Book a Workshop

becka teaching a class

My Teaching Experience

I teach colorful, beginner-friendly classes in embroidery, fabric design, book arts, creative technology, and artist business skills for libraries, guilds, museums, conferences, and community arts organizations. My specialty is making creative techniques approachable, practical, and fun — especially for beginners.

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)

I teach for:

  • Libraries
  • Guilds
  • Museums
  • Conferences
  • Community Arts Programs
  • Fiber Art Groups
  • Schools & Residencies
  • Creative Retreats
Class Descriptions
See My Resume
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).