Crafts & Drafts Workshop

Date: October 6, 2023

Time: 6pm-9pm

Description: Come and refashion a runway-worthy tote bag! …and redirect materials from the waste stream while you are at it!

Teaching artists Nina Sarcone and Jamie Boyle are teaming up to share their studio practice with you during this energetic—and laid back (yes both!)—workshop. Working with re-purposed materials, you will have the opportunity to embellish and re-design a pre-existing tote bag. Nina and Jamie will demonstrate a variety of fiber techniques, including basic hand-sewing and cord-twisting.

No prior art experience is necessary to join in the fun. This workshop will give you space to follow your own creative impulses; see what sparks interest, go with it, see it through.

Tuition: $40

Materials: All materials provided, however, feel free to bring a tote bag that you feel could use a makeover!

Location: Contemporary Craft – 5645 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Crafts & Drafts: Participants must be 21 years of age or older. Beer and lights snacks will be provided.

Cancellations and Refunds: Workshop cancellations are decided three business days before the start date. If workshops must be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment, the entire class fee will be refunded through Eventbrite, or you may leave your workshop fee in your Contemporary Craft account for future workshops.

Refund Policy: Student refund requests must be made at least three business days before a class begins. There will be a $25 cancellation fee. No refunds will be given without three-business days notice. Processing of refunds takes approximately three weeks.

About the Artists

Nina Sarcone is a radiant and joyful presence in the fibers studio here at Contemporary Craft. In January, she and Jamie began working together—weaving, sewing, dyeing fabric, spinning yarn (all of the things!)—as part of the Zach 25 Initiative, organized through the Allegheny Department of Human Service. Nina has a strong belief in material conservation, trained at an early age to “waste not, want not” by her grandmother. As culminating project through the Zach 25 Initiative, Nina created a collection of revived garments and bags, melding repurposed materials and textile processes, while following an intuitive creative making process in the studio. In addition to being an artist, Nina works as a Behavioral Health Nurse throughout the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.

Jamie Boyle is an artist and weaving teacher who recently moved back to Pittsburgh after living for more than a decade in a studio apartment in Brooklyn, NY with a partner and two cats. She attended public school from grade school through graduate school. Her first weaving teacher was the artist Ann Hamilton, in whose studio Jamie worked for several years after completing her MFA in sculpture. Subsequently, Owyn Marisol Ruck, Kira Silver, Isa Rodrigues, Kelly Valetta, and Jose Picayo taught Jamie who to use a multi-harness floor loom as a tool for weaving. She has had the great honor of sharing her love of weaving with communities of learners at the Park slope Center for Successful Aging, the National Council of Jewish Women NY Lifetime Learning Center, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the Textile Arts Center, among others. Jamie has participated in artist residencies at the Textile Arts Center (Brooklyn, NY); the Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY); and through the SU-CASA program administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council. Currently, she is an artist-in-residence in the fibers studio at Contemporary Craft.