Ellen Kochansky

Quilts and textile art

Ellen Kochansky’s artistic practice is rooted in more than 30 years of experience as a textile artist, designer and quilter. With a firm grounding in traditional craft, Kochansky’s work has always stretched those definitions to include experimental fiber and mixed-media art, public and private commissions as well as community-based and site-specific installations. For her company, EKO, she designed and manufactured custom quilts from 1989 to 2004. She has been an American Craft Council Trustee (1989-1993), a National Endowment for the Arts American Canvas Panelist (1997), a founding Director of Ripple Effect Sustainable Design Group (1999-2001), and she serves on the Pickens County Cultural Commission. She has recently launched a non-profit residency program called The Rensing Center which supports craft traditions and environmentally responsible practices, and emerging artists through teaching and mentorship. She has twice been chosen Craft Fellow by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Ellen has shared her experience through teaching and workshops, including Penland, Arrowmont, and the Innovation Institute (McColl Center, Charlotte, NC). Her work is included in The Mint Museum, The American Museum of Art and Design in NY, and the White House Collection, and she has been cited in various book, articles, and television programs, notably CBS Sunday Morning and the book Six Continents of Quilts.

http://www.ekochansky.com/

Workshop Course:

Our Love/Hate Relationships with Technology

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This class is inspired by the conflicted but inextricable relationship we all have with technology.

We struggle with dichotomies...light/ heavy, flat/ dimensional, important/ valueless, so we will use the the two-day format to explore and embrace conflict within the creative process...

The first day (2D) we'll learn a photo-print technique using Picasa to develop images and print them on silk organza. These will be the basis for feather-weight collages, held with bookbinders glue.

The second day (3D) is a a collective "bundle" day in which we take technological trash (motherboards from dead computers are perfect, but there's plenty more) and materials we'll produce as leftovers from Day One, and use them as foundations for wrapped, stacked, coiled or bundled elements. The workshop has something for book artists and sculptors as well as fiber fans, and the content will be both philosophical and entertaining.

Students should bring:

Things you threw away...
Your studio trash bin tells the story of what you did this week...bring something to share: paper trash, scraps of old work, slides you don't need any more, preferably things you struggled with. No more than a shoebox full.

Obsolete technology...
The printer you threw a hammer at.
The first computer you replaced with a "better" one.
Some tools you might need to dismantle the parts.
The group will share these elements as well, so if you come empty-handed you can still play.

Ellen will bring:

printer with archival ink
laptop
silk, spray glue, card stock
plastic sheet
book glue
brushes
thread, wire, string
motherboards, tiles
tools for disassembly

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Carol LeBaron

Carol LeBaron is a professional artist, educator and curator. She received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2000, and completed her Art History requirements at RISD and a Collegiate Teaching Certificate from Brown University. Her clamped wool and jacquard work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and has won several awards. Recent venues include the State Museum in Nashville, TN, the Association for Visual Arts in Chattanooga, TN, and the Caleb Bingham Gallery in Columbia, Missouri. Her work has been published in Surface Design Journal and Fiberarts Design Book Seven. She has taught at several art schools and universities, including Rhode Island School of Design, Appalachian Center for Crafts, East Tennessee State University, and University of Illinois Edwardsville, as well as workshops at Peters Valley, Oregon College of Art and Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Penland School of Craft. She has received a major research grant for her resist explorations on wool. She has completed several artist residencies. She teaches Art History at East Tennessee State University and Textiles at Georgia State University. Her exhibit, Endangered Species has travelled nationally.

Workshop Course:

Color and Fiber: Low Tech to High Tech

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In this workshop, we will explore the concepts of technology and craft in relationship to color and fiber. Come with an open mind and be ready to play. We will let the spirit of discovery move us forward as we explore layering of color and material.
Craft: skill in planning, making, or executing
Technology: the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area

Materials List (What the attendees will need to bring):

• Fabric/fiber samples cut roughly standard printer size, assorted fibers (cotton, linen, wool, synthetic)
• Plastic containers for dyes and paints
• Sponge brushes
• Old clothes
• Good scissors, Cutting wheel and mat
• Masking tape
• Freezer paper
• Assorted needles, threads, implements for stitch
• Spatula or putty knife wide plastic for pushing dye through screen
• 3 ring binder or other notebook or folder to keep samples in sketchbook, pen, paper
• any dyes or paints you like to use on paper
• Rags and towels
• IMPORTANT! It is recommended that each local attendee bring his/her own sewing machine.

http://www.carollebaron.com/

 

Linda Darty

Contemporary metal and enameling techniques.

Linda Darty is the head of the metals program and professor of metalworking and enameling in the School of Art at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. She has an extensive national and international exhibition record and frequently teaches workshops on contemporary metal and enameling techniques. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and she is the author of the new book, The Art of Enameling, Ms. Darty has received the NC Board of Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, the ECU Alumni Teaching excellence Award and ECU School of Art’s Scholar Teacher Award. In 2003 she received The Lifetime Achievement Award from The Enamelist Society, an international organization, celebrating her work as both an enameling artist and a teacher.

http://www.temple.edu/crafts/public_html/mjcc/local/history/p38.html

http://www.taboostudio.com/artist_dtl.asp?artist=Linda%20Darty

Workshop Course:

Imagery in Enamel

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This workshop will cover a variety techniques that allow the artist to create drawn and painted imagery in enamel. We will cover watercolor and acrylic painting enamel techniques, underglazes, pencils, chalks, crayons and china painting as well as more traditional limoge and grisaille enameling. Students will have an opportunity to create small pieces that involve torch or kiln firing using a combination of these techniques.

A Lab Fee May Apply. Please contact the conference coordinators after June 13, 2009 for more information.

Materials list

• Pencils (you might like to also have colored pencils for designing)
• sharpie fine tip marker
• shop apron
• small, sharp embroidery type scissors
• 2” x 2” pieces 18 or 20 ga. copper sheet (to fit in a slide page for making samples. -Or- any sizes of copper sheet to make samples on..if you don’t use the slide page as a holder, you might want to drill holes so you can string samples.)
• small hand towel
• several small jars or containers for washing enamels (spice, baby food, etc.
• water color tray that can be covered (with lid or tin foil)
• 6” flat hand file, any cut (simply for filing edges of copper sheet)
• eye dropper
• 000 fine tip sable paintbrush

Carole Maugé-Lewis

Graphic Designer, web site development and interface design.

Carole Maugé-Lewis has been a professional graphic designer and educator in the field for the past fifteen years. Most recently, she has been involved in web site development and interface design, recently completing certification in Internet Specialization and Internet Marketing, and she intends to continue to explore these areas. She completed the BFA in Graphic Design and the Master of Fine Arts in graphic design at Howard University, in Washington, D.C., and began her teaching career there. She has also taught at the Art Institute of Atlanta and at the American Intercontinental University, both in Atlanta, Georgia. She is presently an associate professor of art at Kennesaw State University.

http://www.kennesaw.edu/visual_arts/Personnel/Mauge-LewisC/

http://www.acc-southeast.com/mauge.html

Workshop Course:

Carole Maugé-Lewis: Basic Website Design in Adobe Photoshop CS3/CS4

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This workshop is geared to those who have experience working on a Mac or PC. Basic knowledge of Photoshop would be a benefit, but not necessary. At the end of this workshop you would have created a basic website to display your works.

Materials List

Bring a maximum of 20 images. All images must be either on a USB Flash drive or burnt to a CD and must be in .jpg format. If your images are on a digital camera, you must have the camera’s USB cord to transfer your files to the computer. To be on the safe side, have your images on the Flash drive or CD.

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Jeanne Sperry

Graphic Designer, web site development and interface design.

Associate Professor of Art, graphic design concentration
President, Cherokeered design firm, cherokeered.com
Vice President, Peer Resource Group, peerresourcegroup.com

Currently an associate professor of art at Kennesaw State University, Jeanne Sperry places a strong emphasis on service-learning, her classroom becomes a real world experience which makes a significant contribution to help clients within the university and surrounding community, while giving the student a high level of responsibility and reward.

Her focus in the classroom is on building a strong foundation of graphic design principles and problem-solving skills, with a focus on building a strategy plan, effective research, and a web site development and interface design, recently completing certification in Internet Specialization and Internet Marketing. She not only practices this in her own graphic design firm, but stresses this in the classroom, as well.

http://www.kennesaw.edu/visual_arts/Personnel/SperryJ/

 

Workshop Course:

Jeanne Sperry: Branding Your Business

• Basic things to consider strategically - images and words
• Designing a simple structure that works
• Laying out a direct mail card, business card and PDF to mail - working in Photoshop and InDesign on Mac
• Resources that work

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Bring images of your work on a USB flash drive or CD

Joan Truckenbrod

Published a book titled Creative Computer Imaging

Ms. Truckenbrod is a Professor in the Art and Technology Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She exhibits her artwork internationally in Chicago, New York, London, Paris and Berlin. TELOS has published a book of her recent artwork titled Portfolio Collection JOAN TRUCKENBROD. Ms. Truckenbrod published a book titled Creative Computer Imaging in 1988 (Prentice Hall). As a Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she is a member of the Art and Technology Department. Her artwork is represented by FLATFILEgallery in Chicago.

http://www.joantruckenbrod.com/

Workshop Course:

Sculpting With Time and Light: Creative Computer Imaging

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Participants use hand processes to explore transformations in form, texture and pattern using the computer and scanner. Propelling ordinary objects into motion during the scanning process creates new abstract landscapes. Images can be further transformed using Photoshop. Series of images can be translated into various materials using the printer and photographic processes. Three-dimensional forms can be constructed using the printouts of imagery.

Materials List

Participants will bring objects, materials and photographs to investigate using the scanning process. Materials for printing images, including decorative papers, letters, treated fabric, heat-transfer material, etc., should be included for creative explorations beyond the computer. Items such as antique hankies can be used if they are treated for ink-jet printing, and adhered to paper using spray adhesive used in quilting.
CDs or USB memory stick for saving images.

Optional: Hand iron and sewing machines if working with fiber.

 

Heather Ferman

Viking Knit Wire Work

Heather Ferman is a flamework glass artist.  Heather began her art career over 25 years ago in ceramics and glass.  She now specializes in creating one-of-a-kind beads and small sculptures using a blowtorch.  She combines many of her flamework beads into unique jewelry pieces. 
 
Heather has studied flamework glass under many masters at Corning Glass and in Murano, Italy.  She teaches flameworking workshops around the country and as far away as Israel. 
 
Heather has been featured in many publications.  Most notably, she is the only American glass artist to be selected for Bead Review in each of the past three years.  Bead Review showcases 40 of the top glass beads and sets from around the world each year. 
 
Heather’s beads and jewelry are carried in many galleries and bead shops around the country including The Corning Museum of Glass gift shop.

http://www.heatherferman.com/

Workshop Course:

Viking Knit Wire Work

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Viking Knit Wire Work – This class will teach the ancient art of Viking Knit. The class will start out learning how to weave wire into long chains. Then the Viking Knit chains will be incorporated into Jewelry Designs.  Many ways of finishing the woven chains into a bracelets or other Jewelry designs will be covered. Different embellishing and finishing techniques will help create beautiful one of a kind works of art. Copper wire will be used in class for teaching, but many will like to create their next chain in sterling silver. Viking Knit is a very intricate looking technique, but can be mastered by any one.   Beginners welcome. 

The workshop will teach all aspects of Viking knit including single, double and triple Viking knit along with finishing techniques to create completed Jewelry. Contact Heather Ferman if you have questions: http://www.heatherferman.com/

Materials list:
24g wire- copper
Masking tape
24g sterling silver dead soft/optional
Toggles
Beads
Viking Knit End caps
19 or 20g wire for assembly
(I will also have all materials available for purchase)

Tools:
Draw plate
½ inch dowel rod cut to 1 foot
Jewelry making tools:
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Flush cutter

Required Supply Kit:
A small kit of supplies for this workshop will be provided for an additional fee:
• Copper kit without lampwork beads $12

Not necessary but available:
• Sterling silver kit without lampwork beads $35
Includes 1oz. sterling 24g wire and toggle with small sterling beads and end caps.

Other supplies will be available for purchase.
Please feel free to bring any Jewelry making tools and supplies to use.

 

Melissa Harshman

Digital and mixed media printmaking

Melissa Harshman received a BFA from Cornell University and a MFA from the University of Wisconsin. The artist is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia. Harshman has exhibited in numerous solo and two person shows including: the 1999 Boston Printmakers North American Print Exhibition; The Southeastern Printmaking Invitational, Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville, NC; Contents and Contexts: Lithography After 200 Years, Academy Art Center, Honolulu, HI; and Recent Works-Melissa Harshman, La Casa Municipal de Cultura, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Harshman has visited, demonstrated and lectured at such schools as Vanderbilt University, University of Missouri, University of Georgia and Anchor Graphics in Chicago. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; The Georgia Museum; Milwaukee Art Museum; and The Southern Graphics Council Archive. Harshman has received numerous grants and awards in the field of digital and mixed media printmaking.

http://www.worldprintmakers.com/homeo/harshman.htm

Workshop Course:

Beginning Intaglio

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Participants will learn the basic techniques of etching including line etch, dry point, soft ground, and aquatint. We will work in black and white prints. No prior printmaking experience is required.

Materials list

• Arches Cover White Paper- 22” x 30”- 4 sheets (at least)
• Etching Needle
• Variety of small brushes
• Pencil
• Newsprint pad
• 2— 6” x 9” copper plates (size approximate)
• black and white photo of an image the student has taken and would like to do in aquatint (optional)

 

Ayokunle Odeleye

Specializing in the creation of Monumental Public Art, Wood Sculpture, Metal Sculpture, Finely Crafted Gifts in wood and metal for Art Institutions, Art Galleries, and Art Collectors.

Ayokunle Odeleye is head of the sculpture program at Kennesaw State University and a professional sculptor who has specialized in the creation of three-dimensional art for thirty-five years. His personal work involves the creation of large-scale sculpture for public environments. He works both abstractly and figuratively. He maintains two separate state-of-the-art studio facilities: one for woodworking, and another for metal fabrication. He is represented nationally by several galleries.

www.odeleyesculpturestudios.com

Workshop Course:

Methods and Materials of Wood Sculpture

The wood workshop will focus on methods and materials associated with the creation of forms in wood. A variety of technologies used in the creation of the design to the completion of the final form will be demonstrated.

Paul Wandless

Ceramics expert on printing on clay and alternate firing techniques, author of Image Transfer On Clay.

Along with the clay work, a number of his oil paintings, drawings and prints are collected privately. Wandless gives workshops regarding his art and techniques around the country and has taught as a visiting assistant professor since 1999 at different Universities while maintaining his studio work. In 2002 he received the Distinguished Young Alumni Award from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He also received the 2007 NCECA Outstanding Achievement Award for editing and creating the Demonstrating Artist Series on DVD.

Wandless authored Image Transfer On Clay (Lark Books, 2006) and co-authored Alternative Kilns & Firing Techniques (Lark Books, 2004) and also writes articles for Pottery Making Illustrated magazine as a regular contributor. As an independent curator he specializes in exhibiting artists who utilize image transfer processes to create work as well as multi-cultural artists. In 1999 he co-founded and maintains a multi-cultural artist website www.culturalvisions.org as a gallery and resource site. Wandless recently co-founded and is art editor for on-line magazine www.terracottamag.com which launched October 2006.

Wandless has been a Presidential Appointee to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) since 2003 as the video editor for the demonstrating artists program. He served on the Board of Directors for NCECA as a Director-at-Large (2001– 2003), the Board of Directors for The Clay Studio of Philadelphia (2003–2006) and has been on the steering committee for the Philadelphia Sculptors since 2001.

http://www.studio3artcompany.com/

Workshop Course:

Paul Wandless: Image Transfer Techniques for Clay

Download this two-day workshop schedule (72kb Acrobat Reader PDF)

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This Workshop/Presentation will be an introduction to various images transfer techniques for claywork. Monoprinting, screening, stenciling, embossing and relief printing onto plaster and clay slabs will be covered during demo/ workshop. How to create images with screens, linocuts, stencils and stamps will be demonstrated so participants will be able to make their own printing tools. I will cover most of what is in my book “Image Transfer On Clay” and additional techniques not covered in the book.

Images and designs will be used as a means of personal expression to create the compositions in the workshop. The surfaces will be used as canvasses for exploration of printed imagery, design, pattern, color and text. The hand building technique used will be soft slab and slump molds to create a variety of forms. Multiple layers of color and images will be created using AMACO underglazes. All levels of experience welcomed.

Recommended Book for reference:
Image Transfer On Clay book by Paul Andrew Wandless
ISBN 1579906354 by Lark Books, Available in bookstores or at a discount on
Amazon.com This will have all the processes we are covering and will be very
helpful in selection of materials by students and having a basic understanding of
what we will be doing in workshop.

All materials and tools being used are in this book and will help to give the
students a good visual of the actual tool or material if they wanted to purchase
anything before workshop.

Materials List

General supplies
- basic clay tools for handbuilding
- Slip trailers / slip applicators
- brushes of assorted sizes
- small sponges (natural sponges are best)
- ruler (clear graph ruler is best)
- commercial rubber or wood stamps for embossing and printing
- some photos, sketchbook drawings, or clip art to be used as potential images
- stencils. Commercial or hand made
- graphite pencil (4B or 6B)
- blue painter's tape - 1/2 inch is fine

For making PhotoEZ screens
The best way to assure a successful image will be created in your screen is to
make good and informed decisions beforehand. The type of image, screen mesh and
photocopy paper have to be suitable and compatible with each other for the best
results.

Your image must be black & white only and can be line-art, an illustration,
photograph, digital image or halftone image. For the purposes of this article, I'll define
images to be used as simple or complex. Line-art images have few, if any, small details
and consist more of bold lines and shapes or silhouettes with high contrast and no mid
tones. This would be considered a simple image. Illustrations, photographs, digital
images or halftone images(use large dot per-inch) typically have finer lines and smaller
details. This would be considered a complex image. You still want to be careful of
having lines or image parts that are too fine or small because you don't want the screen
to clog when printing. Once the image is chosen you need to make a black & white
photocopy of it. The paper used for your photocopy has to be 20-pound or less and 84
brightness or less.

For Relief Block Printing (optional)
linoleum, EZ Cut and linocut gouges. Student can use some sample linocuts
that I will have or can bring their own. I will not have enough for everyone.

Linocuts
Students can make small (no bigger than 5" square) linocuts before the
workshop of individual images or do it as part of class.

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Nan Smith

Molds, Modeling and the Narrative Figure

Nan Smith is a figure sculptor and professor, who teaches Ceramic Art for the School of Art & Art History at the University of Florida. Raised in Philadelphia’s rich visual and cultural environment, Nan’s interest in universal connections, sculpture and painting began early. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art and her Master of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. She holds degrees in Ikebana and Japanese Tea Ceremony from the Japan House at the University of Illinois. Prior to joining the faculty at UF, Nan Smith taught ceramics and foundation design at the University of Illinois.

Her sculpture has been shown in national and international juried venues and has been published in numerous books and periodicals including feature chapters in “The Figure in Clay” and “World Famous Ceramic Artists Studios”. She has presented workshops on mold-making and airbrush for ceramics throughout the United States including the 1999 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference. Smith served as the co-juror for the 2006 NCECA Regional Juried Student Exhibition.

Nan Smith’s work is in the collections of The American Express Corporation, The Lamar Dodd Art Center, The Burlington County Community College, and the World Ceramics Exposition Korea International Collection, Ichon, Korea. She has received individual artist fellowships from the NEA-funded Southern Arts Federation and the state of Florida as well as being awarded a University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship, residencies at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts and awards for teaching excellence from the University of Florida.

Please visit web site for a list of exhibitions and publications: http://www.nansmith.com

Workshop Course:

Nan Smith: Molds, Modeling and the Narrative Figure

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This two day workshop will focus on methods of creating life scale figures in clay through demonstration and hands-on activities. Casting and mold-making processes using alginate, plaster life-casts, and rubber press-molds as well as life modeling will be taught. A visual survey will be presented on the human figure as a narrative vehicle. A discussion of historical figuration and contemporary genre including the doll, the mannequin, figurine and statuary are to be explored. Installation-oriented figure sculpture and figures in context will be discussed.

* A small kit of supplies for this workshop will be provided for a modest fee.