Amy Climer was born in Orlando, FL and in 2001 after finishing an M.S. degree in Outdoor Education from the University of New Hampshire moved to the Madison, WI.  She was introduced to quilting and fiber art in 1998 and since then has studied graphic design and photography at Madison Area Technical College and taken numerous art classes.  As a full-time artist she exhibits locally and nationally in art and quilt shows, art fairs, and galleries.  She teaches and lectures on fiber art, fabric dyeing, and creativity to both adults and youth.  Amy is a member of the Professional Art Quilt Alliance and the Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists. Her work can be found in several private collections.  In addition, she is an outdoor educator teaching sea kayaking, rock climbing, caving and does freelance graphic design.

Judy Coates Perez - Mixed media textile artist and international award winning art quilter, Judy Coates Perez, is one part gypsy and two parts visual alchemist, Judy believes that all the places she has lived have in many ways taken up residence in her and manifest in the diversity of her work. Exploring themes drawn from folklore, history and nature, she enjoys working in a variety of media. Often blending quilting skills with techniques drawn from her graphic arts background, she uses textile paints, dyes, inks, acrylic powders, artist's pencils and occasionally stitches metal onto her fabric. This creative restlessness perfectly mirrors her life experience.

Judy has written numerous articles for Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines and has been a guest multiple times on the Quilting Arts television program. You can see more of her work and read about her creative process at http://judyperez.blogspot.com.

Briony Jean Foy designs, weaves and teaches in Madison, Wisconsin.  Her work includes one-of-a-kind scarves, shawls, wall pieces and installations.  She has taught fiber and design courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, led workshops at Penland, Arrowmont, Peters Valley, for the Handweavers Guild of America (Convergence), Surface Design Assoc. and other guild meetings, and gives private lessons.  Her work has been shown nationally and internationally.

Judith Joseph is a Chicago-area artist.   She has a B.S. in Art from UW-Madison.  She is a commissioned artist with works in hundreds of public and private collections, and exhibits widely.  She teaches painting at the Chicago Botanic Garden and The Art Center, Highland Park..  A painter and calligrapher, she works in egg tempera, watercolor, acrylic and oil. She is a published illustrator and a two-time recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Artists' Fellowship Award.  She is an enthusiastic and supportive teacher. website:  http://www.judithjosephstudio.com art blog:  http://www.ketuba.wordpress.com

Kim Rae Nugent

is a mixed-media artist/author. She enjoys sharing her passion of the creative process. Kim's book "Interactive Art Workshop - Mixed Media in Motion" was recently released by North Light books. Her art has been featured in numerous publications including Somerset Studio, Artist Trading Card Workshop - Create Collect Swap, Somerset Home, Altered Couture, Somerset Wedding, Haute Handbags, Material Visions, and Artist Trading Cards -An Anthology of ATCs.

Kim has spent her life cultivating skills in collage, oil painting, sculpture, sewing, altered books and assemblage, often cross pollinating mediums for unique and exciting projects. Her love of nature, especially animals is often reflected in Kim's art. She has taken formal art courses at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin-Washington and Cardinal Stritch College. Kim believes that it doesn't take a degree or a style of realism to be an artist, only a desire, and she wishes to instill that belief in her students.

Benjamin D. Rinehart specializes in multimedia images with a strong focus on printmaking, book constructions, painting and drawing. His socially charged work is a part of many public and private collections and has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Ben is the founder of "SnarkArt," an artistic organization devoted to the practice of making art and education, where he has taught drawing, painting, printmaking, book arts and web design. Ben received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Herron School of Art and a Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Painting and Printmaking at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He has taught in New York & New Jersey at Pratt Institute, Rutgers/Mason Gross School of the Arts, Long Island University, Fordham University, FIT, the Center for Book Arts and Manhattan Graphics Center. He has continued to teach as a visiting artist at various institutions around the country like Pyramid Atlantic, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Brookfield Craft Center and San Francisco Center for the Book. Ben is the author of a new book titled, "Creating Books & Boxes." For examples of his work and teaching schedule visit www.benrinehart.com.

terri schmit is the founder and President of the Wisconsin Gourd Society and has been teaching gourd art for the past five years. She teaches out of her home and is also currently teaching for the Wisconsin Gourd Society, as well as at Shake Rag Alley Living Arts Center and Play In The Mud Studios in Madison. Her gourd art has been displayed at the Overture Center, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Long Branch Gallery in Mineral Point and will be at the Frehner Gallery in Monroe in November 2009. While Terri's formal education is in music, she has found that working on gourds exercises the right side of her brain as much as playing music does, and so both create the balance in her life.

Ann Marie Waterhouse - Excerpts from Ann Marie’s Website :   Photography, for me, reflects a sense of wholeness in nature that I seek within. It is my hope that the pictures I make provide a fertile base for people to see their own path to a place that holds the sacred within themselves.       In the same way, my shamanic and Reiki practices help me and those I work with find a place of wholeness and happiness and a connection with our sense of the sacred.          Reiki feeds me spiritually. It is one of my forms of prayer. It supports everything I do, and it is a way to connect with a person’s healing path in a respectful way without imposing specific outcomes on the person.        Reiki and shamanic healing work well together.           In short, I help people discover parts of themselves that have been lost or buried and help them to integrate these parts into their lives. It is my experience that from this place of health and wholeness people are able to make decisions that support their lives and that ultimately help to make the world a better place.    http://www.eagleheartphotography.com

Nancy Welch - Nancy recently left the world of graphic design and business ownership and is transforming her future. With a B.A. in art from Colorado State University.  As part of her new journey, she is teaching playful and creative art classes to all ages, exploring nature and its artistic applications, dancing more and encouraging others to travel. Nancy loves to use her visual sense to create art from unexpected objects. She enjoys taking parts out of context and visualizing an arm, a leg or a head. She finds "potential art objects" everywhere she travels and it gives her pleasure to see a form emerge from these finds. Nancy has had the opportunity to exhibit her whimsical assemblages in numerous shows and events.