CREATIVE BOOKMAKING USING ALTERED OBJECTS (MM800)
Cindy Young Skaalrud
Thu-Sat, June 12-14, 9am-3pm
Tuition: Member $265 / Non-Member $290 plus materials fee
Open to All Levels
Take your bookmaking down the road less traveled; this is bookmaking for the creatively quirky. Use unexpected, non-traditional materials to create or embellish books. Alter books, or alter objects into books: musical instruments, gourds, boxes, packaging and wrappers, agates, plexi-glass...the possibilities are endless. Class focus is on breaking boundaries. Beginners and experienced folks are welcome. Supply List
Cindy Skaalrud is an active artist, life-long learner and transformative educator. She is adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, and teaches “Learning, Creativity and Self-discovery” in their new Bachelor of Integrative Studies program. Although she works in water media, she often ventures into other disciplines to integrate her inner world concepts with natural world imagery. For her, art is a tool to express emotion and to escape to a simpler world. www.mnartists.org/Cindy_Skaalrud
MIXED MEDIA IN PAINTING & COLLAGE (MM801)
Bonnie Cutts
M-W, June 16-18, 9am-4pm
Tuition: Member $305 / Non-Member $330 plus materials fee
Open to All Levels
Three days loaded with fun, energy, exploration, and self-discovery. Create artworks by manipulating colorful torn or cut painted surfaces into a new painting, responding to the unplanned interplay of colors and building upon those. Begin by adding texture to your substrate with gels and/or molding pastes, then explore using gel transfer skins as well as direct transfer images into a variety of wet acrylic materials. Drawing materials, such as oil pastels, graphite and colored pencils, and watercolor crayons will work their way into your artwork. All paints, gels and mediums will be provided for the workshop. Written instruction sheets covering techniques will be available. Supply List
Minnesota artist Bonnie Cutts graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BFA in Studio Arts. She has exhibited her drawings and paintings professionally for over 25 years, and her work is included in numerous private and corporate collections nationwide. As a part of the Golden Working Artist program she has been lecturing and teaching workshops about acrylic paints, gels and mediums. Bonnie exhibits her work at Opening Night Gallery in Minneapolis where she has had solo exhibits. www.bonniecutts.com.
EXPERIMENTING WITH WATERSOLUBLE MEDIA (MM802)
Sara Merkel Jacobs
Thu-Sat, June 19-21, 9am-3pm
Tuition: Member $265 / Non-Member $290
Open to All Levels
In this class we will use watersoluble media (watercolor, egg tempera, acrylic, watercolor pencils, etc.) with an assortment of other media (pencil, charcoal, pastels, pen, for example) to produce compositions that show a range of texture, color, and depth. Whether you are experienced in mixed media or looking to try something new, this will be a great opportunity to push your work in a new direction and expand your technical knowledge of materials. Supply List
Sara Merkel Jacobs is an award-winning oil painter and mixed media artist. Her expressive and ephemeral landscapes combined with feminine pattern address the female as nature, as well as discuss the human condition. Sara received her MFA degree from UW-Madison and has studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design and in Florence, Italy. Her work is frequently exhibited internationally and is held in public and private collections nationally.
BEYOND TRANSPARENT: CREATIVE EXPLORATIONS (WC807)
Donna Brown
M-W, June 23-25, 9am-3pm
Tuition: Member $265 / Non-Member $290
Advanced Beginner
Do you love the immediacy of transparent watercolor but wish you could change something when it goes wrong? In this workshop we WILL change it! We will use the no-no’s of transparency—black and white and other opaques. Rip it up, collage it, glue it, gesso it, have fun with something you would have thrown out, go for broke. Recycle the “mistake” into a new work of art while gaining creative insight. A fee of approximately $10 will be payable to instructor for materials, so that you do not have to invest in these things until you have a chance to play with them—just bring your regular transparent paints and tools.
Donna Brown is a professional artist living in Door County. Although primarily self-taught, she studied printmaking and painting at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and the Printmaking Center at the College of Santa Fe. She has Signature membership in Watercolor West and the Northwest Watercolor Society. Her work has been juried into numerous national exhibitions and is included in watercolor books Splash 5 and The Artistic Touch 2. Her White Barn Gallery is located in Baileys Harbor.
ALTERED BOOK JOURNALS (MM803)
Cynthia Wolfe
Thu-Sat, June 26-28, 9am-3pm
Tuition: Member $265 / Non-Member $290
Open to All Levels
The inventive format of altered books will be the springboard for a mixed media collage journal. Our focus will be utilizing personal imagery to record past, present, and future aspects of our lives. Pages in a cast-off book will be fashioned using a variety of techniques including image transfers, hand-crafted stamps, altered photos and more. Several pages and an embellished cover will be completed in class and the entire book will be prepared for further illumination. This is an imaginative, stimulating workshop for all levels of experience. Supply List
Cynthia Wolfe studied art at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since moving to Door County in 1989, Cindy has exhibited her jewelry, collages and assemblages in numerous local galleries. She gave artist demonstrations at The Gift to Be Simple in Fish Creek, encouraging guests to explore their own special talent. She has yet to find a medium she doesn’t love, but collage and assemblage allow her to fully express her inner vision. Her work is available at The Fairfield Gallery store in Sturgeon Bay.
PAPERMAKING AND MIXED MEDIA COLLAGE (MM804)
Dara Larson
M-W, June 30-July 2, 9am-3pm
Tuition: Member $265 / Non-Member $290 plus materials fee
Open to All Levels
Explore the use of pulp, natural materials and mixed media to create small sculptural vessels and containers. You will learn about the three-dimensional possibilities of traditional sheets of paper and folding constructions as well as the use of casting paper into molds. Apply many mixed media materials to the surfaces of your paper constructions or add media to pulp to create a variety of colors and textures. Participants should bring their favorite art media, papers, flower petals, fibers, wire or threads and drawing and painting materials.
Dara Larson is an Associate Professor of Art at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI. She is the Chairperson of the Aesthetic Engagement Department and she teaches courses in international studies, drawing, papermaking, artist’s books and printmaking. Larson works as a professional artist and has displayed her work internationally. She creates drawings, installation art and artist’s books in mixed media. www.daralarsonfineart.com
ARTIST’S JOURNALS: YOUR STORY IN PICTURES AND WORDS (MM805)
Eric Madsen
M-W, July 7-9, 9am-Noon
Tuition: Member $130 / Non-Member $155
Open to All Levels
Regarding artist’s sketchbooks, it is not necessarily the individual’s artistic ability, the choice of art materials used, or even the actual physical properties of the book itself that are important; but rather, it is the realization that this person took a moment to capture an observation, a thought or an experience in this format, and that they did it on a regular basis. The visual collection of these moments gives the sketchbook journal a timeless power. Stressing the combination of drawing and writing, and adding an element of ephemera, such as a photograph, ticket or receipt, this workshop will illustrate a way to creatively record your observations, thoughts and experiences. Supply List
During a 35-year graphic design career in Minneapolis, Eric Madsen has been a past Board member of the AIGA, the professional association for design, and also served as a Trustee and as an adjunct faculty member of the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for 13 years. He was awarded the Gerhard Miller Award of Excellence by the Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay. Eric was born and raised in Texas and attended the University of Houston.
PAINTING ARCHEOLOGY: THE ABSTRACT PAINTING OF PLACE (PD834)
Patricia Wheeler
M-F, July 28-Aug 1, 9am-4pm
Tuition: Member $425 / Non-Member $450 plus materials fee
Intermediate
Re-establish connections to your past by integrating personal memories with an abstract, archeological vocabulary. Explore the physicality of texture, color and surface using the concept of palimpsest, where remnants of earlier, imperfectly erased markings are revealed. Mix formal elements of painting with symbols and stories as subtext to create rich surfaces. Build and excavate, stencil and cut into paintings, and begin to understand the layering and distressing of ancient surfaces transformed by your memory of place. Students should bring a solid knowledge of design.
Patricia Wheeler is a painter who also works with mixed media, non-traditional books and video projection. The common element in all of her work is some form of narrative—whether excerpted, stenciled, sewn, hand-written or embedded, it is ever present. She has exhibited in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Santa Fe and Maine. She has taught at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Oregon College of Art and Craft and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. She lives and works in Deer Isle, Maine.
ART BY ACCIDENT (MM806)
J. Fred Woell
Thu-Fri, July 31 to Aug 1 , 9am-4pm
Tuition: Member $225 / Non-Member $250
Open to All Levels
Using a wooden box as the platform, students will create an assemblage of found objects. We will focus on the role of serendipity and chance in the act of creating and how it impacts the artists own attitude and outlook towards their work. Instruction will be given in methods of cold connections that are important to successfully combine mixed media, 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional creations. Supply List
J. Fred Woell is a studio artist living on Deer Isle, Maine. He received an MFA in metalwork at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and an MFA in sculpture at Cranbrook Academy of Art. His metalwork and sculpture have been exhibited internationally for the past 40+ years. He has received three NEA Grants, received an American Crafts Council Award, was included in the Smithsonian “Archives of American Art,” The Society of Arts and Crafts’ 2004 Artist Award, and his work is in prominent private and museum collections, including the American Crafts Museum, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts.
EXPLORING DESIGN: CREATIVE CHOICES (MM807)
Nita Leland
M-W, Aug 11-13, 9am-4pm
Tuition: Member $350 / Non-Member $375
Open to All Levels
Design is the secret to more powerful artwork. Instead of struggling to make a painting work, learn how to use design principles and color organization to create more expressive art. In this workshop you will try new design ideas in your current media and experiment with monotype, collage and mixed media in a relaxed and fun atmosphere with no competition or pressure to perform. Every day begins with a short demo and ends with a class critique. Activities are based on The New Creative Artist, Exploring Color and Creative Collage Techniques. Supply List
To Nita Leland, art is a synthesis of personal feelings, the subject or colors that inspire, and the materials and techniques. Her goal is to help other artists achieve their goals, and to provide a fun and comfortable environment where students can advance their individual creative skills within an energetic community of artists. She has written many books, including Exploring Color, The Creative Artist, and finally, Creative Collage Techniques; all bestsellers in art instruction. She has invented a color wheel and teaches national workshops, writes magazine articles and makes videos on color.
CELEBRATING PLANTS IN PRINTS: MONOTYPE WORKSHOP (PD847)
Barbara Manger
M-W, Aug 18-20, 9am-3pm
Tuition: Member $265 / Non-Member $290
Open to All Levels 
Use almost any natural material—dried leaves, ferns, grasses—and combine these with other flat materials—lace, mesh from onion bags, ribbons, string, cords, plastic, open work fabrics—to create luminous prints! This simple printmaking process offers the experienced and beginning artist alike an alternative to technical and laborious printmaking methods. Students will enjoy immediate expression, exploration and guaranteed satisfaction. You can produce rich color, spatial complexity and achieve results that are surprising in their beauty. We will experiment with multiple runs through the press, cognates (additional prints produced from only one inking of the plate) and direct painting. There are countless possibilities for discovery and creativity.
Artist, printmaker Barbara Manger works in her studio overlooking the Milwaukee River in Grafton, Wisconsin. This vantage point, plus a life lived near lakes and rivers and her love of paddling kayaks and canoes, inform her unique prints she calls “riverworks.” Barbara holds a BA in Art from Beloit College and an MFA in Painting/Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She has 20 years of experience teaching drawing and printmaking at colleges and universities. She is the founder and past president of Artists Working in Education, a non-profit organization providing meaningful art experiences for children in schools. Her work is represented by the Peltz Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.