A few weeks ago I visited Katie Berman at her home studio in Durham, North Carolina. Katie is a textile artist who will be teaching the upcoming Punch Needle Embroidery Class at Gather Goods Co. in downtown Cary, North Carolina. The first class sold out so we added a second date on Saturday November 9th at 10am. You can sign up for it here.

Katie went to ECU for college and studied graphic design but somewhere along the line her passion for art turned toward more tactile fiber work. A talented seamstress, her leftover fabric scraps inspired her to repurpose and reuse them into art, and this exploring lead her down the path toward more textured fiber fine art.

In addition to fiber art, Katie also has a part-time job. One of the things we discussed when I went to her studio is finding value in ourselves outside of the traditional expectations of “full time artist” or the idea of wearing just one hat. So often, we see examples of people who seem to have it all doing something aspirational and we don’t seem to recognize that that is just one perspective of a person, and that also, we all have different paths that are most fulfilling to us. Some seasons, it is fully focused on one thing, some seasons, it isn’t, and both can feel equally gratifying and rewarding.⁠

Katie’s goal is to one day have a shared community space focused on fiber arts, until then, you can learn more about Katie as well as create a super fun craft with us in our Punch Needle Embroidery Class at Gather Goods Co. on Saturday November 9th at 10am. You can register for the class here.

Photos by Michelle Smith for Gather Goods Co