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Robert W. Haven
Assistant Professor Costume Technology
I am so pleased to announce that Robert W. Haven will be presenting a special lecture at the Sturbridge Stitcher’s Hideaway! Bob and I connected by way of the internet when I was searching for information on a piece of needlework I discovered in an antique shop. He was able to identify it as chain stitch worked with a tambour hook, and also gave me some leads to research the design origins. We had some great email exchange, and I’ve enjoyed his knowledge and sense of humor. His lecture, being presented on Friday afternoon, will be a lighthearted exploration of what it is we embroiderers do: “From Curiosity to Addiction, a Journey through Needlework with no Road Map.”
Here is a bit of Robert’s very interesting background.
After receiving his undergraduate degree in English Education from Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire he went on to spend sixteen years teaching grade 8 English in his home state of New Hampshire. Getting a taste of theatre with school productions, he went on to receive his MA in School and Community Theatre from Emerson College in Boston and an MFA in Costume Production and Shop Management at the University of Delaware Professional Theatre Training Program.
Upon completion of this degree, he served as Costume Shop Manager and Lecturer at the University of Michigan and then moved on to be the Costume Director at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Costume Technology and Costume Director at the University of Kentucky. He has also served as Faculty Co director of the UK Asia Center.
As a Costume Technologist he has extensively researched the construction techniques of Kabuki costumes and is a student of Japanese Embroidery and Katazome, rice paste resist dyeing. He also holds a certificate in hand embroidery from the Royal School of Needlework in London. He recently competed the Professional Course in Haute Couture Embroidery at the prestigious Lesage and Co in Paris.
He is also one of the very few people in the US to actively teach the art of tambour beading. To that end he has spent two summers teaching the art at the San Francisco Academy of Art University fashion program. Here he has worked with young fashion designers in training. Exposing them to the art of tambour beading has opened new avenues of creativity for the ensuing generation of fashion designers. This became evident during the Fall 2010 Mercedes Benz Fashion week where an entire collection of couture designs was shown by an AAU graduate Student with each piece being encrusted with imaginative and non- traditional beading.
Prof Haven also offers several four day intensive tambour beading master-classes in Kentucky in May and June before heading off to San Francisco each summer.
These are some websites where you can see what he does in the areas of hand embroidery.
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On the Frame
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Finished Work
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