Invite Polly
Thanks so much for considering me for a workshop or program with your group. Below is a list of my workshops and art talks. Contact me for availability and rates, with questions or requests and/or to develop a program that will meet your group’s needs. Sharing the creative spirit and planting seeds of inspiration is a real joy for me.
Art Workshops (6 to choose from)
All workshops are process-oriented with a fun and spirited "what if?" approach. Participants are encouraged to step out of their box, play, experiment and see their creativity from a new view.
Layering is one of the greatest skills that an artist can have to build visual appeal, rhythm, texture, depth, energy, and movement in their art.
In this workshop, participants will be introduced to, and practice, many textural layering techniques using a variety of fabrics and papers – pieces, scraps and trim - to create a “new fabric”. This “new fabric” can become a stand-alone piece or cut into shapes and become part of other art pieces.
While this is serious art training, I call it a “play day”. Participants will be immersed in the study of layering and be amazed at the textures each can create. We will work, play and experiment with creating the fabric substrate and adding deli papers, security envelopes, various recycled paper types, acrylic paints, matte medium, fabric scraps, fabric trims, and more. Participants will transform all these objects into a new, layered fabric that exhibits distinct, yet subtle visual qualities.
- Skill Level: This workshop is for any level of competency.
- Supply List will be provided.
- Duration: Full day.
- This workshop can be structured for a variety of lengths between 6-8 hours, with time for lunch. Longer workshop times allow for more creative possibilities in the variety of lessons taught throughout the day. Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
While many use paint or watercolors to create a landscape, this workshop gives you the tools to figuratively paint with fibers using a needle felting machine. This is not your typical needle felting class with wool! You will discover the unique ability to blend a variety of fibers with this machine while being introduced to many tricks on layering with this process.
I will also share with you how embroidery stitches can enhance your fiber-scape, as well as many ways to add nature’s elements to your pieces to bring them alive and create added texture. A variety of mounting techniques for your pieces will be demonstrated for you to consider once your art piece is completed.
Besides all the tools and techniques that are shared, participants will create the beginnings of a Fiber-scape to take home with them.
- Since this is a hands-on play and experiment class, each participant will need to bring their own needle felting machine and know how to use and maintain it.
- To add more value to the class, one or two sewing machines (provided by the organizers of the workshop) would be helpful for participants to add additional layering with embellishing stitches.
- Skill Level: This workshop is for any level of competency.
- Supply List will be provided.
- Duration: Full day.
- This workshop typically runs for about 8 hours, with time for lunch. Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
Alcohol inks are an interesting medium that creates both expected and unexpected designs. They endow your art with dynamic, bold, vibrant, and fluid colors.
In this half-day workshop, participants will work, play and experiment with a variety of different techniques for blending and manipulating alcohol inks. We will use ceramic tile and Yupo paper as our substrate.
Participants will also learn about several finishing techniques for their alcohol ink pieces.
Without wanting to waste a drop of these wonderful alcohol inks, we will also learn some cool ways to clean up any alcohol inks that have found their way to your work surface.
Each participant will complete a few unique art pieces and proudly take them home.
- Skill Level: This workshop is for any level of competency.
- Supply List will be provided.
- Duration: Half day - This workshop typically runs for about 4 hours.
In this workshop, participants will discover innovative ways to use their left-over quilt blocks and fabric scraps to masterfully create a beautiful piece of quilt art. Participants will transform one or more leftover quilt blocks and their accompanying scraps into a modern wall hanging or baby quilt.
Participants will play and experiment with various design elements to showcase their blocks. Everyone will learn quick, fun and effortless ways to create unique borders that add movement and magic to their quilts. Participants will also learn a series of tricks on creating amazing quilt backs with the remainder of their leftovers that will make their quilts reversible.
At the end of the workshop, participants will take home the beginnings of a completed quilt top and the confidence to complete it into a stunning work of art.
- Skill level: Participants must have basic quilting and sewing skills
- Participants will need their own sewing machine and know how to use it, care for it and clean it.
- Supply List will be provided.
- Duration: Full day.
- This workshop typically runs for about 8 hours, with time for lunch. Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
In this workshop, participants will discover the freedom of low stress innovative piecing techniques. Participants will use fabric scraps to take traditional quilt blocks to a whole new level of fun and artistic appeal.
Participants will experiment to see why fabric color value is so important in quilt design - to make their quilts visually “pop” and see how certain types of fabric make quilt tops have movement and spontaneity. Everyone will learn a quick and fail-safe design method if they are stuck on how to proceed with their fabric scraps and many time-saving methods on getting quilt tops completed.
At the end of the workshop, participants will take home the beginnings of a completed quilt top and the confidence to complete it into a stunning work of art.
- Skill level: Participants must have basic quilting and sewing skills
- Participants will need their own sewing machine and know how to use it, care for it and clean it.
- Supply List will be provided.
- Duration: Full day.
- This workshop typically runs for about 8 hours, with time for lunch. Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
Take Innovative Piecing Magic to the next level with this intermediate-level workshop! Participants will learn how to move away from traditional blocks and create one of a kind, non-traditional quilt tops with their leftover blocks and fabric scraps.
In this workshop, participants will learn fun and inspiring methods to transform their scraps into innovative quilt art, placing them in the realm of “original quilt artists”. In this workshop, participants will transform their leftover blocks and fabric scraps into a pattern of whimsical houses that adorn their quilt top.
The techniques learned can be utilized to create other designs as well. Everyone will learn the freedom of taking the math out of quilting to create stunning backgrounds for their designs.
At the end of the workshop, participants will take home the beginnings of a completed quilt top and the confidence to complete it into a stunning work of art.
- Skill level: Participants must have basic quilting and sewing skills
- Participants will need their own sewing machine and know how to use it, care for it and clean it.
- Supply List will be provided.
- Duration: Full day.
- This workshop typically runs for about 8 hours, with time for lunch. Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
Thanks so much for considering me for a workshop or program with your group. Below is a list of my workshops and art talks. Contact me for availability and rates, with questions or requests and/or to develop a program that will meet your group’s needs. Sharing the creative spirit and planting seeds of inspiration is a real joy for me.
Personal Growth Workshops (2 to choose from)
All workshops are process-oriented with a fun and spirited "what if?" approach. Participants are encouraged to step out of their box, play, experiment and see their creativity from a new view.
This is a remarkable full day experience in which participants come away with a re-discovered sense of peace and tranquility in their lives.
In a world where stress, drama and anxiety are unavoidable elements of modern life, participants will discover and practice a variety of tools and techniques to transform their lives from “overwhelmed” to “serene”.
This workshop draws on lessons from the mystical legend of the dragonfly in Finding Your Gentle Spirit.
Every canon of faith recognizes that we all possess an inner Spirit – our personal connection to God … or a part of God living within us. This Spirit forms our soul, our chi (our life-force), and our highest levels of consciousness. Our Spirit lives and thrives within us. It flows around us, and travels through us. Our Spirit acts harmoniously to connect ours with the Spirits of others to bring about strength and healing.
Every child is born with this Spirit. At birth, our Spirit is quite gentle. It’s this gentle Spirit that allows a child to see the world for all its wonder, its beauty, and its fascination. Their Spirit is full of love, peace, and goodness.
As we age, the child-like gentleness of our Spirit fades away. Every time we experience anger, anguish, pain, frustration and defeat, we lose a tender fragment of our precious gentle Spirit. It leaves us behind as it drifts away with the wind – to join other lost fragments in the air. If you listen, you can hear them in the rustle of the leaves, the swaying of the grass, and puffs of wind that carry them away – leaving us with less gentleness … and a Spirit wanting and weak.
Thankfully, we are blessed. For even before God created man and His Spirit, He created dragonflies. He created them to recapture Spirit fragments from the air.
Like “dream catchers” that filter and “catch” dreams as they pass through their webbing – a dragonfly’s wings “catch” the lost fragments of gentle Spirits as they flutter lightly through the air. God has consigned these peaceful creatures to deliver gentleness back to deserving souls who unknowingly lost it.
When a dragonfly lands on you, you’ll notice a feeling of goodness and peace as the gentle nature is returned to your Spirit. Let the dragonfly sit as long as he wants, for he brings back the gift that we all seek to recapture.
Past participants have found this workshop to be inspirational in transforming their lives from the mundane and stressed … to a life that opens the door to thankfulness, forgiveness and a confidence in fully pursuing their passions.
You will enter with the burdens of your life on your shoulders … and leave with the tools and techniques to brush them off like flakes of dandruff.
This workshop will transform your life.
- Time: Full Day
- Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
The health benefits of meditation are indisputable. People who meditate increase their ability to fight disease, report a greater level of well-being – both physically and emotionally, and increase their levels of focus and concentration.
Clinically, there are close to 100 scientific benefits to engaging in meditation.
This workshop will introduce you to a variety of meditation techniques. Geared to the person who cannot turn off their mind … Like me!
Discover how you can achieve a healthier body, super mind, and emotional well-being through a variety of meditation techniques … one of which will certainly suit you.
- Time: Half Day (Full Day option available if a Labyrinth is nearby or a portable one can be delivered and set up at your location)
- Ask me about a post-workshop cocktail event.
Presentations are 45 minutes to 1 hour in length depending on your needs. Contact me for more information on these presentations and to discuss other possible presentations.
- Discovering your Creative Journey –Do we all have the capability to be artists? What’s an Inner Artist? How does one move from “Inner Artist” to “Out-There Artist”?
- Follow your Passion – Polly shares her journey from Quilter to Art Business and the many lessons learned along the way.
- Meditation Uniquely for You – Do you struggle with mediation? Come learn unique creative ways to meditate ... you may already be close to doing some with just some minor tweaking.
- Natural Solutions with Essential Oils - Explore how to use essential oils, benefits of essential oils and different ways to incorporate essential oils in your daily life while reducing the impact of chemical toxins on your health.