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WORKSHOPS
Contact Information:
Margaret Cusack
124 Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, New York 11217-2215
718.237.0145
fax: 718.237.2430
e-mail: cusackart@aol.com
www.MargaretCusack.com
Workshops & Lectures:
Margaret Cusack is an illustrator who creates “realism in
stitchery and fabric.” However, she is also a well-known lecturer,
having presented to The Society of Illustrators, Manhattan’s Art
Directors Club, Pratt Institute, Syracuse University, Studio Art Quilt
Associates, The Cleveland Museum of Art, South Carolina State Museum
and many other universities, art organizations and quilt guilds. The
following is information on two of Cusack’s slide lectures. Each lasts
approximately forty minutes and can be expanded into an eighty-minute
workshop format. Cusack’s success with her unconventional artwork truly
inspires audiences.
Cusack's latest accomplishment is Picture Your World in Appliqué,
her new book published by Watson-Guptill that includes seven machine
appliqued projects: portraits, landscapes, decorative borders, still
lifes, holiday images, etc. The projects can be transformed into scrap
book covers, picture frames, banners, pillows, and hangings. Rober
Shaw, author of The Art Quilt, said, “Margaret Cusack’s textile
Americana combines broadly appealing subject matter with serious
artistic skills. This book makes her techniques as accessible as her
images and provides information that will be useful to amateurs and
professionals alike.”
The “Illustrating the Fabric of Life”
slide lecture gives an overview of the commissions that she has
completed, as well as a “how-to” series that shows an actual
assignment. “The Art of the Commission” slide lecture includes advice
and exercises in promotion, contracts, presentation and negotiation.
"Create
a Nostalgic Portrait" slide lecture/workshop is a one to three day
workshop where participants make a unique machine appliqued portrait in
sepia toned fabrics.
Among the publications that have featured
Cusack’s work are Print, How, Art Quilt, Surface, Needlearts, Quilters
Newsletter Magazine and In Step Magazine. Her clients include American
Express; Aunt Millie's; Avon; Bloomingdale's; Dell; Howard Johnson;
Little, Brown & Co.; Macmillan; Maxwell House Coffee; Sony Music;
The New York Times; Peek Freans; RCA; Reader's Digest; Seagram's;
Singer and Texaco. Recent commissions are: a stitched United States
Thanksgiving postage stamp and stitched illustrations for AT&T, The
Wall Street Journal, Harcourt, and Fisher Price. She is currently
writing a book on her artwork to be published by Watson-Guptill.
Since 1972, Cusack’s stitched art has graced the covers of your books,
the pages of your newspapers, the decorative plates on your wall and
even the stamps that you put on your envelopes. Her slide
lecture/workshops have energized and enlightened artists, quilters,
students, and the general public all over the United States.
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“Illustrating the Fabric of Life Slide Lecture”
This slide lecture will inspire viewers with an overview of Cusack’s
thirty-one year career creating award-winning stitched artwork, as well
as a “how-to” series that leads you through an actual assignment – from
the initial concept sketches to the finished artwork: a step-by-step
slide sequence of a Reader's Digest record cover commission, “God Bless
the USA.”
“Illustrating the Fabric of Life” begins with
Cusack's early influences as a young artist and ends with her more
innovative current work. This slide lecture will inspire your audience
with her unusual niche of creating realistic stitched artwork for
illustrations and architectural commissions.
Included in “Illustrating the Fabric of Life”:
- early influences as a young artist
- “how-to” development of several illustration assignments
- innovative work with cut fabric and bright patterns
- how licensing her artwork has broadened her affect on the public
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"The Art of the Commission Slide Lecture or Slide Lecture/Workshop"
Success is when “opportunity meets preparation.” But, how do you get an
assignment? How do you negotiate the best price? And, how can you
follow through so that both artist and client feel that they've
succeeded? For many reasons, the business side of being an artist is
not usually well absorbed in college. And, many artists take a lifetime
learning how to be a professional in the art world. Or, worse yet they
give up on making money with their artwork or give up on their art.
Margaret Cusack will teach you how to approach your work as a business
person and therefore help you succeed as an artist. Benefit from her
years of experience as an artist in fabric and stitchery.
“The Art of the Commission” addresses the questions: How do you get a
commission? How to negotiate the best price? How do you follow through
so that both client and artist feel they have succeeded? Cusack gives
advice on:
- how to create a professional presentation
- how to set goals for your career
- how to create supportive networks
- how to promote your work
- how to approach your work as a professional
“The Art of the Commission” shows sketches and other preliminary steps
of many examples of her popular stitched artwork, including a
step-by-step slide sequence of a major architectural commission, “A
Time for Hope.”
Besides the inspiring words and images of her
slide lecture/workshop, you will also benefit from Cusack’s 28-page
informational packet ($5.00 additional per person) which includes
promotional tips, sample contracts, and negotiating techniques. The
timely suggestions of “The Art of the Commission” will help advance
your career as an artist. Benefit from Margaret Cusack’s thirty-three
years of experience as an illustrator/artist.
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“Create a Nostalgic Portrait”
Slide lecture/workshop includes step-by-step instructions on how to
work from a photograph to create a unique machine-appliqued portrait.
(Duration:
one day; can be expanded to a two-day or three-day
workshop.) Participants use a range of brown and beige fabrics to
create a sepia-toned portrait. They may work from Cusack's pattern or
from an enlarged prints of their own photographs.
This project is based on a chapter from Cusack's new book, Picture Your World in Appliqué.
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Fee Structure
The fee for each slide lecture is $450 plus travel and housing expenses.
One-day
workshops are $600. A two-day workshop is $550 per day. A second
lecture or workshop on the same day is an additional $350-500. For
educational and other nonprofit institutions, there is some flexibility
in pricing. Please call for more information and/or to arrange
scheduling.
At all workshops and lectures, Cusack presents
examples of her artwork and step-by-step displays of her stitched
artwork technique. Also included are books, puzzles, posters, and cards
that are available for sale.
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