Alegre Retreat 2026 Teachers
Katie Pasquini Masopust is our master of ceremonies and has gone to great lengths to line up a fabulous team of instructors who will offer a rich variety of courses for the 2026 Alegre Retreat.
- Katie Pasquini Masopust
- Pat Pauly
- Irene Roderick
- Libby Williamson
For 40+ years Katie Pasquini Masopust has produced high quality contemporary art quilts that have been coveted and collected by a broad range of admirers. From her early beginnings as a painter dabbling in traditional quilt making, her work has evolved from structured Mandalas and mind-blowing dimensional pieces to very painterly landscapes executed with the finest fabrics and most creative stitching techniques. Katieʼs easy, energetic manner has made her a very popular teacher and lecturer. When not in residence at her studio in California she travels the world presenting her contemporary quilting theories and techniques to classes; not only in North America, but in Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Awards and accolades have been numerous for Katie, culminating with her 2005 induction into a very select group of art quilt professionals who have earned the Silver Star Award presented by Houston Quilt Festival and in 2024 she was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame.
Pat Pauly: With a graphic, color-saturated palette using her hand-printed fabric, Pat Pauly’s fiber art is distinct in strong abstracted natural forms and complex color combinations. Her early textile work was accepted in Quilt National ’83, and is now seen in major exhibitions and in both private and public collections around the world. With a degree in art, and graduate work in design and fine art, Pat chose fiber art as the perfect amalgam of construction, painting and printmaking. She has taught throughout the United States and abroad in design and surface design. Her lectures are fast paced, funny, and speak on the intersection of traditional quilt arts with contemporary fiber art. She brings the same pace and relaxed atmosphere to her workshops. Often seen in exhibitions, Pat’s work is also widely published, and she has appeared in Quilting Arts televised segments. If not teaching, she is found in her studio in Rochester, New York where she has the best advantage of being surrounded by great artists as well as the beauty of the Finger Lakes.
Irene Roderick: My quilting activities are a mixture of discovery and elation. I have been an artist for most of my life (my parents gave me a set of oil paints in 3rd grade). I have painted and crafted for over 50 years, mostly in my home raising 4 sons and working in retail and administration. I returned to school at the age of 46, earning a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in 2001. I began quilting in 2016 when I retired from my Administrative position at the University of Texas at Austin. I was searching for a new creative endeavor and happened on “modern” quilts when I was googling for a new bedcovering. The works of Nancy Crow and Gwen Marsden caught my attention and I wanted to make what they were making. No one in my family quilted or did any kind of handwork so quilting was not something I was familiar with. I took a beginning piecework class at a local quilt store and was hooked. I love making “functional” art. I consider my quilts paintings using fabric as my medium. Currently I am working in my studio, teaching Zoom workshops and presenting Zoom lectures/trunk shows, and travelling all over the world teaching in-person workshops. I’ve even a book on my signature style of improvisational quilting, Dancing With The Wall. My next book will be published in 2025, Dancing Design! My work has been exhibited throughout the United States and is included in private and museum collections. In 2019, I received the Emerging Artist Award at Quilt National, 2nd place finishes at QuiltCon 2019 in the Improv category and in the 2-Color Challenge Category. I was awarded the first place award in the Improv category at QuiltCon 2020 and a third place at QuiltCon 2023. In 2021, I was awarded a Juror’s Choice Award at the Quilts=Art=Quilts Exhibition at the Schweinfurth Arts Center and the “In The Abstract” award in Visions Museum’s Quilt Visions 2021. Most recently, I received “Best of Show” for the Q=A=Q Exhibition, Schweinfurth Arts Center and the Japan Prize at Visions Museum’s Quilt Interpretations 2022. I have been a juror for Quilt National 2023 and also one of two jurors for Schweinfurth Art Center’s exhibition Q=A=Q 2023.
Libby Williamson: Libby is a fiber artist and teacher. Her unique, mixed-media artworks have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and quilt exhibitions worldwide. She teaches mixed media art quilting and sewing to students of all ages in her studio in Orange, California, at destination retreats, and online. In Libby’s world, not much can outshine paint caked beneath her fingernails, glue in her hair, and a bowl of ice cream!