WITH KEN KEWLEY



September 19 – 23, 2024

Thursday – Monday

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND. This is a workshop for getting back to what we already knew. Back to those wooden blocks that we could pile up into worlds that thrilled and surprised us. Many of us were taught that representation came before abstraction. That we start with something, then we abstract it. This is backwards. Abstraction must come first. Otherwise, there is nothing to build representation with. No wooden blocks. We may ask ourselves, what is wrong with our work? What did we not get? 

One day (spread over several years) I realized what I had left out. It was the abstraction. I had left the art out. No matter how well the subject is observed, it is the shapes within things, the arrangement of the light and dark shapes, that must make up the representation.



Collage is the quickest way to make shapes. I think of collage as painting with dry paint. In the workshop we start by arranging shapes without subject. Then we will work from our own work, and each other’s, finding ways to shift the shapes to strengthen our representations. Lunch is included in the workshop fee.

WITH VERA ILIATOVA

Five meetings

TUESDAYS

July 9

July 16

July 23

July 30

August 6

2024

1-4:30 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Taking inspiration from the history of cinema and painting, students will examine the parallels between these two media. How can color, value, composition, and texture be used to create a narrative progression and a passage of time? What is narrative and can it be expressed abstractly as well as literally? Each week we will look deeply into these concepts across a selection of contemporary and historical paintings and films. Thematically, we will focus on still life, landscape, and interior as the starting points for creating a narrative. Students will be given a prompt to experiment with in their own paintings and drawings. Students will develop technical and conceptual skills that are crucial to the painting process. The course will include image presentations, film clips, and recommendations for further film viewing and reading. Meetings will be held on Zoom and work will be shared on the Padlet platform. 

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

June 27-29, 2024

10 a.m.-4 p.m. eastern time

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND!

In this intensive three-day workshop, we will work from a still life setup, with handmade Italian earth paints. Lucy will share her joy of 'la materia' — the material of paint itself, and the grinding process of oil paint. The limited earth palette and use of palette knives will help participants improve their mixing of tones, and consider more carefully the relationships of colors. We will make several quick studies and one longer one; daily critiques will include art historical references. We will focus specifically on Cezanne's still life paintings in this class, sketching from his work as well as creating our own paintings. Some pigment will be supplied and lunch will be provided each day. Workshop fee includes lunches.

WITH ELIZABETH O'REILLY

Four meetings

JUNE 20-23, 2024

Thursday-Sunday

Two meetings per day: 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Using one object of your choice, you’ll receive 100 prompts for ways to paint it in watercolor or the water-based medium of your choice. Some prompts will be slow and thoughtful, some will be fast and furious, and some will stretch your color choices. Your object could be a pineapple, an artichoke, or a witch hat — anything that will engage you over several days. Other possibilities: painting your object in a good or bad mood, with a blindfold on, or on a large scale. To expand your options, acrylics, pastels, and collage may be used in addition to watercolor. The goals of the workshop will be to break out of old habits, increase your proficiency, and have fun doing it! Meetings will be held on Zoom and work responding to the prompts will be done between meetings, and posted on the Padlet for discussion at the afternoon meeting.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI



One of the pleasant things those of us who write or paint do is to have the daily miracle. It does come. ~ Gertrude Stein

June 6-10, 2024

Thursday-Monday

10 a.m.-4 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND

The workshop will center around painting from life. We will start with objects/still life and move to the figure and self portraits, with many short exercises throughout the five days. Basic materials needed: oil paint or acrylic. No specific palette required. Supports include mostly paper and some canvas or panels. Recommended for experienced painters. Workshop fee includes lunches and model.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

May 30-June 2, 2024

Thursday-Sunday

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND! Color Rules! It does, absolutely, but there are NO rules, formulas, or tricks. There is intention, getting color to say what you want it to say. In this intensive workshop we consider basic color concepts such as value, hue, and saturation, and learn how to manipulate them to energize our work. Building color relationships with acrylic gouache on paper helps us understand how color functions and increases our personal color vocabulary. This workshop is meant for anyone working with color: painters, designers, architects, etc. WORKSHOP FEE INCLUDES LUNCHES.

WITH CATHERINE DRABKIN

May 17-20, 2024

Friday - Monday

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND. Gouache is a wonderfully versatile medium. In this intensive long weekend, you will learn how to make it work for you. We will dive into painting an expansive and evolving still life/interior space. Exploring the mystery of the everyday, we will turn ordinary forms into the extraordinary. Each day, your work will be supported by individual conversations and group critiques. Our goal will be to discover the challenges and thrills of using light, shadow, and color to make meaning and build a sustainable, nimble studio process. Studio sessions will include a slide talk and discussion that explores rhythm, movement, the creative process, and a variety of art historical masterworks. WORKSHOP FEE INCLUDES LUNCHES.

WITH ERIN RAEDEKE



TUESDAYS

March 12

March 19

March 26

April 2

April 9

2024

1 p.m.-4:30 p.m. eastern time US and Canada

In this ONLINE painting workshop, we will work from a common object, but the way each of us interprets this object will be anything but common. Each participant will include a balloon as part of a still life. Inflated or deflated, in the air or laying on a table, a remnant from a party that tells a narrative or a stand-in for a sphere in a formal investigation — these are just a few ways this ordinary object can be used and interpreted. Along with working from a common object, we will also share the same palette of colors, further exploring how sharing something in common can lead to individual expression and interpretation. Meetings will be held on Zoom and work will be shared on Padlet. Oil paint is the recommended medium.

WITH ELIZABETH REAGH

TUESDAYS

January 30-February 27, 2024

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. We will approach still life painting as a pictorial journey, destination unknown, the only dead ends being cliché, sentimentality and timidity. Through a series of short and more sustained exercises we will focus on balancing intuitive and analytical powers to make compelling paintings. Some of the concepts we will explore to achieve this end will be observation, memory, and invention. Students may use oil or acrylic paints. Class sessions will include slide shows, demos, and in depth discussion about students’ work. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on Padlet, an online platform.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

February 17-19, 2024

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

Two meetings per day:

10:30 a.m.

and

3 p.m.

eastern time

In this intensive ONLINE painting class, we'll create our own oil paint from Italian pigments. Once we've created our full earth color palette, we'll do gradient studies in order to understand the colors we are working with. Next we'll sketch a composition of lemons in our respective studios. Finally we'll create a still life of lemons. Each of the three days will include group discussions based on the images uploaded by the participants, guided by Lucy MacGillis. Lectures on the color yellow in painting, the lemon in the history of painting and demos from MacGillis' studio in Italy will also be included. We will discuss our paintings of lemons in group discussions/critiques over zoom.

Prior to the class, participants will receive the kit from Zecchi in Florence containing Fabriano oil painting paper, the pigments, linseed oil, and a palette knife.

The cost of materials from Zecchi is included in the workshop fee.

WITH NANCY GRUSKIN



WEDNESDAYS

January 24

January 31

February 7

February 14

2024

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. The genre of still life need not be still. We can record our observations of objects and then alter, transform, and activate these recordings. For example, a still life painting can be cut up; the pieces rearranged; and the composition changed to suit the needs of a new picture. Artists in this online workshop will explore the visual arrangement and rearrangement of their own still life objects through drawing, painting, and collage exercises. We will work on our observational skills, but also strengthen our intuition as artists and push our work to be greater than the sum of its parts. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on Padlet, an online platform.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS



THURSDAYS

January 11-February 8, 2024

10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Eastern time

In this online class, we'll focus on the masterpieces of four female Italian painters, investigating just what it is about them that is so timelessly captivating. Using the method of transcription, we will draw from these paintings without copying them, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality and repetition within the geometry of these compositions. We'll begin by looking at ancient Roman paintings, into the Renaissance to Sofonisba Anguissola, and towards the baroque Diana di Rosa, Elisabetta Sirani and Artemisia Gentileschi.  In each session we will explore a specific painting at length in a group discussion over Zoom. After the introduction to each painting, participants will have a week to prepare a drawing transcription, as well as a chromatic study created with oil paints, to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece. MacGillis will present demos from her studio in Italy to show how she goes about mixing the colors in the paintings using a limited earth palette and palette knife.

Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the four paintings we will transcribe as well as paper measured in proportion to the works. There will also be primed Fabriano paper provided for the color oil painting studies. 

Lucy MacGillis has been living and painting in Umbria, Italy for over twenty years. She enjoys interpreting Italian art history from the perspective of a painter rather than that of an art historian.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

Eight meetings

Tuesdays 6:30 -10 p.m.

eastern time

September 12 and 26

October 10 and 24

November 7 and 21

December 5 and 19

2023

There are 3 main objectives in this ONLINE class:

• To identify aspects of your work that are distinct and personal to your painting, and to explore ways of developing and fortifying those aspects.

• To determine areas of your work that are weak and/or diminish your work and (using a variety of exercises), work to improve those areas.  

• To establish a consistent, disciplined painting practice.

The goal of creating more personal and powerful paintings will be addressed by considering the following issues: content, composition/format, color, surface as well as materials and craft. We will explore the aspects of painting that interest each student most, including experimentation with materials and conceptual and technical approaches to painting or more traditional work from observation. Classes consist of discussion, image presentations and critique. Each student will develop a set of written goals as well as a painting schedule. Students must be present and are encouraged to participate in all discussion and critiques. Students will post new work, preliminary drawings, and work in progress on the Padlet each week for discussion. Additionally, students are required to research and identify their relatives, 3 artists whose work shares common elements with their own work or the work they aspire to do.

Those who want more structure and/or direction will be given assignments tailored to their particular needs. Group discussion of student work along with looking at contemporary and historical painting will enhance the class.

Meetings will be held on Zoom and work will be shared on Padlet, the online platform.



WITH LUCY MacGILLIS



Fridays

November 3

November 10

November 17

November 24 (skip this week due to Thanksgiving holiday)

December 1

December 8

2023

In this intensive five-week online workshop, we will transcribe from paintings of Giorgio Morandi, Rosso Fiorentino, and Mantegna, and discuss how they are intrinsically connected to the cinema of Pasolini and Fellini. There will be a small reading list to accompany this class as well as films to watch. 

The process of transcribing involves studying a painting to better grasp how it was created, looking for what it is that makes it a masterpiece. Rather than copy the paintings, we study the underlying abstract composition, searching for rhythm, repetition and duality. Participants receive a small kit from Italy in the mail containing prints of the images we will be working from as well as Fabriano painting and drawing paper.

WITH PETER VAN DYCK

TEN SESSIONS

Tuesdays

October 3

October 10

October 17

October 24

October 31

November 7

November 14

November 21

November 28

December 5

2023

10:30-2:30 eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. This 10-week workshop will focus on creating still-life paintings that incorporate the larger spatial context in which the still life is set. Participants will make paintings from observation with an emphasis on light, color, structure and pictorial design. We will start by finding a subject and looking at the practical and formal aspects of setting up a still life. We will discuss how to organize and simplify complex information, how to create a unified sense of light throughout a picture, and how to interpret color and tone relationships. We will also cover aspects of drawing that will help in the creation of a convincing sense of space.

WITH MAUREEN NATHAN

WEDNESDAYS

OCTOBER 11

OCTOBER 18

OCTOBER 25

2023

11 a.m.-2 p.m. eastern time, US and Canada

ONLINE. This workshop will introduce intaglio and relief printmaking, together with collage. You will learn to print a drypoint edition, as well as create unique layered monoprints. Work will be shared on the online platform Padlet, which will make it easy to discuss our experience and knowledge throughout the workshop. We will use non-toxic water-based inks and, where possible, recycled/found materials.

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to use a press. If you do not have access to a print studio, there are many craft presses suitable for these methods; they are available at relatively low cost.

 WITH NANCY GRUSKIN

WEDNESDAYS

September 6

September 13

September 20

September 27

2023

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. The genre of still life need not be still. We can record our observations of objects and then alter, transform, and activate these recordings. For example, a still life painting can be cut up; the pieces rearranged; and the composition changed to suit the needs of a new picture. Artists in this online workshop will explore the visual arrangement and rearrangement of their own still life objects through drawing, painting, and collage exercises. We will work on our observational skills, but also strengthen our intuition as artists and push our work to be greater than the sum of its parts. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on Padlet, an online platform.

WITH ERIN RAEDEKE

SEPTEMBER 7 - 11, 2023

Thursday - Monday

10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern time (US and Canada)

Three meetings per day on Zoom:

10 a.m.

2 p.m. (optional meeting)

4:30 p.m.

In this five-day online workshop, we will explore the self portrait using a chromatic palette.  Using no earth colors and mixing optical blues and yellows we will get to know a palette that is full of possibilities.  We will tame and harness potent colors, yet also learn to embrace their strength. As we discover more about each color's inherent qualities and potential, we will carefully observe the structure of the head, focusing on color, temperature and value.  

Palette:

Cadmium Orange (Gamblin Artist Brand)

Cadmium Red Medium

Alizarin Crimson

Quinacridone Red

Dioxazine Purple

Chromium Oxide

Phthalo Green

Titanium White 

WITH NICOLE SANTIAGO

August 9 - 13, 2023

Wednesday - Sunday

Two meetings per day:

11 a.m. eastern time

4 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. The interior is an ideal subject to examine the complexities of light, space, composition, and content. In this five-day workshop, I will share my process of creating interior paintings from direct observation through demonstrations, discussions, work sessions, and critiques. The depiction of the interior throughout art history will be presented. The Padlet platform will be used to share images; workshop meetings will be held on Zoom. All exercises will be completed using oil paint; other acceptable mediums include acrylic, gouache, and casein.

WITH MEGAN MARDEN

Mondays

July 31

August 7

August 14

August 21

August 28, 2023

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE. Artists build a greater sense of connection to the world by making daily sketches. After several days of 'artist walks,' we might find ourselves looking at everything as if it were a painting. Participants will keep small, daily sketchbooks using portable media like pencil and watercolor. We will review the sketches in class each week and select one or more to use as the point of departure for a new painting. Working from these quick, observational studies allows the opportunity to revisit and reconsider formal issues in the new painting, while embracing the fluidity and immediacy of the original sketch. Some areas will need to be resolved through invention and interpretation. Others will require the artist to access their memory of the experience. Equal weight will be given to sketches and building a painting. Meetings will be held on Zoom and work will be shared on the Padlet platform.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

July 9-13,2023

Sunday-Thursday

ONLINE WORKSHOP

The focus of the workshop will be working from photo references. Since the mid 1800s, working from photographic sources has been a common practice in painting. We will explore ways to sharpen our personal language when painting from mediated imagery, as well as ways to add more adventure. Participants will meet in the morning to watch a presentation of ideas and exercises. They will work on their own and then meet again each morning for group discussion and more presentations. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on the Padlet platform.

This is a hands-on workshop. Participants must be present.

Sunday, July 9

Intros and presentation of concepts and the exercise and discussion

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-noon eastern time

Monday, July 10

Presentation of concepts and the exercise and discussion

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-noon eastern time

Tuesday, July 11

Critique/feedback

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. eastern time

Wednesday, July 12

Final presentations and discussions

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-noon eastern time

Thursday, July 13

Final Critique/feedback

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. eastern time

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS



June 27-29, 2023

Tuesday - Thursday

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND! In this intensive three-day workshop we will work from a still life setup, with handmade Italian earth paints. Lucy will share her joy of 'la materia', the material of paint itself, and the grinding process of oil paint. The limited earth palette and use of palette knives will help participants improve their mixing of tones, and consider more carefully the relationships of colors. We will make several quick studies and a longer one; daily critiques will include art historical references. Some pigment will be supplied, and lunch will be provided each day

WITH ELIZABETH REAGH

WEDNESDAYS

May 31-June 21, 2023

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE. Through a series of short and sustained exercises, we will incorporate invention into representational work. An example: shapes that can be read as light or shadow that have no basis in objective reality, but somehow enhance and become integral to the composition and overall painting, and importantly, make sense in the world of the painting. Working from photo references and life, we will alter what we see in order to make a more compelling image. Analysis and intuitive leaps will play equal parts in arriving at unexpected outcomes. We will prioritize “right” over “correct”. There will be demos, slide shows, and discussions about the resulting work. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on the Padlet platform.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

June 9 - 11, 2023

Friday - Sunday

10 a.m. — 5 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND. The spring greens and chromatic grays of trees, field, and pond are a potent source of visual content. Using watercolor, participants will respond to landscape by looking deeply and translating what is observed into shape, value, and hue. A series of exercises will enhance fluency with the medium and deepen understanding of color mixing and compositional strategies. Each day multiple studies will be completed. This course is ideal for those people new to watercolor and those with some experience. Lunches are included in the cost of the workshop.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

May 17-21, 2023

WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” – Mark Rothko

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND! The workshop will center around painting from life. We will start with objects/still life and move to the figure and self portraits. There will be many short exercises throughout the 5 days. Basic materials needed: oil paint or acrylic . No specific palette required. Support includes mostly paper and some canvas or panels. There will be a slide presentation and plenty of discussion. Lunch will be provided each day.

WITH CATHERINE KEHOE



MONDAYS

April 3 - May 1, 2023

11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Eastern time, US and Canada

ONLINE COURSE: Portraits from art history will be the point of departure for study of pictorial structure and invention, with a focus on the head. You may work from postcards, photocopies from books, or images on your devices (tablet or laptop). We will touch upon the universal proportions of the head. Mediums will include graphite, charcoal, collage, gouache, acrylic and/or oil paint or materials you have on hand. Each participant will look deeply at one or two images and generate permutations through exercises that lead to simplification and abstraction. This rigorous and wide-ranging analysis of images from our painting ancestors will feed our own work and imaginations as we engage with images that speak to us still.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

One of the pleasant things those of us who write or paint do is to have the daily miracle. It does come. ~ Gertrude Stein

April 19 - 23, 2023

WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND. The workshop will center around painting from life. We will start with objects/still life and move to the figure and self portraits. The workshop will be made of many short exercises throughout the 5 days. Basic materials needed: oil paint or acrylic. No specific palette required. Supports include paper and canvas or panels. There will be a slide presentation and plenty of discussion. Lunches are included in the workshop fee.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

THURSDAY, MARCH 23

FRIDAY, MARCH 24

FRIDAY, MARCH 31

11 a.m.-2 p.m. eastern time

The key is what is within the artist. The artist can only paint what she or he is about.

— Lee Krasner



This online workshop is a three day course that focuses on the freedom of invention and how it may inform perceptual and observational painting. The first day will be a presentation of ideas that relate to the project. The second day will be a working day. The meeting will open and participants will be presented with an image. The image will be taken away and the participants will then work in their studios for about 2 hours. They will have the freedom to remember/imagine and invent what they saw.

The Zoom meeting will resume and participants will post their work and there will be a general discussion. At the end of that second day, the participants will then be given the image and they will be able to refer to it as they paint it again and post it in time for the third meeting.

On the third day, a week later, an in depth discussion/critique of the work will take place.

WITH CATHERINE KEHOE

WEDNESDAYS

March 1-29, 2023

1-4:30 p.m.

eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photos of ancestors — those we have known in life and those we can know only from the images — will be the sources for this workshop. These photos might trigger a narrative, imaginary or real. We might begin with an impulse for detail and description, a desire to imagine those we can know in no other way. The ultimate goal will be reduction and a search for how much is enough. By analyzing the images as designs in a rectangle, breaking down the pictorial elements through simplification and abstraction, we will build drawings and paintings that stand on their own. Mediums will include graphite, collage, acrylic and/or oil paint.

We will meet on Zoom and share the work in an online platform.

WITH MAUREEN NATHAN

March 3 - 5, 2023

Friday - Sunday

Hours: 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. eastern time

Two meetings per day:

11 a.m.

3 p.m.

ONLINE WORKSHOP. This drawing workshop is about freeing up expectations and engaging in the process of discovery. Participants will undertake various exercises with the aim of generating unexpected and compelling outcomes, as well as finding the drawing vocabulary unique to each artist. This workshop is especially helpful to artists who feel they are becoming stylized in their approach and is equally suitable for those new to drawing.

WITH ERIN RAEDEKE

February 16 - 20, 2023

Thursday - Monday

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

eastern time, US and Canada

Three meetings per day on Zoom:

10 a.m.

2 p.m.

5 p.m.

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Still-life painting gained prominence in the 16th century, but it dates back to ancient times. Today, the possibilities of this genre are unlimited. In this workshop we will begin by reflecting on our assumptions about what makes an interesting still life, and what we “bring to the table.” From there we will expand our ideas of what a still life can be. Composition, point of view, space, and color relationships are just some of the ideas that we will focus on.  

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

February 7-11, 2023

Tuesday-Saturday

All painters are interested in photography to a certain extent.

— David Hockney  

ONLINE WORKSHOP 

The focus of the workshop will be working from photo references. Since the mid 1800s, working from photographic sources has been a common practice in painting. We will explore ways to sharpen our personal language when painting from mediated imagery, as well as ways to add more adventure. This intensive five-day course is geared toward people who have a robust painting practice. Participants will meet in the morning to watch a presentation of ideas and exercises. They will work on their own and then meet again each morning for group discussion and more presentations.

Schedule:

Tuesday Feb 7 

Intros and presentation of concepts and the exercise and discussion

Meeting time: 10 am EST (lasting 1 1/2 --2 hours)

Wednesday Feb 8 

Presentation of concepts and the exercise and discussion

Meeting time: 10 am EST. (lasting 1 1/2 -- 2 hours)

Thursday Feb 9

Critique/feedback

Meeting time (lasts 2 1/2 hours):

GROUP A  10 am EST 

GROUP B 12:30 pm EST 

Friday Feb 10

Final presentations and discussions

Meeting time 10 am EST (lasting 1 1/2 -- 2 hours)

Saturday Feb 11

Final Critique/feedback 

Meeting time (lasts 2 1/2 hours):

GROUP A  10 am EST 

GROUP B 12:30 pm EST

WITH ROTEM AMIZUR

Sundays

January 8

January 15

January 22

January 29

February 5

2023

ONLINE WORKSHOP We will begin by painting papers with colors that excite us. Then, looking at old masters’ paintings, we will choose hues that create a sensation equivalent to what is evoked by them. Working only with our pre-painted papers helps us find unexpected color combinations. We look for relationships that feel good as opposed to "mixing the colors out there." Once colors are chosen and satisfying to us, we can dive into the continuous cycle of building, overlapping, changing and moving the cutout shapes — thus experiencing painting, drawing, observation, and invention as inseparable.

We will work small, with foam board and pins, pinning the cut-out shapes as we go along. Pinning as opposed to immediately gluing gives us a chance to constantly move shapes around. Making a variation, then another and another... Each new combination of colors leads us to see the reproduction in a new way — memory and familiarity making the game even more exciting and giving us the courage to make decisions we wouldn’t have dreamed of in the beginning. We are using the masters as our source but creating something distinctly personal and our own.

We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, and discuss work shared on Padlet.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

TUESDAYS

January 3

January 10

January 17

January 24

January 31

2023

In this ONLINE class, we'll focus on the masterpieces of four female Italian painters, investigating what makes them so timelessly captivating. Using the method of transcription, we will draw from these paintings without copying them, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality and repetition within the geometry of these compositions. We'll begin by looking at ancient Roman paintings, into the Renaissance to Plautilla Nelli, Sofonisba Anguissola, Fede Galizia, and then towards the baroque with Artemisia Gentileschi. In each session we will explore a specific painting at length in a group discussion over Zoom. After the introduction to each painting, participants will have a week to prepare a drawing transcription as well as a chromatic study created with oil paints, to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece. MacGillis will present demos from her studio in Italy to show how she goes about mixing the colors in the paintings using a limited earth palette and palette knife.

Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the five paintings we will transcribe as well as paper measured in proportion to the works. There will also be primed Fabriano paper provided for the color painting studies.

Work will be shared on an online platform.

THE COST OF THE KITS IS INCLUDED IN THE WORKSHOP PRICE.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

It’s easy to create art. What’s difficult is creating the new conditions in which art can arise.

— Brancusi

5 Weekly meetings on Wednesday:

NOVEMBER 2

NOVEMBER 9

NOVEMBER 16

Break for Thanksgiving

NOVEMBER 30

DECEMBER 7

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Going back to basics. During the first two weeks we will work on short, repetitive exercises, designed to develop muscle memory. We will push to those outer limits that we don't always access when painting. Two still-life assignments will follow — these will encourage working in an open-ended manner. Investigation and discovery are the goals in working from observation, whether objects or self-portraits. Most work will be carried out on paper or on top of old paintings. Participants may work on any scale. There will be slide presentations and demos that illustrate the focus for the week. Exercises will be introduced at each meeting. Participants will post their work on Padlet for group feedback on Zoom. Enrollment is limited to 16 participants.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

December 2-4, 2022

Friday-Sunday

In this intensive ONLINE painting class, we'll create our own oil paint from Italian pigments. Once we've created our full earth color palette, we'll do gradient studies in order to understand the colors we are working with. Next we'll sketch a composition of lemons in our respective studios. Finally we'll create a still life of lemons. Each of the three days will include group discussions based on the images uploaded by the participants, guided by Lucy MacGillis. Lectures on the color yellow in painting, the lemon in the history of painting and demos from MacGillis' studio in Italy will also be included.

Prior to the class, participants will receive the kit from Zecchi in Florence containing Fabriano oil painting paper, the pigments, linseed oil, and a palette knife.

The cost of materials from Zecchi is included in the workshop fee.

WITH PETER VAN DYCK

ONLINE WORKSHOP

MONDAYS

October 31

November 7

November 14

November 21

November 28

2022

10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Eastern time, US and Canada

Using pencil sketches, color studies, larger drawings and painting on location, we will build paintings of interior spaces from direct observation. Our goal will be to merge two different ways of organizing and depicting space in a painting: one will be through drawing the 3-dimensional, volumetric quality of the space; the other will be through finding large color relationships to express the movement of light through space. Experience in basic observational drawing as well as with oil and/or acrylic paint will be helpful.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

NOVEMBER 11-13, 2022

Friday-Sunday

In this three-day ONLINE course via Zoom with Italy-based Lucy MacGillis, painters will look closely at three 500-year-old Italian Renaissance and early Baroque masterpieces investigating what makes them so powerful. Each day will begin with an introduction to the painter whose work we are studying that day and the context in which the painting in question was created. Using transcription, we will draw from these paintings, not copying, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality, and repetition within the geometry of each. From Giorgione to the Baroque Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi we will explore a specific painting on paper and in a discussion. In the later part of each day, participants will create a painting sketch to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece. We will conclude with a group critique of the studies and a discussion about the colors which were used to create the original paintings.

Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the three paintings we will transcribe, as well as Fabriano drawing and primed paper measured in proportion to the works. Throughout the class there will be several demos from Lucy MacGillis' studio. THE COST OF THE KITS IS INCLUDED IN THE WORKSHOP PRICE.

WITH NANCY GRUSKIN

TUESDAYS

October 11

October 18

October 25

November 1

November 8

2022

11 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern Time

ONLINE WORKSHOP Searching in the late 1970s for a subject matter that was neither representational nor wholly abstract, American painter Robert Zakanitch embraced ornamentation as an alternative entry into painting, a so-called “third door.” This online workshop will explore pattern and decoration through painting, printmaking, collage, and cardboard and papier-mâché constructions. Slide presentations and demos will introduce the exercises each week. As the workshop progresses, each participant will work toward creating their own installation that includes hand-made wallpaper, paintings and/or collages, and sculptures. Participants will post images of their work on Padlet for written feedback during the first four weeks of the workshop. We will look at Padlet together during our final Zoom meeting, for a group discussion of participants’ completed installations.

WITH MAUREEN NATHAN

WEDNESDAYS

October 12

October 19

October 26, 2022

11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Eastern time

ONLINE. This workshop will introduce printmaking techniques that do not require a printing press. Methods will include intaglio and relief printing, together with collage; each process will be introduced by video demonstrations and slideshows. You will learn to print an edition, as well as create unique layered monoprints. Work will be shared on an online platform called Padlet, which will make it easy to discuss our experience and knowledge throughout the workshop. We will use non-toxic water-based inks and, where possible, recycled materials.

WITH ELIZABETH O'REILLY

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND

September 16-18, 2022

Friday-Sunday

Painting on location is challenging and exciting, but choosing a motif from the complexity of what’s out there can be intimidating. Working from locations in the vicinity of Black Pond Studio, we will work quickly from observation, translating that complexity into a manageable motif. Redefining what we see into light and dark, warm and cool, and understanding spatial cues will help students to find structure in the outdoors and create space on the rectangle.

Finding a motif is an important element of working en plein air, but the nuts and bolts of painting outside of the studio are also an integral part of this workshop. Students will learn how to set up an easel and lay out a palette in order to work on one-shot paintings. Demonstrations and critique will be included. If there is rain, we will work from the windows of Black Pond’s spacious barn. Working indoors on a still life will also be an option.

Participants are free to work in oils or watercolor, and all levels are welcome.

Lunches are included in the cost of the workshop.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND STUDIO

In our air-conditioned studio

August 25-28, 2022

Thursday-Sunday

10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Color Rules! It does, absolutely, but there are NO rules, no formulas, no tricks. There is intention, getting color to say what you want it to say. In this intensive workshop we consider basic color concepts such as value, hue, and saturation, and learn how to manipulate them to energize our work. Building color relationships with acrylic gouache on paper helps us understand how color functions and increase our personal color vocabulary. This workshop is meant for anyone working with color: painters, designers, architects, etc. WORKSHOP FEE INCLUDES LUNCHES.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

August 19-21, 2022

Friday-Sunday

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Mixed media/collage can be a gateway to new ideas and processes. By adding ready-made elements, you can test ideas, achieve meaning, add richness, and develop a broader vocabulary in your painting practice — in an instant!

This is a short but intense project-based workshop. There is a strong physical and sculptural aspect of collage; ideas will be worked out literally using your hands.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY PRESENTATION: 6 pm EST two-hour presentation and explanation of the exercise/project. Q and A. Both groups attend.

SATURDAY FIRST CRIT:

Group A 4-6 pm EST (1-3 PST)

Group B 6:30 - 8:30 EST (3:30-5:30 PST)

SUNDAY FINAL CRIT:

Group B 4-6 pm EST (1-3 PST)

Group A 6:30 - 8:30 EST (3:30-5:30 PST)

WITH TIM KENNEDY and EVE MANSDORF

AUGUST 8 - 12, 2022

Monday - Friday

(TOP: Eve Mansdorf BOTTOM: Tim Kennedy)

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Since the invention of the paint tube in the early 19th century artists have been able to enter the landscape in order to paint directly from it. Think of Monet at Argenteuil or Fairfield Porter in Maine. Like an explorer setting out on an expedition, part of the fun in painting the landscape is organizing yourself and your materials to be able to do it at all. Landscape painters eye each others easels and palettes the way fishermen size up competitors’ rods and reels. Efficiency of movement and paring down what one carries to the bare essentials is learned and prized. Each artist finds his or her own process and way of being in the landscape. These locations need not be far off and exotic locations, but even painting a motif a few blocks or miles from the artist’s studio requires logistical planning.

This workshop promotes finding a site where people and nature coexist whether it be an industrial site, a nearby state park, a public swimming pool or the outskirts of a suburban neighborhood. The vagaries produced by human interaction with the landscape are the real subject. Will that car still be here tomorrow? Will the crop be harvested before I finish my painting? Temporality can lend urgency and vitality to an on site painting. The observation of how a place is being used can influence how the painter sees the motif. Each participant will produce a series of small one day paintings that explore both the natural beauty of a place and the human use of that space as it may be presented through objects, activities or built structures. During the course of the workshop we will use Zoom to meet two to three times a day to share our work.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

AUGUST 5-7, 2022

Friday-Sunday

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Mixed media/collage can be a gateway to new ideas and processes. By adding ready-made elements, you can test ideas, achieve meaning, add richness, and develop a broader vocabulary in your painting practice — in an instant!

This is a short but intense project-based workshop. There is a strong physical and sculptural aspect of collage; ideas will be worked out literally using your hands.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY PRESENTATION: 6 pm EST two-hour presentation and explanation of the exercise/project. Q and A. Both groups attend.

SATURDAY FIRST CRIT:

Group A 4-6 pm EST (1-3 PST)

Group B 6:30 - 8:30 EST (3:30-5:30 PST)

SUNDAY FINAL CRIT:

Group B 4-6 pm EST (1-3 PST)

Group A 6:30 - 8:30 EST (3:30-5:30 PST)

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

June 24-26, 2022

Friday-Sunday

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

IN PERSON. On site at Black Pond

FULLY VACCINATED

In this intensive three-day course, Lucy MacGillis shares her love for paint, beginning with its creation — mixing raw earth pigments from Italy with linseed oil. Working directly from observation of the model, participants learn not only how to create their own paint, but are guided in looking closely at the tones of the figure before them. By limiting the range of colors, painters use the relationships between colors to give them more force.

Using herculaneum and pozzuoli red, warm italian earth, yellow ochre, naples yellow, earth green, herculaneum blue, burnt and raw umber, roman black earth, and titanium white, participants are encouraged to paint with the palette knife via trial and error, mixing, placing the paint and scraping it off as needed — the result being a harmonious study of space, color and form.

Working directly from the observation of the nude model, participants are encouraged to reduce the figure into simple, carefully mixed planes of color.

On the each day there will be several fast studies as well as longer poses. Each day ends in a group critique including art historical examples, referring back to the Italian tradition of figure painting.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

June 9-12, 2022

Thursday-Sunday

ONLINE WORKSHOP The striking contrasts of black and white, and the subtle differences between grays, will be the fuel for our images. First, using brushes with black ink on white paper, we will build compositions from shapes of black and white, with still life and the landscape as our sources. We will move into ink washes, then switch to white on black, and each day delve into more exercises using pens, cut paper, collage and block prints. Our aim is to generate a volume of drawings, from both observation and abstraction, which expand our visual vocabulary, sensitivity to value and shape, as well as compositional skills. We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, and Padlet share and discuss work.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI



Five weekly meetings on WEDNESDAYS

April 6

April 13

April 20

April 27

May 4

11 a.m.-3 p.m. eastern time, US and Canada

ONLINE WORKSHOP. The objective for the course is to find new perspectives through short exercises. Exploration and discovery are the goal in working from life — objects or self portraits. Most work will be carried out on paper or on top of old paintings. Participants may work on any scale. There will be slide presentations as well as demos that illustrate the focus for the week. Exercises will be introduced each meeting. Participants will post their work on Padlet for group feedback.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

APRIL 21-25, 2022

THURSDAY-MONDAY

“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” – Mark Rothko

IN-PERSON WORKSHOP AT BLACK POND!

In celebration of being able to paint together in person, the workshop will center around painting from life. We will start with objects/still life and move to figures and self-portraits. The workshop will be made up of many short exercises throughout the 5 days. There will be a slide presentation and plenty of discussion.

Lunches are included in the workshop fee.

FULLY VACCINATED ONLY.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

THURSDAYS

March 3

March 10

March 17

March 24

March 31

2022

In this five-week ONLINE course via Zoom with Italy-based Lucy MacGillis, painters will look closely at four 500-year-old Italian Renaissance and Rococo masterpieces, investigating what makes them so powerful. Each meeting will begin with an introduction to the painter whose work we are studying that week, and the context in which the painting was created. Using transcription, we will draw from these paintings, not copying, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality, and repetition within the geometry of each.

From Fra' Angelico and Botticelli to Andrea del Sarto and Tiepolo, we will explore a specific painting on paper and in discussion. Participants will create a painting sketch to better grasp the use of color in that week's Renaissance masterpiece. We will conclude with a group critique of the studies and a discussion about the colors which were used to create the original paintings. Work will be shared in an online platform.

Throughtout the class there will be several demos from Lucy MacGillis' studio.

Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the four paintings we will transcribe as well as Fabriano drawing and primed paper measured in proportion to the works. THE COST OF THE KITS IS INCLUDED IN THE WORKSHOP PRICE.

WITH ROTEM AMIZUR

March 18-22, 2022

Friday-Tuesday

ONLINE WORKSHOP We will begin by painting papers with colors that excite us. Then, looking at old masters’ paintings, we will choose hues that create a sensation equivalent to what is evoked by them. Working only with our pre-painted papers helps us find unexpected color combinations. We look for relationships that feel good as opposed to "mixing the colors out there." Once colors are chosen and satisfying to us, we can dive into the continuous cycle of building, overlapping, changing and moving the cutout shapes — thus experiencing painting, drawing, observation, and invention as inseparable.

We will work small, with foam board and pins, pinning the cut-out shapes as we go along. Pinning as opposed to immediately gluing gives us a chance to constantly move shapes around. Making a variation, then another and another... Each new combination of colors leads us to see the reproduction in a new way — memory and familiarity making the game even more exciting and giving us the courage to make decisions we wouldn’t have dreamed of in the beginning. We are using the masters as our source but creating something distinctly personal and our own.

We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, and discuss work shared on Padlet.

WITH MAUREEN NATHAN

March 25-27, 2022

Friday-Sunday

ONLINE WORKSHOP. This drawing workshop is about freeing up expectations and engaging in the process of discovery. Participants will undertake various exercises with the aim of generating unexpected and compelling outcomes, as well as finding the drawing vocabulary unique to each artist. This workshop is especially helpful to artists who feel they are becoming stylized in their approach and is equally suitable for those new to drawing.

WITH PETER VAN DYCK

Weekly on Sundays

February 6

February 13

February 20

February 27

March 6, 2022

ONLINE WORKSHOP

Using pencil sketches, color studies, larger drawings and painting on location, we will build paintings of interior spaces from direct observation. Our goal will be to merge two different ways of organizing and depicting space in a painting: one will be through drawing the 3-dimensional, volumetric quality of the space; the other will be through finding large color relationships to express the movement of light through space. Experience in basic observational drawing as well as with oil and/or acrylic paint will be helpful.

WITH JOE MORZUCH

Five weekly meetings

SATURDAYS

February 5

February 12

February 19

February 26

March 5, 2022

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Painting one’s reflected likeness is a strange and wonderful experience. It requires focus, patience, and the courage to look deeply at and within. With this workshop, participants will investigate the technical and conceptual challenges of painting self-portrait heads from direct observation. Referencing the work of historical and contemporary painters, participants will complete multiple works over the course of 5 weeks, guided by specific prompts and/or formal limitations. Each subsequent exercise will advance the concerns addressed the week before, resulting in an accumulated understanding of the complexities of painting a self-portrait from direct observation. Topics covered will include: the general structure and proportions of the human head, light, shadow, and tonality, form simplification and planar analysis, color temperature and intensity, and an exploration of various painting implements.

Workshop will be held on Zoom, and work will be shared on Padlet.

WITH CATHERINE KEHOE

Five weekly meetings.

WEDNESDAYS

February 2

February 9

February 16

February 23

March 2

2022

ONLINE WORKSHOP

I do not believe in things; I believe only in their relationship. For things to exist, there must first come into being a relationship between you and the things, or between the things themselves.

— Georges Braque

In this still-life workshop, participants will build and light their own setups, and have a full week between meetings to explore a series of exercises. Time lends depth to the painted image and frees us to pare down to the essential. The exercises include:

• Mapping the relationships between objects and the rectangle, using a specific drawing method.

• Exploring different limited palettes to discover the nature of a few paint colors at a time, in terms of opacity, transparency, and relative tinting strength.

• Shape will be central to our approach. Reducing the motif to10-15 shapes will bring the focus on color mixing and accurate value structure.

• Adjusting the colors in a multiple-pass painting to keep up with the way appearances can change from day to day.

Medium: oil paint

We will meet on Zoom and share work on an online platform

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

January 28-February 1

Friday-Tuesday

“If you want to have clean ideas, change them like shirts” — Francis Picabia

The objective for the course is to find new perspectives through short exercises. Exploration and discovery are the goal in working from life-- objects or self-portraits. Most work will be carried out on paper or on top of old paintings. Participants may work on any scale.

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Participants will meet daily on Zoom over the course of five days. There will be slide presentations as well as demos that illustrate the focus for the day. Exercises will be introduced in the meeting each morning. Participants will post their work on Padlet and will have group feedback in the afternoon/evening.

WITH NANCY GRUSKIN

January 14-16, 2022

Friday-Sunday

ONLINE MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP. American artist Robert Zakanitch has described ornamentation as “the third door,” an alternative entry to painting from representation and abstraction. This three-day workshop will explore ornamentation and

pattern-making through collage, paint, and paper. We will begin on Friday with a slide presentation on the role of pattern in 20th- and 21st-century art. Morning Zoom meetings on Saturday and Sunday will include warm-up exercises and introduce assignments for the day. We will then reassemble on Zoom in the evening for group feedback and discussion. Participants will share their work on an online platform. The emphasis will be on experimentation and discovering new processes.

WITH CATHERINE KEHOE

Five weekly meetings

WEDNESDAYS

December 1, 2021

December 8, 2021

December 15, 2021

December 22, 2021

December 29, 2021

2-6 p.m. Eastern time, US and Canada

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Photos of ancestors — those we have known in life and those we can know only from the images — will be the sources for this workshop. These photos might trigger a narrative, imaginary or real. We might begin with an impulse for detail and description, a desire to imagine those we can know in no other way. The ultimate goal will be reduction and a search for how much is enough. By analyzing the images as designs in a rectangle, breaking down the pictorial elements through simplification and abstraction, we will build drawings and paintings that stand on their own. Mediums will include graphite, collage, acrylic and/or oil paint.

We will meet on Zoom and share the work in an online platform.

WITH CATHERINE KEHOE

Five meetings

MONDAYS

11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Eastern time, US and Canada

November 1

November 8

November 15

November 22,

November 29, 2021

The figure attracts our attention more than any other subject. In this ONLINE workshop, we will work from images of models in specific lighting conditions. You will learn a drawing method that results in accuracy of proportion, an approach that is a way of looking and seeing, not a style. With practice, this method leads to an intuitive, personal balance between accuracy and individual voice. Exercises will explore line, shape, value, and color. Oil paint is the recommended medium. We will meet on Zoom and share the work in an online album.

WITH STEPHANIE PIERCE

Five weekly meetings.

TUESDAYS

November 2

November 9

November 16

November 23

November 30

1:00-4:30 p.m. eastern time, US and Canada

ONLINE WORKSHOP

In this painting workshop, students will explore light, time, and underlying geometry. Subjects lit by natural and artificial light will be painted from direct observation. Formal strategies such as reductive drawing, use of the grid, and collage will be investigated. Projects will examine color as light to create compositions that amplify aspects of the subject. As Giacometti said, “The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.”

Participants will work on a larger, ongoing painting throughout the five weeks, accompanied by smaller one-session works each week. Emphasis will be on keeping the work open, letting go of preconceived outcomes, and responding to weekly prompts. Reflecting on your work through writing will also be part of the process. Prior painting experience working from observation is recommended. Oil paint is the suggested medium.

Meetings will be held on Zoom, and work will be shared on an online platform.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

November 12-14, 2021

Friday-Sunday

10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Eastern time, US and Canada.

Calculate for your own time zone

In this intensive three day ONLINE class, we will study the Italian Novecento, focusing on the works of three protagonists, Felice Casorati, Giorgio Morandi and Fausto Pirandello. After an art historical introduction to each painter and the context in which they were working, we will transcribe from a painting of theirs. Initially with a pencil and paper we will explore the composition, looking how and rhythm and duality are used create depth in each painting. In the second half of each day we will use oil paint to study the specific color relationships in these pieces and practice mixing paint.

Participants will receive a small packet in the mail prior to the class containing prints of the paintings we will be studying, Fabriano drawing paper measured with the proportional dimensions of the original as well as primed paper for painting the color study. The cost of supplied materials is included in the workshop fee.

Italy-based Lucy MacGillis enjoys sharing her knowledge of Italian art history from the perspective of a painter rather than that of a historian.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI



OCTOBER 22-26, 2021

Friday-Tuesday

10:30 am.-4:30 p.m. eastern time, US and Canada

Calculate for your own time zone.

When you give up on the idea of right and wrong, you get rid of everything — freedom from ideas and responsibilities. — Agnes Martin

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Participants will meet daily on Zoom over the course of five days. There will be slide presentations as well as demos that illustrate the focus for the day. Exercises will be introduced in the meeting each morning. Participants will post their work on Padlet and will have group feedback in the afternoon/evening.

Exploration and discovery are the main objectives for the course. The exercises will be based both from life and from photo sources.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

Five meetings

WEDNESDAYS

September 29

October 6

October 13

October 20

October 27

2021

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Eastern time, US and Canada

In this intensive ONLINE course painters will look closely at 500 year old Italian masterpieces, investigating just what it is about them that is so timelessly captivating. Using the method of transcription, we will draw from these paintings each morning without copying them, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality and repetition within the geometry of these compositions. From Masaccio to Benozzo Gozzolli, Lippi, Sebastiano del Piombo, and concluding with Michelangelo, we will explore a specific painting at length on paper and in a group discussion over Zoom. Participants will also create a painting sketch to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece.

Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the five paintings we will transcribe as well as paper measured in proportion to the works. There will also be primed Fabriano paper provided for afternoon painting studies. The cost of the supplied materials is included in the workshop fee.

WITH CLINTEL STEED

October 8-12, 2021

Friday-Tuesday

10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. eastern time,

US and Canada

Please calculate for your own time zone.

This ONLINE workshop will investigate the approach of the Nabis, specifically Vuillard and Bonnard. We will look at how these painters turned their home environments into personal narratives. Our own domestic spaces, and the mundane objects around us, will be our subject matter. Painting strictly from observation will free us to investigate how our own space relates to geometry and the rectangle. We will concentrate on structure (perspective, scale, and relationships) while considering color and light. Our challenge will be to look at our own living spaces to see how they can become meaningful through the act of painting.

There will be three meetings per day on Zoom. Work will be shared on an online platform.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

ON SITE AT BLACK POND

(fully vaccinated only)

September 24-26, 2021

Friday-Sunday

10 a.m.-6 p.m.

As summer’s abundance fades and the quiet of autumn begins, we will observe and paint the complex landscape. Our focus will be summarizing this complexity into distinct shapes of value and hue. A series of exercises with large brushes and palette knives will encourage this process, and a one-session painting will be completed each day. we will also view contemporary and historical landscape painters and discuss the issues, tools and procedures unique to painting outdoors. This workshop will energize those who have painted outdoors many times as well as introduce this adventure to those doing so for the first time. Water based or oil paint may be used.

Lunch is included in the price of the workshop.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

AN ONLINE MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP

August 13-15, 2021

Friday-Sunday

“I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun” — Yoko Ono

WHY COLLAGE

Mixed media or collage can be a gateway to discover new ideas and processes by bringing in ready-made elements of our surroundings into our work. As a painter, I am constantly striving for richness and layers in my work. By adding imagery directly from the world around me I can test ideas, achieve meaning and develop a broader vocabulary in my painting practice -- in an instant!

This is a short but intense workshop. It is more project based rather than working on general fundamentals of painting within some context. There is a strong physical and sculptural aspect of collage. Ideas can be worked out literally using your hands.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

AN ONLINE MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP

August 20-22, 2021

Friday-Sunday

“I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun” — Yoko Ono

WHY COLLAGE

Mixed media or collage can be a gateway to discover new ideas and processes by bringing in ready-made elements of our surroundings into our work. As a painter, I am constantly striving for richness and layers in my work. By adding imagery directly from the world around me I can test ideas, achieve meaning and develop a broader vocabulary in my painting practice -- in an instant!

This is a short but intense workshop. It is more project based rather than working on general fundamentals of painting within some context. There is a strong physical and sculptural aspect of collage. Ideas can be worked out literally using your hands.

WITH TIM KENNEDY AND EVE MANSDORF

August 2-6, 2021

Monday-Friday

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Familiar and overlooked subjects will be the basis for unexpected and inspired paintings. Think of Bonnard’s windows or Fairfield Porter’s views of his neighborhood on Long Island. A landscape does not have to be a mountain in the distance, but might be a space as intimate as your back yard. Often the evidence of human presence can help to organize a motif, and objects can mitigate the boundless quality of landscape with specificity, narrative and humor. Such motifs present the possibility of contrasting the organic color and forms found in nature with synthetic color, shape and manufactured surfaces.

Participants will pick a site where people and nature coexist, whether it be a back yard, a park, a swimming pool, or the outskirts of a suburban neighborhood. Plan to produce a series of small, one-day paintings that explore both the natural beauty of a place and the human use of that space as it may be presented through objects, activities or built structures. We will use Zoom to meet two to three times a day to share our work.

WITH PETER VAN DYCK

ONLINE WORKSHOP

May 12-16, 2021

Wednesday-Sunday

Using pencil sketches, color studies, larger drawings and painting on location, we will build paintings of interior spaces from direct observation. Our goal will be to merge two different ways of organizing and depicting space in a painting: one will be through drawing the 3-dimensional, volumetric quality of the space; the other will be through finding large color relationships to express the movement of light through space. Experience in basic observational drawing as well as with oil and/or acrylic paint will be helpful.

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

May 7-11, 2021

Friday-Tuesday

When you give up on the idea of right and wrong, you get rid of everything — freedom from ideas and responsibilities. — Agnes Martin

ONLINE WORKSHOP. Participants will meet daily on Zoom over the course of five days. There will be slide presentations as well as demos that illustrate the focus for the day. Exercises will be introduced in the meeting each morning. Participants will post their work on Padlet and will have group feedback in the afternoon/evening.

Exploration and discovery are the main objectives for the course. The exercises will be based both from life and from photo sources.

WITH ROTEM AMIZUR

May 1-4, 2021

Saturday-Tuesday

ONLINE WORKSHOP We will begin by painting papers with colors that excite us. Then, looking at old masters’ paintings, we will choose hues that create a sensation equivalent to what is evoked by them. Working only with our pre-painted papers helps us find unexpected color combinations. We look for relationships that feel good as opposed to "mixing the colors out there." Once colors are chosen and satisfying to us, we can dive into the continuous cycle of building, overlapping, changing and moving the cutout shapes — thus experiencing painting, drawing, observation, and invention as inseparable.

We will work small, with foam board and pins, pinning the cut-out shapes as we go along. Pinning as opposed to immediately gluing gives us a chance to constantly move shapes around. Making a variation, then another and another... Each new combination of colors leads us to see the reproduction in a new way — memory and familiarity making the game even more exciting and giving us the courage to make decisions we wouldn’t have dreamed of in the beginning. We are using the masters as our source but creating something distinctly personal and our own.

We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, share and discuss work.

WITH GWEN STRAHLE

MARCH 27-30, 2021

Saturday-Tuesday

ONLINE WORKSHOP

Drawing can be painterly, whether using charcoal, pencil or ink. This workshop will stimulate and maintain a continuous flow of drawing energy and examination. We will work from observation, using various materials and approaches. Exercises will be woven into the structure, including drawing from memory, gestures, drawing from other members of the studio. We will build abstractly to serve observation — drawing, re-drawing, re-thinking, re-seeing, re-working, to pull the drawing out from the inside, through process. Let’s make changes in order to dig deeper into the drawing experience, and provide opportunity for new invention. And, of course, it’s a marathon, so non-stop drawing...

Price includes model fee.

There will be three meetings per day on Zoom, and work will be shared and discussed as a group on Padlet.