ARTMAKING BY NATURE FOR ADULTS

Workshop

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP:

This two-day workshop will take place in the beautiful WSA woods. Immersed in nature, students will be invited to bond and connect with the land through an exploration mixing art and science. Activities will encompass all basic aspects of art making, from practicing the ‘art of noticing’ to sourcing natural elements for the fabrication of art materials, to expressing oneself:

Active observation: keep a nature journal using a variety of techniques: (drawing, texture rubbings, collage, plant press, pigments spreads, photography, etc.)

Fabricate your own art materials from elements of nature:

• • Make inks from plants
  • Manufacture oil crayons using plants, soil pigments and beeswax
  • Create soil pigment-based tempera paints
  • Make paper sheets from mushrooms
  • Make your own ink pens

Make art!

• • Explore and practice all of your hand-made materials
  • Combine hand-made materials to create artworks on paper
  • Use printmaking on hand-made paper or to enhance ink drawing

Students will learn to source natural elements for the fabrication of art materials, and will begin practicing with these materials for artmaking. They will be empowered with a unique set of skills and an exploratory mindset to benefit their own art making process.

Suitable for all levels, no experience necessary! Ages 16+

May 19-20, 2022; Thursday-Friday, 9AM-4PM

$250

SUPPLY LIST

To address COVID concerns and ensure everyone’s safety, the WSA Board of Directors requires all students, instructors and staff be fully vaccinated before coming to the school campus. All studio classes and workshops will have reduced number of students and maintain social distancing. Additionally, air purification systems have been installed in the office, gallery and all of the studios.

In an effort to maintain our non-toxic environment, the Woodstock School of Art  does not permit the use of turpentine or mineral spirits in the painting studios.  Learn more.

Those with special needs and/or requests may email the registrar.

Please note that for workshops lasting all day there is a one-hour break from twelve noon to one PM. Students are invited to bring lunch and eat at the school or may go to any of the local dining establishments. The school does not provide lunch or refreshments.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Muriel is a native of France where she grew up foraging and bonding with nature in the Provence and low mountain Burgundy regions, and where she began her teaching career. Her passion for art history and ancient crafts, and a fascination for textures and materials led her to earn a stained-glass painter professional certificate in Paris that resulted in a position as a conservator at the Brooklyn Stained-Glass Conservation Center for eight years. Always looking to connect with ancient traditions and curious about the impact of natural materials in everyday life (and reverse), Muriel was a stone-sculpture student at the Art Student League in New York, and since returning to the education field 15 years ago, has explored papermaking. As an artist ever grateful for the treasures found in the natural world, she continues to be inspired by humans’ practical and spiritual partnership with the land through past and present times. Sharing what she learns is at the heart of her mission as an educator.

She is a founding board member of the International School of Brooklyn where she currently teaches art. Woodstock has been her home and refuge for the past ten years, where she became a student in the WSA printmaking class four years ago.