NEWPORT – Local artists and crafters will take part in a series of workshops planned for late summer into the fall. Members of the Valley Arts Alliance will share their artistry and expertise with those who want to be more creative or who want to experience the arts “hands-on.”

Fun With Fabulous Fabrics and Fibers will be held 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, at Sebasticook Valley Middle School, Williams Road, in Newport. A choice of these three workshops is available:

. Bob Nichols will present a session on needle felting. He will show participants how to make felted raw wool into scenes and sculpture. His felted Santas have been a highlight at Valley Arts shows. The Artemisia Gallery in Camden now is showing his work.

. Amy Nichols and Alison Olds will conduct the workshop Small Quilting and Folded Bag. A bag will be created from colorful 18-inch fabric squares in an innovative method using your own sewing machine. Nichols and Olds of Deer Hill Designs in Jackson are members of Art Quilts Maine and recently had their work exhibited at a museum in Saco.

. Annette Houston of the Beehive Studio in Newport will offer the workshop No-sew Creative Fusible Wreath Design. Houston is a founding member of Valley Arts Alliance and also an exhibitor with Art Quilts Maine.

Work by these artists will be featured during office hours in August at the Valley Arts Alliance Gallery at the Sebasticook Valley Weekly, Main Street, Newport.

No experience is needed to participate in the workshops, which are geared to those age 14 and up.

Participants may register for one or more of the workshops. The cost for all three workshops is $40. Individual workshops are $20. In addition, there is a materials fee of $10 or less for each workshop. Supplies will be provided, except for sewing machines, needed for the quilted bag workshop.

Valley Arts Alliance members may deduct $5 from the total cost of the workshops.

The workshop series is partially funded through a grant from the Maine Community Foundation, which enables the alliance to bring art into the communities of the Sebasticook Valley area.

Registration is required before Monday, Aug. 13. For more information and a registration form, visit www.valleyartsalliance.org or call Annette Houston, 368-2443.