Watch our video above OR listen to the podcast below!

…no one in my family were artists per se but everybody made things. And we would all make projects.  My mother would get very enthusiastic…my mom made a lot of clothing…she taught me how to embroider, and that is something that I have still included and carry on in my work, I love that it’s so portable…i’ve more recently incorporated machine sewing… I  got a new sewing machine….- Miriam Schaer

Miriam Schaer is a master of improv.

Schaer lives a life in service to art and friendship. Her work incorporates printmaking, bookmaking, dolls, and, more recently, knitting.
Pivoting is how Schaer has worked as an independent artist –  often diving into the unknown and creating what she calls “lucky breaks.”

But I am convinced that because Schaer was willing to take risks, and trust that all would work out….it has.

I met Schaer when she was a keynote speaker at the Kutztown Art Education conference way back in November 2013. After her lecture, I ran to the lectern to meet her. We’ve been in touch, on and off, ever since…

Discover Schaer’s provocative embroidered work…

I connected to Schaer’s Babies (Not) On Board: The Last Prejudice? 
a series that explores the experiences of married women who do not have children.

Schaer’s embroidery skills shine in these pieces that reveal how the product of women’s loins
often overshadows any of their intellectual or artistic achievements.

Many of the most accomplished women –  Virginia Woolf included –
had to deal with why they didn’t have kids – a society blinded to their artistic genius!

Schaer has dealt with “childlessness” since her marriage.
She took what could’ve become bitterness or anger – and transformed it into a provocative, sublime art.

What astounds me is how people sometimes don’t think at all about a couple’s particular circumstances regarding
having/not having children… it’s a choice, or it’s a painful physical reality that denies them
fertility.

In this episode, we discuss:

• her transition from musician to visual artist.
• how her high school guidance counselor tried to derail her art career
• how her relationship with NYC’s Center for Book Arts has been central to her evolution
• the importance of mentoring her students, both art and non-art majors

Join Miriam Schaer and me as we talk about her life, family – and her improv way of life…

Find Schaer at miriamschaer.com

Miriam Schaer Bio:

Miriam Schaer, an artist, and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She has exhibited steadily,
domestically and abroad, for more than three decades. Her principal work consists of artist books,
book-related sculptures and prints, embroideries, and multimedia projects that deal with feminist,
cultural, and spiritual issues. Her work is represented in numerous collections,
including the Yale Museum, Library of Congress, and
The Walker Art Center, and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History & Culture at Duke University.

Her work has earned a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and representation at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea. In 2007, she was an artist in residence at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. Her series of works, Babies (Not) On Board: The Last Prejudice?, about social biases against women without children, was included in the International Museum of Women’s MAMA-Motherhood Around the Globe in 2012. In 2013, Soros Foundation support enabled her to make artist’s books with women’s groups in the Republic of Georgia. She later returned to Georgia in 2017 as a Fulbright Scholar, where she established the Artist Book Collection at Telavi State University. In her first street performance, she participated in Art in Odd Places 2019: Invisible, focusing on older and marginal artists working today.

Catch her at miriamschaer.com

Watch our video above OR listen to the podcast below!

” Weaving is just my soul, you know.”
– Christine Miller

For Christine Miller, weaving is a mystery.

Miller took a continuing education class at the University of Texas Austin. It was a weaving class. Because of that experience, she changed her major to art to learn about design.

There she overcame her childhood art block and dove headfirst Into weaving.

What attracted Miller to weaving is its mystery. As she says, you never know the end result, no matter how much planning.

Also, it’s repetition, it’s meditative processes that is both peaceful and physical.

Miller left UT Austin only to return at 47 to earn her art education license. She joined her daughter as a full-time student to help support her family.

The cowgirl art teacher..

But her full-time life as a professional artist complimented her classroom experience. Eager to bring fiber to the K – 12 classroom, Miller merged traditional studio practices with her textile processes that she taught her students.

To this end, her website, explorefiber.com, helps bring fiber arts to the masses.

Miller and I met in 2011 during a Surface Design Association conference. She was one of ten K – 12 are teachers who won a full scholarship to attend.

As she put it: “My conference experience was the most fabulous conference ever in my life!”

It inspired her to design the website, explorefiber.com, as a resource for all —-to bring fiber to the streets! Since the pandemic, Miller teaches leaving with wire online continuing her evolution as an artist and art teacher—-

and sharing her soul’s passion with others across the globe

My Art sisters give me honest feedback about my work

Miller’s relationships in fiber art span for decades. Her connections include guild members, five art association members, and people she met during her years at the University of Texas Austin.

She serves on several boards including the surface design association.

But she turns to a handful of art sisters for a constructive critique concerning her work.

Be honest with your students.

Miller cautions against too much backward instructional design and other curricular planning. Be careful of being stuck with sequencing let’s surprise overtake the art process.

Her motto with her students is “I don’t know let’s figure this out together.

When teaching an unfamiliar media – ceramics – Miller took the high road.

And admitted to her students that she didn’t have all the answers. So they collaborated together to solve problems in their work.

Reach out to your textile community for supplies and money. They are so generous!

Tight budgets didn’t stop Miller from incorporating weaving into her curricula. She received supplies and money to buy floor looms – from local guild women who were ready to donate money or‘s supplies while downsizing.

Miller has multiple projects in process, often overwhelmed on which ones to focus upon – but she follows her deadlines and completes her work with ease.

Join Christine Miller and me as we discuss:

• Her coral reef collaboration with her husband
• Her cowboy boot collection
• The juice of art teaching

Find Miller at christinekmiller.com

Christine Miller Bio:

Miller has been exploring fiber her entire life through many processes and techniques. She has been weaving for over 45 years, and for the last 30 years she has been weaving with wire to create sculptural expressions. Other techniques and processes dance into her work, but sitting at the loom and weaving is where she feels her heartbeat. In addition to weaving, she has experience in sewing, basketry, embroidery, felting, dyeing, knitting, crochet, and fiber sculpture. She is currently launching a new online course about Weaving with Wire.

Miller has been creating collaborative Coral Reef installations with her husband beginning in 2019. Keith Miller creates the 2D resin watery painted backgrounds and Christine contributes the coral sculptural fiber forms. This collaboration is a dream come true after they both retired from their day jobs, and keeps the creative flow alive in their joint studio.

She is a former visual arts educator with local and national arts education recognition. Miller continues bringing fiber arts into the educational world with Visiting Artist programs and workshops. She serves on several fiber art organization boards, including sitting on the Education Committee for the Surface Design Association.

Catch her at christinekmiller.com

and explorefiber.com

Watch our video above OR listen to the podcast below!

“When I was waitressing or teaching I always wanted to be making art…“ Fenny Suter

Fenny Suter always knew she wanted to be an artist.

As a child in Taiwan, she learned embroidery.

Suter’s dream receded into the background until a student a Penn State. “I decided to put a portfolio together and applied to the School of Visual Arts.

Thankfully, she got accepted!

There, she began her journey making large-scale mixed media sculpture. As the Zoller Gallery manager, I got to get to know Suter and her work.

“Art teaching taught me the discipline of living an artist’s life.”

After earning her BFA at Penn State, Suter earned a master’s of arts in teaching at Rhode Island School of Design.

Still, the frustrated full-time artist in her kept nagging.

“I thought for two years, at an elementary school with 600 students, then as a special ed teacher but I just didn’t like art teaching.”

During that time, Suter discovered needle felting – and fell in love.
Working small allowed her to complete works – and so began her journey on Instagram.

“If you scroll to the first post, my work was wonky.“

Still, Suter remains a restless artist.

Always experimenting, she cautions that if something isn’t working – “I just leave it – I put it in a box to keep it as a record. “ Nothing is considered a waste. For her, all is a learning experience that eventually fuels new work.

“I like it a studio day to be predictable.“

Suter, like a few artists featured on this podcast, first feeds her two cats: “Otherwise, they won’t leave me alone!“

Then she works listening to podcasts, music, or YouTube videos.
Starting at eight and working usually till 10 or 11 at night depending on deadlines is her typical working window.

Although physically tired, Suter remains energized because she loves what she’s doing.

“If you want to be an artist, don’t give up.“

Despite discouragement from family, Suter plods on, taking business and marketing courses.

“Persevere – Connect with trusted online artists – that’s helped me navigate the challenges of being an independent businesswoman.”

Join Fenny Suter and me as we discuss:

• What success means to her
• How to connect with trusted Instagram makers
• The importance of copyright protection of your art
• Her two cats: who make cameo appearances!

Find Suter at suterdesignco.com

Fenny Suter Bio:

Fenny Suter was born in 1991 in Taiwan. She moved to the U.S. as a child and received her BFA in Art at Penn State University in 2014. In 2016, she received her Master of Arts in Teaching from Rhode Island School of Design. She taught elementary school art and worked as a special education tutor for 2 years.

In 2018, she started Suter Design & Co., an artist studio through which she sells artworks to private collectors in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, and many other places. She combines different craft techniques, including embroidery, wool-felting, and punch needle to create tactile nature landscapes.

Her fiber artworks often feature aerial sceneries with a relaxed, floating figure, creating a transportive window to dreamy, tropical destinations. Her artworks were written about on My Modern Met, Byrdie Magazine, The Fiber Studio, and Brown Paper Bag.

Suter’s work was most recently a part of a group exhibition in “Everyday Life, Everyday Art” at Cloud Croft Studios in Owego, NY.
Since starting her art studio, she gained a robust following on social media, including close to 20,000 followers on Instagram.
Suter currently lives and works in Vestal, NY.

Catch her at www.suterdesignco.com

Watch our video above OR listen to the podcast below!

I read a Maya Angelou essay where she wrote that women raising their children, feeding them, bathing them, and schooling them in the expectation of beauty…in the home, in our lives, this expectation of beauty is not an extra…the local school board can’t cut out art in the budget…art is not an extra, it’s part of what makes a life flourish…- Diane Fine

Diane Fine is a generous artist.

Fine makes work that touches peoples every day lives. With her artist books, prints, or embroidery – Fine’s art connects with nature and often – humor. In addition to her long-standing collaborative work, she also embroiders sublime art for family and fundraisers.

I met Fine while she lectured as a visiting artist in the School of Visual Arts at Penn State. Luckily for me, part of my then job as manager of the Zoller gallery included hosting such luminaries. Fine graciously took the time to discuss my own work.

We connected on so many levels: textiles, book arts, and a general sense of joy in each other’s presence. As I changed my podcast format from solo to interview, I immediately thought of Fine and contacted her to be on the show.

Thankfully, she agreed.

Now you too get to dig deep into her art, teaching, and sense of humor!

Discover Fine’s sublime embroidered work…

Detours, an artist book created with Kathy Kuehn, features re-purposed women’s clothing embroidered with ambiguous sayings.

Boston’s Target Cancer received a stunning quilt for their fundraiser: Fine hand embroidered each New England flower while friend and collaborator, Karen Case, did the piecing.

Her lucky great-niece Aviva received a magnificent quilt whose blocks contain the letters of the alphabet – with images corresponding to each letter.

Learn about Fine’s numerous, decades-old collaborations with the following artists, in her own words:

On collaborator Joan Lockburner Deuel: Deuel makes art quilts and is an alumna of SUNY Plattsburgh (before I taught here) and came as a visiting artist at some point early in my tenure here. Find Lockburner Deuel here.

On fellow artist Liza Rudolph: Rudolph is an alumna of Syracuse University, where we both went for undergraduate school. She studied painting there but went on to do a lot of work in textiles and to work in the film industry in art direction and wardrobe etc. Find Rudolph here.

On fellow artist Kathy Kuehn: Kathy (Katherine) Kuehn (pronounced “keen”) is the proprietor of the Salient Seedling Press, a book artist printmaker, and textile artist. We were in graduate school together at UW-Madison. I consider her a mentor as well as one of my dearest friends. We collaborated on the artist book Detours together.

On collaborator Mario Laplante: Laplante is an alumnus of UW-Madison where we met in graduate school. He and I have been collaborating without interruption for 35 years! Find Laplante here.

In this episode, find out:

• her evolution from “all thumbs stitcher” to sublime embroiderer.
• how her high school art class instilled her passion for printmaking
• how central collaboration is to her art process
• the importance of mentoring her students, both art and non-art majors

Join Diane Fine and me as we talk about her life, family – and collaborations with fellow stitchers and printmakers…

Find Fine at dianefine.com

Diane Fine Statement:

I work primarily in two related art media: printmaking and the book arts. The seductive surface and sensuality of printmaking, the power and generosity of the multiple, and the physical and cognitive processes of this labor-intensive medium are a source of endless inspiration to me. In the last several years, drawing has become central to my studio practice as well. The drawings often have a printed element as part of the composition, and my approach, one of layering and repetition, is informed by my printmaking.

Bio:

Diane Fine is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Art at Plattsburgh State University of New York where she teaches printmaking and book arts. She received her BFA from Syracuse University and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Diane exhibits regularly and her work is represented in a number of public and private collections including The New York Public Library and the Yale University Art Gallery.

Catch her at dianefine.com