Topic: Better Living Through Creativity

Gayle says, “I’ll talk about my textile journey from high school to the present, showing slides of work I’ve done. I’ll also talk about the benefits of starting a small textile guild.”

Speaker: Gayle Ortiz

Gayle Ortiz lives in Capitola and has owned Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria for 47 years. She’s been making things her entire life; first under the loving hand of her mother, who made something every day of her life.

She began sewing in 7th grade and continued through college, making several special occasion dresses. After opening the bakery in 1978 all other pursuits had to take a back seat for the first several years.

For the last 20 years she has studied with Diane Ericson and Marcy Tilton at various Design Outside The Lines retreats and has learned from fellow students as well as her teachers.

She studies surface design with Pat Pauly, who uses thickened dyes and an open silk screening technique to print cloth.

She belongs to a local sewing guild and leads a twice-yearly sewing retreat for friends to sew together as inspiration for further work in their own studios.

She is currently learning metalsmithing and continues to sew almost daily.