Looking for a pictorial quilt teacher
 

I am not sure if this request falls into this category, but this seems to be a fairly diverse area for discussion and so here goes:

I live near Rochester, New York and have decided that my two favorite pictorial quilters are Ruth McDowell and Cynthia England. Each of them have quite different approaches but I want to try my hand at this complex form of pictorial quilting and wonder if anyone in this board knows of a teacher, whom you respect, that possibly lives near me that might mentor me as a student? I have grown tired of piecing and recently discovered freezer paper piecing and really love the possibilities. So even if this person is not a follower of either one of these artist, but someone you might recommend to help me ...I would be most appreciative.

If giving out personal information is not something that is allowed here...by all means send me a private message!

Both of those artists have written excellent books that walk the reader through how to reproduce their techniques. You might want to start with one or more of those.

Check their website to see if they are scheduled to teach near your area. Most quilt designers also teach classes around the states and sometimes abroad.

There are also online classes you can take. Check Craftsy and Academy of Quilting (used to be Quilt University). http://academyofquilting.com/class-schedule-2/

Sometimes the teachers host their own online classes. A couple years ago, I took a very good quilting class from Carla Barrett, who teaches several different kinds of classes from her website.

I have both of their excellent books and have taken a couple of Craftsy classes, both were on paper piecing and excellent but the others offerings...that to me would seem a local progression to take make such "cutesie" projects or go off on a tangent that I cannot bring myself to take them even on sale. I will check that on line class. Sadly, R. McDowell has stopped teaching and her heirs to teach are too far away and seldom do name brand teachers come this far. I will pursue any and all suggestions I am given...something on line that uses their techniques ( freezer paper based landscape quilting) would be awesome...who has had some good experiences in that area and where?

You'd be surprised. Are there any guilds in your area? If you have a large guild, I strongly recommend joining. You don't have to attend meetings but you will hear about teachers and lecturers coming in to present to the guild through the newsletter. I live near Albany and our guild got Sharon Schambers to come teach. You can't get much more big name than that. If the guild is large enough they can afford to pay the fee and as a member you can offer up a recommendation. Some shops will occasionally bring in a big name if there is enough interest. Again, you have to find if they have an online presence and sign up for their newsletters and haunt their class offerings regularly. You need to check out the national shows. AQS has a national show coming to Syracuse the beginning of August. http://www.quiltweek.com/syracuse/ They have not yet published what workshops they will be offering. Lancaster PA is in March. The big shows always have workshops and lectures offered by big name teachers. But be aware big name teachers charge big fees for classes. Ranging often at $100 to $150 for a one or two day workshop. To find out if you have local talent you have to get out to your local guilds, local shows and quilt shops.

I took a portrait class by Marilyn Belford thru Quilt University (now Academy of Quilting) and it was amazing!!

http://academyofquilting.com/faculty/marilyn-belford/ This link lists her classes and bio.

She was available for help every step of the way, and it was one of the best classes I've ever taken. I made this quilt during my class:
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She also has an art quilt class, where you can create art pictures. I've not taken it, but if it's anything like the portrait class, I highly recommend it. She also has a book on how to create the portrait pics that's very informative.

Basketman ... by "pictoral" are you referring to portraits of people and animals or landscapes?

If landscapes there is another artist I can recommend. A book called "The art of Landscape Quilting" by Nancy Zieman and Natalie Sewell is good and there is a video that accompanies it. You may want to check out these two artists to see if they have classes, or the book and video.

Cindi ... that is magnificent!! I believe I could pick that man out in a crowd somewhere. Well done!!

Basket an. Check out Margaret Spevak
http://www.quiltingwithmargaret.com/?page_id=2
She has taught many different type classes in the Rochester area. I'm East of Rochester and hang out at Jackie Lynn's in Irondequoit

check out the schedule http://www.englanddesign.com/content...ravel-schedule