Washi Tape is a not-very-sticky masking tape made from rice paper. It comes in rolls of solid colors, as well as patterns, and provides adherence to a variety of surfaces. Students will learn basic layering, shaping, and cutting techniques which will enable them to create one-of-a-kind washi tape paintings, either by using just tape or as part of a multi-media collage. The primary focus of the course is on developing techniques to create fine art using washi tape. Possessing basic knowledge of drawing and design skills is helpful but not a prerequisite. There is a $10 materials fee due to the instructors in cash on the first day of this workshop for most materials, which will be provided for you.
 
Location: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Instructor: Joan Moreau McKeever & Lennie Ciliento
Cost: $160
Sponsor: Art League of Hilton Head
Website, email, (843) 842-5738

This 2-Day Workshop will cover the Oil & Cold Wax painting fundamentals, then we will examine Abstract Art, that by definition is characterized by the reduction of natural appearances into simplified forms; for example, constructing art on the basis of geometric shapes or intuitive gestures, or by the use of color to express emotions. Be prepared to paint looser and more intuitively. On day 2 we will cover constraint in art while creating a painting. But most importantly simplification and how to take a concept to its essence, and or easier to do or understand. Finally, we will consider the power of a limited color palette. There will be plenty of time for action-filled painting and personalized attention.
 
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Instructor: Jorge Luis Bernal
Cost: $350.00
Sponsor: Encaustic Art Institute
Website, email, 301-821-3999

Make a mini masterpiece in this fun, anything-goes class. We’ll start with a 5 x 5” wooden panel and collage various materials onto it such as; stained tea bag papers, tea bag strings and labels, fabric scraps, paints and beads, etc. You bring it, we will use it! Each person will create a unique art piece suitable for hanging and or gift giving.
 
Location: Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin
Instructor: Cynthia Quinn
Cost: $145 + $10 supply fee
Sponsor: River Arts Inc
Website, email, 608-643-5215

Come indulge your adventurous side with this celebration of diverse 2-D materials. We’ll use paint, collage, stamping, and multiple drawing implements in a stepwise approach to produce richly layered works that combine structure and improvisation. Lots of examples of contemporary and historical artworks will be shown, but bring along your imagination to this free-wheeling daylong session. While some experience with drawing, painting, or design is helpful, beginners are absolutely welcome. Materials fee includes paper and multiple materials used onsite.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Richard Moninski
Cost: $135.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Students in this class will do some simple metal etching on small squares of copper or brass. These completed metal pieces will then be embedded in a textural surface. Molding paste on cradled panel with stencils will create the textured surface. This surface will be painted with the student’s choice of colors. Color theory and composition will be discussed to help students create a beautiful and unusual art piece! Materials fee includes two 2” x 2” pieces of brass, two 2” x 2” pieces of copper, cradled panel, latex gloves, sandpaper, steel wool, styrofoam. Instructor-provided supplies for sharing include etching solution, containers for etching, Sta-Zon stamp pads, stencils, molding paste, fluid acrylic paints, plastic tongs, packing tape, glue, and more.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jacqueline Sullivan
Cost: $155.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

In this class, we will transfer letterforms (or you can make your own) to small canvas, and add imagery that calls to us. We will use a dry brush technique, which is a silhouetting technique that involves painting the negatives instead of the positives. Dry brushing is a helpful illustration technique to know, and a good exercise in seeing shapes. This project can easily be done in one day. We suggest picking a set of letters that offers more than one word: such as now, won, or own. Let the instructor know the word you pick ahead of time so the letters can be ready for you, or jump in and design your own.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jill Berry
Cost: $140.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Create one-of-a-kind, hand-stitched cards that mix “old-timey” photos with whimsical verse. We will start by creating our own collage background papers using old paper, inks, paint, and mark making. Then we will learn how to assemble the mini-little portraits that are mounted onto 4” x 5” note cards. Use them to send an extra special message to someone you love or as a portable work of art. Included materials fee includes everything needed to make 10 cards. You may bring additional paper, digital images or ephemera to use to personalize your work. Basic sewing machine knowledge is helpful but not required.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Lorraine Reynolds
Cost: $155.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Using collage, illustration, journaling, paint, paper, and other mixed media, we will create “maps” of our life experience. These maps of the imagination can record our journeys of the past, future, backyards, hopes, dreams, and mythological places. We will make varied maps and a book to contain them, and discuss the historical and contemporary treatments of maps and mapmaking. Making maps of your life leads to both wonderful art and self-discovery. This class is about making a small book to contain six pop-up maps of your life experiences, and exploring our journeys with color, curiosity, poetry, and permission to illustrate your own path in your own way. Included materials fee includes kit for book, paints, inks, mark making tools.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jill Berry
Cost: $315.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

In this class we will use an antique porcelain doll to make a mermaid. It is embellished with vintage rhinestones and special wash painting techniques. A frame will be painted and embellished to hold our mermaid. Everything is supplied to make the mermaid and the frame including the rhinestones. You only need to bring items to embellish your frame (possible items include shells, plastic undersea animal toys, jewels…). Materials fee includes antique porcelain doll body, Apoxie Clay, paint, vintage rhinestones, frame, and use of class tools.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Deborah Petronio
Cost: $165.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Acrylic molding paste can make beautiful textures and designs. The unique book covers created by these processes are quite striking! In this class students will learn and experiment with several molding paste techniques including stenciling, stamping, and scraping. Book covers are created by painting the molding paste and mounting on another piece of book board to form a cover. These covers will then be bound using a long stitch binding with a leather spine. This class will be appropriate for beginner and intermediate book binders. Students will receive personalized instruction and critique throughout the workshop. Instructor-provided supplies include: handouts describing techniques, molding paste, waxed linen thread in black or brown, awl, metal corners, stencils, acrylic paints, leather for spines.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jacqueline Sullivan
Cost: $155.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

This class will introduce you to the art of assemblage as you learn to construct basic house forms that have relevance and meaning in your own world. You will learn the basics of assemblage construction as well as plot a creative journey through storytelling, personal myth, and metaphor. You will take away powerful new ideas about process and art making. Don’t be afraid of the supply list: Really what you need is an old (or new) birdhouse that you are willing to screw, glue, paint, etc. and stuff to put on it. Clean out your junk drawer and/or gather up the bits and pieces that you have been collecting.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Lorraine Reynolds
Cost: $150.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Stones talk to me. While beachcombing, walking, hiking, I cannot pass up a good-looking stone! If you love stones and fill your pockets like me, this class is for you! You will learn a few simple knots to wrap stones with leather cord. The first knot will bind a twig or bamboo stick around a stone. The second stone will be wrapped using a Japanese knot technique. There will be time in the class to experiment with assorted sized stones and other Japanese-inspired knots to make each creation truly your own. Bring your own favorite stones, or select from a variety of stones provided. Marianne will provide written instructional handouts.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Marianne Biagi
Cost: $80.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Deli paper — we’ve all tried it! But you’ve probably never done the things with it that we will do in this class. Students will learn to shave pastels, and to add metallic powders and thin Asian papers to their collages. High-flow acrylic paint will be used to add abstract writing as well as Pollock-like drips and splashes. We will create a huge pile of collage papers! We will then choose our favorites and build an abstract collage suitable for framing. You’ll learn a lot about acrylic paints and mediums in the process and go home with a lot of papers for future use!
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jacqueline Sullivan
Cost: $155.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Conjure up the powers of the pyramid to create a distinctive treasure/spirit box. You will learn how to construct a four-sided pyramid using stabilized mulberry paper, embellishing the exterior with keishi pearls or shell bits. You may wish to add any charms and trinkets from your personal stash. And finally, you’ll finish off your one-of-a-kind creation with a lining and tie off with silk ribbons. Materials fee includes written instructions, stabilized mulberry paper, template, assorted pearls, shell bits for embellishment, charms, silk ribbons, glue stick, paper creaser, needle and thread. Marianne will have extra charms, trinkets, embellishments, and ribbons for additional purchase.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Marianne Biagi
Cost: $80.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

You’ll create an extraordinary multi-signature hand-bound long-stitch wooden book with painted and textured papers. At least five techniques will be taught in this workshop including color pencil on wood, dropped-in watercolor, monotype printing with open acrylics, and book-binding techniques to stitch signatures sewn onto a canvas binding. Materials fee includes wood, Masa paper, gesso, PVA glue, acrylics, waxed linen thread, adornments, and ribbon. I will provide awls, book-binding cradle, stencils, and other tools to use while we work.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Helen Shafer Garcia
Cost: $160.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Imagine a world of layered abstracted botanical shapes on paper. This workshop is a perfect way to spend the day discovering ways to create with monotypes, resist tools, water-soluble pencils, and transparent and opaque watercolors on paper. Based on biomorphic shape making, this process will allow you to discover ways to define the space around abstracted botanical shapes with deep values and colors. Pattern and texture will be the main ingredients for our compositions. We’ll start the process with monotype printmaking to build up a foundation of textures and images. Watercolors will be glazed on top, adding luminosity and brilliant color. Part of the beauty of this technique is revealing some of the underlining imagery in selected spots.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Helen Shafer Garcia
Cost: $155.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

Participants in the Mix it up on Canvas workshop will create mixed media/collage paintings on canvas using an intuitive process, starting with no preconceived notions or outcome. Process will dictate direction as students use a variety of techniques to implement elements and principles of design. Instruction will start with semi-arbitrary application of collage materials in combination with acrylic, gesso, acrylic mediums and assorted mark-making tools. There will be regular comments and evaluation of work in progress concerning relationships between elements and principles. It is entirely possible finished work may be representational, but the goal is work which is compositionally pleasing and aligned with the artist’s personal aesthetic. The workshop is open to students of all levels of experience.
 
Location: Lowell, Michigan
Instructor: Stan Kurth
Cost: $416
Sponsor: Franciscan Life Process Center
Website, email

Create a book dedicated to the winged creatures that we all love by diving into the concepts of nests and what home means to us in our hearts. We will begin with texturing our pages, using gesso and modeling paste. Then we will mark up our surfaces in unique ways, adding texture to our backgrounds. Next, we will add color and collage to our pages using instructor favorite techniques, nature-based stencil designs, and make our own stamps. Lastly, we will add focal points and details that will make our pages sing, including hand stitching and some more detailed mark making. We will use a simple technique to bind our pages into an artist book that tells your own unique story.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Roxanne Evans Stout
Cost: $440.00
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, 608-987-3292

This workshop is designed for both painters and photographers interested in gaining new skills and pushing the boundaries of their studio practice through the combination of encaustic and photography. Explore a range of subject matter, as well as a variety of surfaces on which to create work.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Sarah Rehmer
Cost: Members: $510 / Non-Members: $550
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, 920-868-3455

Painting with Cold Wax Medium is a popular artistic expression all over the world. In this class, you will explore the basic principles of using Cold Wax Medium through instructor-led demonstrations, individual guidance, and exploration of individual pieces. The techniques are fun, creative, and only limited by your imagination. We will explore the process of building layers using printmaking methods, mark making, and adding textures. What is added and hidden under layers will be uncovered by reduction including scraping, scratching, gouging and the use of solvents. There are no mistakes in this class, only results that are yet discovered. You will leave with basic knowledge of the medium, a finished painting, and some works in progress.
 
Location: Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin
Instructor: Rick Ross of Summit Art Studio
Cost: $125 class fee + $125 kit fee
Sponsor: River Arts Inc
Website, email, 608-643-5215

Your growth as an artist is my priority as we study great artists and unlock the universal secrets of image structure. At a primal level, it’s this abstract image structure that moves us-- the use of line, shape, space, value, color, and texture. This applies to any style or genre of painting because every good painting is good due to the underlying abstraction - the power of the purely visual. The plan is always to help you reach your potential, painting your way, with your voice and vision, but better than ever before. You can paint representational or abstract. Oils, watercolors, collage, and acrylics welcome. Come be encouraged and inspired in a fun, upbeat atmosphere.
 
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Instructor: David Michael Slonim
Cost: $675 (not including fees)
Sponsor: Scottsdale Artists' School
Website, email, (480) 990-1422 or (800) 333-5707

Learn to make an accordion folded, standing booklet with your nature illustrations on both sides. We’ll start with a 4×6?, 4-panel prefolded accordion style booklet made from watercolor paper. Cynthia will do several demonstrations to show how to draw, use ink pens, paint in watercolor or use watercolor pens, make collage, and add calligraphy. Each person will create a unique nature art booklet that will stand vertically for display. No previous experience needed.
 
Location: Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin
Instructor: Cynthia Quinn
Cost: $150 + $10 supply fee
Sponsor: River Arts Inc
Website, email, 608-643-5215