Experience Level: Beginner/Intermediate

If you know how to play the mountain dulcimer and would like to improve your technique, enroll in Beginner-Plus Mountain Dulcimer on Saturdays, March 7 through April 4 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Lou Ann Koebel will cover how to play chords and learn different strum patterns and new songs.

$225/person*. Register here. Registration will close March 4 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should bring their own dulcimer. Dulcimers are available to rent by emailing the instructor at koebel@illinois.edu.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel currently leads a weekly dulcimer jam for the East Central Dulcimer Illinois Dulcimer Club at Lincoln Square. She also plays in a local band that visits and performs at local assisted living facilities.

Koebel has taught beginning dulcimer classes for The Farms, where she has had a wonderful time teaching the group and realized her love of teaching and passing on the tradition of playing a mountain dulcimer. Lou Ann also plays at area music festivals.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn an ancient form of textile art at Beginning Bobbin Lace on Tuesdays, March 10 through March 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in The Studio.

With all of the resources that connect lacemakers across the world, there’s never been a better time to learn how to bobbin lace! Instructor Robin Bagwell will lead this hands-on class, teaching how to cross and twist as well as how to follow pattern.

Students will get the feel of moving bobbins and seeing various patterns develop as they learn the half stitch, cloth stitch and whole stitch. Written instructions will allow participants to continue their bobbin lace at home.

$180/person. Registration will close March 17 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Robin Bagwell learned bobbin lace at a park in 1994 after running across a lady she just happened to meet! That led to Sunday afternoon sessions during the summer to learn the textile art form. She has been enjoying and teaching bobbin lace since.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to bring new life to an old lamp at Fix It! Basic Lamp Re-Wiring on Wednesday, March 11 from 5 to 8 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Lou Ann Koebel will lead students through changing out the plug, adding a switch and/or replacing wiring in lamps. This hands-on course will cover basic electrical wiring.

$55/person*. Registration will close March 8 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

* Students should bring:— A lamp to work on— Wire cutter & stripper (example here)— Black electrical tape and small retractable measuring tape (optional)

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel has worn many hats over the past several years: a woodworker, an AV technician and lover of restoring or repurposing antiques. Living in an older home has also helped Lou Ann to learn how to repair various items around the house, search YouTube for “fix it” videos and collect tools to cover a wide variety of tasks.

Her Fix-It courses are meant as an entry to help students explore how to proceed safely with basic tools and build a home DYI toolbox, creatively repurpose a picture frame or fix/alter a lamp.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn a variety of hand embroidery stitches and create a unique craft item at Embroidery 101: Cherry Blossom & Dogwood Sampler on Tuesday, March 31 from 12 to 4 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Billie Theide will introduce students to the history of embroidery and samplers. Students will learn how to transfer designs to fabric, choose different threads and yarns, and create a variety of stitches, as well as how to finish and care for embroidered samplers.

$110/person. Registration will close March 24 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Billie Theide is a former chair of the Crafts Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is Professor Emerita. Theide is a metalsmith, jeweler and ceramicist. Her work is in public art collections around the world including the Smithsonian, Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Racine Art Museum, among others.

She is the recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and five Artists Fellowship Grants from the Illinois Arts Council. Theide has been recognized for her excellence in teaching and is a Distinguished Member and Past-President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to decorate cookies for Spring at Spring Cookie Decorating on Sunday, March 29 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Mansion Dining Room.

Learn to decorate spring-themed cookies with royal icing, crusting butter cream and rolled buttercream! Instructor Jennifer Holhubner will demonstrate and explain wet-on-wet technique, outlining and flooding and make flowers. Each participant will receive directions to decorate five cookies.

$75/person*. Register here by March 23. All sales are final.

*Students should bring a take-home container.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Champaign-Urbana native Jennifer Holhubner taught herself how to decorate cakes when she was 16 years old and took up cookie decorating in 2019.

“Although they intimidated me, I forged on and got better with each order. I still have room to grow as we all do in whatever task we take on,” she said. “But I love to share the aspects of baking and decorating. I can actually now say, I am cookier!”

Jennifer also teaches decorating classes at Parkland College.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn the basic mechanics of using a spinning wheel to make your own yarn at Learn to Spin Yarn on Wednesday, Feb. 11 and Thursday, April 9 from 5 to 8 p.m. in The Studio. 

After a brief introduction from instructor Stephanie Block, students will have time for hands-on spinning practice and the opportunity to spin alpaca fiber into yarn using Ashford scotch tension Traditional or Traveler wheels. Discussion of fiber production and preparation methods will also be included.

$130/person. Registration closes one week before each course begins, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Stephanie Block is the co-owner of Sundrop Alpacas near Bement. She has been producing popular yarn from her own alpacas for more than nine years. Stephanie’s spinning style is self-taught, and she is continuously learning so that she can share that knowledge with others.

Experience Level: Beginner 

Learn to use acrylic media to express yourself at Abstract Acrylic Painting on Thursday, April 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium. 

Instructor Erin Boggs will help students learn about mark-making, how to choose colors, laying and composition to create an abstract painting on paper. 

$60/person. Register here. Registration will close April 2 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the instructor 

Erin Boggs began taking art classes online during the covid lockdown and enjoyed it enough to continue on her own. She paints both small and large pieces on paper and canvas, and sells her work at both The Vault Art Gallery in Tuscola and Beyond Normal in Lexington. 

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to decorate cookies for for a fun occasion at Harry Potter Cookie Decorating on Sunday, March 29 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Mansion Dining Room.

Learn to decorate Harry Potter-themed cookies with royal icing, crusting butter cream and rolled buttercream! Instructor Jennifer Holhubner will demonstrate and explain wet-on-wet technique, outlining and flooding and make flowers. Each participant will receive directions to decorate five cookies.

$75/person*. Register here by April 10. All sales are final.

*Students should bring a take-home container.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Champaign-Urbana native Jennifer Holhubner taught herself how to decorate cakes when she was 16 years old and took up cookie decorating in 2019.

“Although they intimidated me, I forged on and got better with each order. I still have room to grow as we all do in whatever task we take on,” she said. “But I love to share the aspects of baking and decorating. I can actually now say, I am cookier!”

Jennifer also teaches decorating classes at Parkland College.