Medium:  Plaster Press Molds and Low-Fire Clay

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

“Every sweet has its sour: every evil its good.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Participants will brainstorm conflicting concepts and develop a list of opposing pairs: light/dark, love/hate, truth/error, emotion/logic . . . Participants will then explore ways to visually convey the opposite pairing of their choice in low-relief tiles.  Tiles will be cast in plaster to form press molds so participants can create multiples of their sculptural opposition.

Opposition will serve as inspiration for constructing a vessel or form in which conflict achieves equilibrium.  Low-fire red and white clay can be pressed into plaster molds to create the building blocks that will form a sculptural expression of opposites uniting.   How will the push and pull between conflicting themes find middle ground?  How do definitions and assumptions shift when opposites mingle and meld into a cohesive whole?

SUPPLIES TO BRING:

• Sketchbook
• Ruler
• Pencils and Erasers
• Ceramic Sculpting Tools
• Plastic garbage bags for covering work
• Bucket (1 gallon size for plaster casting)
• Wareboards
• Sponges for clean-up

Supply Fee: (payable to Pocosin Arts) $40

Holly Fischer exhibits her work regionally and nationally and has received numerous awards and accolades, including commissioned sculptures for the campuses of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Meredith College.  Holly has taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  She is currently an adjunct instructor at Meredith College and is actively creating a new body of work.

Medium: Jewelry

With nature as inspiration, we will create forms based on botanical elements such as leaves, petals, pods and flowers. A variety of forming techniques will be demonstrated, including fold forming and shell forming. We will then add color to our three-dimensional pieces using enamels. Basic metalworking skills are helpful, but all levels are welcome.

SUPPLIES TO BRING:

• Dust Mask
• Copper sheet: 22 guage and 24 guage (the instructor will have some for sale)
  
• Jewelers saw frame and blades (3/0)
• Hand files and needle files
• Shears for cutting metal
• Wire cutters
• Plastic or rawhide mallet
• Planishing hammer
• Cross peen forging hammer
• Steel block
• Chasing hammer
• Dapping block and punches
• Bench pin
• Solder
  

Lab Fee: $40 payable to instructor (This lab fee includes enamels for student use.)  Copper sheet is not included in lab fee, but the instructor  will have some sheet available for sale.

Kathryn Osgood is a studio artist and assistant professor at the College of the Albemarle in Manteo, North Carolina.  She is a jeweler, enamellist, and metalsmith, whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.  She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in metal and jewelry design from East Carolina University.  Her work is published in The Art of Enameling, 500 Necklaces, 500 Earrings, 1000 Rings, and Contemporary Enameling: Art and Techniques.  

Medium: Mixed Media

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Using simple materials and the techniques of assemblage and collage you will create a house like structure to tell your story. This can be about anything you choose to commemorate, a special person in your life, an important event, a remembered trip, even a beloved pet. I will show you how to build the shrine. What you choose to celebrate is up to you.

SUPPLIES TO BRING:

• Cutting mat
• Heavy-duty utility knife with sharp blade
• Sobo glue (craft stores)
• Weldbond or gel medium (craft stores)
• Scissors
• Ruler at least 12” long
• Pencil
• A few acrylic paints (can be craft paints, from craft stores)
• A few brushes for glue and paints (foam brushes are good)
• 6 straight pins
• A short length of grosgrain ribbon, 4” long and approx. 1/4” wide
• Something to use as a palette
• A few wet wipes for clean up
• Photocopies of photographs or written materials, (such as letters or maps), sized to fit within a 4”x5” format
• Small items such as buttons, keys, beads, etc., anything small to help tell your story.

Materials fee: $8 (payable to instructor)

Carol Owen is a full time studio artist.  She has worked in several different media, including weaving and hand made paper, and has been a mixed media artist for close to 20 years.  Her book, Crafting Personal Shrines, was published by Lark Books in 2003, and is now in its third printing.  She grew up in New York City, where she went to an art high school, and then Antioch College in Ohio.  She now resides in Pittsboro, North Carolina. 

Visit Carol Owen's Website...

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Altering the forms and surfaces of freshly thrown pots animates the work with the spontaneity reflective of working with soft clay.  Among the possibilities we’ll work with are methods of squaring, ovaling, fluting, and faceting. We’ll look to finishing touches - attachments, lids, spouts, handles and feet, and trimming an oval - to enhance and complete our pots. The possibilities presented are exciting and easily utilized, especially if you love working on the potter’s wheel. Particular emphasis will be on the development of each individual’s personal skills and aesthetic. Demonstrations and exercises will be designed to meet participants’ interests. Topics for discussion include whatever’s of interest to participants, raw glazing, single firing, firing a soda kiln, and aesthetics.

SUPPLIES TO BRING:

• Basic throwing tools:
• Sponges
• Ribs or other straight-edged tools such as rulers
• Pin tools
• Trimming tools
• Wire tool
• Fettling knife
• Ruler
• Calipers
• Paddling tools
• Water bucket, scrap clay storage bucket
• Towels
• Stamps, or tools for impressing into clay surfaces
• Batts, batt pins
• Wareboards
• Plastic for covering work
  
• Sketchbook or notebook, pencils, pens
• Favorite quotes, favorite books
• Slides or photos of your work
• Source material, pictures, Xerox copies, etc. of what appeals to you, what you would like to incorporate into your pots in some way.

Materials fee: (payable to Pocosin Arts) $30

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Working from direct observation and photographs we will make paintings using oil paints and a cold wax (a solvent-softened mixture of bees wax and synthetic waxes).  This thick paste is applied to a wood panel using a selection of palette knives.  Through demos and one-on-one instruction we will explore the possibilities of layering and incising to capture and transform our subject matter.

SUPPLIES TO BRING:

• Your oil paint kit if you have one
• Sketch books
• Drawing tools
• Oil paints (please consult the instructor if you want a suggested list of colors – email: ulinski@ipass.net)
• An assortment of small palette knives
• One pint of gamblin cold wax medium
• Easel of choice (some back-ups will be available for class use, but you may want to bring your own)
  
• Images to work from (we'll supplement this with field trips and work from observation)
• Digital camera & cable (there will be a laptop & color printer available to print your images to work from in the studio, bring your own laptop if you'd like)

Materials fee: Approximately $40, depending on amount of supplies used (payable to instructor - cash or check).  The instructor will bring some cold wax medium, solvent, wood panels, gesso, and palette knives to sell as needed.

Anthony Ulinski has exhibited widely in museums and galleries, including the John Elder Gallery in New York, Funeria in San Francisco, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Green Hill Center for North Carolina Arts in Greensboro, and Blue Spiral Gallery in Asheville.  His work has been included in the Smithsonian Craft Show and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show.  He is an exhibiting member of Artspace in Raleigh, where he was the summer 2000 
artist-in-residence.  He has received fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. 

He divides his time between the painting studio and the wood shop. 

Visit Anthony Ulinski's website…

www.anthonyulinski.com

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Set his book aside and come learn from Tom Wolfe in person!  Bring expression and character to your carvings as Tom shares his widely appreciated skills. Students will focus on carving figures for walking sticks and/or bottlestoppers.  This is a unique opportunity to work through the challenges of detail carving for a few intensive days with an 
accomplished teacher. 

SUPPLIES TO BRING:

• Carving knives
• Palm gouges

Materials fee: (payable to instructor) $52.00 ~ depending on how much material is used (the instructor will be providing all the wood for the walking sticks and bottle stoppers)