October 19th, 20th, & 21st: 10:30am-5:00pm

Members: $335
Non-Members: $410
Materials Fee (Paid directly to instructor upon arrival): $75

Minimum: 5 Participants
(Class needs 5 students to run, tell your friends!)
Maximum: 9 Participants

Learn to transform a sheep hide using a natural mineral tanning method into a beautiful, soft, cozy sheepskin rug, blanket.. or textile for some future sewing projects! Each student in the workshop will leave the class with a beautiful naturally hand tanned sheepskin!

This workshop is great for hide tanners at all levels, farmers, shepherds, textile artists, bodyworkers, cultural workers, caregivers, Activists, and you! No prior experience or knowledge is necessary.

This is a three day workshop at EVFAC, October 19th-21st, 2024.

Food+ Amenities: Please bring your own lunch, snacks supplies, and water bottle!

What to wear: Please check the weather and pack accordingly with lots of layers for the surprise high desert weather patterns! We will be outside for the entire weekend and in the Fiber art center's parking lot, so bring a hat, warm clothes, sunglasses, and sunscreen if needed depending on the expected weather (wear layers!).

You will get intimate with a fresh hide! you might get some hide on you, and you will probably smell a little like that, along with some of your own sweat. Please wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty and/or bring an apron. Wear closed toed shoes.

All tools and materials are included with the materials fee. This is a unique opportunity to build community, intimacy with place and ancestors, and land-based embodiment practices.

Accessibility: Part of the work will include being on your hands and knees, using string and needles, working with sharp objects, standing or sitting in a chair for 5+ hours, and repetitive use of arm motions and your full body to soften and work the hide. If you really would like to participate and some of parts explained above sound difficult, please reach out and we can see if we can come up with creative solutions! You can email Marissa with questions at riverinehart@gmail.com

If you would like to bring a friend/partner/family member to help you with your hide throughout the weekend there will be an additional $100 teaching fee. Myself and any helpers at the class will be able to also provide hands on support. This option will be available when registering and paying, see form below.

Marissa Sieck (they/them) is a hide tanner, plant tender, wilderness guide, and soon-to-be therapist. They live and tend to land and a small herd of sheep and goats in southern Tiwa speaking lands of so-called Albuquerque, NM at Chispas Farms, located in the South Valley. Marissa's experience has been guided by grief, love, and longing. Marissa comes to this work with deep curiosity and reverence for the animals and the practice of hide tanning. Their way in the world has centered around community, relationships to the human and more than/other than human world, accompaniment, social justice, and care work. Hide tanning has been a teacher in the cycles of life, death, and rebirth and ancestral connection. They love sharing this practice with others in a way that honors their lineages and opens doorways to other ways of being in the world, while also learning the practical and physical skills of transforming skin into textiles.

Class COVID-19 policy: This event will be hosted outside. The class participants will give each other plenty of space. Testing beforehand is encouraged. Please communicate with Marissa or the center directly if you are feeling sick or if you have tested positive for COVID-19 before showing up to class and we will see you at another time!

Please do not come to class if you are feeling sick, and it is always advised to wear a mask if you are comfortable doing so.

Class cancellation policy: Class cancellations 7 days or less prior to first day of class will receive no refund. 8-13 days before beginning of class, students will receive an 80% refund. 14 days or more before beginning of class: Full refund.