REGISTRATION IS OPEN
ART WORKSHOPS RE•IMAGINED FOR THE MODERN TRAVELER
course offerings June 27 – September 9
A transformative series of six unique, curated workshops, each dedicated to providing a rich exchange of ideas and skill enhancement. Workshops take place in the Ah Haa School for the Arts state-of-the-art Silver Jack building, a 10,000 square-foot, purpose-built arts center with enhanced studios and thoughtfully designed classrooms. In addition to an intimate learning experience and one-on-one focused time with our visiting artists, students will enjoy a seasonal supper with a local chef, the opportunity to take a private historic walking tour of beautiful Telluride, and discounted lodging at the Madeline Hotel Resort & Spa.
Each workshop will run Thursday – Monday, with the final day (Monday) dedicated to open studio and critique time for the class to finish their work independently.
THE PERKS
Re•treat gives the modern traveler a chance to reimagine, reengage, refocus and reinvigorate their art making practice along side renowned artists in an intimate classroom setting, surrounded by the stunning San Juan Mountains.
30% off your stay with our lodging partner Madeline Hotel
(code provided after registration)
Seasonal Supper with a local chef in Ah Haa’s Culinary Classroom
Optional private historic walking tour
REBECCA CROWELL
Lines and Marks as Abstract Language
An Advanced Cold Wax Workshop
June 27 – July 1
Lines and marks can be some of the most expressive elements in your oil and cold wax paintings. In this workshop, demos and exercises will help you explore meaningful mark-making and lead into a series of three developed paintings.
Rebecca Crowell is an American abstract artist known for the rich, complex surfaces she creates with oil paint and cold wax medium. Her work is included in hundreds of art collections–private, public, and corporate, and she exhibits regularly in fine art galleries across the country. Crowell travels extensively for workshop teaching and artist residencies, both in the US and internationally.
Gordon Studer
Unveiling Composition In Acrylics
July 25 – July 29
A painting workshop where we will help you cultivate a discerning eye and discover the hidden gems in your own artwork, including the art of creating dynamic compositions through multiples. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced artist, this workshop is designed to refine your artistic vision, elevate your work to new heights, and unlock the creative possibilities that arise from creating compositions through multiples.
Gordon Studer’s earthy, confident abstracts are rooted in his discipline as an award-winning commercial illustrator, lending his work a strong, graphic cadence. The result speaks to liminal experience, interstitial time, and dreamscapes in deliberate forms in black atop a palette of ochre, sky blue, and crushed clays.
Elin Noble
Indigo Discharge: Blue, Brown, and White
August 1 – August 4
Engage indigo dye from two vantage points! We will begin by applying indigo on cellulose cloth (cotton, linen, hemp, ramie). After that we will selectively remove indigo through a series of resist techniques. We will use paste and clay resists in addition to stitched, wrapped, and clamped resists. Students will create a variety of imagery, focusing on blue on brown, blue on white, white on blue, brown on blue, or a combination of all of these.
Elin’s artwork combines traditional and innovate approaches to dyeing, using subtle and bold color juxtapositions. Her love of color, texture, and abstract geometric compositions show up in her complex itajime dyed fabric, quilts, and installations. Elin has lectured and conducted workshops in the United States, including at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Craft, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Additionally she has taught in Canada, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Hungary, Japan, and South Korea. Her artwork has been shown worldwide in galleries and museums, including the International Quilt Study Center and Museum, Visions Art Museum, New Bedford Art Museum, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Bellevue Art Museum, and the Museum of Art and Design in New York.
Hollie Chastain
Elevating the Mixed Media Surface
August 8 – August 12
In this workshop, students will use paper and small objects to elevate the surface of their work, utilizing Painting, Mixed Media and Printmaking, bringing in the fun of light, shadow, and three-dimensionality. You will spend the beginning of class making materials through methods of paper weaving, paper scales, folding, and more. Then, participants will use a penetrable but supportive substrate to evolve their piece, blending collage techniques and assemblage. Open to all skill levels.
Hollie Chastain is a mixed media artist and illustrator working in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Coming from both a graphic design and studio art background, her aesthetic has a story-telling quality, mixing found material, strong graphic elements and modern palettes that she has applied to a wide range of illustration and editorial work. As well as teaching workshops across the country, she maintains a home studio producing both client commissions and internationally collected personal pieces.
Ron Pokrasso
Layers and Plates
A Monotype Intensive
August 22 – August 26
Ron Pokrasso’s approach to monotype in combination with chine colle’/collage and drawing will open your eyes and your working process to a whole new range of possibilities. Using Akua non-toxic products you will learn numerous methods of working with inks and tools. Pokrasso’s unique approach illustrated with concise demos and interspersed with art making philosophies makes this an intensive, enriching, eco-friendly four-day art immersion. This workshop is great for beginners as well as a perfect tune-up for experienced monotype artists.
Ron Pokrasso has been an exhibiting artist, printmaker and educator for more than 40 years. He received his MFA degree from Pratt Institute in 1975 and has had over 50 solo exhibitions and more than 150 group shows. His work is in public, private, and corporate collections throughout the U.S. His teaching experience includes universities, museums, public schools and private workshops as well as Artist Residencies in the U.S., Scotland, Ireland and Italy.
David Kassan and Shana Levenson
Painting the Portrait Beyond the Photo
September 5 – September 9
Explore both classical and contemporary oil painting techniques! Together, we’ll deep-dive into the formal elements of representational painting like form, tone, value, color matching, edges, proportions, and composition, while also providing guidance to venture into conceptual art, using representational portraiture as a springboard. The workshop includes a photo shoot for source image referencing, ongoing demonstrations by Shana and David, and personalized one-on-one guidance, making this opportunity ideal for artists at all levels of experience.
David Jon Kassan is an internationally recognized contemporary American painter, filmmaker, and philanthropist best known for his life-size representational paintings, which combine figurative subjects with abstract backgrounds or “tromp l’oeil texture studies.”
Shana Levenson is a representational painter from Albuquerque, NM. Her passion for the arts led her to pursue a BA in Fashion Design from The University of Texas, in Austin and an MFA in Fine Art Painting from the Academy of Art University, in San Francisco. Shana’s work focuses on the figure and still-life mantras. Her inspiration comes from painting people that are important in her life, and her goal is to capture each person’s story in an honest and meaningful way. Her background in fashion design has informed her work with the exploration of painting different textiles and jewelry.
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