Rip, Glue and Stitch with Catherine Cruz

This is your opportunity to bring out all those wonderful paper and fabric bits you’ve been saving and create something special.

Saturdays, January 21 - February 4, 2023

Jan 21: 1 PM TO 3 PM

Jan 28 & Feb 4: 10 AM TO 12 PM

In SebArts Little Hen Dining Room

Fee: $195 for 3 classes + $20 materials fee

Number of participants: 12 max.

Age group: Teenagers & Adults

In this series of three (3) workshops taught by local collage artist and avid recycler, Catherine Cruz, you will learn to make an imperfect collage and fabric mini book with recycled materials (approx. 5”x7”). With this unique “trash to treasure” project, the emphasis is on making something completely imperfect and loose but with a lot of personality. We will first assemble a simple book made of recycled cardboard, paper, and fabric. We will then fill the pages with collage papers, bits of recycled fabric, and vintage images. Finally, we will embellish our pages with mixed media, hand-stitching, buttons, lace, etc.

The idea is to use what you already have at home, or supplies that are recycled and thrifted. The Legacy store in Sebastopol is an excellent resource.

PLEASE do not purchase anything new! Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on the list, we can share resources.

Required tools:

Glue stick, tape, scissors, embroidery needle, regular sewing needle

Recycled materials to bring:

Thin cardboard (like a box of crackers), scraps of decorative papers, ephemera, vintage images & photos, fabric scraps, thread and cotton embroidery floss, yarn, buttons, beads, pieces of broken costume jewelry, lace, ribbon, crochet doilies, anything personal you’d like to use to customize your book.

Materials provided by instructor:

Recycled paper and cardboard, fabric remnants, and mixed media.

You may contact Catherine Cruz at beyouartstudio@gmail.com

About the instructor:

Catherine Cruz is a French-American artist, whose work is informed by textures and patterns created by the passing of time and the effects of the natural elements on the built environment. She has taught collage and mixed media workshops in the Bay Area and France since 2019, and this is her second year at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Her background is in interior design and green building certification. She works from her home studio in Sebastopol, and is a participant in Art Trails Open Studios.