Crow Timber Frame Barn Art Retreats

Nancy Crow

Nancy has been teaching quiltmaking as an art form for over 30 years; she finds teaching both a very creative experience and uplifting. One of her goals is to help students find a path through roadblocks to a more flexible way of approaching composition. Composition is the focus of all of her workshops in which she proceeds sequentially from beginning to very advanced composition while at the same time introducing many wonderful techniques which can be used in machine-piecing. Nancy promotes machine-piecing as one of the most important ways to work for a quiltmaker, paralleling it to oil painting. Nancy was selected for two national honors: Fellow of the American Craft Council and National Living Treasure by the Museum of World Cultures at the University of North Carolina. The National Living Treasure award honors Americans who work in traditional handicrafts. In addition, she has won many Individual Artist's Fellowships from The Ohio Arts Council. She leads art tours to Peru, Mexico, South Africa, France, and Guatemala, and is the author of seven books, including: Self-Portraits: Mono-Prints, Nancy Crow, Nancy Crow: Improvisational Quilts and Nancy Crow: Quilts and Influences.

Registration form

Nancy’s 2-week classes:

• May 7-12 & May 14-19, 2023 | Lines, Shapes, Curves, Circles & Figure/Ground Composition: Parts I & II
Open or Close
Lines, Shapes, Curves, Circles & Figure/Ground Composition: Parts I & II
• Level: Intermediate to advanced
• Prerequisite: Good machine-sewing skills and practiced in free-hand cutting
• Sewing machine: Yes
• Materials fee: No

• SORRY, class is full To be placed on waiting list, please send in registration & deposit. If space does not become available, a full refund of the deposit will be issued.

Tuition & Meal plan for 2-week class with Nancy:
• $2590 | paid in full before February 1, 2023 | 10-day Tuition ($2000) & Meal plan ($590)
DESCRIPTION
This workshop begins with an intense study in the “creation of line(s) and their spatial relationships” when grouped together with other line(s). All lines will be cut freehand while sharpening one’s eye to stronger proportions. These initial exercises will be done in solid black and solid white. Many small sewn-together compositions will be created. It is hoped that participants will begin to see line as a very important element in quilt-making.

Afterwards, this workshop will begin to address other kinds of geometric shapes such as curves and circles in machine-pieced compositions while moving into color and more degrees of values. These new design exercises will investigate evermore sophisticated relationships within a composition.
All work will be done in direct machine-piecing using a broad range of solid colors (commercial or hand-dyed). NOTE: Marbled fabrics are not appropriate for this class nor are splotchy hand-dyed fabrics.

Students will be given timed exercises that explore classical design concerns such as COLOR, VALUE, PROPORTION, SHAPE, CURVES, CIRCLES, AND LINE RELATIONSHIPS. Lots of SEED IDEAS will be GENERATED.

• MAKE SURE YOU BRING A GOOD SKETCHBOOK (not a yellow lined pad of paper), DIGITAL CAMERA and SMALL PRINTER!!!
• Do not come with an agenda! Be open to experimentation and working quickly!

PRESENTATION
- Optional but important: Each student should come prepared with 3-8 actual quilts and be prepared to make a short (5 minutes maximum) but articulate presentation about their work including future goals. If you would like to make a digital presentation, the Crow Timber Frame Barn provides use of a digital projector connected to a laptop (please bring a flash drive with your presentation/images or bring your own laptop/iPad). Please choose one option: actual quilts … OR … a digital presentation.
SUPPLIES
- Sewing Machine
- Size 10 & 12 Microtex sewing machine needles/Bobbins
- Thread (Aurifil is best - size 40 or 50)
- Several pairs of sharp scissors/Rulers
- Swing arm lamp or floor lamp
- 24” x 36” OLFA cutting mat (2 of these if driving)
- 8’ x 8’ Batting/Flannel (White) on which to pin work & several 40” X 60” batts
- Extra large rotary cutter and blades
- Clover ball-head pins - very fine (Clover #2507) and regular size (Clover #2501) - two boxes each
- Roll of blue painters’ tape (not masking tape)
- Spray water bottle for ironing
- Iron/Iron cleaner
- Your own ironing board if driving
- Short 5 1/2’ step ladder or step stool if driving
- Sketchbook/Pens/Other Supplies you want
- Digital camera/Printer (Canon SELPHY printer recommended)/Paper
- Glue to adhere snapshots into sketchbook
- Multiple outlet power strip/Adaptors/Heavy duty extension cords
- Packing tape if shipping boxes (plus return labels)
Optional Books:
- NANCY CROW | DRAWINGS: MONOPRINTS & RIFFS, 2020, University of Nebraska Press (catalog from Nancy’s exhibition at the International Quilt Museum) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- COLOR IMPROVISATIONS 2 & CIRCULAR ABSTRACTIONS: BULL’S EYES QUILTS, 2016, (books from two exhibitions curated by Nancy) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- CROSSROADS, 2007, Breckling Press (catalog from one of Nancy’s exhibitions) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- NANCY CROW, 2006, Breckling Press (book covering Nancy's work from 1989-2005) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- NANCY CROW, MONO-PRINTS: SELF-PORTRAITS: FOCUS, 2012 - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
Unfortunately, the following titles are out of print, but your local library may have them or order on Amazon.com.
- GRADATIONS: FROM THE STUDIO OF NANCY CROW, Quilt House Publishing
- NANCY CROW: WORK IN TRANSITION, American Quilters’ Society
- NANCY CROW: QUILTS AND INFLUENCES, American Quilters’ Society
- NANCY CROW: IMPROVISATIONAL QUILTS, C&T Publishing
FABRICS
6 yards each of:
- SOLID BLACK and SOLID WHITE
1 yard or more of:
- SOLID COLORS (commercial or hand-dyed) in the widest range you can afford to bring & be sure to include both flat & glowing colors - 80 to 100 different colors. We will use a lot of solid colors so bring a good range that includes darks, medium and light values of Browns, Blues, Greens, Reds, Golds, Yellows, Oranges, Purples, Violets, Etc.
2 yards of:
- BRIGHTS are essential for this workshop and they are defined as hot lime, hot pink, acid yellow, bright red, bright orange, bright turquoise, bright medium blue, bright lavender, bright medium purple, bright medium green
- GRAYS light, medium light, medium, medium dark, and dark values
Note: The fabric shop at the Crow Timber Frame Barn will have a very large selection of solid colors in BRIGHTS, GLOWING, FLATS and RELATIVES, and GRAYS.
- Bring BOTH the GLOWING and the FLAT versions of as many of these colors as possible.
- Please wash and shrink all fabrics! No need to iron though if you fold at end of drying cycle!
- We will use everything listed above so do not decide to leave anything out.
- DO NOT BRING FAT QUARTERS.
- DO NOT BRING PRINTS.
NOTES REGARDING FABRIC SUPPLY LIST
Yes, the rumor is true!!! Yes, I do ask that each student bring lots of fabrics. My personal theory embraces the belief that one will be freer to be creative if one has many fabric choices available in class. After 35+ years of teaching, I consider each class I teach to be on a graduate level and therefore I expect students to arrive prepared with all necessary supplies. In that regard, I have outlined those fabrics we will use in this class. For some students, my fabric supply list will seem overwhelming in quantity and variety, while for other students, the selection they bring will never be good enough.

About solid colors - the more shades you have to work with, the more you will learn about how to work with color. Color is Joyous!!! Color does not cause pain!!! Take DELIGHT in color!!! Working in color does not mean only using BOLD colors or HOT colors; working in color means learning to be versatile in all types of colors.

I caution you to not bring mostly middle value solids, rather bring a wide variety, including these 5 steps in value:
- Light values
- Medium light values
- Medium values
- Medium dark values
- Dark values
Any color (except BRIGHTS) can be GLOWING or FLAT or RELATIVE but only a few colors can be BRIGHT:
• BRIGHTS are super saturated colors with such intensity that they literally stick out in a composition. They command attention. One can find BRIGHTS from light value to just above medium value.
• GLOWING tones are any colors mixed with yellow and which have a glow coming off the surface.
• FLAT tones are those colors mixed with black and which emit a dullness, energy draining very subdued nature.
• RELATIVE tones are those colors that seem GLOWING when next to FLAT tones … OR … RELATIVE tones can seem FLAT when next to GLOWING tones or next to BRIGHTS. RELATIVE tones are chameleons but serve an important part of great composition.

Many students arrive with their own hand-dyed solids or stacks they have purchased from other dyers. By all means, bring hand-dyed if you want but they need to be opaque and not have multiple values swimming across them ... meaning white or light splotches on dark colors.

However, flat solids (dyed commercially) are equally acceptable.

I usually work with flat colors or my own subtly dyed flat colors. My own palette includes approximately 500 shades.

I cannot specifically tell you to only bring 1 yard cuts of each color because I know we will be using at least a yard or more of some to many colors depending on each student’s color preferences. I recommend 2 yard cuts or larger because I feel happier with a minimum of 2 yard cuts. But please feel free to come with 1 yard cuts if this will facilitate having a much broader range of values. But please do not blame me if you run out of any color as I have no way of knowing which colors you will use up.
• May 21-26 & May 28-June 2, 2023 | Strip-Piecing & Restructuring: Parts I & II
Open or Close
Strip-Piecing & Restructuring: Parts I & II
• Level: Intermediate
• Prerequisite: Good machine-sewing skills
• Sewing machine: Yes
• Materials fee: No

• SORRY, class is full To be placed on waiting list, please send in registration & deposit. If space does not become available, a full refund of the deposit will be issued.

Tuition & Meal plan for 2-week class with Nancy:
• $2590 | paid in full before February 1, 2023 | 10-day Tuition ($2000) & Meal plan ($590)
DESCRIPTION
Strip-piecing is defined as a way of creating a “fabric vocabulary” out of existing fabrics that have been cut selvage to selvage. It is an invaluable way to learn more about color, value usage, proportions, line and shape in a very fluid manner.

• STRIP-PIECING: To start out, students will be given design exercises that outline how to create specific vocabularies known as strip-pieced fabrics. In creating these brand new fabrics (vocabulary), students will develop the muscle memory needed to cut free-hand a large variety of widths of colors quickly and fluidly. In addition, they will also become more efficient machine-piecers. The resulting strip-pieced fabrics will be used in exploring rudimentary figure/ground composition as outlined next.

• RESTRUCTURING: Next new design exercises will push students to cut improvisationally all sorts of SHAPES and LINES (ELEMENTS) out of their already strip-pieced fabrics. These elements will be used in restructuring which means combining shapes and lines into new figures or configurations. As a result, students will become more experienced in construction and engineering techniques and more comfortable with generating ideas that promote excellent figure/ground composition.

In order to learn to work more effectively, more efficiently from “instincts” and “intuition” students must come with an open mind and no agendas, ready for growth and for risk-taking!

• Color - and the values of color from light to dark (5 steps in value) - will be emphasized in all exercises so a great selection of fabrics based on these values must be brought to this workshop. Students will be working in SOLID COLORS and graphic prints, plaids and stripes. Do not bring florals or other types of prints.

Students are expected to read the fabric list and the supply list and come prepared. These lists are accurate!!!
Note regarding the fabric lists:
• Concentrate on collecting DARKS and MEDIUM DARKS!
• Concentrate on collecting LIGHTS and MEDIUM LIGHTS!
• Concentrate on collecting BRIGHTS!
• Concentrate on collecting FLATS and GLOWINGS!
• Concentrate on collecting PLAIDS!
• Concentrate on collecting STRIPES!
• Concentrate on collecting GRAPHIC GEOMETRICS!

PRESENTATION
- Optional but important: Each student should come prepared with 3-8 actual quilts and be prepared to make a short (5 minutes maximum) but articulate presentation about their work including future goals. If you would like to make a digital presentation, the Crow Timber Frame Barn provides use of a digital projector connected to a laptop (please bring a flash drive with your presentation/images or bring your own laptop/iPad). Please choose one option: actual quilts … OR … a digital presentation.
SUPPLIES
- Sewing Machine
- Size 10 & 12 Microtex sewing machine needles/Bobbins
- Thread (Aurifil is best - size 40 or 50)
- Several pairs of sharp scissors/Rulers
- Swing arm lamp or floor lamp
- 24” x 36” OLFA cutting mat (2 of these if driving)
- 8’ x 8’ Batting/Flannel (White) on which to pin work & several 40” X 60” batts
- Extra large rotary cutter and blades
- Clover ball-head pins - very fine (Clover #2507) and regular size (Clover #2501) - two boxes each
- Roll of blue painters’ tape (not masking tape)
- Spray water bottle for ironing
- Iron/Iron cleaner
- Your own ironing board if driving
- Short 5 1/2’ step ladder or step stool if driving
- Sketchbook/Pens/Other Supplies you want
- Digital camera/Printer (Canon SELPHY printer recommended)/Paper
- Glue to adhere snapshots into sketchbook
- Multiple outlet power strip/Adaptors/Heavy duty extension cords
- Packing tape if shipping boxes (plus return labels)
Optional Books:
- NANCY CROW | DRAWINGS: MONOPRINTS & RIFFS, 2020, University of Nebraska Press (catalog from Nancy’s exhibition at the International Quilt Museum) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- COLOR IMPROVISATIONS 2 & CIRCULAR ABSTRACTIONS: BULL’S EYES QUILTS, 2016, (books from two exhibitions curated by Nancy) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- CROSSROADS, 2007, Breckling Press (catalog from one of Nancy’s exhibitions) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- NANCY CROW, 2006, Breckling Press (book covering Nancy's work from 1989-2005) - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
- NANCY CROW, MONO-PRINTS: SELF-PORTRAITS: FOCUS, 2012 - signed/dated editions available at the Crow Timber Frame Barn
Unfortunately, the following titles are out of print, but your local library may have them or order on Amazon.com.
- GRADATIONS: FROM THE STUDIO OF NANCY CROW, Quilt House Publishing
- NANCY CROW: WORK IN TRANSITION, American Quilters’ Society
- NANCY CROW: QUILTS AND INFLUENCES, American Quilters’ Society
- NANCY CROW: IMPROVISATIONAL QUILTS, C&T Publishing
FABRICS
6 yards each of:
- SOLID BLACK and SOLID WHITE
2-3 yards each of: (bring 5 steps in value)
- GRAYS
- Light values
- Medium light values
- Medium values
- Medium dark values
- Dark values

1-2 yards each of:
- BRIGHT COLORS - bright red, orange, acid yellow, lime, turquoise, blue, apple green, pink, lavender, etc. (very saturated bright colors … the brightest color that are never darker than medium value)
1 yard or more of a variety of:
- GRAPHIC PRINTS (graphic prints means very simple prints with patterns in rows or columns)
- PLAIDS
- STRIPES
I caution you not to bring mostly middle value solids, rather try to match your solid colors to the five step gray scale below:
- Light values
- Medium light values
- Medium values
- Medium dark values
- Dark values

1 yard or more of each color: (the fabric shop at the Crow Timber Frame Barn is well stocked.)
- SOLID OPAQUE COLORS (wide range in light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark values so you can be free to work) - reds, pinks, blues, teals, greens, limes, violets, browns, yellows, golds, oranges, purples, maroons, turquoises, rusts, etc.
- TANS (wide range in light, medium light, medium, medium dark, dark)
- OFF-WHITES (warm white, cold white, cream)
Note: The fabric shop at the Crow Timber Frame Barn will have a very large selection of solid colors in BRIGHTS, GLOWING, FLATS and RELATIVES, and GRAYS.
- Bring BOTH the GLOWING and the FLAT versions of as many of these colors as possible.
- We will use everything listed above so do not decide to leave anything out.
- Please wash and shrink all fabrics! No need to iron though if you fold at end of drying cycle!
- DO NOT BRING FAT QUARTERS.
- Bring enough variety so you are not hamstrung!
NOTES REGARDING FABRIC SUPPLY LIST
Yes, the rumor is true!!! Yes, I do ask that each student bring lots of fabrics. My personal theory embraces the belief that one will be freer to be creative if one has many fabric choices available in class. After 35+ years of teaching, I consider each class I teach to be on a graduate level and therefore I expect students to arrive prepared with all necessary supplies. In that regard, I have outlined those fabrics we will use in this class. For some students, my fabric supply list will seem overwhelming in quantity and variety, while for other students, the selection they bring will never be good enough.

About solid colors - the more shades you have to work with, the more you will learn about how to work with color. Color is Joyous!!! Color does not cause pain!!! Take DELIGHT in color!!!

Working in color does not mean only using BOLD colors or HOT colors; working in color means learning to be versatile in all types of colors.

I caution you to not bring mostly middle value solids, rather bring a wide variety, including these 5 steps in value:
- Light values
- Medium light values
- Medium values
- Medium dark values
- Dark values
Any color (except BRIGHTS) can be GLOWING or FLAT or RELATIVE but only a few colors can be BRIGHT:
• BRIGHTS are super saturated colors with such intensity that they literally stick out in a composition. They command attention. One can find BRIGHTS from light value to just above medium value.
• GLOWING tones are any colors mixed with yellow and which have a glow coming off the surface.
• FLAT tones are those colors mixed with black and which emit a dullness, energy draining very subdued nature.
• RELATIVE tones are those colors that seem GLOWING when next to FLAT tones … OR … RELATIVE tones can seem FLAT when next to GLOWING tones or next to BRIGHTS. RELATIVE tones are chameleons but serve an important part of great composition.

Many students arrive with their own hand-dyed solids or stacks they have purchased from other dyers. By all means, bring hand-dyed if you want but they need to be opaque and not have multiple values swimming across them ... meaning white or light splotches on dark colors.

However, flat solids (dyed commercially) are equally acceptable.

I usually work with flat colors or my own subtly dyed flat colors. My own palette includes approximately 500 shades.

I cannot specifically tell you to only bring 1 yard cuts of each color because I know we will be using at least a yard or more of some to many colors depending on each student’s color preferences. If you bring a yard of each - say 5 blues, 5 reds, 5 yellows, 5 greens, etc., but one each in light values, medium light values, medium values, medium dark values, & dark values, that would be better than not having enough. So bring 1 yard of as many colors as you can afford and shorter lengths for the rest.