BIRDS, BEES AND BUTTERFLIES WITH GEOFFREY GORMAN

June 3-5, 2024 - Port Orchard, WA

Take flight while learning how to build a variety of curious winged creatures with Geoffrey Gorman

During this workshop with Geoffrey, be prepared to let go of conventional building techniques and traditional methods of designing while learning how to build a flying creature.

Using a wide variety of cast off materials and unorthodox construction, we will design, assemble and bring to life a curious menagerie. We will learn how to make bodies, legs and wings from an assortment of materials including wood, wire, bike tires and odds and ends.

Each participant will be given a wooden bird form to create their first creature. For the rest of the workshop anything goes, let your imagination go wild!

TECHNIQUES

• Hand tool use

• Basic woodworking

• Unusual construction techniques

• Carving wood

MATERIALS

• Wood

• Lost and found stuff

• ephemera

OUTCOMES

• A new approach to the creative practice

• Working intuitively with mixed media

• Expanding visual vocabulary

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

This three-day workshop encourages students to experiment with innovative and intuitive ways of creating a variety of flying creatures using wood and found and recycled materials. Students are invited to think about subjects, shapes and forms that hold particular interest and bring these ideas to the workshop for realization.

Using unusual techniques developed by Geoffrey to overcome construction challenges, each student will complete a variety of creatures, something they want to create. This class is perfect for beginners seeking an introduction to creating curious objects as well as intermediate and advanced students wishing to reach the next level and break out of their comfort zone. 

This Escapes Includes

• Three days of lessons from Geoffrey

• Three lunches and one dinner

• Carved bird

• Some supplies

The cost of this workshop is $800. A non-refundable $500 deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $300 is due February 3, 2024.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area. A list of accommodations will be provided if requested

Daily Schedule

Monday, June 3. Meet in the studio at 9:30 for introductions and Geoffrey will go over the workshop schedule. Stop for lunch, then continue working until 4:30-5.

Tuesday, June 4. Meet in the studio at 9:30, break for lunch, continue working, then we will stop for appetizers and dinner.

Wednesday, June 5. Meet in the studio at 9:30, finish up projects stopping for lunch. Finish up any last minute additions to your bird(s), then we will clean up and have a Show ‘N Tell. The workshop is over at 4:30

We will Provide

• Power drills

• wood blocks

• Drill bits

• Hammers

• Screwdrivers

• Bicycle tires and inner tubes

• Gel medium

• Krylon Clear spray

Artists Supply List

• 7” coping saw

• Fiskars

• Two 5” threaded rods with nuts and washers

• Old tin cans

• Set of carving tools

• Utility knife

  
  

Kathie Vezzani is a mixed media artist who loves anything rusty. She rusts, paints and uses encaustic and cold wax in her practice. She also creates mixed media sculptures. In her spare time, she organizes workshops for other artists. She will be hosting this workshop in her new studio.

OUT OF CONTEXT - OBJECTS REDEFINED

Mixed Media Assemblage Relief Wall Sculpture with Gary and MaryAnn Carlson

July 11-14, 2024, Port Orchard, WA

Using found objects, students will learn how to create and construct a non-objective or highly abstracted relief sculpture to hang on the wall in this 4-day workshop in Port Orchard, WA. Join Minnesota artist Gary Carlson for what will be an informative assemblage workshop. He will be assisted by his wife, Mary Ann, a fellow assemblage artist.

You will learn:

• Compositional methods and critique skills to unify your composition

• The appropriate products and methods of attaching a wide variety of materials

• Material techniques using Apoxie Sculpt, Sculpt Noveau Metal Coatings paint and patinas

• Appropriate tools for specific materials, rivets, saw, cutof saws, grinders, etc.

• Appropriate display hardware for asymmetric physical weight balance of artwork

We will meet each day at 9:30 am, stopping for lunch provided by our host, Kathie Vezzani, and ending the day around 4:30 pm. Dinner will be provided one evening.

On the last day, we will work until we break for lunch, then we will finish any last minute details before cleaning up and sharing our work in a Show ‘N tell.

Only one spot left!

This Art Escape includes

• Four days instruction by Gary Carlson

• Four lunches, one dinner

• Lots of materials

The cost of this workshop is $900. A non-refundable $500 deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $400 is due April 11, 2024.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area. A list of accommodations will be provided if requested.

Student Supply List

• Apron

• Pencils, sharpies

• Scissors,

• E-6000 glue,

• JB weld kwik glue

• Bring ideas and found object materials that have similar elements such as color, shape, line for your wall sculpture.

These are just ideas. You do not need to collect all of this:

• vintage wood typesetter’s letters or typewriter keys or metal letter stencils

• wood blocks, letters

• vintage clock insides, watch parts

• various sized wood balls, pool balls, beads, ¼”- 1½”

• croquet balls, mallets or sticks

• small decorative brass horns

• vintage embroidery hoops or circles, old tin lids

• vintage wood hangers or any wood or metal arc

• interesting sticks or wood shapes - objects

• small hollow, plastic bird forms

• small rusted metal sheet material that has some color left,

• small metal lamp parts, metal leaves, brass or chrome metal bits

• old rulers, wood metal or cloth

• old paintbrushes,

• small vintage tools

• small antlers or horns

• copper or aluminum tape

We Will Provide

• 12” edge glued wood round

• 16”x 16” x 1/4” plywood

• Primer paint, water-based

• Metal Coatings brass and iron paint

• Metal coatings patinas, tiffany green and tan

• Clear acrylic Matt spray

• Jig saw (metal and wood blades), small pull saw, coping saw

• Drill and bits

• Hammers

• Safety goggles

• Metal shears

• Metal files

• Wood rasps

• Brad nailer

• Escutcheon pins

• Nail set

• Center punch

• Wood scraps

• Wire and wire cutters

• Dremel and metal cut off discs

• Metal cutoff saw

• Clamps

• Nails and screws

• Bits of wood and tin that you may want to use

• Acrylic paint

• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

• Sponge brushes

• Paint brushes

• Wood glue

• Plastic gloves

• Sandpaper, emery paper, steel wool various textures

• Rivet gun and aluminum rivets

Minnesota artist Gary Carlson is a sculptor and retired art teacher. He has worked as an art educator, a graphic artist, a portrait photographer, and painter. Since retiring from teaching, his worked has been primarily creating found object assemblage sculptures.

Throughout his career, he has exhibited in galleries, art centers, art competitions and art fairs in and around the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, as well as the Midwest. Gary’s work is in the collection of the East Central Regional Arts Council and he has received numerous awards.

MaryAnn Carlson also is a former art educator. She has worked as a jeweler, a picture framer, a gallery director, an art administrator, a small business owner, a graphic artist, a digital photo editor, a painter and a sculptor. She has exhibited in galleries, art centers, art competitions in and around the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. Her work is in the collection of The East Central Regional Arts Council and she has received numerous awards for her unique sculptures..

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.

TAKE THE ORDINARY AND MAKE IT EXTRAORDINARY WITH LESLIE WEST

July 26-28, 2024

Port Orchard, WA

Artist Leslie West’s last class was such a huge success that we asked her to return, but this time the workshop will be in the Bellissima Art Studio where you will see many of her influences in the design of this beautiful art space. As a former stager, she has an eye for clean, calm designs, and it is reflected in her art.

We were overwhelmed by the number of projects Leslie had ready for us as we waxed, dipped, inscribed and assembled.

In this workshop you will learn how to view ordinary objects and change them into treasures using encaustic, plaster, paper, and assemblages.

ITINERARY

Each day we will meet in the studio at 9:30, break for lunch, then return to the studio and create until 4:30. We will share dinner together Saturday night. On our last day, after lunch we will finish any last minute touches, then clean up and share our work.

Student Supply List

• apron

• scissors

• ruler

• small tins like Altoids

• any personal ephemera

Leslie is still cleaning out her studio so I’m sure that we will be benefiting from this purge. So many possibilities!

Shown below are some of the creations made in last year’s class by students.

This Art Escape includes

• Three days instruction from Leslie

• A beautiful studio to create in

• 3 lunches, 1 dinner

• Some supplies, encaustic wax, brushes, torches

• New tribe

The cost for this Escape is $700. A $400 nonrefundable deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $300 dollars is due May 26, 2024.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area.

Leslie West is a mixed media artist who creates assemblages and paints with both cold wax and encaustic wax. She has exhibited in Seattle and surrounding areas where she also had a successful staging business. She is a world traveler and her adventures have influenced her aesthetics. She lived in Seattle for many years and now lives in Atlanta with her husband.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.

Los Cerillos, New Mexico

September 11-14, 2024

Get your best face on with Bill Skrips in his Los Cerillos studio September 11-14, 2024. In this workshop, you will have an opportunity to make masks from different substrates--heavy cardboard, wood and more.

We will use paint, glue, found objects, cutting, bending, and carving, plus your imagination to create some fantastic masks. This is a workshop for self-starters - instructions will be heavy on how-tos, as opposed to “what.” Come with your own great ideas and the instructor will help you facilitate them -engineering, application, and “do-ability” will be stressed.

START collecting images of inspiring masks now not only for inspiration, but also to share with your fellow students (oh yeah…and with Bill, your trusty instructor) .

Look at the mask cultures of Africa, Mexico, Japan, Papua, Europe, Native American, Nepalese, and Esquimaux origins

Patience - Bill hopes to balance drying times with the need for folks to keep working which is not always the easiest thing (Bill’s solution has always been to work on up to 12 projects at once, but you will not have quite that amount of latitude).

Our projects - Some starting concepts. It’s up to you to bring them to life.

Memory (jug) Mask - a memory mask, like the old (large) bottles you might see in an antique store. These have doodads, odd bits, broken pottery, old pins, costume jewelry, etc. that could not/ would not be thrown away by the makers, all pasted or attached in a gumbo of paint and objects

Objects for a memory mask. Images/trinkets/bits and pieces that might help you facilitate the ideas that follow…

The Sin-Eater Mask - a mask to help you expiate (personal) bad stuff or perhaps your close-to-angelic- ness (Bill will leave this up to you and your conscience). He is riffing off their local tradition of Zozbra.

Interpretive Mask - This one would be a portrait of a loved (or hated) one who you know (or think you know) pretty well.

This Escape Includes:

• Four days of instruction with Bill

• Some Materials

• Other materials will be for sale for your use

• Use of tools on site (limited)

• Welcome Dinner

• Four lunches

• Carving Tools

Price: $1,300, limited to 8.

A $600 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration with the final payment due June 1, 2024

Price does not include airfare to/from New Mexico, lodging or alcoholic beverages. There are hotels, VRBOs and B&Bs nearby. Santa Fe is 36 minutes from Los Cerrillos.

Supply List

Please bring tools/materials you are happy to work with. The memory mask and the self portrait mask will reflect YOU...the materials you bring to the class should have meaning to you and yours. Bill has paint, glue and tools for constructing. There are limited materials available to adorn your mask creations.

Kathie’s suggestions -

• scissors

• exacto knife or similar

• small hammer

• needle nose pliers

• sketchbook

• couple of screw drivers

• Small cutting pad

• Bill has paint brushes and some paint. If you have a specific palette in mind, bring paint.

• If you know that you may need epoxy, bring that. I use Devon’s 2-part epoxy

Itinerary

Day 1 September 11. Meet in the studio at 9:30 a.m. Bill will go over the workshop schedule. We will work until lunch, then resume creating. We will stop around 4:30 and then go out to dinner.

Day 2&3 September 12-13. Meet in the studio at 9:30, lunch and then end the day around 4:30.

Day 4. September 14. Meet in the studio at 9:30. Stop for lunch. Finish working, then clean up around 3:30, and have our Show ‘N Tell. The workshop will be over at 4:00.

Personality Mask - a type of mirror-that is, a mask to reflect an aspect of yourself, possibly with paint or sort of  a collage with attached paper, cloth or whatever you can think of… (old letters, maps, clothing patterns, tissue paper, bits of fabric, etc.)

Spirit Mask - A Spirit, either a muse or a monster or a favorite animal. Here the “personality” of the being would dictate how the mask “reads.”

Los Cerrillos artist Bill Skrips has always collected things or their constituent parts, treating them as raw material for his sculptural work. Sometimes mysterious in origin or purpose, sometimes more obvious, these bits and pieces tend to spur him on creatively. Added handmade components bring the sculptures to completion—including carved, welded, painted and otherwise constructed bits. In the work, he attempts a union between the humorous and the dark, which represents his outlook on life. Using the influence of Southern folk art as a springboard, his work often approaches the absurd and sometimes the surreal. In incorporating found, “dirty” materials, the grittiness of the work neutralizes its playfulness. His artwork rarely draws conclusions or edifies—he finds posing questions more satisfying.

WHEELING AND SITTING CREATURES WITH MORGAN BRIG

September 26-29, 2024

Port Orchard, WA

Back by popular demand is another whimsical workshop with Morgan Brig. We just can’t get enough of her amazing creatures.

Itinerary

Day 1, Thursday, September 26

We will meet in the studio at 9:30 am for introductions and Morgan will provide a class overview with samples. She will also demonstrate foil, masking tape, and Apoxie Sculpt.

We will break for lunch which will be provided around 1:00. Afterward, we will continue working on our sculptures. At the end of the day, Morgan will demonstrate painting and dry brush. Class is over at 4:30. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Day 2 - Friday, September 27

Meet in the studio at 9:30 am when Morgan will demonstrate torching, annealing, and fitting metal pieces to clay bodies, brazing ears, wings, antlers, and cones. Safety will be discussed.

We will break for lunch at 1:00 and then afterward, Morgan will demonstrate how to cut pipe, and make legs/arms. Class is over at 4:30. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Day 3 - Saturday, September 28

We begin at 9:30 am with demos on scraffito, fabric eyes, attaching parts to figures and attaching wheels.

Lunch will be at 1:00 and afterward, Morgan will demonstrate how to make charms, jump rings and wire hangers.

Dinner will be provided this evening.

Day 4 - Sunday September 29

We start at 9:30 am as we continue working and refining our sculptures. Lunch will be at 1:00, then you will make any last minute changes to your pieces. At 3:00, we will clean up and have our Show “N tell. Class is over at 4:00.

This workshop is full. A waitlist has been started.

This Art Escape includes

• Four days instruction from Morgan

• A beautiful studio to create in

• 4 lunches, 1 dinner

• Some supplies

• New art tribe

The cost for this Escape is $950. A $500 nonrefundable deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $450 dollars is due May 14, 2024. Once registered, you will be sent information for payment.

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area. A list of accommodations will be provided if requested

We will Provide

• copper kit

• torches

• firing stations

• brazing rod

• acrylic paint

• drills, drill bits

• grinder

• tin snips

• metal and wood forming blocks

• forming hammers

• elmers glue

• epoxy glue

• nitrile gloves

Student Supply List

• Aves Apoxie Sculpt, white, size 4 lbs.

• Clay tools

• Box or at least 20 Phillips flat head wood screws #4, 1/2”

• Small Phillips screwdriver

• Rag

• Scissors

• Small and medium paint brushes

• Several sheets of copy paper for pattern cutting

• Pencil

• Exacto knife with extra blades

• Blue or black extra fine point Sharpie pen

• Needle nose pliers

• Found objects: anything you love to be used as a body part or for decoration. Morgan likes wood forms (old wood net floats), large fishing flashes, dice, etc.

• Small ruler

• Scotch tape

• Beads, charms, stringing wire or string

Optional

• 4 toy wheels, approximately 2 3/8” diameter

• vintage casters

• plain jute twine

• glass eyes

• round nose pliers

• fur, feathers

• tin snips

• wire cutters

• colorful interesting string - small quantities

• Threaded rod with nuts

Morgan Brig is a mixed media artist from Vashon Island, WA. She loves to capture emotion in her sculptures using multiple layers of media that bring the subtlety of expression to each character. Her layers include etched metal detail, enamel patinas and found objects that suggest the old and familiar, but ask to be viewed in a new light. She often uses language and occult symbols in her designs to support her belief that there is always guidance to be found from external and internal sources as we go through life. There also is playfulness in her design inspired by her love of old metal and tin toys and her desire to lay humor next to truth or fear in her work.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.