ANN KEUPER, MFA
Principle Instructor
Ann Keuper is a fiber artist who lives in Tucson, Arizona and specializes in experimental tapestry. Her tapestries use traditional tapestry techniques with nontraditional weaving materials. She draws from a provocative array of natural and manmade materials ranging from naturally dyed silks and silk cocoons, cotton and wool, human hair, stones and feathers, to assorted synthetic fabrics, plastic bags and recyclable products. Her tapestries are rich in color and texture and potent with meaning and history. Some of her works are narrative, while others simply respond to the raw materials she collects.

Ann began her fiber art studies in Switzerland in 1973. In 1979, she received her Bachelor of Arts from Simmons College in Boston; she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Arizona in 1991.

After graduating, Ann became an artist-in-residence with the Arizona Commission on the Arts and taught the art of tapestry in schools throughout the state. She has also worked with at-risk children and mentally handicapped adults teaching tapestry. Between 1992 through 1998 she was a member of the Dinnerware Contemporary Art Gallery; she has exhibited her art throughout the Southwest. In 1996 Ann Keuper was principal artist to work on a grant-supported project entitled The Sonoran People’s Tapestry Project in conjunction with The Sonoran Institute and The International Sonoran Desert Alliance. Ann has taught as Adjunct Professor of Art at the University of Arizona and at Pima Community College. She has also presented several tapestry workshops teaching her own unique approach to weaving.

In 1999, Ann was awarded a grant by the Pfizer Corporation to work with Kino Community Hospital in conjunction with their Transitional Long Term Care unit. The purpose of the project was to stimulate brain areas of cognition, emotion and motor skills in rehabilitating geriatric patients, ultimately producing a woven tapestry of their experience with illness and recovery.

For the past four years Ann Keuper has been working with the Arizona State Museum and the Gloria Ross Tapestry Center on a weaving project on the Pasqua Yaqui Reservation. She is working in the elementary school classroom teaching the art of tapestry with an interdisciplinary approach. A document and a website of the project are being created to reach a larger national audience: schools, museums and their educational programs, and weaver’s guilds.

ELINORE KEUPER
Weaving Instructor
Elinore Keuper, mother of Ann Keuper, resides on Prince Edward Island.

As a weaver Elinore's experience started with a long interest in textiles, the touch and the look of fabric and the curiosity of creating something of her own. Elinore's weaving journey has spanned more than 30 years, including an exploration of various weaving structures, dyeing processes, tapestry techniques, cloth, and rugs. Elinore enjoys the fact that interlacement of fibre has such a long history and that she has been a part of it.

Elinore's training involves an eclectic mixture of workshops, courses, studio experience in Switzerland, working with the Weaver's Guild and with friends who share her love of the craft. Elinore enjoys looking for new possibilities and with her daughter, they stretch and encourage one another.

BETH SMITH, BFA
Dying Instructor
Beth Smith is a textile artist who lives on Prince Edward Island. Beth has been working with textiles for over 10 years although her interest in fibers began when she was a little girl. Spinning and weaving are only some of her fiber interests; Beth also enjoys dying (both natural and synthetic) and creating fiber-related projects.

Much of Beth's weaving experience took place at the College of the Ozarks where she received her bachelor's degree with a minor in textiles. While studying at the University, Beth worked in a weaving studio that was open the public. She learned how to demonstrate her art while becoming familiar with the basics of weaving. Beth is a member of spinning and weaving guilds in both in the United States and in Canada where she has gained experience in spinning, weaving, dying and has acquired the skills to share her knowledge with others.

Beth currently works with Elinore Keuper in their jointly-owned weaving business. Together they create many one-of-a- kind pieces of wearable art weavings which resale in select galleries throughout North America. Beth believes fiber art as unlimited possibilities; she is always looking forward to the next discovery, whether it is a new color from the dye pot, a new fiber type to play with, or an interesting weave structure for the loom.