Workshop Teacher Bios
Phylleri Ball
Phylleri owns Steam Valley Fiber Farm. Her website is http://www.steamvalleyfiber.com
Kathleen England
Kathleen England owns Glenfiddich Wool. Kathleen has been sheep farming and teaching for over 20 years. She learned to knit at the age of 8. Most of her childhood was spent in England which gave her the love of mule spun worsted weight yarn. She sends half of her clip to Bartlett yarns and gets it back as yarn. The other half is processed into roving for spinning or felting. Her website is http://www.glenfiddichwool.com
Liz McLelland
Liz McLelland is the owner of Yorkshire Meadows Knitting & Spinning shop near Mansfield, PA. As a fiber artist she has a passion for sheep and wool and loves to teach people the different uses. Her shop has a wonderful selection of yarn from her own sheep and other natural fibers as well as a variety of novelty yarns. Yorkshire Meadows is a shop approved by the Artisan Trail/Pennsylvania Wilds program promoting items made in PA. Her website is http://www.yorkshiremeadows.com
Erin Newton
Erin is a BFA Painting SUNY BInghamton Graduate. During her third year of college she discovered Lexi Boeger AKA PLuckyfluff on the web. She was so in love with her yarn that she bought a wheel and taught herself to spin. Now she is constantly searching for new ways to transform the mundane into magic. Via plastic into tote bags, fluff into yarn with bobbles and do dads or yarn into a creature or fanciful adornment. What she loves the most about spinning yarn is the sculptural aspect. She is in constant contact with her creation. Each skein is like a new landscape.
Sue Ripley
Sue Ripley has practiced fiber arts since 1967 and felt making since 1993. Her Family Rock Farm has a fiber studio, folk of Shetland sheep, and organic vegetables on 51 acres outside of Wellsboro, PA. She has taught and exhibited felt making in many school, museums and universities. She is rostered with the PA Council of Arts and Arts in the Wild. Her website is http://www.familyrock.net
Deb Schildt
Deb Schildt of Handmade in the HIlls has been a full time Fiber Artist for most of the last decade. Doing a number of Fiber Festivals and Art shows during the year keeps her busy but one of the things she enjoys most is hosting workshops in her small studio "up on the hill". She says: "As much as I enjoy creating, I have many times been in awe as I have watched the creative spirit in someone else come alive during our workshops." Her website is http://www.handmadeinthehills.com
Linda Southard
Linda Southard began painting in the early 1970's, being mostly self taught she works in acrylic, oil paints, pen and ink as well as oil rouging. She has been an active member of the Decorative artist Society for many years, having held an office in the local Chapter for the past 4 years. Linda has been teaching and sharing her painting skills through workshops, presentations and volunteer work since 2002.
Catherine Veleker
Catherine was fortunate to grow up in an eccentric home where creativity was valued far above academic or athletic achievement. Her favorite memories involve frequent outings to fabric and needle work shops where she was encouraged to choose projects and materials without restriction. Unaware that something might be beyond her skill level, she was free to accomplish it -- learning the joy of the creative process that continues to enchant her to the present day. Fiber arts in many forms remain a focal point in her life; most particularly she enjoys sharing all that she has learned so that others may experience the satisfaction to be found on this journey of creative exploration where color and texture combine with imagination to produce treasured works of unique self-expression.