Student Success Story: Katy Olson

Fibre Arts Take Two devotee Katy explains why she enrolled in Cas Holmes’ course Making Connections, Mark, Layer and Stitch.

Artist Katy Olson lives in a peaceful home surrounded by 80 acres of woods in Minnesota, USA. 

After spending years juggling multiple careers, including farming, running a high-end home decor store and teaching yoga, Katy has finally embraced her lifelong passion for art. However, like many creatives, she faced significant challenges. "For 40 years, I was so busy running businesses and raising kids that I lost touch with the work I truly wanted to do," she shared.

Although she had formal training in illustrative art, Katy found herself floundering when it came to expressing her emotions and voice, and the beauty of the natural world she loves. "I had primarily done drawings and paintings. A lot of the work you do when you're in an illustrative art course is very representational, but I did not want to be working in that way anymore. It wasn't even interesting to me.

I was much more interested in expressing more the emotional aspect of our lives. Having been on the land for really all of my life, I wanted to express the beauty of the land around me," she explains. 

An online course became the key to unlocking her expressive creativity, taking her work to the next level and even improving her income as an artist. 

Discovering Fibre Arts Take Two

During the pandemic, Katy began exploring online art communities and came across Fibre Arts Take Two. She was intrigued by their courses but hesitant to commit—until she saw Making Connections - Mark, Layer and Stitch with Cas Holmes. "When I saw that Cas was offering a course, I didn’t even hesitate," Katy said. "I’d read her book, Embroidering the Everyday, and it was like an explosion in my mind.  I began to see all kinds of possibilities. So when I saw Fibre Arts Take Two was offering a course with Cass, I jumped right in."

Mark, Layer and Stitch

Katy’s expectations were simple: she wanted to be challenged and find a way forward in her art. "I felt like a deer in the headlights," she admitted. "I finally had time and space in my life to focus on my art, but I didn’t know where to start." What she found in Cas’ course was transformative.

"The first thing Cas encouraged us to do was sketch every day," Katy explained. "Not to create a perfect drawing but to respond to what we see. That was really pivotal for me, because in illustrative art, you're trying very carefully to render what you're looking at, so you get it's hard not to get a little stiff in that. Cas broke me out of my old habits. All of a sudden, I was being encouraged to just respond in the moment."

            One of Katy's earlier works before she starts a Fibre Arts Take Two course.

While Katy appreciated the practical learning and improved her wet applique techniques, one of the most impactful moments was coming to understand Cas’s philosophy of not being precious about art. "Cas taught us to audition and critique our work rather than control and judge it," Katy said. "She took that one piece and just said, ‘Now I'm going to destroy something I've made’. I thought, ‘Oh, we don't have to be precious about this’. We can be explorative and responsive. I love being asked to respond in the moment and to step out of judgement. To me, it felt a lot more open. It created new possibilities for how the work could proceed."

Why choose Fibre Arts Take Two

Katy found the Fibre Arts Take Two experience to be a game-changer, not just for the quality of instruction but for the community it fosters.

"I felt like I belonged there, like I was part of a community, and it was very soul-feeding to be a part of that group. The warmth and the love coming at me really gave me a lot of courage and excitement and willingness to put myself out there in a way that I wasn't sure I'd be able to do," she explains

One feature Katy particularly appreciates is the lifetime access to the course. "What I'm finding really valuable for me is that you can come back again and again because you own the course. I've watched Cas’s videos quite a few times already."

Artistic growth and real results

Since taking Cas’ course, Katy has seen her art transform. "I’ve moved away from representational art to capturing the feeling of a place," she said. "When I looked at Cass's work, it struck me so emotionally. I really wanted to create some pieces that captured that emotionality around the beauty and the joy of the prairie (where I live), but also the way that it's disappearing. So I think I did it."

The confidence Katy gained from the course has also been life-changing. "Since finishing, I’ve entered work in five shows, and received two grants to do public art projects. I am part of a cohort of 10 artists chosen to do work over the next year, and I get $10,000 to do that work. I don't know if I would have had the confidence to reach for those if FATT hadn't been there for me and hadn't kind of ‘busted me loose’!” she says.

Katy’s Creations

The Prairie’s Echo: A textile work combining old quilt pieces with painted and stamped fabrics, symbolising the fragmentation of native prairie lands.

Flying Petals: A piece with flowers flying off the edge, representing the loss of ecosystems.

Fragmented Beauty: Layers of cloth and stitch conveying both the joy and grief of the changing landscape.

Learn once, learn forever

According to Katy, these are the top benefits of enrolling in a Fibre Arts Take Two course as an aspiring or professional artist:

• Lifetime access: Revisit course materials any time.
• Closed Facebook group: Share feedback with likeminded fellow course members, ask questions and get answers from the instructor.
• Responsive instructors: Receive personalised feedback from tutors who care about your growth.
• Creative freedom: The emphasis is on exploration rather than perfection.
• Practical techniques: Learn new skills you can integrate into your practice immediately.

Katy has now completed three Take Two courses, learning from Cas Holmes, Wen Redmond, and Sally Tyrie. She describes herself as "on fire" to create and is excited about the opportunities ahead. "I finally get to pursue a life of art and express what's inside me. I'm really grateful to Fibre Arts Take Two for helping me get there.”