Workshops, Lectures, Classes, Residencies & Lessons

becka teaching a class

My Teaching Experience

I have been teaching for more than 25 years. I have a degree in Elementary/Middle School Education and a background in community art and theater. I worked for 11+ years as the head of education programming at the Textile Center in Minneapolis, where I coordinated all of the adult and youth education programs, supervised a core group of teaching artists, mentored new teachers, and developed curriculum for summer camp and outreach programming. I hold a Book Arts Certificate from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. I am active in my local arts community: teaching at local guilds and museums; school residencies; festival demos; guest lecturing for college classes; serving on boards of directors and as a volunteer.

When I was working in arts admin full time, I used to say that I didn’t have a particular media that was my specialty but that my specialty was that I could teach a beginner class in anything.  My business cards say “artist & teacher” because I really believe that teaching and creating art as a community is core to my own artistic practice. It’s part of the art that I do.

Selected venues where I have taught in-person classes and workshops:

  • Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts (Gatlinburg TN)
  • Spoonflower (Durham NC)
  • Potomac Fiber Arts Guild (Washington DC)
  • Midwest Weavers Conference (Minneapolis MN)
  • Handweavers Guild of America Conference (Milwaukee WI)
  • Surface Design Association Conference (Minneapolis MN)
  • Art Educators of MN State Conference
  • NC FACS Teachers State Conference (Greensboro NC)
  • Hennepin History Museum, Bakken Museum, Bell Museum, Museum of Russian Art (Minneapolis, MN)
  • Dakota County Libraries, Carver County Libraries, Anoka County Libraries (MN)
  • City of Fridley Parks & Recreation
  • Textile Center, Weavers Guild of MN, American Craft Council (Minneapolis, MN)
  • South East Fibers Arts Alliance (Chamblee GA)
  • Surface Art Association (Los Angeles CA)
  • WI Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts (Cedarburg WI)
See My Resume
Class Descriptions
Contact Me

Topics, Skills and Media

  • Fabric design, Digital printing on fabric with Spoonflower
  • Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom
  • Repper, Pixlr (low cost design apps)
  • Creating seamlessly repeating patterns
  • Etsy shop basics & setup, marketing tips, shipping
  • Photography with emphasis on product photography, basic photo editing
  • Business skills for artists including blogs & newsletters, social media, marketing
  • Embroidery and hand stitching
  • Book binding, especially stitched structures
  • Box making or cartonnage
  • Surface design on paper including paste paper and carved stamps
  • Origami and paper crafts

Student Levels, Abilities and Accessibility

I LOVE working with beginners and I love to teach beginner level classes. I am happy to work with your group where they are in experience and skills.

I especially love beginners in “techhie” classes like Spoonflower, Etsy, or Photoshop. I am passionate about making technology more accessible to artists.

I am comfortable working with all ages but most of my classes are designed for adults or older teens.

I try to make my classes as accessible as possible. Pre-recorded classes are captioned whenever possible. I use multiple cameras in Zoom or virtual classes to provide close up views of my hands working. I provide suggestions for substituting everyday materials & tools whenever possible so students are not required to purchase specialized supplies (ie using a popsicle stick as a bone folder).