#1 WORKSHOP ‘Island of deMented Toys‘ with Michael deMeng
Remember the Island of Misfit Toys in the claymation epic “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. Well that’s nothing compared to what we’re going to do in this class. You’re going to bring all sorts of parts and pieces from a variety of toys. You round up everything from Barbies ,to Tonka trucks, to snow globes, to wind-up zeppelins, and reassemble them “into something rich and strange” (to quote Shakespeare’s The Tempest). Don’t worry if you toys aren’t dismantled yet…we can take care of that…bwwwwahahahahahaha (evil laugh – in case you were wondering). Using various techniques of assemblage we will turn our classroom in to a laboratory of the weird. Barbie and Ken will never be the same….as I said before ….bwwwwahahahaha.
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#2 WORKSHOP “Exquisite Enigmas” with Andrea Matus deMeng
Skill level: All levels
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth” –Oscar Wilde
Maybe it’s because of the fairytales we all heard when we were kids – you know the ones with the grand masquerade balls…the fancy masks and ornate headdresses. Or perhaps it’s just because I like the idea of the alter ego….but whatever the reason, you have to admit that wearing a mask somehow makes you feel different, doesn’t it? A simple bit of costuming over your face and inwardly you feel a transformation…not just visually, but psychically. With this in mind I thought it might be fun to spend a bit of time transforming the ordinary lives of old photographs into their enigmatic alter egos. In this class we will take portraits of everyday people and using paint, clay, collage, and found objects we’ll create masks, helmets, cowls and headdresses. You will be transforming the mundane into something elegant, opulent and mysterious.
Some of the specific skills we’ll be tackling in this workshop include:
-how to use tools for taking found objects apart and what to do to reassemble them into elaborate masks and headdresses.
-paint techniques, choosing colors, mixing colors, and combining paint with collage and objects.
-collage techniques, including collaging over found objects.
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#3 WORKSHOP “Marquis de Scroll” with Andrea Matus
Skill Level: All levels
I was recently pondering what makes scrolls so intriguing. Was it the rich vast history they embody? Was it how they manage to bridge the artistic and the literary? Actually what I find to be the most fascinating aspect is its transformative nature. Totally unfurled the entire visual story can be revealed…or it can be revealed in smaller segments, making it so that a multitude of compositions are possible. Unfurl the only the top half and a totally different story is told than if the lower portion is revealed. In this class we are going to be working large! We’ll start off with a five-foot length of canvas (12” wide) and with our skillful addition of layers of paint, pastel and collage we’ll transform it into a visual narrative that can be deciphered and displayed like a scroll.
Some of the specific skills we’ll be tackling in this workshop include:
-using a compendium of collage material to formulate a visual narrative and a cohesive composition
-paint techniques, choosing colors, mixing colors, and combining paint with collage harmoniously
-collage techniques, including special tips for collaging unstretched canvas
-using layers of mixed media to seamlessly integrate collage items