Our instructors are drawn from a wealth of talented teachers, including nationally known artists from across the country and across the street. They are innovative craftsmen and artists who enjoy trying new techniques and love sharing what they do with their students.
If you are an experienced art, craft, writing, or performing arts instructor and are interested in teaching at Shake Rag Alley, click here for more information.
Tamara Dean is an author of fiction and nonfiction whose most recent book, Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless (University of Minnesota Press, 2025), weaves science and history into true tales of discovery that urge readers to live mindfully with nature and community in a time of uncertainty. Her essays have appeared in The American Scholar, The Georgia Review, the Guardian, Orion, The Progressive, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. “Safer Than Childbirth” received a 2024 Pushcart Prize Special Mention and “Slow Blues” was named a 2021 National Magazine Award finalist. She teaches workshops independently and with writing centers such as Hugo House, The Loft, Madison Writers’ Studio, and writers.com.
Workshops
Mining Your Stories Writing Retreat
Maday is a prolific, bilingual art educator devoted to sustainability. She is a published artist, author, and speaker based in the Midwest, committed to bringing innovation and artistry to the forefront of the work she creates. Her mission is to nurture artistic platforms across cultures and generations to foster creative work, while finding ways to minimize our environmental footprint.
Learning from cultural textile traditions and exchanging powerful stories, continues to be a source of inspiration that she hopes to share with all. Her goal is to unify students with different skillsets and share her love of art and vibrant textiles in a sustainable manner. She combines paint, weaving, hand-stitching (her favorite) and machine sewing and embroidery to infuse her creations with energy, paying homage to her Cuban upbringing. She loves the art of collaging and storytelling with new and pre-loved textiles. She favors working with up-cycled materials and scraps as a way to honor the environment.She brings awareness about how our actions impact the world around us. The way we interact with textiles as a society affects how we use water, dispose of it and consume it, but also how much it contributes to its pollution.
In her spare time she creates and maintains community gardens in her community since 2014. She has donated new sewing machines to non-profits since 2015 in the hopes of sparking creativity, and support knowledge-based initiatives that foster economic prosperity and traditions for all.
Maday’s work has appeared on the Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, international and national publications and periodicals in her home state. She also presented virtually to the design students at the Indian Institute of Art & Design in New Delhi, India in 2020 and currently teaches at Folk Schools, Quilt Shops, Quilt Shows and guilds across the US. Follow her adventures on IG (sustainabletextiledesign).
Workshops
Michael deMeng is an assemblage artist from Vancouver, Canada, who exhibits and teaches throughout the world. He has three books exploring his methods: Secrets of Rusty Things, Dusty Diablos, and The Art Abandonment Project, published by NorthLight Books.
In his art, he addresses issues of transformation. Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in his work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning. Often using myth and legends as source material, Michael uses his assemblages as metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever-changing.
Workshops
After a successful career in the corporate world in consulting sales and management, Gena DeRemer immersed herself in the art of jewelry making. She has honed her metalsmithing skills by taking jewelry bootcamp classes on Washington Island since 2018, as well as numerous classes at Shake Rag Alley and Meant to Bead, and many online classes. Gena enjoys working with metals (copper, silver, and brass) including etching, riveting, stamping, embossing, and keum-boo. She also makes faux tin and enjoys working with metal clay. Gena enjoys showcasing her art work at juried Art Fairs in Wisconsin. Gena has been an avid gardener for 35 years and her jewelry design incorporates her love of nature as well as her Southwest influence. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and helping others find their artistic passion in the world of jewelry making.
Gena and Carol White met a number of years ago in a jewelry making class. They enjoy collaborating and sharing jewelry ideas and techniques. Their joint love for gardening and jewelry making has led to a great friendship and several girls trips.
Workshops
Heidi Dyas-McBeth is an artist and passionate sketchbook and local arts advocate living and creating in the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin. Urban Sketching encouraged her practice of having sketchbook on her person at all times, because you just never know when the right idea, or opportunity will present itself. It can happen Anytime, Anywhere! Instagram: @hbkealin
Workshops
Anytime, Anywhere: Urban Sketching Basics
Cindy Fleming, a long time resident of Mineral Point, credits her discovery of the power of art and creativity to Shake Rag Alley. She makes jewelry, hooks rugs, creates mosaic, and dabbles in watercolor.
Workshops
Dawn Flores is a multidisciplinary artist, and curator, who cycles between writing, performance and the visual arts. Her mediums are painting, photography and fiber arts and she specializes in teaching drawing, watercolor and pastels. Flores collaborates with communities to curate performances and exhibitions that inform and inspire. For her work, she has received two CultureWorks grants.
She has exhibited at Judson Commons, in New York City, International Arts & Artists at Hillyer, in Washington DC, at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School, in Richmond and, in Mineral Point, at Green Lantern Studios.
A graduate of the New York Botanical Garden, she is faculty at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and has taught at the Corcoran in Washington, D.C., The Clearing in Door County, and returns each summer to Shake Rag Alley. Her strength as a teacher lies in her ability to understand, articulate, and nurture the creative process. She builds confidence in her students with humorous stories and a positive outlook on life.
Workshops
Watercolor From the Beginning Part I – Technique
Watercolor From the Beginning Part II – Color
Watercolor From the Beginning Part III – Constructing the Landscape
Watercolor From the Beginning Part IV – Components of the Landscape
Watercolor From the Beginning Part V – Form & Flowers
I am Chicago based painter and printmaker. My work revolves around my interest and fascination with the design, texture and color of plants and animals I find in nature. I work to create images that will make the passerby pause and be reminded of the world they live in and its beauty. My painting are done in gouache and my monoprints are hand-painted wood cut prints.
Workshops
Kati grew up in Latin America and has traveled extensively throughout the world. Her art and fashion are inspired by the cultures and places she has lived and visited. Throughout her youth she designed her clothing and her mother created them for her. As she matured, Kati made her own clothing and won a fashion award when she was 14. Now retired from the corporate world, Kati spends much of her time creating wearables, accessories and pieces of art. She has exhibited, given workshops and sold her work at the Kohler Art Space, Sheboygan Visual Artist Gallery, Cedarburg Cultural Center, La Tulip Gallery, UPScale Gallery, Textile Arts Center in Madison and the Weavers Guild of St. Louis. Most recently she created a permanent art installation at the Mead Library in Sheboygan Wisconsin.
Five of her pieces were featured in the 2023 Journees Europeennes Du Feutre Felt’in Fashion Show in France.
She has been providing workshops throughout the country Since 2016. Just recently, she has had a clothes dryer retrofitted to enable her to travel and teach her “no rolling” felting technique.
Workshops
Nathan Gieseke lives in Mineral Point with his wife and three boys. A carpenter by profession and an artist at heart, Nathan has a passion for glassblowing and theater and takes advantage of doing both whenever possible.
Workshops
Offered multiple times throughout the year – See Metal & Heat Workshops for full list
David is a multi-disciplinary artist and maker fueled by an unquenchable creative curiosity. From painting, sculpture, gardening and the culinary arts to sewing and heritage crafts, his artistic exploration knows few bounds. Driven by a passion for learning and experimentation, David embraces the joy of pushing imaginative limits.
His diverse artistic journey has cultivated a deep desire to share the transformative power of making. Believing in the collaborative nature of creativity, he fosters environments where individuals can learn, inspire, and celebrate unique perspectives.
After two decades empowering entrepreneurial visions, David pursued his own creative dream, establishing Lab Magenta in Mount Horeb.
Workshops
Micah Goguen grew up in Central Georgia and obtained his Bachelors in Art and Art History and his Masters in Art Therapy from Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. Residing currently in Macon, Ga., Micah focuses primarily on bringing art to the community and using art as a form of communication for those struggling to understand and cope with life situations. Goguen is a Certified GOLDEN Working Artist, SilverBrush Educator and an Ampersand Artist Ambassador.
Micah’s own artwork conveys his interest in the world around him as he captures moments using expressionistic and impressionistic works. Goguen strives to use imagery loosely from the daily encounters of his life and travels. Focusing on ideals of color and design, he seeks to paint “the spirit of” or “the idea of” a person, place or thing that stands out or has meaning in his life. Micah works in a range of media and teaches introductory workshops in a variety of media as well as workshop modules using combined media. Goguen teaches students atelier style in weekly classes in the Middle Georgia Area. The overall vision is to focus and rededicate back to a buy local, shop local mentality that strengthens community through unity and purpose.
Goguen utilizes his Art Therapy in groups or clusters often offered in series. Different from the technique based classes, these specialty courses have included themes such as grief, reintegration, identity, purpose, boundaries, depression and isolation. Goguen believes just like the traditional art classes, there is value and power in the group experience. These clusters focus on the curative factors of Installation of Hope, Recapitulation of Family Unit and Universality.
Workshops
Possibilities of the Gel Plate
Greg Greenwood lives and has his studio in the Kettle Moraine in southern Wisconsin. Greg earned his BS in Education from Eastern Illinois University studying under the silversmith Garret DeRuiter. He has taught high school, Jr. college, and adult students in addition to workshops at Peninsula School of Art. Greg is a member of Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) and Wisconsin Metalsmiths (WIM). For the last 5 years, Greg has been producing metalsmithing and jewelry educational videos on his channel on YouTube. I love to form and fabricate flat sheets of metal into extraordinary 3-Dimensional forms. Foldforming is the perfect technique to do this, making it a fascinating departure from traditional metalsmithing techniques.
Workshops
Advanced Foldforming Techniques
Jennie Hawkey is a weaver, weaving teacher and the owner of Hopewell Weaving. She has woven for over 30 years and specializes in accessories that incorporate intricate weaves, natural fibers and vivid colors. Although weaving has been a long-time craft, teaching is Jennie’s passion. She is an educator and teacher of children and adults and loves to pass on the skills of weaving. She started Hopewell Weaving in 2007, teaching weaving in her cottage, for guilds and at conferences. In 2020 she began teaching online courses, beginning with Warping 101, a free, 5 session class in which beginning weavers could warp their own looms at home. From 2020 to 2022, over 60 new weavers have received online individual live support in these courses. She then converted several other of her classes to an online format and continues to teach both in person and online.
One of her favorite projects is Picket Fence Weavers, a space for people with disabilities to learn to weave and sell their work.
Jennie’s workshop experience include workshops at the HGA Convergence 2024, Midwest Weaving Conference, Shake Rag Alley, and Yadkin Valley Fiber Center.
She finds weaving to be endlessly fascinating and a wonderful creative outlet.
Workshops
Nola Heidbreder has been teaching Fiber art for almost 30 years, specializing in Traditional Rug Hooking. Nola teaches nationally and in her studio in St. Louis, MO. She has taught at Shake Rag Alley numerous times. Her work has been displayed at the Shelburne Museum, Folk Art Museum in New York, Barrons Art Center, Sauder Village, Houska Gallery, and Tiadaghton House. She has co-authored 5 books with sister Linda Pietz.
Workshops
Beth Hobby earned her undergraduate degree in art from Hood College (Frederick, MD), and an MFA in sculpture and ceramics from George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), and taught studio arts on the college level for many years. Her own work is concentrated in the areas of assemblage/construction, collage, digital art, and encaustic. She has exhibited at Hood College, George Washington University, St. John’s College (Annapolis, MD), Washington Project for the Arts and The Art Barn (Washington, D.C.); Naperville Art League (Naperville, IL); The Exhibit and Lonnie’s Art Gallery (Morris, IL); and Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point, among numerous other venues. Beth also taught and exhibited at Hood College, Howard Community College, Prince George’s Community College, and Valencia Community College. Her work hangs (and sits!) in numerous collections belonging to indescribably unusual people and other quirky artists.
Aside from teaching, Beth was the executive director of a Big Brothers Big Sisters agency and owned a landscaping business in Orlando, where she planted at least 5,500 azalea shrubs, 435 crepe myrtle trees, and and three plastic palm trees. She lives in Morris, IL, with her cat, Fig, but spends lots of R and R time in Mineral Point.
Workshops
Katie Hogan (b. 1996, Virginia Beach, Virginia) is an American painter and creative based in Madison, WI. Her practice explores human portraiture and the figure, working in oils, unconventional surfaces, and mixed media. She has been an active member of the Atwood Atelier School & Studio for the past 6 years, and has taught various classes there since 2024. Her work has been awarded in the members-only competition of the Portrait Society of America, the TEXTURES show at Overt Space in Stoughton, and the 49th Annual Juried at the Miller Art Museum in Sturgeon Bay. Katie’s work has been exhibited across Wisconsin in both large and small group shows, and is beginning to show in other states. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2018 with a Bachelors of Arts in Economics, and a minor in studio arts. Instagram: @katie.hogan.art
Workshops
Rebecca Jamieson is the author of the chapbook The Body of All Things (Finishing Line Press, 2017). Her writing has appeared in Entropy, Mid-American Review, The Offing, Rattle, and elsewhere. She is the winner of the 2024 Tupelo Quarterly Prose Prize and her work has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has been awarded fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, the Fishtrap Writers’ Conference, and the Spring Creek Project. Rebecca holds an MFA in Writing and Publishing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she is the founder of Contemplate Create, where she teaches creative writing with a mindfulness lens. She lives on Ho-Chunk land in Madison, Wisconsin, and when she isn’t writing, she’s cuddling her two cats, hiking, and baking. You can find her on Instagram @rebeccabjamieson.
Workshops
Tor Jansson has been involved in furniture making for the past five years, developing a passion for blending traditional craftsmanship with creative design. His primary focus is on upholstery and woodworking. Tor has worked on a wide variety of projects, from finely detailed Windsor rockers to his most recent exploration in bent willow chair making.
Workshops
Make a Bent Willow Chair – March
18 Shake Rag St.
Mineral Point, WI 53565
(608) 987-3292
