[WORKSHOPS]

Workshop Schedule 

(****Newly updated 6/15/13)

Links will take you to either the venue's general website or the workshop registration page. Scroll to the  bottom of this page for descriptions of all workshops. If you represent a venue and are interested in hosting one or more of my workshops, please contact me via email at shap97@gmail.com.

2013

January

January 6  Little Bird Creations Studio - NYC

--52 Card Pickup

January 27  Little Bird Creations Studio - NYC
--Folded Foto Folio

March

March 9-10  Little Bird Creations Studio - NYC                                    

--The Need to Tell Stories, collaborative workshop with Roxanne Evans Stout & Elizabeth Wix

March 22 The Queen's Ink - Savage, Maryland

----A Box of Dreams

March 23-24  The Queen's Ink - Savage, Maryland
--Mixed Media Memoire

April

April 5  Guilford Art Center - Guilford, Connecticut

--Mixed Media Dossier

April 6-7  Ink About It - Westford, Massachusetts

--Mixed Media Memoire

April 20-21  The Queen's Ink - Savage, Maryland

--Mixed Media Memoire

May

May 9  Collage - Portland, Oregon

--Folded Foto Folio

May 10  Collage - Portland, Oregon

--A Box of Dreams

May 11 Collage - Portland, Oregon

--52 Card Pickup

May 13-14  Pacific Northwest Art School - Coupeville, Washington

--Mixed Media Memoire 

May 15-16  Pacific Northwest Art School - Coupeville, Washington

--Mixed Media Dossier 

June

 June 15  Beautiful Impressions - Westbrook, Connecticut
--Folded Foto Folio

June 29-30  The Ink Pad - NYC
--Mixed Media Memoire 2 day workshop: registration open

July

July 17-21  CREATE mixed media retreat - Somerset, New Jersey registration open

--Mixed Media Dossier: July 19
--Folded Foto Folio: July 20
--Text Tiles: July 20
--Basic Book Binding for Beginners: July 21

July 29-August 7  Art Unraveled - Phoenix Arizona registration open 
--For Your Eyes Only: July 30
--Mixed Media Dossier: July 31
--Text Tiles: August 1

September

September 21 Little Bird Creations Studio - NYC****
--iWitness: workshop full

October

October 10-13  Art is You - Stamford, Connecticut registration open 

--52 Card Pickup: October 10
--Painted Grid Silhouette: October 11
--Memory Box: October 12

2014

February

February 4-5  - San Diego, California****

--If Walls Could Talk, collaborative workshop with Orly Avineri: workshop full

February 8-9  - Redondo Beach, California****

--If Walls Could Talk, collaborative workshop with Orly Avineri: workshop full

Workshop Descriptions

iWitness

Through a series of artistic exercises designed to uncover who we are as artists and as individuals, we will be building an "artistic vision" of our selves layer by layer and page by page. As we complete each exercise, the personal discoveries we encounter will then be transformed into art and become a single, art-filled page. These pages will be layered together to form a whole - much like all the varied aspects of our own personality.  In the end, you will leave with a unique clipboard book that truly represents who you are, both as an artist and as a person.

TextTiles

Learn to work small with a big impact. In this workshop we will create mixed media paintings on a small scale using 4x4 and 6x6 cradled panels. Even though this class is project based, the emphasis will be on technique. You will learn a series of approaches to make layered and textured surfaces, which can be applied to an endless number of projects. This workshop will use text as the main foreground component of each painting, so that you will be expressing yourself both in words and visual design. We will all start out with the same basic materials and end up with an artwork all your own.

Basic Book Binding for Beginners 

Have you ever wanted to get started making your own books but didn’t know where to begin? Or were too nervous to try? Then this class is for you. In this workshop, we will review the basics of bookbinding, including terminology, technique, and tools. We will create at least three mini-books using three different methods: accordion, pamphlet stitch, and Japanese stab binding. You will immediately be able to take these skills and begin your own path to becoming a master bookbinder!

Mixed Media Dossier 

In this workshop you will create a personal dossier - a handmade, mixed media journal that you can use long after the workshop ends. Use it as a daily journal, a travel journal, a family scrapbook, or a theme-based diary for your interests, hobbies, or collections. During the workshop you will learn a variety of mixed media techniques for creating layers, texture, and dimension. A simple approach to binding will allow you to pull the entire project together and to add pages to your dossier at any point in the future. In the end, you will take home a one-of-a-kind and highly personal keepsake.

Folded Foto Folio 

In this workshop, you will learn a variety of techniques from the worlds of mixed media, painting, book making, photography, and collage. We will start with creating highly layered and textured backgrounds using acrylics, gesso and paper. These in turn will become the pages of a one-of-a-kind accordion book, to which you will add your own handmade covers. Next comes your own photography, to be added as the focal image of each page. And finally, you will add your own personal touches throughout the book using your choice of collage and mixed media materials, giving you a unique photo journal.

Memory Box 

Think outside the box by going inside the box and creating a unique, personalized time capsule for your memories. Everybody will start with the same, unadorned box and cover. You will be introduced to a series of mixed media, painting, and collaging techniques to turn your box into a one-of-a-kind treasure. Combining techniques from the worlds of mixed media, book making, altered photography, and scrapbooking, you will then create a series of double-sided memory cards which will be stored inside your decorated box. Whether you chose to memorialize an event or an experience, design a showcase for your own photography or artwork, or create a personalized journal, you will leave with both a completely new way to document your memories and a series of techniques that can be applied to many different future projects of any kind.

A Box of Dreams 

Create an artful and art-filled Box of Dreams to use as a place to create, document, and store your life goals, dreams, aspirations, and intentions. We will all start with the same blank box and blank cards and spend the time personalizing and customizing the materials to reflect you. This workshop will introduce a series of mixed media techniques that can be used on any future project. Your Box of Dreams will help you to realize your personal and/or professional goals as you take your dreams, translate these to a visual and written format, and make them a reality.

Mixed Media Memoire 

In this two-day workshop, we will be creating our own artists books that will be a totally unique representation of your individual creativity. We will all start off with a commercially-made book, that will be completely gutted and reconstructed in a very personal way so as to be unrecognizable in the end. This workshop is the perfect combination of project and technique. Through the creation of your artist book, you will learn several unique and versitile ways to bind single sheets of paper. A variety of mixed media techniques will be reviewed and in a manner of speaking, we will be “painting” without using paint. You will be creating pages in your own artistic voice while at the same time being guided through a series of lessons which will include making pockets, folds, flaps and mini-books, altering personal photos, creating mail art, trying out various approaches to collage, using found objects, making commercial products your own, and more. You will leave with a very special handmade book and a large number of mixed media techniques that can be applied to an endless number of future projects.

52 Card Pickup 

A deck...52 cards. A year...52 weeks. Make the most of this synchronicity by creating a one-of-a-kind, mixed media journal that you can use to document a year in your life, eek by week. In this workshop we will start by taking an ordinary deck of playing cards and, by using paint and paper, end up with a unique and personal journal small in size but large in impact. Along the way you will lern the secrets of creating textured and layered backgrounds, the basics of collage composition, and tricks of the trade to tie it all together. The uses for your creation are limited only by your imagination and can include a place to hold your weekly journaling, goals, documentation, affirmations, drawings, photographs, thoughts, love notes, or anything else. In this workshop, you will always be dealt a winning hand.

For Your Eyes Only 

Capture and contain your artistic spirit in the form of a one-of-a-kind artist book. In this workshop you will transform the most basic of materials – commercial book covers, cardstock, and paper – into a memorable and unique page turner. The focus of the class will be on learning a no-sew binding technique that will allow you to bind single sheets into your book. Once your books are bound, we will also move on to creating collaged pages using a gridded-background technique. Your choice of ephemera, stamps, rub ons, marks, drawings, etc. will be used to add design to the pages. Techniques such as flip-out pages and tabs will be covered. You will leave with a fully bound book and will have made a great start on your inner, collaged pages - which, given the limitations of time, you will need to complete at home. This class is tailored to both the beginner and the advanced book maker. 

Painted Grid Silhouette

Take your silhouette art into the 21st century. In this process and project based workshop, you will learn the "painted grid" methods  to make bright and vibrant silhouettes.  We will all start on a large sheet of watercolor paper a, on which we will be building layers of texture by painting, collaging, and mark making. You will learn to be comfortable with "letting go" as we cut and tear our artwork into small pieces, which we will then rebuild to create the painted grid. You will then design your own silhouette, which will be mounted first on onto painted, heavyweight watercolor paper and then onto a painted wood cradled panel. The silhouette will become the focal point to a unique and beautiful work of art. Throughout the workshop you will learn methods to create textured layers, mark making techniques, low tech strategies to add dimension to your art, ways to integrate collage material seamlessly into the background, and multiple uses of the painted grid process for future projects. 

If Walls Could Talk

A two-day texture-making, art-journaling, book-binding experience. In this workshop we will start by creating pages of walls, reflecting our histories, as we build up these solid surfaces with layers, textures, colors, and marks. This will be followed by each of us adding to the pages our own personal narrative, which will surface through the addition of words and images. By the end of day 2, we will be ready to literally tie our individual stories together, thereby creating the most intimate of dossiers.