TEACHING

SCHEDULE • 2-DAY CLASSES • 5-DAY CLASSES • LECTURES • PHOTOS

Professional Background
Niki Bonnett received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1978. She was a graphic designer for fifteen years and operated her own design firm in Connecticut for nine years. Since 1993 Niki has been an artist whose mixed media work, with an emphasis on textiles, includes art quilts and collages. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including such venues as Quilt National, Craft USA, Wesserling Textile Museum in France, Palais Rastede in Germany and the American Craft Museum in NYC. Niki has been featured in FiberArts and Art/Quilt magazines; in Robert Shaw's book, The Art Quilt ; and in Creative Collage.
For 18 months, Niki served as intern to Jane Dunnewold, Design Chairperson of the Southwest School of Art & Craft in San Antonio, TX. She has studied Dunnewold's "complex cloth" surface design processes and has combined them with additional processes to create her artwork. Niki also teaches and Lectures around the USA. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

Teaching Background
Niki teaches innovative approaches to art quilting, collage and surface design. In her classes and Lectures she enthusiastically introduces fun, new skills while also sharing specific techniques to enhance a student's creativity and encourage their artistic self-confidence. Niki draws upon her strong art school training in the principles of design and color, her "creativity on demand" experience as a graphic designer, and her personal experiences as a full-time artist to guide and inspire students of many media and skill levels.
Her teaching experience includes: Southwest School of Art & Craft, Quilt/Surface Design Symposium in Ohio, International Quilt Festival in Houston, Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar, CA, and many local guild groups throughout the USA.
Please check out the Teaching Resume page for more detailed information on Niki's qualifications.

Class & Lecture Fees
My day fee is $500. My lecture fee is $200. When I provide a kit for a class, the fee is generally $15 to $20 per student.

Private Consultations
Outside of regular class hours I will be happy to meet with individual students to review their progress as an artist. I have the student bring up to 40 slides. I provide the carousel. I would need a small room that we can darken to show slides. The students bring the work of any artists that inspire them, books that are important to them... whatever will help them share their direction I see consistencies and strong directions in their work that they might not and have helpful information about how to define their goals and achieve them. We talk for 45 minutes and I charge $50.00 for this. Every student I've ever consulted with (about 60 people now) has found it to be very useful.

Class & Lecture Tailoring
I can be flexible with my classes and lectures and will be glad to work with you to tailor just the right formula for your group.

Lodging
In the interest of conserving your organization's money, I am willing to stay in a member's home, if it's cat- and smoke-free. I do not have any special dietary needs.

Transportation & Shipping
Certain materials I used to bring in my luggage must now be shipped (so far just the aerosol cans). Also size and number of bags may sometimes dictate that I ship. If I must ship materials to you and back home again, I will add that shipping cost onto the kit fees. When possible I will bring all materials in my suitcases.

SCHEDULE • 2-DAY CLASSES • 5-DAY CLASSES • LECTURES • PHOTOS

2-DAY CLASSES

• Holding On & Letting Go: Towards Maximum Creativity In Quilting
  Loosen up and play with a wide variety of art media... NOT necessarily fabric! Discover how random experimentation and art-accidents can become the departure point for great, new quilt designs. By alternating between left-brained control and right-brained abandon, find inspiration and "fresh starts" you might never have considered. This course, aside from being great fun, gets you in touch with your intuitive talents as an artist. The tricks you learn will serve you repeatedly whenever you need a jump start.
  NOTES: All levels. No sewing machine required.
   
• Making/Finding Tools For Unique Surface Design
  Enlisting unusual, found objects and creating original, handmade tools can introduce a myriad of unique mark-making possibilities to your work. Through demonstrations, in-class (and outdoor) experimentation, and a field trip to a local junk yard in your area, if possible, you will create personalized tools that can give your work a tantalizing, fresh look. Tools can be used to apply paint, dye, resists or any viscous media to fabric or paper surfaces. Dry media applications are also explored. Techniques include stamp and plastic mold-making, rubbings, stencils
  NOTES: All levels. No sewing machine required. [related photos]
   
• Fabric/Paper Collages (Photocopying Onto Fabric)
  Begin with the surprising act of actually running fabric through a black and white toner photocopier. Proceed by creating a personalized piece of art (portrait, landscape, abstract). After we photocopy your images and words onto cotton or organza, you will enhance them with colored pencils, paint and stitching. Cut, sew and combine these items with additional fabric scraps, fancy papers and even personal mementos. When assembled and mounted on 11x14" specialty paper, your collage will be suitable for framing. Lots of techniques, examples and materials will be provided for inspiration.
  NOTES: THIS CLASS ONLY AVAILABLE IF I CAN DRIVE MY PHOTOCOPIER TO THE CLASS SITE. All levels. Sewing machine is required. Photocopier provided. Above description is for a two-day class. When combined with "On Beyond Clipart" as a four day workshop (or two consecutive weekends), students get MUCH more out of the experience! [related photos]
   
• On Beyond Clip Art (Photocopying Tricks to Maximize Results)
  Use clip art or other preexisting imagery as a departure point for self-expressive art. Using a photocopier, scissors and tape, have fun discovering the unlimited possibilities of enlarging, reducing, multiplying, flopping, splicing, dicing, overlaying and combining images. Create your own unique images and, in the process, learn to communicate your message more accurately than one simple image can do. The images you generate can be used in collages, transferred onto fabric, made into silkscreens, or serve as inspiration for future artwork. Students bring their own imagery.
  NOTES: THIS CLASS ONLY AVAILABLE IF I CAN DRIVE MY PHOTOCOPIER TO THE CLASS SITE. All levels. No sewing machine required. Photocopier provided. Above description is for a two-day class. When combined with "Fabric/Paper Collage" as a four day workshop (or two consecutive weekends), students get MUCH more out of the experience!

SCHEDULE • 2-DAY CLASSES • 5-DAY CLASSES • LECTURES • PHOTOS

5-DAY CLASSES

• Finding Your Own Style
  Other quilters influence our style, but so can sculptors, poets and music. Our shared outer world and our uniquely personal inner world are rich sources of creativity. Learn how to identify your style and build upon it for a consistent, yet ever-evolving, body of work. This popular class is a multimedia experience that includes inspirational videotaped footage and recorded interviews of a wide variety of other artists who also search for original self-expression. Techniques include paint and glue artplay, mixed media collage and a fair amount of journaling about your own experiences based upon written questions I give you (this info not shared with class unless you want to). Activities include group exercises, audio/visual presentations, field trips and group/individual discussions. Because students take photos, make 6 - 12 color photocopies, and go on at least one field trip to an art museum or gallery, be aware that the cost of these things (approximately $25.00 ) will be in addition to the class and the kit fee.
  NOTES: Intermediate Level. Sewing machine not required. Access to a color copier shop and film developing shop are necessary.
   
• Fabric Diary Art Quilts
  "Write what you know" is true in visual art too. Discover ways to effectively convey your emotions or impressions of something important to you. A preliminary slide show, imaginative in-class exercises, and out of class exploration will broaden your overall creative approach. Explore a wide selection of processes such as image transfer to fabric, fabric and paper collage, and "memento" embellishment. Combining these new skills will enable you to translate your life event into an uniquely original fabric diary art quilt.
  NOTES: Intermediate Level. Basic sewing skills and a sewing machine are required. [related photos]

SCHEDULE • 2-DAY CLASSES • 5-DAY CLASSES • LECTURES • PHOTOS

SLIDE LECTURES

• Niki Bonnett: The Evolution of An Artist
  Artists may be born with talent, but perfecting that talent takes training, practice and lots of playing too! Belief in your aspirations is important. So is self-motivation. But developing a sense of wonder for the improbable world around you is essential. THAT is the platform from which rewards are launched. Your immersion into artistry can enrich every day of your life as well as the life of those you love. Like a pebble in a pond, your commitment to an artistic life can make a difference.
   
• Finding Your Own Style
  We know how to sew, we understand about color and design, but are we truly expressing ourselves in our finished artwork? "Creativity is not for sissies", said one student of my class, "Finding Your Own Style" and, yes, going beyond a traditional quilt pattern is challenging, but the good news is we're not out there alone. Contemporary quilters and art quilters as well as painters, sculptors, writers, poets and musicians all struggle with the search for their own, unique, creative voices every day! Listen to the advice of these fellow-artists, look at examples of successful notables and let me give you some tantalizing pointers to help you identify your inherent strengths and build upon them.
   
• Fabric Diary Art Quilts
  What is a fabric diary? What is an art quilt? See examples of both by Niki and other art quilters, then discover how fine artists and primitive artists have visually narrated the passage of time and movement though space for centuries! This lecture really expands your 2- and 3-dimensional art horizons. It also allows you to recognize your own fabric diary art quilt that is, even now, awaiting creation.
   
• Getting Started/Getting Unstuck
  Creativity on demand. A 25-year background in communicating her messages originally, effectively and quickly allows Niki to speak knowledgeably about creative blocks, looming deadlines and the fear of failure. We ALL have these problems!!! Discover a rich variety of "tricks" for getting started and for getting unstuck, and take home whichever ones work for you.

SCHEDULE • 2-DAY CLASSES • 5-DAY CLASSES • LECTURES • PHOTOS