This class will focus on confessional style poetry. We will look at examples for inspiration as well as write in a workshop style class.Poets like Sylvia Plath will be helpful in guiding us to look inward and explore some themes for our writing, including personal growth, grief, beauty, and the spiritual. Be prepared to leave […]
read moreWhether you are interested in getting started telling your story in memoir, fiction, or some twisted combination of the two, this generative workshop will serve as a gentle and fun way to push yourself creatively. Through prompts, mini-lectures, readings, supportive discussion, and maybe even prestidigitation, students will work towards realizing their prose visions.
read moreExplore short story fiction writing by studying narrative craft elements like story, plot, character, scene, structure, archetypal patterns and dialogue. We’ll examine professionally published pieces and your own work. By the end of the course, you’ll be ready to begin a story based on a word or an idea. You’ll also understand how to evaluate […]
read moreThomas Larson writes that “memoir is most successful when it is not the ‘story of a life,’ but a focused part of that life—a dozen summers spent working on a grandfather’s farm, a long relationship with a dying relative, the first year of law school.” You’ll work with writing prompts and timed writing exercises, and […]
read moreWhy do folktales and fairy tales have such a remarkable staying power? Author and mythographer Marina Warner suggests that it’s “because the meanings they generate are themselves magical shape-shifters, dancing to the needs of their audience.” In this class, we’ll read and discuss fairy tales, both traditional and revisionist. We will then reimagine them, as […]
read moreDive deep into the realm of images to discover new possibilities for your poetry and prose. In this workshop, we'll tap into memory, imagination, description, observation, and discovery, through a number of playful, strange, and thought-provoking writing activities. These exercises will inspire new work and offer fresh ways of looking at your works in progress, […]
read moreDream is a language that is already deeply metaphorical. Discover how to harness these sorts of images in order to create poems alive in their sense of wonder. Students will spend time working on the dream logic of their own work after investigating and inhabiting the dream poems of other poets.
read moreMake some noise and try your hand at transfroming wood into a rattle. Over this 2 day course, we will explore how to mill, saw, carve, smooth and otherwise shape wood into functional, beautiful noisemaking pieces by using the bandsaw, jointer, planer, drill press and carving tools. Our rattles/noisemakers will be filled with beans, rice […]
read moreHave you ever wanted to learn the art of woodburning? In this class, we will teach you the basics of pyrography – from understanding the different techniques and skills involved to creating your own unique designs. At the end of this course, you'll go home with a wood-burned project of your own design, and a […]
read moreLearn woodworking basics, including milling, basic joinery, and finishing, as we design and create your own box(es).
read moreGet introduced to the basics of woodworking as it pertains to picture framing. You'll learn woodworking techniques like measuring and calculating dimensions, cutting and joining molding, reinforcing a miter joint with splines, and basic woodshop safety. We'll also cover the framing process including matting art or floating with spacers, putting together the frame, and installing […]
read moreTransform rough-cut lumber into a modern stool. You’ll learn to use a table saw, planer, router and a variety of hand tools.
read moreThis research driven course will investigate the endless possibilities of working with a copper plate using Lascaux Etching Hard and Soft Resist, non-toxic ground. Students will investigate hard and soft ground, and dry-point. You will develop one plate and learn to print using the etching press. Printmaking is an evolving field and we constantly strive […]
read moreTake your letterpress skills to the next level with multiple-color prints. We'll use the Platen and Challenge presses and explore other advanced typesetting methods. You’ll receive lots of guidance as you work on your own individual projects.
read moreCreate your own set of handmade books. We’ll familiarize ourselves with bookmaking tools and techniques and learn several bookbinding techniques. You’ll also learn how to customize your books to be journals or sketchbooks. Plan to complete the class with a saddle stitched book, and a stab bound book.
read moreLearn how to create multicolor screen prints of your own design. This class will expand on the registration techniques learnt in intro classes, focusing on adding layers/colors to create more complex images. We will look at how to break apart an image by hand and in the computer. Color theory will be discussed through the […]
read moreIn this class, we’ll focus on carving and drawing techniques to help you create compelling portrait prints. We’ll practice white line and black line approaches to hatching and crosshatching to create subtle gradients of tone. Each student can expect to leave class with two small editions of woodcut portraits!
read moreThis course will explore linocut printmaking by defining ‘home’ and creating a print of it. This could be a building, a person, a pet, a park, anywhere that evokes the feeling of home. Sophie will be bringing in examples of her own work and portraits of her ‘home’ to share with the class. This course […]
read moreExplore woodblock printing, humanity’s oldest printmaking process. You’ll learn to design and transfer an image onto the block and cut the block to produce a relief image. Then, we’ll cover how to transfer the image to paper, both printing it by hand and by press.
read moreThis class is an intro to several print practices, including relief print, monoprint, and kitchen Lithography. Students will learn the basics of each process, along with basic eco-art concepts like climate justice, multispecies thinking, and how art can be used in environmental activism. They will then be able to work with as many techniques as […]
read moreExplore screenprinting, a process that allows artists to create hand-printed multiples of the same image. Translate your graphic design, photography, or drawings into vibrant, layered compositions. Learn a variety of ways to create screens that can be used to print onto fabric, paper or wood.
read moreExplore the letterpress printing process, which dates back to the 15th century and the time of Gutenberg. We’ll cover typesetting, inking, printing and paper selection as you become familiar with the terminology and VisArts’ presses. You’ll have time to create multiple pieces and trade work with classmates, which will help you build a small collection […]
read moreExplore screenprinting, a process that allows artists to create hand-printed multiples of the same image. Translate your graphic design, photography, or drawings into vibrant, layered compositions. Learn a variety of ways to create screens that can be used to print onto fabric, paper or wood.
read moreStudents will learn the anthotype process, in which we print photographs using extracts from flowers and plants. Extracts will be provided and students will have the opportunity to forage and bring in their own materials if you like. We'll be printing on fabrics and paper both from transparency negatives and actual plant specimens.
read moreGum printing (aka Gum bichromate) is a painterly photographic pigment process stretching back to the 19th century. This class will introduce multi-layer contact printing techniques that utilize easily accessible analog and digital photographic technologies. Learn how to make your own digital negatives and safely prepare chemicals used. We'll discuss color theory and produce beautiful color […]
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