This eye-opening narrative describes how long-time SDA member/Rozome master Kiranada Sterling Benjamin negotiated expectations across cultures to pull off a well-received exhibition of her work last spring in green and distant Bali, Indonesia – where batik reigns….

Let Mickie be your guide to more resources on the web. This time it’s Green website at the Textile Museum, Art Blog Venetian Red + UK batik, African textiles & toppers then fiber bunnies made from recycled butts. Cigarette, that is. Link about it!…

The next time your creative energy feels stuck or blocked, Kaino Hopper suggests taking a workshop with Shingo Sato, the most famous Japanese designer no one has heard of. His innovative methods for sculpting the surface of garments will shift your paradigm. …

Let Marci Rae McDade, former editor of Fiberarts magazine, be your guide in this first of 2 Confluence reviews she has contributed. Read & see her very positive impressions of the June event in Minneapolis and consider her insightful suggestions for the 2013 conference in San Antonio, TX. …

Experience the International Symposium and Exhibition for Natural Dyes (April in France) through the eyes and words of SDA member Elaine Lipson. An editor/writer/artist, she brought back images that capture the feeling of being there while also recapping the main issues addressed and offering some suggestions for future ISEND confabs….

At the close of June’s SDA Confluence Conference, Bette Levy stepped down as Board Vice-President of Development. Active in the organization since 1997, Levy first came on board as the Kentucky State Representative. She took on the board position of Director of Fundraising from 2003-2009 and then assumed the role of VP of Development in …

Did SDA member Marjorie Fedyszyn have your back at “Bodies of Water” SDA Members’ fashion show in Minneapolis? Whether or not you were in the audience, you can experience some of the fashion action off the runway here….

Read how Mary Jaeger took what she heard at India Flint’s talk on bio-regional dyeing (at SDA Confluence conference), mashed it up with her 3rd grader’s study of Eastern Woodland Indians and became Chief Dyer of a naturally-stained t-shirt wearing tribe of 25 at NYC’s PS 234. …

Confluence Keynote Pat Hickman and Nancy Mckenzie were the award judges for “Currents” – the exhibition of work in textile media by stu- dent members of SDA. They felt that overall it was a good student show that demon- strated mastery of technique and a wide range of exploration. …

SDA Journal editor Patricia Malarcher confesses she “didn’t used to be a “lace person”: lace was fussy, frivolous,susceptible to snags; it belonged on wed- ding gowns and garments of historic artistocrats, not in the studio. Seeing the lace that artists are making today reversed [her] “no” to a vigorous “yes”.” Find links to the new face of lace stories featured here!
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