Alegre Retreat 2027 Teachers
Katie Pasquini 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 2027 Alegre Retreat.
- Judith Content
- Rhonda Denney
- Susan Lapham
- Katie Pasquini
Katie Pasquini: For over 50 years, Katie Pasquini Masopust has created exceptional contemporary art quilts that are widely admired and collected. Beginning her career as a painter exploring traditional quilt-making, her work has evolved dramatically—from structured mandalas and striking dimensional pieces to richly expressive, painterly landscapes crafted with exquisite fabrics and innovative stitching techniques. Known for her approachable and energetic style, Katie is a highly sought-after teacher and lecturer. When not working in her California studio, she travels internationally, sharing her contemporary quilting theories and techniques with students across North America, Europe, the Far East, Australia, and New Zealand. Katie’s contributions to the field have earned numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious Silver Star Award at the Houston Quilt Festival in 2005. In 2024, she was further recognized with induction into the Quilters Hall of Fame. A prolific author, Katie continues to inspire through her books, workshops, and lectures. She also serves as Executive Director of Alegre Retreat, held at Gateway Canyons Resort in Colorado—a premier destination experience for quilting enthusiasts and fiber artists.
Judith Content: Judith Content has been a full time studio artist for almost 50 years. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 1979 with a BA in Fine Art with an emphasis in Textile Arts. Her Arashi-Shibori dyed and quilted silk wall pieces have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are included in numerous public, private and museum collections worldwide. Her art quilts, fiber sculptures and land-art installations have been featured in the QUILTS episode of Craft in America and CONTINUUM IN CLOTH, Ana Lisa Hedstrom and Judith Content, (2025) 4th in the Textile Arts Council Bay Area Fiber Artist Archive, of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Her work was recently featured in Quilting Arts Magazine, UPPERCASE and Quiltfolk, Issue 27, California Bay Area, Judith is a President Emerita of the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA).
Rhonda Denney: “Every piece of art that I create gives me the opportunity to learn more about the diversity, complexity and addictiveness of using fabric, pigments and stitches to create a statement. Oftentimes, when people see my art pieces, they are amazed that they are not paintings. From my perspective, they are. However, instead of just pigments of all kinds, I utilize a multitude of different fabrics and the dimensionality of quilting to add to and enhance my art. My art stimulates a desire for a closer look and a tactile confirmation that the art includes stitching. I am on a continuous journey to explore the possibilities of using fiber art to focus attention on the concept or idea I have chosen to represent. I love to teach and mentor others in the enrichment of their own unique creative voice, helping them to realize that each of us has something important to express and share.”
Rhonda lives with her husband, Ray Fallen, on R&R Acres in Emporia, KS, with their rescued horses (3), goats (1), dogs (2) and cats (6). They moved to Emporia from Colorado in 2019. Rhonda’s studio is in their walk-out basement where she creates and teaches.
Susan Lapham: Susan J Lapham is an abstract textile artist who dances between the design wall and sewing machine. She is inspired by her unusual childhood crossing five continents, learning three languages, and managing four brothers. Her vibrant, geometric, and exquisitely colored work has been exhibited widely in fine art museums such as the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, The Dairy Barn, Schweinfurth Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her awards include Merit Award Winner at ArtFields, Best of Show at the Torpedo Factory, and Best Use of Color in Artist as Quiltmaker. She received degrees in cartography and statistics and worked as a mapmaker and researcher until her retirement in 2023. She spends her creative time in her studio in Vienna, Virginia.