Virginia Teacher Spotlight: Chad Alice Hagen

We are so happy to have Chad Alice Hagen as part of our Art & Soul family! She has been happily and intensively exploring resist dyeing and surface design of hand felted wool since 1979, and delved into the amazing world of Bookmaking for the last 12 years using her resist dyed felt as the covers. She loves teaching how to use textiles — new and found — as the covers of journals and sketchbooks using different binding techniques. Textiles, fiber, fabric, material, felt, cloth – these words are more exciting to her than “You have won the lottery!” Here's what Chad Alice has in store for us at our Virginia Beach Art & Soul Retreat this year...

Miniature Book Necklace
How would you like to rite your secrets and daily thoughts on these adorable little books?! In this workshop, you’ll have the chance to make 2 tiny books, professionally bound in leather or paper. Each miniature book will have about 50 pages, and will feature a different binding style. You will learn how to tea stain paper, add ribbon bookmarks and two different closures, and finish your mini books with chains for wearing.

Perfect Little Notebook
You may not realize it, but most of the paperback books you handle in your daily lives have a glued binding, and to Chad Alice Hagen, that’s the perfect binding. When used in a handmade notebook, it becomes extraordinary. In this workshop, you will make a “Perfect Little Notebook” using this quick and marvelous binding technique as well as learn how to tea stain paper, create a cover from your favorite fabric, and make a ribbon & button closure.

My Favorite Perfect Sketchbook
There are sketchbooks and there are sketch books, but this particular one has become Chad Alice’s favorite... and we bet will be yours too! It opens totally flat, can be made from easy-to-find materials, and is finished with a textile cover. In this workshop you'll be making a 6" x 6" sketchbook with 120 pages of multi-media paper. You'll learn all the book making basics and then some...picking the paper you want, folding and tearing sheets with knives, gluing, piercing, sewing, all the fabulous bits that go into making a well-made, useful and enjoyable sketchbook/journal.

Whether you are a book lover, enjoy journaling, or having a unique way to jot down notes throughout the day, making your very own sketchbook from scratch with Chad Alice is going to be so very rewarding! So be sure and check out her classes and our entire Virginia event for this Fall!

Virginia Beach Art & Soul

October 1-6, 2018

Virginia Beach Resort Hotel

Chad Alice has written extensively on art and feltmaking and her artwork has appeared in and on the covers of several well-known books and magazines. She’s taught hundreds of classes and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Holland and Germany.  Her large scale felt work can be found in major collections including the Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, NC, The Knoxville Convention Center, TN, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. B.F. Goodrich Corporation Collection. She maintains a full-time felt and book studio in Asheville, North Carolina. You can find out more about Chad Alice Hagen by visiting her at chadalicehagen.com

Colorado Art & Soul... Two Weeks From Today!

Oh, joy of joys! My dream realized — an Art & Soul event in Colorado — is happening two weeks from today! I truly and sincerely can't believe it's actually here already. I'm so excited and I hope you are too! One of the very special things about having our retreat in Colorado Springs, well... it's not just the absolutely gorgeous location, it's also that this area allows our event to become a fully immersive experience.

Art & Soul Colorado Springs, CO

May 29 - June 3, 2018

at the Hotel Eleganté

Of course we have a fabulous lineup of mixed media workshops in all your favorite categories... collage, assemblage, painting, sculpting, bookmaking, journaling, jewerly, fabric & fiber arts, Zentangle... but there's so much more!

The Hotel Eleganté itself is glorious. The rooms are large and comfortable with plenty of space to lay out your supplies for nighttime art-making and impromptu get-togethers. In addition to an inviting full service restaurant and lounge, they have an outdoor patio with an amazing view, a Sweet Shop that includes a bakery, ice cream parlor and a Starbucks. They've got indoor and outdoor pools, jacuzzi, a full-service spa and more.

Then there's our kickoff party, the well-stocked on-site store, our unique Vendor Night Extravaganza (open to the public for all you locals!), pop-up parties, restaurants to gather with friends and share your experiences. It's a non-stop gathering of your tribe from morning to night, and it's so much fun to be around like minded souls. 

In your down-time, there's so much to see and do in Colorado Springs. You can go hiking, zip-lining, kayaking, and horseback riding. Visit a castle, historic towns and villages, old west museums, or go see a rodeo. There's even railroad tours of the mountains and surrounding areas. And really there's so much more! If your week isn't filled with classes and even if it is, there's tons of reasons to explore the area.

And our Colorado location brings with it some unique local opportunities. We'll be working with Cottonwood Center for the Arts — a two story arts complex inside a refurbished office building in downtown Colorado Springs. They'll be hosting a First Friday Art Show, featuring gallery shows and open studios for you to explore and meet local artists. We're also working with the Textiles West Innovation Lab who'll be facilitating Peggy Dlugos' Eco Dying class. This center has the capability of allowing students to utilize all kinds of space, amenities and specialized equipment used in the art of fabric printing.

So, as you can see, there's a whole lot of reasons to join Art & Soul in Colorado Springs. If you haven't signed up for classes yet, some of your favorite workshops are still available. You can check out our Colorado Retreat online or contact us directly with any last minute questions you may have. We're looking forward to seeing you there and making this a permanent location in our retreat lineup!

© some images courtesy of The Hotel Eleganté, Cottonwood Center for the Arts