Experience Level: Beginner

Learn to make and use cords for fiber artwork at Making Cordage on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium.

Instructors Heidi Leuszler and Ann Coddington will begin by discussing the ancient methods of making rope, then lead the class on a walk to gather dried materials. After looking at fibers through a microscope, students will learn how to make cordage out of different materials and how to weave a basic structure.

$90/person. Registration will close Nov. 6 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 instructors

Heidi Leuszler grew up harvesting and foraging wherever she lived: mangos in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains and chokecherries in North Dakota. Those passions remained as she added culinary skills in addition to becoming a professor of environmental science, ecology and botany at Parkland College. She started Berries and Flour in Champaign as the synergy of several passions: culinary, ecology, growing of plants, foraging and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land.

Ann Coddington utilizes a variety of ancient fiber techniques including twining, looping, and netting in her sculptural forms. Her work has been shown across the United States and internationally with recent exhibitions, including currently at the McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington as well as recent shows at Gallery Jennings Kerr in New South Wales and Basketry Now at Textile Center in Minneapolis. Ann is a Professor of Art and Graduate Coordinator Emeritus from Eastern Illinois University. She received her MFA from the University of Illinois Sculpture Department, and her BFA from the Colorado State University Fibers Department. She is active teaching sculptural twining workshops around the world, recently at the Fibre Arts Australia and Fibre Arts New Zealand and this fall at the Penland School of Arts and Crafts. Coddington is an active member of the National Basketry Organization.