Artmaking by Nature: Family Edition

Workshop

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP:

Let’s start from scratch with art making! In this relaxing workshop partially spent in the beautiful WSA woods, we use nature and traditional techniques to make and experiment with our own art materials. Using seasonal plants, rocks, charred wood and more, students fabricate inks, paints and various art tools readily available to make art with, and make paper out of mushrooms. Activities will encompass all aspects of art making, from practicing the art of noticing to sourcing materials to artistic expression. Make art the way our elders did!

This class is a mix of outdoors exploration and return to ‘base camp’ where the manufacturing action begins, with the option to be in the studio if the weather requires it. This science-infused art workshop invites experimentation without critique. Watch the demo, try!

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 connect with traditional techniques and develop a unique set of skills that may enhance their appreciation of art history, develop a connection to local communities of the past, and support artistic creativity.

Suitable for all levels, no experience necessary! Ages 10+

*Youth students see scholarship details below. Invite a family member to register using link above!

Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25, 2023
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

$262

MURIEL STALLWORTH 2023 SCHEDULE

SUPPLY LIST

Before registering for a class and/or workshop, please review our Covid Policy.

*This program is supported by the Thompson Family Foundation youth scholarship program. All youth students must fill out a scholarship application form in order to complete registration. New students are required to pay a one-time $15 registration fee.  Applications and process may be viewed here.

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.