Past-workshops – Page 5

Monday May 16, 2022

Mark Making with Handmade Tools

To begin, students will be introduced to the art of making their own hand made brushes and mark making tools. Materials for the tools will come from things foraged in the wild* – forests, lanes, meadows, ocean shorelines or lakeside. Once the materials have been gathered, students will turn them into mark making tools using jute, string, linen thread, wool, wire, and anything else they choose.

Once students have created a selection of tools, they will begin to experiment with different kinds of gestural marks. Students will be shown a collection of hand made tools and given guidance about how to make their own tools. The instructor will demonstrate some mark making techniques using a variety of inks – sumi ink, india ink, walnut ink and acrylic ink. From there, students will experiment on their own. These unique marks can stand alone or, be used in conjunction with other art forms such as hand lettering, painting, or printmaking. Marks can be an effective way of conveying emotion in ways that conventional tools may not.

* IMPORTANT Care must be taken to not remove any wild botanical materials from protected areas, parks or land that is privately owned. Please respect the land and the plants that grow on it.

Thursday March 24, 2022

Birds of British Columbia in Oils

Day 1: Jean will briefly discuss materials and how to paint in oils without using solvents. She will show images of her favourite wildlife artists and images of her past work. There will be a discussion of source material and how to choose a compelling photographic pose, theme and composition. The class will prepare substrates with abstract washes of colour and then paint wet on wet the first layer of bird and habitat.

Day 2: You will apply a second and final layer of paint including areas of glaze. Paintings will be refined as much as the student desires. “Bling” will be added such as the glint in the eyes and shadows under feathers. Class discussion will include questions such as “Bird feet – painting the sweet spot between wimpy and horrifying” and “Expression – avoiding angry bird facial expressions”.

COVID – 19: As we have seen, the pandemic is constantly changing as are the health and safety precautions mandated by Health Canada. The MISSA Summer Program brings people together in classrooms, dining halls, accommodation rooms and other communal areas and we must ensure the protection and safety of all participants. All MISSA instructors are required to be fully vaccinated and, in order to ensure the safety of everyone on campus, we are asking that student participants also be fully vaccinated. Thank you for your cooperation.

Monday March 21, 2022

Millefiori Doodles in Polymer Clay

Millefiori is an ancient technique that can be described as a combination of sculpting and painting. This technique has been applied to many different types of media, such as: Glass, Ceramics, and Wood.

Wanda will share her years of experience as an artist in the technique of Millefiori using polymer clay. Polymer clay is a medium that allows for the mixing and blending of colours to create depth, variety and contrast.

You will learn to ‘doodle’ with black and white clay to create a variety of interesting patterned canes. We will take slices of these cane components to collage onto a glass vessel or mug. Finishing techniques will then be demonstrated.

Your materials fee includes the polymer clay you will need and a glass vessel.

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Sunday March 20, 2022

Painting Here and Now

Painting outdoors (or plein aire) was popularized in the mid 19th century with the advent of portable paint in tubes. It was the latest, most radical departure from the standard academic practices at the time as it sought to represent the realities of contemporary life in the industrialize West in contrast to ideals still perpetuated in the academies and the tastes of the status quo. Pleinarism in many ways was the foundation of modernist painting.

In the 21st century, confronted with myriad new realities, a return to pleinairism once again may prove to be a radical departure from the currents in contemporary art practice. In contrast to the speed and “connectedness” of the technological age, pleinairism asserts the sovereignty of our attention and situates the painter directly in the context of the painting.

If we think of looking as a tactile experience, feeling textures, sensing the space between things and painting as a tactile act of touching, observational painting becomes a kind of synesthetic and reciprocal conversation with place. Place and people have always shaped each other, nature and culture are inextricably linked and when we engage with place, we also engage with ourselves and our common history with the natural world, in this workshop we will explore the concept that painting serves this mutual agency.

This course is informed by current discourse in mindfulness, ecology, phenomenological philosophy and contemporary art. The course will feature an introductory lecture about painting outdoors, its history and precedents, philosophical and social implications in todays context. There will also be daily group critiques on the progress of work as well as individual feedback and instruction (when requested). The structure of the workshop will be a brief daily meeting and proceeding to the locations being painted and painting all day. Each member of the workshop including me will endeavour to make two to three paintings during the course of the week. The emphasis will be on painting as an interaction with place and objects over longer periods of time through different light and weather conditions.

Sunday March 20, 2022

Ceramic Plant Portraiture

This two day workshop will teach you to capture an essence of a plant in clay. Experiment with tile: cut, fold, stretch, squish, slap, scrape to get a desired and distinct botanical element.

Day 1: Consider your personal style and the attitudes, location and personally of your subject. Hand make leaves, sticks + flowers, but perhaps how you could not have imagined.

Day 2: Explore assemblage techniques including pre and post firing options. Work to curate composition by seeing many iterations with the same components.

This class will be focusing on wet clay work. You will have to take your work home to be fired.

Friday March 18, 2022

Figure Gestures

In this terracotta sculpture course students will do a deep dive into gesture – how to find emotion and meaning behind figurative poses. The slightest turn of a head, placement of a hand or downward glance can change the connotation of how a story is told. Students will explore historic meanings of gesture in art, ways of directing focus and challenging understanding. Students will be using a variety of hand-building techniques, using paper, and foam armatures.

The artist as story-teller through the figure.

NOTE: There will not be a firing for this workshop.

Friday March 18, 2022

Monotype: The Painterly Print

Join printmaker Heather Aston for a week of monotype printmaking. This unique process provides the artist with tools and materials that yield unparalleled results that are often innovative and surprising. Exploring watercolour, oil based etching inks, lift prints, chine collé and layered techniques you will progress through a series of steps, that will open new possibilities for expression.

Students will receive individual attention regarding drawing, painting and composition while ultimately pulling prints from a plexiglass matrix to paper using a manual press. The excitement of transformation and discovery is inherent in this media and is sure to inspire and fascinate participants. There will be discussion and class critiques throughout the week.

Friday March 18, 2022

Surface Design & Block Printing on Fabric

In this workshop Mo will guide you through the process of block-printing on fabric and surface design. We will begin with simple repeat patterns with one colour and then work our way to more complex and mutli-coloured patterns throughout the week. We will explore a variety of printmaking techniques from ombre rolls, three block prints, jigsaw prints and collagraphic techniques and how this can be applied to fabric.

Mo will teach you how to create off-set prints and how to register your stamps so your printed fabric has a professional look. Each day Mo will introduce a new design principal with a daily emphasis on you finding your own creative language.

Friday March 18, 2022

Pots that Sing: Naked Raku

In this multi-faceted workshop, Ellen will share her favorite tools, tips and techniques that add dynamic textures and finishes that make the surfaces of her work sing. Students will learn to create a variety of forms using soft slab construction and will also learn to make and use latex rubber molds which will be theirs to keep.

The week will also include the excitement and drama of Naked Raku firing. Students will participate in utilizing slips, horsehair, feathers and ferns to bring about some unexpected and unique surfaces. Topping that off will be the application of post firing finishes that really bring the work to life. It promises to be an action packed week of pottery fun.

ADDITION TO THE STUDENT SUPPLY LIST: For Naked Raku, please bring 5-7 bisqued pots, less than 8″ in diameter.

Wednesday March 16, 2022

Pots that Serve

This class will focus on some fun techniques that can be used in making unique serving dishes and vessels. This course is best for students with some competency on the wheel. The first part of day one will be demonstrating some techniques such as double walled vessels, rolled rims, throwing and altering a form and adding a lid, and discussing some practicalities of using pots for serving. The afternoon will be for students to start on some of their own pieces.

Day 2 will be spent on finishing and assembling some of the previous day’s work and some decorating techniques such as stamping and texturing, mishima, water water etching and rice paper transfer designs and how to use them. Hopefully these skills will help to bring some excitement to tableware and serving dishes! This is a hands-on class and the instructor will help students experiment with these techniques.

NOTE: Work will NOT be fired but can be taken home by participants.