UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, ALL WORKSHOPS
WILL BE HELD ONLINE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC.
To register for a workshop, click the "REGISTER" link below the title.
Sign up for the mailing list to be notified of new workshops.
Contact us at blackpondstudio@gmail.com with questions.
Workshops are listed in chronological order.
Scroll down for complete listings.
WILL BE HELD ONLINE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC.
To register for a workshop, click the "REGISTER" link below the title.
Sign up for the mailing list to be notified of new workshops.
Contact us at blackpondstudio@gmail.com with questions.
Workshops are listed in chronological order.
Scroll down for complete listings.
OPENING DOORS
WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
Five meetings
WEDNESDAYS
March 31
April 7
April 14
April 21
April 28
2021
1:30-5 p.m. eastern US time
(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 on Wednesdays over the course of five weeks. There will be slide presentations as well as demos that illustrate the focus for the week. Each week exercises will be introduced.
Participants will post their work on Padlet and will have group feedback sessions during the meetings. Exploration and discovery are the main objectives for the course. The exercises will be based both from life and from photo sources.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
Five meetings
WEDNESDAYS
March 31
April 7
April 14
April 21
April 28
2021
1:30-5 p.m. eastern US time
(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 on Wednesdays over the course of five weeks. There will be slide presentations as well as demos that illustrate the focus for the week. Each week exercises will be introduced.
Participants will post their work on Padlet and will have group feedback sessions during the meetings. Exploration and discovery are the main objectives for the course. The exercises will be based both from life and from photo sources.
COLOR RULES
WITH NANCY McCARTHY
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
April 17-19, 2021
Saturday-Monday
10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. US eastern time
Check your own time zone
ONLINE WORKSHOP. 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 gouache on paper helps up understand how color functions and to build our personal color vocabulary. This workshop is meant for anyone working with color: painters, designers, architects, etc. We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, share and discuss work.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
April 17-19, 2021
Saturday-Monday
10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. US eastern time
Check your own time zone
ONLINE WORKSHOP. 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 gouache on paper helps up understand how color functions and to build our personal color vocabulary. This workshop is meant for anyone working with color: painters, designers, architects, etc. We will use Zoom to meet as as group, view image presentations, share and discuss work.
COLLAGE AFTER MASTERS
WITH ROTEM AMIZUR
May 1-4, 2021
Saturday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
May 1-4, 2021
Saturday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
PAINTERS PAINTING 2
WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI
May 7-11, 2021
Friday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
May 7-11, 2021
Friday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
INTERIOR SPACE
WITH PETER VAN DYCK
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
BREAK NEW GROUND
WITH ELIZABETH O'REILLY
ONLINE WORKSHOP
June 5-9, 2021
Saturday-Wednesday
Expand your watercolor fluency by experimenting with value, color, mark making and scale. Through a variety of exercises and techniques including staining, texture, dry brush, wet on wet and accidents, you will become more aware of how to manipulate the medium while maintaining its fluidity. Multiple studies will be created using references from nature. Other exercises may include working large (to put our body motion into the strokes), working abstractly, and creating collages from students’ own drawings and paintings. Looking at images of contemporary watercolor will be included. Participants should have some previous experience with watercolor.
This workshop will be held on Zoom, with three one-hour meetings per day.
ONLINE WORKSHOP
June 5-9, 2021
Saturday-Wednesday
Expand your watercolor fluency by experimenting with value, color, mark making and scale. Through a variety of exercises and techniques including staining, texture, dry brush, wet on wet and accidents, you will become more aware of how to manipulate the medium while maintaining its fluidity. Multiple studies will be created using references from nature. Other exercises may include working large (to put our body motion into the strokes), working abstractly, and creating collages from students’ own drawings and paintings. Looking at images of contemporary watercolor will be included. Participants should have some previous experience with watercolor.
This workshop will be held on Zoom, with three one-hour meetings per day.
CLOSE TO HOME
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.
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.
HOT SUMMER NIGHTS #1
AN ONLINE MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP
August 13-15, 2021
Friday-Sunday
“I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun” — Yoko Ono
FORMAT:
Taking advantage of long summer days, the weekend format starts out Friday night with a presentation, and intro to the project, followed by question and answer. Saturday and Sunday evening EST (or afternoon depending on the location of participants) will be feedback sessions and discussion of the work that will be posted on Padlet. The group will be divided into two smaller groups for a better experience for all.
FRIDAY PRESENTATION: 7 pm EST two-hour presentation and explanation of the exercise/project. Q & 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)
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
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 in a sense sculptural, aspect of collage. Ideas can be worked out literally using your hands.
Supplies for the course will consist of found materials and oil or acrylic on wood panel. The found imagery can be just that-- imagery from magazines, cereal boxes, postcards or even old work cut up. You could use text/photos from newspapers, books, old letters, recipes etc. You may use literally anything and everything. It can have great meaning or be completely arbitrary.
Working in mixed media and collage is a great way to explore and take risks. It is a way to take a detour onto new trajectories through readymade imagery which bring new ideas. This process of mixed media is highly individual. It is meant to encourage experimentation and discussion within the groups.
August 13-15, 2021
Friday-Sunday
“I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun” — Yoko Ono
FORMAT:
Taking advantage of long summer days, the weekend format starts out Friday night with a presentation, and intro to the project, followed by question and answer. Saturday and Sunday evening EST (or afternoon depending on the location of participants) will be feedback sessions and discussion of the work that will be posted on Padlet. The group will be divided into two smaller groups for a better experience for all.
FRIDAY PRESENTATION: 7 pm EST two-hour presentation and explanation of the exercise/project. Q & 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)
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
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 in a sense sculptural, aspect of collage. Ideas can be worked out literally using your hands.
Supplies for the course will consist of found materials and oil or acrylic on wood panel. The found imagery can be just that-- imagery from magazines, cereal boxes, postcards or even old work cut up. You could use text/photos from newspapers, books, old letters, recipes etc. You may use literally anything and everything. It can have great meaning or be completely arbitrary.
Working in mixed media and collage is a great way to explore and take risks. It is a way to take a detour onto new trajectories through readymade imagery which bring new ideas. This process of mixed media is highly individual. It is meant to encourage experimentation and discussion within the groups.
HOT SUMMER NIGHTS #2
AN ONLINE MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOP
August 20-22, 2021
Friday-Sunday
“I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun” — Yoko Ono
FORMAT:
Taking advantage of long summer days, the weekend format starts out Friday night with a presentation, and intro to the project, followed by question and answer. Saturday and Sunday evening EST (or afternoon depending on the location of participants) will be feedback sessions and discussion of the work that will be posted on Padlet. The group will be divided into two smaller groups for a better experience for all.
FRIDAY PRESENTATION: 7 pm EST two-hour presentation and explanation of the exercise/project. Q & 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)
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
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 in a sense sculptural, aspect of collage. Ideas can be worked out literally using your hands.
Supplies for the course will consist of found materials and oil or acrylic on wood panel. The found imagery can be just that-- imagery from magazines, cereal boxes, postcards or even old work cut up. You could use text/photos from newspapers, books, old letters, recipes etc. You may use literally anything and everything. It can have great meaning or be completely arbitrary.
Working in mixed media and collage is a great way to explore and take risks. It is a way to take a detour onto new trajectories through readymade imagery which bring new ideas. This process of mixed media is highly individual. It is meant to encourage experimentation and discussion within the groups.
August 20-22, 2021
Friday-Sunday
“I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun” — Yoko Ono
FORMAT:
Taking advantage of long summer days, the weekend format starts out Friday night with a presentation, and intro to the project, followed by question and answer. Saturday and Sunday evening EST (or afternoon depending on the location of participants) will be feedback sessions and discussion of the work that will be posted on Padlet. The group will be divided into two smaller groups for a better experience for all.
FRIDAY PRESENTATION: 7 pm EST two-hour presentation and explanation of the exercise/project. Q & 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)
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
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 in a sense sculptural, aspect of collage. Ideas can be worked out literally using your hands.
Supplies for the course will consist of found materials and oil or acrylic on wood panel. The found imagery can be just that-- imagery from magazines, cereal boxes, postcards or even old work cut up. You could use text/photos from newspapers, books, old letters, recipes etc. You may use literally anything and everything. It can have great meaning or be completely arbitrary.
Working in mixed media and collage is a great way to explore and take risks. It is a way to take a detour onto new trajectories through readymade imagery which bring new ideas. This process of mixed media is highly individual. It is meant to encourage experimentation and discussion within the groups.
PAINTERS PAINTING
WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI
OCTOBER 22-26, 2021
Friday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
OCTOBER 22-26, 2021
Friday-Tuesday
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
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.
TRANSCRIBING ITALIAN MASTERS
WITH LUCY MacGILLIS
Five meetings
WEDNESDAYS
September 29
October 6
October 13
October 20
October 27
2021
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.
Five meetings
WEDNESDAYS
September 29
October 6
October 13
October 20
October 27
2021
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.
THE ITALIAN NOVECENTO
WITH LUCY MacGILLIS
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
November 12-14, 2021
Friday-Sunday
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.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
November 12-14, 2021
Friday-Sunday
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.
PAINTING THE FIGURE WITH THE ITALIAN EARTH PALETTE
WITH LUCY MacGILLIS
THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD AT BLACK POND IN THE FUTURE WHEN IT IS SAFE TO MEET IN PERSON. Please email us at blackpondstudio@gmail.com if you have questions.
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 simplify 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.
THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE HELD AT BLACK POND IN THE FUTURE WHEN IT IS SAFE TO MEET IN PERSON. Please email us at blackpondstudio@gmail.com if you have questions.
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 simplify 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.