Virtual Lecture Series

Annette is a fiber artist, who has taught the historic colcha embroidery stitch nationally and regionally through the Embroiderers’ Guild of America. Her background is as a juried artist and teacher at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, Casa San Ysidro and Gutierrez-Hubbell Historic houses, as well as the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council, Albuquerque BioPark/Aquarium, Sandia Mountains Chapter EGA and Las Aranas Spinning and Weaving Guild. Her work currently is in the permanent collection of the Guizhou Provincial Art Museum in Guiyang, China, and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts.

As an EGA member of the Sandia Mountains Chapter in Albuquerque NM, Annette manages the colcha embroidery education materials that were compiled and kept current for 13 years. The materials are available in digital format to any EGA chapter or member. Sandia Mountains also publishes and sells pattern books on colcha embroidery, which Annette also manages.

Currently, Annette is teaching colcha embroidery in Zoom sessions for the National Hispanic Cultural Center with the support of Sandia Mountains Chapter. She will resume stitching sessions when health restrictions permit at two sites in Albuquerque NM each month.

Annette is a regular volunteer at New Mexico’s only living history Museum, El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, demonstrating all manners of working with churro sheep wool fleece from carding, spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidery.

Diane Herrmann won EGA’s Gold Thread Award in 2015 and has taught within EGA, ANG and the Windy City Chapter of EGA both regionally and nationally. She has affiliations with EGA, ANG, NAN and NETA. Diane has several publications and presentations over the years to include “Diaper Pattern and Needlepoint” in Crafting by Concepts. Accomplishments and awards have been granted to include the Jean Thomas Howard Scholarship as a teacher in 2009 as well as NAN Exemplary in 2009, 2012 and 2015, among several other recognitions. Diane teaches one of EGA’s latest Individual Correspondence Courses: Techniques for Canvas Embroidery.

Jacqui Clarkson has taught for EGA, ANG, quilt guilds, a Fine Arts college and museums in Canada and the United States. Her workshop and lecture topics range from Sashiko, threads, to historical aspects of needlework. She has designed pieces for national thread and fabric companies, and for national magazines and needlework books. She has been published in the ANG magazine. Jacqui is a Journeyman Level II in the Master Teacher Program of ANG. She has served in leadership roles within local and region level of EGA and ANG.

Toni Gerdes holds Level II teachers’ certification from NAN specializing in canvas embroidery. She currently serves on the Board of NAN as the Director of Education after serving five years as Assistant Director of Teachers’ Certification. She has also served on the Board of Directors for several American Needlepoint Guild chapters as Program Chair & President. She is a past President of the National Association of Needlework Teachers. She has received numerous awards for her designs. Toni has taught for EGA, NAN, and ANG, as well as guilds and shops. She has been published in NeedlePointers, Needlepoint Now, and was honored in Needle Arts as a Designer Across America. She enjoys all types of stitching and especially sharing her knowledge with others.

Sarah Pedlow is an artist working with embroidery and cultural preservation. In 2009 while in Budapest for an artist’s residency, she visited the Ethnographic Museum and fell in love with the traditional clothing and embroidery. The visit inspired her to seek out women who stitch a particular style called Hungarian written embroidery in Transylvania, Romania, and start the education and preservation project ThreadWritten in 2012. She has been lecturing and teaching cultural embroidery workshops since 2014 and now leads stitching retreats in Europe. Residencies in Iceland; Oaxaca, Mexico; and Holland, as well as embroidery study in Ukraine and Portugal, inform her current practice. She holds an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and a BA in Studio Art and French Studies from Scripps College, Claremont, CA. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she moved to Amsterdam, NL in 2019 where she now lives and works. You can find her artwork at sarahpedlow.com.