Lectures and Workshops

Upcoming Events

See upcoming Fall session classes and workshops offered through the Evanston Art Center here! The next session begins at the beginning of September and includes sewing, quilting, and color theory offerings.

Join the Quilting Transparency with Value and Hue workshop at Sew on Central in Evanston.

Events Available for Future Booking

Thanks for your interest in my educational events! If you are an organization, please contact me directly for pricing and scheduling an event at: ErikaSews(at)gmail(dot)com. As of February 2024, I am only scheduling events in and around the greater Chicagoland area (approximately 100 miles from the city of Chicago).

Custom Lecture, Class, or Workshop

Are you looking for a lecture, workshop, or class to learn more about color theory for your organization or group, but can't find exactly what you're looking for? Let me work with you to tailor an event about color specifically for you and your members that fits your needs!

Color Boot Camp Workshop

This workshop focuses on how our current ideas about using color have been influenced by historical ideas, and how you can move beyond the constraints of "color theory" to find your own personal appreciation and approach to working with color. Each major concept is discussed in class, followed by hands-on exercises and experiments, and helpful class-wide discussions. Students use colored paper provided by the instructor to create concrete examples to take home and study, with enough material to continue experimenting with colored paper studies at home.

You will learn three different ways that historical color theorists have approached color in the past 200 years, how each of these approaches has been adopted by artists, and how you can practice these approaches to color in your own work.

The Secret Life of the Color Wheel

Most educators teach quilters to use color focusing on color wheel harmonies. These tools have been promoted as "faultless" ways to find color combinations, a way to find "perfect" color schemes each and every time. Why is this tool so magical, how does it work, and where did it come from? Learn the answers to these questions (and more!) as you explore the origin of the modern color wheel and color harmonies with Erika Mulvenna. Participants will leave with a solid understanding of color wheels, and how color combinations can be made with color wheel harmonies.

Event Time: 45-60 minute lecture plus time for Q&A.

 

Feedback from Erika's Color Wheel lecture:

Trunk Show: Diary of a Color Nerd

Follow Erika's creative journey through this lecture and trunk show that includes dozens of examples of Erika's artwork over the last 30+ years. This event is a great opportunity to get to know Erika and learn about her creative process.

Event Time: 45-60 minutes plus time for Q&A
Please note, this event requires a few volunteers to help hold up quilts throughout the event.