We are excited to welcome our artist-in-residence this summer, Aneesa Shami, who will camp out inside the Helms Design Center to continue her work on pieces from her “Syndication” series, as well as offer a suite of three workshops as part of the Helms fine art series, remnant & artifacts.

These workshops will highlight weaving, knitting, and quilting as three major facets of textile and fiber techniques. Each session will dive into a brief, introductory history of each technique followed by hands-on instruction and experimentation.

Visit Aneesa during her open studio hours or join us for the final workshop. Participants are encouraged to play, make, learn, and connect with fiber materials and techniques in new and exciting ways!

Modern Hand Quilting
Saturday, September 8
10am – 1pm
$75 + $15 materials fee

Introduction will cover a brief history and evolution of quilting, with a focus on Wartime quilts, Modern quilting, and Art Quilts, with a brief insight into Appalachian/Rocky Mountain quilts and the Gee’s Bend phenomenon. The hands-on workshop portion will consist of a learning how to quilt from start to finish. Participants will create a “micro-quilt” (approximately the size of one’s hand). Previous sewing experience is a plus, but not needed. Techniques include basting, hand-quilting/stitching, and sewing a binding on. End product is perfect for a coaster, mousepad, wall hanging, tiny textile, or anything else your creative mind decides.

About remnants & artifacts
A well-lived life is often driven by a search to find meaning and purpose within a world that frequently appears irrational and chaotic.  We use our collected experiences — encounters with people, places, objects, literature, music and art — to develop a personal paradigm, an internal language that helps us make sense of our significance and define our reason for being.

Please join us for an ongoing art series that examines the idea of ‘remnants and artifacts’, the small remainders, residues, and unexpected revelations of the artist’s collected experiences as discovered within their body of work and provide us with a possible avenue for a deeper appreciation of the worldview that underlies their creative hopes, dreams, and fears.