EDUCATORS

Allison Railo has been a part of SFSNAD since 2019 when she first embarked on CSP Surface Embroidery Levels 1 & 2. She is currently working on her CSP Goldwork Level 1 and her CSP Needlepointing Level 1, with the goal of developing her own art practice and design skills. Prior to discovering SFSNAD Allison was self taught in needlework, inspired by family traditions and a love for slow craft and handmade textiles. Allison is also an Art Historian and Curator who lives in the Northern California Bay Area with her husband, two sons and two dogs.

Amy is a multidisciplinary artist who has worked on everything from Star Wars movie sets and giant robotic performance art, to custom bra design and toy industry prototyping. She is excited about design processes, hand-work cultures, creative communities, and art making. Amy is currently working with embroidery and beaded embellishments, focusing on sculptural and wearable forms, such as plush toys, hats, and gloves. She works out of her home-based art studio in sunny Oakland, California, and enjoys bird and people watching at nearby Lake Merritt.

Robert W. Haven, author of “Tambour Beading and Embroidery” has featured his award winning work for the Behringer Crawford Museum in Covington, KY, the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge Ontario, as well as at the World of Wearable Art Museum in New Zealand. Bob has also authored various articles for Vogue Patterns as well as Piecework Magazine.

Embroidery and beading have been a significant part of Bob’s life. An artist and designer, Bob’s interest in embroidery was first piqued in 1973 with the PBS program, Needleplay with Erica Wilson, and thirty years later, Bob would be at the same institution–The Royal School of Needlework–to complete the concentrated course in hand embroidery. Bob completed the professional course of Haute Couture Embroidery from L’ecole Lesage in Paris.

Throughout his career, Bob has taught Costume Technology and Tambour for fashion schools in the US as well as abroad. He gives demonstrations on the current PBS program, Fit2Stitch! as a guest artist and continues his practice from his home studio in Lexington, Kentucky.

Chrissie Juno Mann is an award-winning embroidery artist based in the heart of the New Forest, in the UK. Trained by The Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace, Chrissie teaches a variety of techniques as a tutor for Royal School of Needlework both across the UK and abroad. She has created her very own embroidery brand: Cloud Juno which has exciting workshops, designs, and pieces for exhibitions, and is the author of the popular embroidery book: “50 Essential Blackwork Patterns.” Chrissie finds inspiration for many of her works in nature and seeks to create the beauty of the world around us in thread.

Connie took her first class in goldwork embroidery in 2019 at the SF School of Needlework and Design. Finding herself drawn to the shine and shimmer of the materials and the joy that embroidery brought her as a pastime, she decided to take more classes and started training in tambour beading. Soon she had learned enough techniques to experiment with beads and sequins and started creating designs of her own. A small collection of her first designs came in the form of greeting cards, of which the butterflies design has been adapted to regular needlepoint in an online class with EGA for 2023. Her hope is to train further in tambour beading and to continue to create new art pieces to inspire, open up and to bring to new people who are yet to discover the joy of embroidery.

Felicity Alice is an embroidery artist and freelance couture embroiderer; based in England. Felicity trained at the royal school of needlework and obtained a first-class degree in hand embroidery. Felicity Alice explores creative boundaries by drawing parallels between traditional stitches and design, with a contemporary twist Felicity Alice’s mission is to create beautiful, hand-crafted embroidered products. Focusing on exceptional fine fabrics, impeccable detail and the finest craftsmanship.

Visit Felicity’s website at: https://www.felicityalice.com or find her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/felicityaliceofficial

Joan Near, of Pacific Grove, CA, has been weaving bands of all sorts for a couple of decades now. She does commission work in her specialty, tablet-woven bands, and is also a floor-loom weaver of garment fabric and items for the home. She’s active in several textile guilds and helps coordinate regional textile conferences.

Judith is a SF resident who has been quilting for over 30 years. Her innovative, casual style has been displayed and awarded in national quilt shows. She will be enjoying a solo show at the new location of SFSNAD in March of 2022. Her workshops focus on hand-stitched quilting, expanding SFSNAD's repertoire of fiber arts techniques.

Juliana van Tellingen is a textile artist living in San Francisco. She has been making fiber art since she was a small child growing up in Chicago, Illinois. Juli finished a long career teaching in elementary schools, nurturing curiosity and creativity in young students. Now she is working full-time as an artist, doing her own work and taking commissions from clients who have entrusted saved personal materials to her for meaningful and unique art pieces. Her recent work has mainly focused on using vintage found linens, clothing, etc. embellished with small objects and hand embroidery in various applications: small and large quilts, clothing, cloth books. Juli finds that re-using previously loved textiles and found objects brings their history and their owners into the present and inspires imagination, story telling of past eras. She is very much looking forward to guiding students who want to explore this playful work.

Laura has been embroidering for 40+ years specializing in Surface Embroidery. She studied Fine Art at California State University East Bay, and embroidery with the Embroiderers Guild of America as well as San Francisco School of Needlework and Design. Her piece called “Balance” toured the United States and Canada as part of the 2 year Sixteenth National Exhibit with the Embroiderers Guild of America. She has won numerous awards including “Best in Show” at the California State Fair in Sacramento. While Laura's first love is doing embroidery, her very close second is teaching embroidery. She loves bringing this ancient healing art to students while enjoying the beautiful and growing community at SFSNAD.

Lauren is a textile artist with a particular interest in studying and preserving traditional garments and embroidery. This led her to studying with the Royal School of Needlework in the UK, and later with the Japanese Embroidery Center and Ecole Lesage as well. She has a BFA in Fashion Design from Columbia College in Chicago, and has received multiple awards for construction and design in costume and in hand embroidery, including the DCASE individual artist grant from the City of Chicago.

Before coming to SFSNAD, Lauren worked as a production assistant for visual artist Nick Cave in his Chicago studio, building soundsuits for museum installations and private collections. She has extensive experience as a freelance artist, assisting in costume production for various performances and competitions.

Prior to co-founding SFSNAD, Lucy Barter, was the sole proprietor of her needlework business, Forever Embroidery Studio. Lucy served as the resident embroidery teacher at Filoli, created a Goldwork Embroidery Craftsy class, and served as the US Course Coordinator and instructor for the Royal School of Needlework.

In 2006, Lucy graduated from the Royal School of Needlework Apprenticeship Programme, and holds a BA Honors Degree in Fashion Design from the University of Northumbria. Lucy brings many valuable years of teaching, design and technical expertise to the needlework field. She is passionate about sharing traditional embroidery techniques.

Mae is a professional teacher and teacher trainer, with a passion for hand embroidery, as well as other traditional crafts, design, and photography. She has been practicing embroidery for ten years and honed her skills through her involvement with SFSNAD as a volunteer and a student. Mae was one of the first people to take SFSNAD’s own Comprehensive Studies Program in Surface Embroidery.

Mae has a Master’s Degree in Education and studied Classical Art and Archaeology for five years. Since 2008, she has been teaching, developing courses, and working in academic management in San Francisco, New York, London, and Japan.

Margaret Timbrell (b. Brazil) is a conceptual needlework artist with a multi-disciplinary degree from NYU. Her work is inspired by various influences (such as technology, parenthood, perseverance and failure) that alter language and engagement. Timbrell has exhibited at the De Young Museum, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art and other galleries. She was featured in the SF Examiner, LA Times, Bust Magazine. In 2012 she was selected as a Heart Artist for SF General’s annual fundraiser. From 2015 to 2017 Timbrell participated in the StARTup Fair. She participated in Lenka Clayton’s Artist Residency in Motherhood and, in 2018, Timbrell was the Artist in Residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. Currently Timbrell is a Facility Artist at 1240 Minnesota Street Project, and Studio Artist at Pacific Felt Factory. In Fall of 2019 she completed a 15’ latch hook portrait of Minnie Pearl for the Graduate Hotel in Nashville. Fall 2021 she has a solo, The Unicorn, at the Great Highway Gallery.

After having earned degrees in Textile Design and Marketing from Fashion Institute of Technology, in Manhattan, New York, Marilu Morency’s background includes textile art and design, as well as jewelry and accessory design and manufacturing. Marilu teaches Hand Embroidery courses through colleges in Southern California and was selected for the Santa Ana College 2022 Faculty Profiles in Excellence Creative Expression Award. She has been a magazine contributor and award recipient of local and national juried shows for her paintings, hand stitched mixed media pieces, and beadwork.

Marilu is a juried member and active participant in the Embroiderers’ Guild of America’s Fiber Forum. Her work and projects have been published through the guild’s website and in their Needle Arts magazine.

While gallery and custom work continue to be an important part of her endeavors, Marilu finds particular joy in promoting the art of beading and needlework through teaching others and encouraging them to find their own creative voice.

Michelle grew up in Tasmania, studied maths and physics at university and then wondered what to do with her life. She considered maths honours, and even tried out a cooking apprenticeship before deciding teaching would be her path. After her education diploma she taught in the rugged west coast of Tassie for a few years. She then moved back to Hobart and taught in high schools, before shifting into other education roles.

All that time she constantly made, selling her jewellery and small art pieces in independent boutiques in Hobart. Life then moved her to Melbourne, where she worked in education-based roles in an office but also began exploring the wilds of Victoria. She fell in love with Mount Buffalo and the north east of the state, and at the first opportunity she moved her life there as well.

She now lives in Porepunkah, works part time in education writing and consulting, and spends every other waking moment making… or walking.

Normalynn Ablao also known as The Copacetic Crocheter has been a crochet pattern designer for 16 years. She may best be known in the crochet community to have shared the basic cake template patterns that are seen in many crochet cakes today. Currently Normalynn offers in her delightful webpage unique food patterns, as well as her popular cake patterns for curious crocheters that will satisfy any palate guilt free!

Paula Banerji is an award winning embroiderer who teaches crewel work, stumpwork, goldwork and various kinds of whitework. She has trained in India, Canada and taken classes at the Royal School of Needlework, UK.

Sarah Pedlow, the founder of ThreadWritten, is an artist working with embroidery and cultural preservation through workshops, textile travel retreats, and fine art. ThreadWritten supports women artisans, traditional and contemporary textile practices, and the preservation of heritage through research, education, and the cultivation of a global community of makers. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarah moved to Amsterdam, NL, in 2019 where she now lives and works. She has taught and lectured at the Fashion Institute of Technology, The Textile Arts Council at the de Young Museum, San Francisco School of Needlework and Design, Tatter (Brooklyn, NY), WildCraft Studio School (Portland, OR), The Embroiderers’ Guild of America, Crafts Council Nederland, and Selvedge Magazine. She holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Rutgers University (US) and her work has been featured in Uppercase, Veranda, House & Garden UK, and Selvedge magazines. Find her artwork at sarahpedlow.com.

Sasha Duerr is an artist, designer and educator who works with plant-based color and natural palettes. Sasha centers her practice and research on the collaborative color potential of weeds, food and floral waste, and local and seasonal ingredients. Teaching for over a decade at California College of Arts with a joint appointment in Textiles and Fine Arts, Sasha lectures, consults and widely designs curriculum and courses in the intersection of natural color, slow food, slow fashion and social practice. In 2007, Sasha founded Permacouture Institute to encourage the exploration of regenerative design practices for fashion and textiles. From "Dinners to Dye For" to "Weeding Your Wardrobe" and "Seasonal Color Wheels" her extensive work with plant-based color palettes has been featured in the New York Times, American Craft Magazine,Domino, Elle Decor Uk, Selvedge, and the Huffington Post. Sasha is the author of The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes (Timber Press/Workman 2011) NATURAL COLOR (Watson-Guptill/Ten Speed Press 2016) and NATURAL PALETTES (Princeton Architectural Press 2020).

Shelley is a devoted student of the field of textiles, and has been since she was old enough to hold a needle. With interests in both needlework and research, she took up studying the history of global embroidery in earnest about ten years ago. She believes that interpreting world history through "the eye of the needle" lends itself to insights that are often overlooked in a more universal understanding of world affairs. A storyteller by nature, she sees the world as an endless series of stories of what people can create with needle and cloth.

Shelley holds a masters degree in both cultural anthropology and education.

(Photo taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum, William Morris room in 2022)

Terri Michele is a lifelong needleworker and has the stash of fabrics and threads to prove it. Her training began in childhood in multiple modalities of needlework, including embroidery, knitting, and crochet (idle hands and all that!!). She formally trained with The Royal School of Needlework, completing her Diploma in Technical Hand Embroidery in 2015. Her work has appeared in national and international publications as well as exhibits around the United States. She currently has an art studio dedicated to artistic embroidery. A native Texan, she lives in Houston with her husband, a couple of cats, and her daughter’s dog.

Tiffany is a graphic designer, embroidery designer and instructor. Prior to joining SFSNAD, Tiffany has been working as a freelance graphic designer for various design firms and corporations, from Chronicle Books to Banana Republic. Tiffany received her BFA degree in Graphic Design in Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 2014. In 2019, Tiffany took classes in SFSNAD, including the CSP Program in Metalwork, and she does graphic design, and instructs while training to become an embroidery artist.

Victoria Rudolph uses the traditional medium of rug hooking to create contemporary art. Each piece tells is unique story. Her patterns are designed by things that have inspired her or is something requested specifically by a client commission. Color, shape, texture, light and dark are elements that go into each design.

Victoria has a BA from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and an MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. She is a certified fiber hooking teacher through the Pearl J McGown program. And a member of the National Association for Traditional Rug Hookers (ATHA) , she has published in Rug Hooking Magazine. She is the author of Foundation Magic A Rug Hooker’s Guide to Preparing Patterns.

Victoria currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, two dogs and cats.

Youngmin Lee is a Korean textile artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a BA in Clothing and Textile and an MFA in Fashion Design, Youngmin has presented numerous workshops, classes and demonstrations on Korean Textile Arts including workshops at numerous places such as the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Oakland Museum, Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF) in Santa Clara, Sonoma County Museum, Richmond Art Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles, Richmond Art Center, Mendocino Art Center, Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK, and Textile Art Council of De Young Museum in San Francisco. Youngmin’s bojagi work was shown at the Asian Art Museum’s Asia Alive program in San Francisco and other museums and galleries in the U.S. and internationally.