SJCA: Fabric Memoirs

Saratoga Jewish Community Arts, with a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York and sponsored by Temple Sinai of Saratoga Springs, presents Fabric Memoirs, an in-person program on Sunday, December 3, 2023 from 2-4 p.m., featuring gifted artist, and Temple Sinai member, Susan Rivers of Greentree Fiber Arts.

Rivers will demonstrate the techniques to capture memories and tell your personal story in a hands-on workshop.

Susan Rivers grew up in New York. Not just any old part of New York, but the Bronx, New York. She attended Bronx High School of Science, then onto SUNY Binghamton, followed by RPI, coming into her professional life with a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and a Master’s Degree in environmental and urban planning.

After a successful career using her academic education, Rivers moved onto her first love, art through fabric using the texture, colors, and patterns to create her expressive art. With two grandfathers with distinctive talents and skills, she learned her love of art and fabric. Her most frequently commissioned work requests tell a story, a life story, that memorializes an individual’s meaningful moment in time.

“One of my grandfathers, Henry Leo Grunbaum, worked in the Garment District in New York City, and he’d bring home swatches of sample fabrics that I began hoarding,” Rivers told New York Makers online magazine in 2020. “Before I could even use scissors or operate a sewing machine, I was designing ponchos and clothes for my Barbie, and laying fabrics next to each other for quilt designs. I was obsessed with the fabrics and colors, the looks, the textures, everything. Then as soon as I could get a sewing machine, I did, and I began designing and creating quilts. My company, Greentree, is named after my grandfather because in German, Grunbaum means “Greentree.””

In a multimedia presentation and hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to transfer photographs to fabric and incorporate them into “no-sew” photo collages that bring memories to life.

All materials will be supplied. Participants can bring digital and hard copy photographs and any textiles they would like to use, whether new or repurposed. Registration required and donations requested.   For more info. and to register: sjca.sjcf@gmail.com