Experience Level: Beginner

No barn? No problem! Join the barn quilt movement by creating your own painted quilt block to use at your own home at Barn Quilt Painting on Saturday, May 3 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Auditorium.

The workshop will start with a pre-primed board with a design already drafted (choose one of the 2 options). Students will tape and paint at their own pace, choosing from a wide variety of colors.

Instructor Jane Cade will also share history of barn quilts, techniques, tips, and discuss how to properly seal your finished piece after the paint has dried for 48 hours. Leave with a 20×20″ wooden ‘quilt block’ to keep for yourself or share your talents and give someone a handmade gift.

$90/person. Register by April 25. All sales are final.

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

About the Instructor

Jane Cade is a retired teacher from Clinton Junior High School. She has been painting barn quilts for eight years and sells her work online and at craft festivals. She teaches classes at Parkland Community College and will be teaching classes at her workshop beginning next year.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn some easy and fun painting techniques at Watercolor Bluebells on Saturday, May 3 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the Mansion Carriage House.

Instructor Emily Tackitt will walk students through the process of creating a beautiful watercolor painting featuring one of our spring favorites: bluebells! The flowers will be sketched on paper beforehand to make this a fun and creative experience. Materials will be provided but students are welcome to bring their own paint palettes and brushes.

$70/person. Register by April 30. 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 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

Emily Tackitt is a mixed-media artist based in Monticello whose passion for creating art began as a young girl. She has taught watercolor classes and also teaches drawing techniques through her YouTube Channel, where she walks viewers through watercolors, acrylics and markers to create fun and beautiful artwork.

“I love using my emotions to create my artwork, and find it very therapeutic,” Tackitt said. “In my free time, I like to exercise, binge-watch art tutorials and play with my grandchildren.”

You can find out more about Tackitt on YouTube, Bluesky or by emailing her at emilysartjourney@yahoo.com.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about crocheting at Granny Squares Sunday, May 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in The Studio.

In this workshop led by fiber artist Billie Theide, students will learn the basics of crochet, create basic stitches, change colors, read work, fix mistakes and bind off. No previous experience is required.

$75/person* (Ages 13+; 13-15-year-olds must be accompanied by an adult, who does not need to register.) Register by April 30. All sales are final.

*Students should bring:
— 2 skeins Lilly Sugar 'n Cream 100 percent cotton yarn (1 each of two different contrasting solid colors)
— 1 U.S. H/8 crochet hook
— 1 small sharp scissors

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

About the instructor

Billie Theide is a former chair of the Crafts Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she was a 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

Get an introduction to Afro-Brazilian movement at Capoeira Angola and Samba Percussion Ensemble on Tuesdays, April 15 through May 13 in the Music Barn.

Instructor Mark Becker will introduce students to the richness of Afro-Brazilian movement, music, language and culture through the traditions of Capoeira Angola — a martial art that combines fluid and low-impact movements with music to encourage self-expression, mastery and community.

This course is designed for all ages, skill levels and physical abilities.

*Ages 8-12 require supervision to participate.

$120/person or $35/class. Register here by April 8 for the series or one week prior to each class. All sales are final.

Individual class links:

— April 15

— April 22

— April 29

— May 6

— May 13

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. 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

Mark Becker, a student of Capoeira Angola in the tradition of Mestre João Grande, has studied under Contramestre Denis Chiaramonte for 8 years, with 19 years of experience in the art of Capoeira. He is also a student of traditional Samba Chula, an art form from the Recôncavo region of Bahia, Brazil while also serving as the Director of the Bloco Gavião, a community drum ensemble focused on Afro-Brazilian drumming traditions such as samba-reggae, maracatu and afoxé.

Mark has a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois and enjoys designing learning experiences for all ages to feel belonging in the exploration of Brazilian culture.

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.

See the complete Spring Session schedule here. 

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn a unique art form at Intro to Mosaic Art on Wednesday, May 7th from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in The Studio.

Kari Keller will teach students the basics of mosaic art, from selecting tesserae to assembly and grouting. All will take home a unique, hand-decorated flower pot at the end of the workshop.

$80/person. Register here by April 23rd. 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

Kari Keller has been a Champaign/Urbana resident since 2008, originally hailing from the tiny community of St. Anne. Illinois. She has had a passion for art since she could hold a crayon and loves to experiment with many different styles, rarely sticking to one theme for long.

Keller has dabbled in cartoons, acrylic pouring, zentangles, patterns, logo design, pottery painting and other art forms. Her influences include Alphonse Mucha, HR Geiger and the art of Northwest coastal Native Americans. She also has a thriving side business as a face painter.

Kari is happiest when immersed in a new project and can’t imagine life without art!

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.

See the complete Summer Session schedule here. 

Experience Level: All Levels

Learn the skills of improvisation, including scene creation and team dynamics at Improve Your Improv on Thursdays, April 17 through May 29 in the Music Barn.

Kyle Tasch returns to The Farms to teach this popular course, which will be jam-packed with improvisational fun that will use both short-form games and long-form scenes in its sessions.

This will not be a place to sit down, hear lectures, and take notes, as students will be performing as much as possible! It will be a get-up-and-perform kind of class. The class will emphasize the mechanics needed to act out an entertaining and meaningful scene on the spot with no script.

Students who have already completed this class are welcome to join again. Beginners and those experienced in improv are all encouraged to join! 

$100/person for the series or $25/class. Register for the entire series by April 10 or one week before each subsequent class. All sales are final.

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

About the instructor

Kyle Tasch is an improvisor, improv teacher, filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian and musician from the Chicago suburbs. He started performing improv in 2004 and has been improvising in front of audiences regularly since 2015.

He has also taught classes both in-person and remotely at Westside Improv in Wheaton, Illinois. He performs live across the state in various comedy and music acts and has produced hundreds of videos and songs.

Experience Level: Some weaving experience needed

Continue your journey into the world of weaving at Beginning Weaving II from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 10-11 in the Greenhouse Auditorium.

This 2-day class with instructor Sharon Bowles will be a continuation of Beginning Weaving 1, but instead of everyone doing the same article, students will pick their own project, measure the warp, beam the warp, thread the heddles to their selected pattern, thread the reed, tie the warp to the cloth beam rod, wind bobbins and weave a sample of their selected yarn. Students will then weave samples from the other looms, giving them a wide variety of weave structures they can try out.

$235/person. Register by May 3. All sales are final.

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

About the Instructor

Sharon Bowles has been weaving for 34 years and teaching beginning weaving for almost 33 years. She was taught to weave in a one-on-one class and wove 2 table runners in 12 (approximately) 2-hour lessons, and she teaches the same method.

Sharon has experience in weaving with silk, lace weaving, 8-shaft pattern weaving, parallel weaving, block weaves, and Shaker reproduction towels. She has taught many workshops and classes to weavers’ guilds in Florida, Ohio, and Champaign-Urbana. She earned her Journeyman certification from the Weavers Guild of Boston in 2021 and a master’s certification in April of 2022.

Most recently, Sharon taught Beginning Weaving I at The Farms, and a 2-day workshop in 4 shaft patterns for the Champaign-Urbana Spinners and Weavers Guild.

Former Allerton In-Residence naturalist Michael Baker will return to the Park to conduct a Foraging Walk from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 10. Location TBD

Baker, a professional forager, will give demonstrations of the current uses of edible plants and mushrooms during the walk. Participants will be introduced to a variety of wild edible plants and mushrooms and be instructed on which plants to avoid.

$35/person (all ages). Register here by May 7. All sales are final.

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

About the instructor

Michael Baker is a professional foraging educator and podcaster in the Chicago suburbs. His show, the Wild Edible World podcast, seeks to educate anyone who will listen on edible plants and fungi, what they taste like, and where you can find them. He is also a co-founder of Remnant Roots non-profit which seeks to adopt vacant lots and turn them into native plant sanctuaries.

About The Farms

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