Winter 2010 Adult Workshops

These one or two-day programs, taught by visiting artists and Wayne Art Center faculty, allow our members and friends to study special art topics in depth.

Valentines for Teens & Adults

Make this Valentine’s Day memorable by creating your own Valentines for the special people in your life. Learn six different structures that can be used for a variety of occasions. We will create pop up hearts, secret compartments for messages, and even a box for a yummy piece of chocolate, just to name a few. Some structures will be made with the beautiful paste painted paper Mary Elizabeth is famous for. This class is fast paced with plenty of instructions and handouts……..and lots of fun! You will go home with six beautiful Valentine cards ready to present loved ones, and the inspiration and tools to make more!

Local Flavor: Painting at the Farmer’s Market

Capture the colors and bustle of the local Farmer's market. Emphasis will be on simplifying shapes, placing figures in the composition, painting alla prima in a charming indoor scene.

Perspective for the Artist

This one day workshop is designed to take the fear and mystery out of perspective challenges for the artist. Learn the principles of one and two point perspective, multiple vanishing points and eye-level problems like looking up or looking down a street or hill. Award winning watercolorist, Stewart White works in architectural rendering and design. His background gives him a keen understanding of line and proportion and the treatment of space and light as it pertains to the expression of the three dimensional world. Advance your craft by learning the techniques of conveying linear and atmospheric perspective.

Taking Measure: A Guide to Human Proportion

Figures help to animate our landscape paintings and our representations of domestic interiors. The focus of this workshop will be to help each student achieve a naturalistic depiction of the figure in a variety of situations with the use of guides to human proportions. We’ll look at ideal proportions as well as proportions for average people. Students will explore the human form using traditional guides to create convincing images of standing and walking figures. More contemporary methods will be used for depicting well-proportioned figures in more active poses. Active figures may include seated, prone, crouching, twisting and bending positions. This course is open to anyone, at any level. Students may work in any medium of their choice. Each day will conclude with a class critique.

Painting People from Photographs

Although slavish copying from photos is discouraged by most well-known portrait and figurative artists working today, many of these same artists use photographic references in the process of creating exceptional work. Through power-point presentation we will look at many examples of art painted from life and at least partially from photos. We will compare and evaluate a variety of reference photographs and discuss the pros and cons of different lighting. We will also have time for hands-on experimentation as we practice taking our own photographic references. Participants are encouraged to bring a digital camera with cable attachment or card-reader laptop computer.

Polychrome Terra Cotta: A New Look at an Ancient Art Form

Students will examine two traditional art forms in a new way: Terra Cotta as a medium for sculpture, and Egg Tempera for color work. Inspired by 3rd century BC Greek and 15th century Italian Renaissance, this workshop will explore Polychrome Terra Cotta with a 21st century sensibility. Each student will be encouraged to discover for themselves the beauty and pleasure that derives from painting translucent layers of tempera over earthy terracotta, breathing new life into older forms of self-expression. Note: sculptures need to be prepared and fired prior to the workshop. Freshly made tempera paints will be provided by the instructor.

Pinch Pottery

Clay is available for purchase Pinching out a ball of clay to create a vessel is perhaps one of the earliest techniques used by early man to make a pot. Although still incorporated into most hand building curriculums it is mostly used to familiarize beginners with feeling the clay and discovering its inherent qualities of elasticity, strength and expression.

This workshop is designed to dispel the notion that pinching is merely a beginner’s technique. We will explore numerous variations on the method including: creating larger forms, working intuitively, exploring asymmetrical forms, incorporating found objects, and burnishing and applying terra sigilatta. Jimmy Clark is a widely recognized ceramic artist and has been featured in numerous articles in Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter, and American Craft as well as many publications abroad. He has exhibited and taught workshops all over the world.

Springtime Plein Air

Emphasis will be on simplifying complex elements of the landscape, as well as conveying a sense of mood and atmosphere while working in on site. Demonstrations, individual attention, and plenty of paint time.

Works in Watercolor

Join Carolyn for two exciting days of intense painting instruction and fun! Each day will begin with a demonstration followed by one-on-one help and critique. Emphasis will be on achieving expressive, colorful floral paintings through the use of strong composition and design. We will explore various approaches to applying paint to paper by direct painting, wet-in-wet, and glazing. Our inspiration will be a variety of roses and spring flowers. Please feel free to bring your own favorite flowers.

Pit Fired Ceramics

$25 Material Fee
Students will participate in a hands-on pit (or sawdust) firing in which pottery will be buried in sawdust and smoldered overnight. Students will prepare their pottery for the pit-fire employing a variety of techniques that yield distinct mark-making on the finished pieces. Techniques employed will including the use of sulfates, masking, clay-wrapping, and the use of copper wire wraps. Students should bring bisque pottery. A terra sigilatta or burnished surface is desired but not necessary.

Painting in Plein Air

This three day workshop is geared toward the beginning through advanced art student who is seeking to build skills in painting outdoors. Demonstrations by Mr. Jennings will offer the student an in depth look at the artist's thought process and technical applications that are needed to become proficient in plein air painting. Open discussions of art concepts and practical applications will help the students gain the necessary fundamentals needed to develop their talents in this exciting art genre.

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