Dauphine Press in Sonoma County. Now with over 10 years of professional letterpress experience, Nathan is currently press operator and co-owner (with his sweetheart) at Parallel Print Shop. He has taught workshops for over a decade, in Oregon and California, and is currently settled in Marin County. When Nathan isn’t instructing workshops he can be found riding a bike, playing guitars, eating tacos, and drinking beers (possibly at the same time).
www : parallelprintshop.com // instagram : @parallelprintshop
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Studio Mondine is a floral design studio based in beautiful San Francisco, California. Amanda Luu + Ivanka Matsuba seek to balance the lushness of English garden arrangements with the precision of Japanese ikebana in their work. They look to nature and the changing of seasons to inform each design. With feverish enthusiasm they seek out the rarest ingredients, working directly with the finest flower farmers in the nation along with cultivating special blooms themselves in their small cutting garden. When Studio Mondine isn’t instructing floral workshops, Amanda can be found relaxed reading + pounding donuts + coffee, and Ivanka will joyfully be collecting sea shells on the beach anywhere on this planet!
www : studiomondine.com // instagram : @studiomondine
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