Artist Index
Instructor: Darcie Black
Foundry Workshops: Cycle Awareness
Darcie Black is a holistic doula, health educator, community herbalist, and fertility awareness educator who is inspired by the cyclical expressions of nature and woman. She came to Ithaca in 2006 to study Health Education and Integrative Health at Ithaca College, fell in love with the region, and continued her studies at the Heartstone School of Earth Essentials in 2012, receiving an herbalism certificate in the didactic, therapeutic, laboratory and fieldwork of herbalism. Since then, she has become a certified doula and helped to co-create the Ithaca Doula Collective and the Bramble Collective. Inspired to deepen her understanding of reproductive health and justice, she began a graduate degree through Justisse College to become a Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner in 2017. Darcie currently works with individuals locally and internationally to support their reproductive health goals. Her style of teaching is honest, light-hearted, evidence-based and down to earth.
Website: www.sacredseedlings.org
Instagram: sacredseedlings
Instructor: Hilary Davis
Foundry Workshops: Reemergence: A Yoga and Soundbath Workshop
Hilary teaches yoga and coaches from the perspective that you are already whole, naturally resourceful and creative. Tantric philosophy offers that we need not transform anything essential about ourselves but rather, remember who we are and move more deeply from the space of our hearts. We are interested in transforming our experience and liberating our perspective, not fixing who we are.
Hilary is building fluency in the languages of pleasure and beauty to support women’s healing. The human body is available as both map and destination as we inquire “What is a vivid and vital life?”
Training -She began her formal training in the Sivananda tradition, living at The Yoga Ranch ashram and completing her first 200hr training there in 2011. She has since become a licensed Anusara Inspired Teacher, the 2nd level of Anusara licensing. She completed her first Anusara Teacher Training and Philosophy Immersion at The Lakshmi Living Arts Center.
Hilary spends a lot of time with her family in Hector, NY on the east side of Seneca Lake, loves running and practicing a life of deep relationships.
Instagram: @hilarydavisyoga
Instructor: Maureen Alexander Gaffney,
Foundry Workshops: Reemergence: A Yoga and Soundbath Workshop
Maureen Alexander is a licensed acupuncturist and holds a private practice here in Ithaca called Lotus Theory Acupuncture. She is also certified in sound healing, meditation, and aroma acupoint therapy with a background in dance and massage therapy. She has been practicing Chinese medicine for over 10 years and is currently pursuing her doctorate through Pacific College of Health and Science. Sound Baths or Vibroacoustic therapy use audible sound vibrations to improve health and reduce stress. It incorporates a feeling of calmness using the harp, chimes, tuning forks, singing bowls, gong, and percussion instruments. This therapy has been proven to reduce blood pressure, increase circulation, slow breathing, and heart rate, alleviate aches and pains, strengthen the immune system, and improve overall mood. It matches the frequencies within our body and resonates with our cells to create equilibrium. It can be great for anxiety/depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The bath includes guided meditation and breathwork. Please bring any mats, blankets, eye pillow and props for maximum comfort.
Website: http://lotustheory.com/contact/
Instagram: @lotustheoryacupuncture
Instructor: Kalee Doeing
Foundry Workshops: Botanical Resin Bracelet
Kalee Doeing is a local artist who has recently fallen in love with plants. She LOVES teaching about DIY gardening crafts. She fostered her love of art through grade school and even has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a concentration in Ceramic Arts from Wells College, Aurora NY. Her art has driven her to travel to interesting places like Alaska and Florence for study and internship."
Website: www.wineandblooms.com
Instagram: wineandblooms
Instructor: Casey Griswald
Foundry Workshop: Intro to PPC
Casey Havoly started a business on Etsy 4 years ago which has continually grown. He worked at a digital marketing firm full time while creating the products he sold online in his free time. He started getting enough orders to leave his job and focus only on creating products. He did everything himself and now Casey has 4 employees. He attributes a large portion of his success to digital advertising and the skills he learned from his digital marketing job.
Instructor: Meredith Johnson
Foundry Workshops: Mount a Staghorn, Kokedama Moss Ball
Meredith Johnson is a plant-loving, art-seeking local to the Ithaca area. She grew up in Watkins Glen and relocated to Ithaca several years ago to soon find her perfect job combination- Meredith is a free-lance lifestyle photographer in addition to being a flower and plant guru at Bool’s Flower Shop. She has always had an interest in art, plants and gardening, and decided to take it to the professional realm in early 2018. Meredith has been professionally photographing under the business name of M. Johnson Photography since 2012 and continues to do so. She learned her photo skills in high school and continued into college at Corning Community. She is a lover of all things art and nature, which in most cases fall hand-in-hand.
Instagram: M.JohnsonPhotography
Instructor: Kavi Kardos
Foundry Workshops: SEO Basics, Tips & Tricks
Kavi Kardos is the SEO Training Manager at Moz, a leading provider of search marketing software and education. She also works as a freelancer with six years of experience in agencies and in-house SEO roles. Kavi is originally from Houston, TX, and loves baseball, Game of Thrones, and her cat. By night you can find her hosting pub quizzes for Geeks Who Drink around town.
Website: https://academy.moz.com/
Instructor: Natasha Keller
Foundry Workshops: Sashiko Visible Mending
Natasha Keller is a Finger Lakes based designer and artist. Having started her career in the field of sexuality education, Natasha’s love of textiles and design soon became her focus. This medium allowed her to meld her two passions: education and design. Through teaching people to sew their own clothes, Natasha has engaged in conversations around style and fit, but also deeper issues of body image, sexuality, gender, race and identity, bringing her full circle back to her first job as a sexuality educator. She has designed and produced her own line of women’s clothing, handbags, wallets and home accessories. She has worked collaboratively with a local boutique to design and produce an in-house line of vintage-inspired dresses, while continuing to build her couture dressmaking skills through the creation of formal dresses and bridal gowns. She brings a dramatic, elegant and eclectic aesthetic to all of her work.
Website: www.clotheshorsestudio.com
Instagram: clotheshorsestudio
Instructor: Geraldine Lavin
Foundry Workshops: Herbal Oils and Balms, Tinctures, Herbal Infusions
Geraldine Lavin has been studying herbalism for over a decade. The past 5 years have been completely devoted to the practice. She has taught classes on herbal medicine making and theory at Yale University, Bard College, conferences, retreats, food coops, lifestyle stores, many farms, even at a music festival. Now, she’s finally taking her teaching online! After every class she receives feedback that her style is organized, thorough, and students feel like they have vastly expanded their understanding of the subject matter. Geraldine believes that each class is an opportunity to empower her students and demystify the world of plant and mushroom medicine.
Website: www.suntrap.co
Instagram: SuntrapBotanical
Instructor: Hala Ostwani
Foundry Workshops: Social Media Branding, Hoop Earrings, Stacked Rings, Stamped Rings, Pierced Earrings, Wax Ring Carving
Hala Ostwani is the founder of both Heya Designs and Oakmoss Design Studio. She specializes in handmade jewelry and hand poured candles under Heya Designs, and builds custom websites with her partner Holly Feld as Oakmoss Design Studio. "No matter the medium, I love the feeling of creating something new and beautiful where before there was just a blank canvas.” When she’s not designing you can find Hala raising her two children and one rambunctious rooster named Sylvester.
Website: www.heya-shop.com, www.oakmossdesign.com
Instagram: HeyaDesign,Oakmossdesign
Instructor: Laurin Ramsey
Foundry Workshops: Block Printing Class
Laurin Ramsey is a Georgia-born artist and printmaker. She is founder of Liontail Press, a one-woman design and print operation transplanted to Ithaca from Brooklyn, NY in the fall of 2015. I'm convinced that I was born with ink running through my veins. I take immeasurable joy in bringing original, whimsical designs to life with the timeless tactility and charm that is letterpress printing. It is my hope that evidence of my heart and hand shines through with each unique piece I guide through the press. I'm so in love with what I do, and can't wait to share my work with you!
Website: www.liontailpress.com
Instagram: Liontail_Press
Instructor: Stacie Ratzkin
Foundry Workshops: Stained Glass
Stacie Ratzkin is the owner and maker behind Forest City Stained Glass, based out of London, Ontario. The second in her family to make glass, Stacie’s vocation honors the memory of her Grandpa Jack, who practiced the craft for many years before he passed in the mid-90s, leaving her with his handmade suncatcher that she has cherished since. His studio practice piqued her curiosity about the glass making process, and eventually led her to pursue glass in earnest. Outside of the studio, Stacie is a proud cat lady who enjoys nature, photography, music, road trips, and dreaming up the next project to get her back in the studio as soon as possible.
Website: www.forestcitystainedglass.com
Instagram: ForestCityStainedGlass
Instructor: Kadie Safli
Foundry Workshops: Cyanotype Print
I was born in Burlington, Vermont and lived in the Bay Area for a good part of my life and now live in Ithaca, NY. I come from a family of artists and started making art at a young age: editions of rainbows, age three. I studied printmaking and photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and have been focused on my art career ever since. Over the last 20 years, I have had numerous solo shows and participated in many group shows nationally and internationally. My work is mixed media: cyanotype, screen printing, painting, drawing and sculpture and the subject matter ranges from political to serene and everything in between.
Website: www.kadiesalfi.com + www.petiteblue.com
Instructor: Hayden Stebbins
Foundry Workshops: Fermentation: making nutritious food with simple techniques, Plant Walk
Hayden Stebbins earned his BS in Natural and Environmental Systems from Cornell University and his MS in Sustainable Horticulture and Food Production from Schumacher College. He then went on to complete the full-time clinical herbalism program at the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine. He has shadowed ethnobotanist Marc Williams (director of Plants and Healers International and editor of Botany in a Day), and taught classes in edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms. Hayden currently manages a regenerative agriculture project in Brooktondale, NY which utilizes food and medicine production to regenerate degraded land dominated by introduced species. He also co-owns Suntrap Botanical with fellow Foundry instructor Geraldine Lavin.
Website: www.suntrap.co
Instagram: SuntrapBotanical
Instructor: Elizabeth Thompson
Foundry Workshops: Form Hoop Earrings, Stacked Rings, Stamped Rings, Pierced Earrings, Wax Ring Carving
Elizabeth Thompson is the artist behind Elizabeth Knight Jewelry, a line of hand cut, hammered and etched pieces with an unearthed quality. Each piece from her collection is truly a personal experience in the finding. The line has gathered attention from fashion press including Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vogue Japan, Marie Clare, Lucky, Paper, Foam, Bullet, I-d and Nylon. Although deeply rooted in Brooklyn, Elizabeth Knight Jewelry is carried in boutiques in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Elizabeth received her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design majoring in jewelry with an emphasis on the craft of silver-smithing. In 2014 she moved upstate to Ithaca, NY where she opened the store Narrative Space with her partner Mark Zaharis and manages Foundry workshops and co-working spaces.
Website: www.elizabethknightjewelry.com
Instagram: ElizabethKnightJewelry
Instructor: Carmen Torrado
Foundry Workshops: Shampoo Bars
Preferred pronouns: she/her/hers. Carmen Torrado Gonzalez lives, works, and creates in Ithaca, New York. An avid poet and visual artist, Carmen serves as the creative writing editor for Rabbit! Magazine, as well as organizes, curates, and hosts the annual Our Own Dang Met Gala. At home, Carmen's self-care routine includes making her own hair-care products, a personal craft that allows her to center and relax.
Instructor: Katie Vaz
Foundry Workshops: Hand Lettering
Katie Vaz is an illustrator, author, hand-letterer, and graphic designer based in Endicott, NY. She is the author of Don’t Worry, Eat Cake: A Coloring Book to Help You Feel a Little Bit Better about Everything, Make Yourself Cozy: A Guide for Practicing Self-Care, and The Escape Manual for Introverts. Katie also designs her own line of greeting cards, prints, and other stationery products which are sold online and in brick and mortar shops across North America.
Website: https://katievaz.com
Instagram: KatieMarieVaz
Instructor: Hannah Volpi
Foundry Workshops: Make Your Own Seed Paper
Hannah Volpi is founder, farmer and floral designer at Foxi Flora farm, where she grows flowers and herbs just outside of Ithaca, NY. Her mission: to cultivate beauty to share with the community. She learns something new every time she steps into the garden, and finds that her curiosity in growing is endless. I appreciate the strength in my body, the history before me, the presence in front of me, and seeds set for the future. While there are plenty of flowers to marvel at in nature untouched, I offer a wide variety of cultivated flowers that bring pollinators to the land and through mindful practice, give back to the soil.
Website: www.foxiflora.com
Instagram: FoxiFlora
Instructor: Becky Yates
Foundry Workshops: Punch Needle, Macrame
Fiber artist Becky Yates has lived in Ithaca with her family for over 10 years. A self-taught artist, she enjoys sewing, macrame, and experimenting with natural dyes, but punch needle rug hooking is where she has found her “soul craft”. Preferring to use natural materials like linen and wool, she finds inspiration in landscapes, traditional quilt blocks, and her 5 year old’s artwork.
Website: www.themodernpunch.com, www.modernpunch.etsy.com
Instagram: ModernPunch