Workshop with Amy Meissner – “The Art of Garment Repair: Decorative Stitch”

Saturday, September 2nd from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 (noon) p.m. in the Bear Gallery (3rd floor, Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park)

Fairbanks Arts Members: $30, Non-members: $35

Join artist and repair practitioner, Amy Meissner, for an intimate workshop featuring the art of repair, with a focus on mending via embroidery and the Japanese technique of sashiko. This craft practice, which utilizes creativity through color and stitch variation, is widely applicable to many well-loved garments, including denim, base layers, and outerwear. The class will consist of group repair evaluation, appropriate tutorials to address as many versions of this repair technique as possible, individual consultation, and time for group work. 

No previous sewing experience necessary; sharing stories of brokenness and repair will be highly encouraged.

Supplies:
Participants are being asked to bring an item to repair – this could be a pair of jeans, or socks, or knitwear. The instructor will supply all participants with needles, embroidery floss, yarn, and scissors. However, it is suggested that if any participant would like to use a specific color of floss and/or yarn, to please plan to purchase and bring it to the workshop for personal use.

Schedule: 
Saturday, September 2nd from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 (noon) p.m. in the Bear Gallery (3rd floor, Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park)

About the instructor: 
Anchorage artist, Amy Meissner, teaches the Craft of Repair as an act of prolonging, care, and accompaniment of vulnerable objects in transition. This community-based work complements her solitary studio practice that combines handwork, found objects, and abandoned textiles to further complicate the literal, physical, and emotional labor of women. With a background in clothing design and illustration, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing, an MA in Critical Craft Studies, and has taught garment repair in-person and online internationally. Awards include grants from the Rasmuson Foundation, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and most recently a 2023 Center for Craft Teaching Artist Cohort grant to focus on the Craft of Repair in both her studio and socially engaged practices. 

For more information, please contact gallery@fairbanksarts.org or call (907) 251-8386 ext 3.