Shakerag Off Season
Join us March 6-9, 2026 for another Shakerag Off Season! This spring we will have two workshops to choose from: free motion quilting, and mixed media drawing. Both will be held at St. Mary’s Sewanee, a retreat center located on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Scroll down to learn more about the next Off Season workshops and register today!
Mixed Media Drawing: Abstracting from Nature
Course Description
We will move from the concrete to the abstract through
- Finding the essence of natural objects as a means to extend the forms into visual imagery
- Exploring the boundaries between representation and abstraction
Participants should bring objects with them to work from, such as fossils, rocks, shells, leaves, and tree bark. Collecting phone photographs as references is also encouraged. We will then develop imagery with line, pattern, and negative space, considering the essence of the object and what it signifies.
We will look at works from many artists who move from objects in nature to painterly abstraction. These examples will help direct new ideas for work to be made.
St. Mary’s Sewanee's setting is beautiful as a source in nature, in and of itself. We will walk the grounds looking for additional objects to inspire forms, shapes, and textures into two-D works on paper.
Methods we employ may include frotage (rubbing textures directly from the objects), contour line drawing, collage, masking fluid to block areas around the drawn shapes, and color from inks, watercolor, and colored pencil.
Artist Bio
Terrell James (b. 1955, Houston) is an abstract painter who exhibits nationally and internationally. She produces both intimate canvases and vigorous mural-scale works in oil. James’ works on paper include drawings, etchings, lithographs, monoprints, and monotypes. She has produced small-scale sculptures in bronze and clay; large flat sculptures in patinated steel; and impermanent, site-specific installations in Houston, Berlin, at the Great Wall of China, and in Song Zhuang Artist Village (Beijing).
James has been included in over two hundred group shows, and completed over fifty solo exhibitions in galleries, artist-run spaces, and museums.
She is represented by Josh Pazda Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston, Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas, Froelick Gallery in Portland, Cadogan Gallery in London and Milan, and Jason McCoy Gallery in New York. Her work is included in many museum collections, including: the Boston Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, the National Gallery, Menil Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Mobile Museum of Art, the San Antonio Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Her paintings are interpretations of landscapes, internal and external. James has continuously sought unfamiliar environments in which to paint, producing works in place that attend to an area’s specific local light, color, tone, and history, and allowing the disruption and new material to change ongoing work in her home studio in Houston, Texas. She has maintained temporary studio spaces in Mexico, North Carolina, New York, Montauk, Marfa, and Berlin.
As an educator she has taught for sixteen years at the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and in 2017 at Shakerag Workshops at St. Andrews/Sewanee.
You can learn more about Terrell and her work at terrelljames.com.
Tuition & Fees
- $1850 (including single room accommodations)
- $1650 (including double room accommodations)
- $1450 (off campus, no housing included)
REGISTER NOW
At Play in the Garden of Stitch: Fearless Free-Motion Quilting
Course Description
Using stitch in artwork begins with an expressive line. Learn to focus on the character of line and personal symbols through simple drawing, composition, and stitching exercises. Participants will accumulate a toolbox of techniques for seeing, interpreting, and completing concept-driven work. Build your stitching vocabulary and trust the thread to tell your story.
• First we make a mess. Begin to see that line is active and reactive.
• Embrace the wonky. Learn to make the most of whatever occurs by joining ideas to line motifs.
• Think in thread. Translate visual stimuli into pathways by stitching in a continuous line.
Open to all skill levels. Participants should bring a sewing machine with the ability to do free-motion quilting (double check that you have a free-motion foot that works).
Artist Bio
Paula Kovarik is a full-time artist and fiber art teacher based in Memphis, TN. She holds a degree in design and art history from Southern Illinois University and spent over 30 years as a professional designer before transitioning to a full-time art practice. Kovarik creates intricate, story-rich fiber artworks that fuse intuitive stitching with conceptual depth. Her award-winning work has been recognized by Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, World of Threads, and FiberArt Now—Excellence in Fibers. She has been profiled in Smithsonian American Craft and FiberArt Now magazines. Kovarik’s quilts are featured in major publications, including Art Quilts Unfolding – 50 Years of Innovation and Art Quilts International: Abstract & Geometric. Her work is part of several permanent collections, including the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, NE, the Memphis International Airport, and various private collections.
You can learn more about Paula and her work at paulakovarik.com.
Tuition & Fees
- $1850 (including single room accommodations)
- $1650 (including double room accommodations)
- $1450 (off campus, no housing included)
REGISTER NOW
Questions? Don't hesitate to contact us.
Shakerag Workshops of St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School does not discriminate on the basis of race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, or gender.