Richard Notkin
Visit Richard in his Studio at the Blue Line Gallery:
11:00am-3:00pm November 4, November 8-10, November 15-16
10:00am-5:00pm November 11-13
Workshops:
Saturday, November 5 – Monday, November 7, 2011
10:00am-4:00pm
Ceramic Sculpture: A Plethora of Techniques
This workshop will cover many of the techniques developed by Richard Notkin over the course of a 40 plus year career as a ceramic sculptor. Technical areas to be covered in a series of demonstrations and illustrated lectures will include: small and large scale carving, basic model design for moldmaking, plaster moldmaking techniques, alteration of clay bodies, post-fire techniques, layering and texturing clays, trompe l’oeil surfaces, tiles and large scale mural techniques, etc.
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Friday, November 18 – Sunday, November 20, 2011
Notkin_The Last Syllable of Recorded Time
10:00am-4:00pm
Relief Tile Design and Production
This workshop will cover designing relief tiles in clay and other materials, making plaster press molds of these prototype tiles, and casting the tiles in multiples. Each student will work from his or her own design, and with the help of the instructor, will determine the materials used to make the original prototype tile. Variations on these techniques will be introduced, and Richard Notkin will give an illustrated lecture showing the range of his work in individual tiles and large scale relief tile murals, and the techniques used to make these murals.
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Michelle Ross (past event)
Saturday, June 11 – Monday, June 13, 2011
10:00am-4:00pm
The Artist’s Study: Preparing to Face the Blank Canvas
All levels welcome
In contemporary culture we are swamped with images and experiences that inspire and confound our practice. How then do we approach the blank canvas? How do we choose subjects that are meaningful to us? How do we transform our source material into our own authentic visual language? This workshop will focus on taking advantage of traditional techniques to generate the “artist’s study” to explore and understand our attraction to a subject. Developing the practice of “the study” gets us closer to what is unique about our vision and hand. Using intensive drawing and mixed media techniques we will focus on developing strategies for generating, organizing and utilizing the resource material used in your painting practice. The workshop will begin with slides and discussion of artists who blend traditional and contemporary practices, followed by an intensive material exploration through studio prompts with drawing and painting materials of your choice. Both representational and abstract approaches are encouraged.
In this workshop, open to all levels, we will explore the use of fast paced and intensive drawing and painting exercises to generate a variety of preliminary studies. Participants should expect to move through many images and processes in order to find a way to begin a new series of paintings or drawings. We will discuss of a range of approaches to the source material – from representational to abstract and in between.
Saturday Morning, June 11
- Participant introductions
- Slide lecture – The Practice of the Artists Study – Michelle
Lunch
Saturday Afternoon
The Importance of Play – Arturo Herrera
- Drawing intensive from photos:
- Exploring composition – format, cropping and exaggerating, value studies
- Mixed Media strategies for color choices from photos
- Light, shadow, structure, feeling
Sunday Morning, June 12
- Process Drawing in chosen format – 2 large studies
- Review – where is your interest and energy?
Lunch
Sunday Afternoon
- Field trip – observational studies
- Regroup / review – how to go further, combining or selecting studies, selecting finished supports
Monday Morning, June 13
- Planning a series from studies
- Considering scale, working to scale in preparation for canvas or other supports
- Gridding, eyeballing, projecting
Lunch
Monday Afternoon
- Beginning a series or continuing studies
- Wrap up and review
Saturday, June 18 – Monday, June 20, 2011
10:00am-4:00pm
Considering Beauty: Crafting a Philosophical Studio Practice
All levels, all media welcome
Why do all humans enjoy beauty? This three-day workshop will explore how your studio practice can be informed by the compelling set of topics surrounding the long history of cultural aesthetics. Together we will consider the nature of beauty in our work and lives. Do you have a conscious approach to beauty in making your work? How do you recognize it? When do our standards of beauty in art differ from our standards in everyday life? If perfection, coherence and unity are preconditions of the beautiful, can art work that doesn’t embody these attributes be considered beautiful? Can work that meets these criteria still fail to move us? When and how are issues that we initially perceive as painful, ugly or undesirable assimilated into our consciousness as beautiful? Is our capacity for perceiving beauty inherent or culturally conditioned?
On the first day a slide talk designed to help us visualize these ideas will be followed up by a group exchange of studio and life experiences. The workshop will culminate in two days of intensive experimentation with materials of your choice and a series of provocative studio prompts. An extensive bibliography will aid in our discovery.
This workshop is designed for those looking to refresh their studio practice. Participants will engage with painting, collage, assemblage, photography, or materials of their choice, in a guided exploration of contemporary art and the power of beauty in our lives. Exercises are meant to be experiments in enhancing individual art practices through studio risk taking, collaboration and topical readings.
Saturday Morning, June 18
Participant introductions – share current studio art practice and text
- Slide Lecture and Bibliography – Beauty in our Lives – Michelle
- Studio prompt – first or strongest memory of beauty – chance encounter with someone else’s memory
PlacerGROWN Lunch
Saturday Afternoon Field Trip to Stan Padilla’s Artist Sanctuary
Sunday Morning, June 19
- Slide Presentation and video– Unlovely but Undeniable – Wangetchi Mutu
- Studio prompt – respond, remake or re-new
Lunch
Sunday Afternoon
- Studio work time – response strategies
- Individual discussions on material choices, mixed media demos as needed
- Regroup / review
Monday Morning, June 20
- Strange Beauty – Simone Dinnerstein podcast
- Studio work time – individual discussions about projects, mixed media demos as needed
Lunch
Monday Afternoon
- Review projects / share new directions
Considering Beauty_Supply List
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