Workshops

AAFG 2025-26 Workshops

Woolly Wormhead and Sally Rose:
Workshop Registration Form
Workshop Registration Form (fillable)

Lois Bryant:
Free Workshop Registration Form
Free Workshop Registration Form (fillable)

“Creative Approaches to Visual Design” (In Person)
September 28, 2025
and
“Color Magic” (In Person)
October 19, 2025
Lois Bryant
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Ann Arbor District Library – Pittsfield Branch
2359 Oak Valley Drive, Ann Arbor

These two workshops are sponsored by the Ellen Willson Threads of Interest Series and there is no fee to attend. You may sign up for one or both workshops. The class limit is 30: 10 spaces are reserved in each workshop for AAFG members, and 20 spaces are reserved as outreach to the public. We’ll collect a waitlist of interested members after the allotment is filled and will release any remaining slots in early September. Though there is no fee, you will still need to fill out the registration form so we can keep track of the number of attendees.

Visual Art is nonverbal communication. Composition and Color are the grammar and vocabulary of this visual language. Refresh, renew, and expand your approaches to creating moods and conveying ideas in your art with these workshops. You can choose to attend one, or both. Many examples of different approaches will be presented. There will be numerous hands-on design exercises to explore these methods yourself.

Part 1
COMPOSTION: “Creative Approaches to Visual Design”
Create focal points and lead the viewer’s eye with arrangements of similar and contrasting:

  • Shapes (geometric & organic)
  • Sizes/scales
  • Symmetries, including asymmetry
  • Positive and negative shapes
  • Abrupt vs. gradual transitions
  • Line of Direction; implied lines

If you plan to attend both workshops, in the weeks between Part 1 & Part 2:

  • Experiment with some of these approaches on your own, in media of your choosing
    and/or
  • Try out these compositional methods by taking photographs

Bring your experiments and/or photos to the Part 2 session.

Part 2
COLOR: “Color Magic”
Color Theory & Hands-on Color Studies

  • The color wheel and various color combinations
  • Pure colors, tints, shades, and tones; value; saturation
  • The primary colors of reflected light vs. emitted light
  • Optical mixing
  • Special effects with color: depth, transparency, atmospheric perspective, iridescence, and shiny surfaces

Lois Bryant’s artwork includes embroidery and weaving, as well as collage, mixed media, and photography. Her work explores ambiguities, transitions, balance, and mystery. She often employs illusions of depth, luminosity, transparency, and iridescence.

Lois holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Eastern Michigan University, a Master of Arts in Education from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. She taught 2-dimensional design and fibers at Parsons School of Design – The New School, the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and Adrian College. Lois’ woven artwork is in the permanent collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Design/Cooper-Hewitt Museum/Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and other museums, as well as in corporate and residential collections in the United States and Europe. 
https://loisbryantstudio.com

“Short-Row Colorwork: Toph Hat” (2-Day Zoom)
Woolly Wormhead
February 7 and 8, 2026
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
$35 members, $50 non-members

Learn the basics of short row colorwork knitting from The Hat Architect Woolly Wormhead. Spend the first session discovering the key techniques to Woolly’s unique process—including provisional cast-on, German short rows, and grafting—then apply them in the knit-a-long portion the next day. You’ll work through the first panel of one of Woolly’s popular sideways-knit hat patterns, Toph, so you’re prepped to finish the rest of the pattern on your own. (Pattern included with the class.)

Woolly’s work has been widely published, and their patterns are trusted and celebrated by knitters all over the world. They originally trained in electronic engineering and worked in the industry for several years before returning to their first love: textiles. Before doing a post-grad in education and going on to teach art and textiles in London, they studied textile technology, fine art and sculptural textiles. They’ve pulled from this knowledge to question the structure of the humble knitted fabric and challenge our understanding of construction.
https://woollywormhead.com

“Paper Pulp Sculpture” (2-Day In Person)
Sally Rose
April 25 and 26, 2026
10:00am – 5:00pm
$200 Members, $225 Non-members
Ann Flora’s Studio
500 E Cummins, Tecumseh

Create forms that capture the beauty of natural materials and handmade paper while learning about types of paper pulp, pigments for coloring, and finishing techniques. Using a technique called “pulp welding,” participants will learn how to create forms using handmade paper pulp to bond clusters of twigs, stems, and bits of treasure without using glue, modeling the pulp into shapes and forms. Basic vessel forms or thick wall plaques can be created. (All paper pulp, pigments, and papermaking equipment provided.)

Sally Rose taught papermaking for 33 years as head of the fiber arts program at Central Michigan University. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions all over the world, receiving an honorable mention in the 4th Cheongju International Craft Biennale in Korea. Sally’s work is included in the Lark Books 500 series 500 Paper Objects: New Dimensions in Paper Art and is represented in the collections of the R.C. Williams Papermaking Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Budapest Museum of Fine Art in Hungary.
www.instagram.com/sallyrose.fibers

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