black cat makerie

POETIC LANDSCAPES WITH FOUND FABRIC & THREAD WITH SANDRINE TORREDEMER

The heart of this retreat is finding great joy in experimenting with different materials and colors to create an embroidered landscape from a photograph, or more freely from your own imagination guided by the fabric and threads.

We’ll spend three playful and approachable days at Black Cat Farm with Sandrine Torredemer, aka La Filature, learning how to translate images into textile collages. Her approach is more artistic than technical, requiring no particular knowledge of sewing or embroidery, and giving free reign to imagination and fantasy. The originality of Sandrine’s work lies in the recycling of fabrics and the use of every last bit of material to create unique pieces of work, enabling a deep appreciation for the incredible creative richness in textile recycling.

During the 3-day workshop, we'll have the pleasure of : assembling and sewing recycled fabrics of all kinds collected by the artist ; exploring new materials such as mini pieces of raw wool, geo-textile and hospital accessories, which are themselves sewn to add nuance and realism to the work; embroidering all the details of a photograph to bring the characters to life; creating mini landscapes with the tiny scraps of fabric we'll save during our work, just like the artist who never throws anything away. Our last day will be devoted to the personal interpretation of a photograph brought in by each participant, using the methods and experimentations shared and tested on the first few days of the workshop. Participants leave with their embroidered creations, and an artistic approach that leaves room for a little chance, fantasy, and imagination.

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VENUE

The workshop will be held on Black Cat Organic Farm, the most ambitious farm-to-table operation in the United States. James Beard Award finalist Chef Eric Skokan and his wife Jill have created a 425-acre organic and regenerative farm that supplies the bounty of their farm dinners, the downtown Boulder restaurant Bramble & Hare, the recipient of a coveted and rare Michelin Green Star, which honors restaurants that demonstrate true commitment to sustainability, CSA’s, and a Boulder Farmers’ Market Booth. Depending on the weather, classes will either be held in a renovated 19th-century cozy boutique barn that used to hold a community blacksmith shop, or on a brick verandah surrounded by gardens and acres of fields of vegetables, herbs, legumes, and grains. Mountains capped with snow for much of the year decorate the farm’s western horizon. The setting itself, however, is extremely pastoral, with sloping fields full of vegetables, fruit trees, a broad strawberry patch, and flowers everywhere when in season. Black Cat Organic Farm’s Toulouse geese, Akbash guard dogs, and strutting groups of chickens wander the property all day, evidence of the constant symbiotic relationship of life on a working farm.

CUISINE

Using Black Cat’s Certified Organic farm as a source of creativity, Chef Eric Skokan creates an award-winning cuisine vibrant with seasonality. The culinary team behind Bramble crafts our Black Cat Makerie meals, all of which closely reflect the seasons. The kitchen draws heavily from the farm’s more than 250 varieties of organic vegetables, legumes, grains, herbs and flowers, as well as its large flock of heritage sheep and its robust population of heritage pigs, paving the way for a limitless palette of flavors, colors, and textures from which to build each food experience. From artichokes to chickpeas, tomatoes to arugula, basil to wheat to winter squash and much more, Black Cat Organic Farm nurtures it all, transforming these stellar ingredients into gorgeous dishes. Each day of the retreat begins with a delicious homemade morning snack, followed by a hearty, fresh-from-the-fields lunch, and a delectable afternoon nibble. New this year! As an optional add-on, one very special farm dinner will be shared with our retreat community as part of the Black Cat Makerie experience. Surrounded by pastoral beauty and pampered with warm hospitality, guests who attend Black Cat Farm Dinners enjoy culinary experiences unlike any other in Colorado. The farm team devotes hours every day to harvesting these ingredients, then crafting them into outstanding dishes that mirror what is thriving in the fields. Many guests dine in private, glass-walled cabanas spread out across the farm, with views of rolling hills, organic agricultural fields and snow-capped mountains. We can’t wait for you to experience it all for yourself.