Our 1- and 2-day workshops offer a taste of something new and a little digging deep, while teaching artists from around the country provide in-depth exploration for the benefit of our instructors, advanced students, and curious learners during Visiting Artist Workshops.
Spring
MAKE METAL STAMPS!
Danny Giancaspro / Jewelry Studio
Sat 5/11
10am-3pm / One Day
Prerequisite: Beginning Jewelry or equivalent
$85 / Members: $75
Customize your jewelry and metal projects with handcrafted metal stamps! Learn to create stamps from steel stock that may be used to add pattern and texture to your work.
FRENCH POUR S’AMUSER (FOR FUN)
Elise Head / Multi-Purpose Classroom
Sat & Sun 5/11-5/12
Sat 9:30am-12pm, Sun 12-2:30pm / Two Days
$80 / Members: $60
Brush up on your French Conversation or start from scratch in a fun and supportive environment. Learn basic French terms while discussing popular French music, film, art and food. Coffee and snacks will be provided!
THE NATURAL LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT
Holly Trevan / Photo Studio
Sat 5/4 10am-5pm
10am-5pm / One Day
Prerequisite: A camera capable of manual exposure and familiarity with the camera controls
$120 / Members: $100
Using natural light and learning how to make the most of it when making a portrait! In this one day workshop Holly will demonstrate various techniques to simplify a portrait session while utilizing the beauty of natural light. Students will have hands-on experience in photographing various subjects.
SCULPTURE MOLD MAKING WORKSHOP
Brent Harris / Studio 1
Sat 5/4
10am-4pm / One Day
$130 / Members: $110
In this workshop, students will learn to make silicone, polyurethane and plaster molds. Course will be demo focused, but students will have hands-on opportunity to make and take home small silicone molds of found or made objects.
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES FOR ARTISTS: FINDING ARTISTS; OPPORTUNITIES
Danielle Wyckoff / Multi-Purpose Classroom
Sat 5/11
1 - 4 pm / One Day
$70 / Members: $50
In this Saturday workshop, we will dive into some tactics for finding opportunities as well as reviewing some of the common documents/items needed for applying to them. Come to this class prepared to meet fellow artists, brainstorm, and get solid information on some of the first steps in developing your career in the arts. Students may bring any professional documents they’ve created for peer review or one-on-one feedback from Danielle.
– Danielle Wyckoff is an Associate Professor of Drawing and Printmaking at Kendall College of Art and Design. Her work, which includes works on paper, installations, and performances, is exhibited nationally and internationally. Workshop participants will be able to view her collaborative work, The Reproductive Media Mobile Zine Library.
INTRO TO TORCH FIRED ENAMELING
Deb Flook / Jewelry Studio
Sat 5/4
1 - 4 pm / One Day
Prerequisite: Beginning Jewelry or equivalent
$80 / Members: $60
Kilns aren’t the only way to enamel! This introductory workshop will begin with how to set up a torch enameling workstation and what tools are required and will quickly move into how to add enamel to your work.
Summer
NEW CYANOTYPE
Guest Artist Emily J. Gómez / Photography Studio and Darkroom
Fri-Sun 6/14-6/16
Fri & Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm / Three Days
$260 / Members: $240
New Cyanotype is a photographic process invented by chemist and photographer Mike Ware in 1995 as an improvement on Sir John Herschel’s 1842 formula. It produces a consistent Prussian Blue with faster exposure times than the traditional cyanotype. In this workshop, students will learn how to make digital negatives for New Cyanotype printing including how to mix the chemistry and how to coat and expose (under UV light) the New Cyanotype on several papers.
This Visiting Artist Workshop is subsidized by the Harold Hope Memorial Fund.
– Emily J. Gómez’s work examines the American landscape and its history—investigating places where American Indian towns in the Southeast and the Midwest once prospered, and what they have become. Join Gómez Thursday 6/13 at 6pm for an Artful Evening lecture where she will discuss the progression of her large format photographic work, focusing on her series in New Cyanotype.
WATERCOLOR AND MORE IN THE OUTDOORS
Susan Badger / KNC Visitors Center, Cooper’s Glen Auditorium
Mon 6/10
11am-3pm / One Day
$120 / Members: $100
Work en plein-air (outdoors!) in watercolor and a variety of drawing media on the beautiful Nature Center grounds. We will gather at the Cooper’s Glen Auditorium and then venture outdoors to create loose and expressive studies inspired by the landscape. Learn to focus your composition and freely interpret your subjects with supportive guidance. Dress appropriately and wear comfortable shoes for this outdoor class.
DRAWING MICHIGAN WILDLIFE WORKSHOP SERIES: BIRDS
Taylor Scamehorn / KNC Visitors Center, Lower Classroom
Sat 6/15
9am-4pm / One Day
$120 / Members: $100
Learn to draw wild birds at the beautiful Kalamazoo Nature Center. Drawing from both live and preserved specimens, acquire skills for field sketching to fully-rendered animal studies. Please bring drawing pads and graphite pencils as well as lunch and drinking water.
MINDFUL PINCH POTS
Susan McHenry / KNC Barn
Tue 6/18-6/25
5-8pm / Two Days
$120 / Members: $100
Engage your sense of awareness and presence as you learn the art of forming pinch pots, one of the oldest methods of shaping clay. Using wild clay sourced from Northern Michigan, participants will make two vessels—one that will be pit fired to take home and one that will be returned to the earth at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. After making the vessels, we’ll walk the trails, where each participant will find a special spot to leave their offerings. Subject to weather and time, they will disintegrate, becoming a part of the land and life cycle of the soil. Wear comfortable clothes and walking shoes. No prior clay experience or special tools are required.
PRINTMAKING AT THE KALAMAZOO NATURE CENTER
Deborah Mattson / KNC Carver Center
Sat 6/22
9am-4pm / One Day
$120 / Members: $100
Explore printmaking projects at the Kalamazoo Nature Center! We will forage onsite for materials to make nature prints and collagraphs, and drypoint prints. Come see what amazing materials and subject matter can be found out-of-doors in Michigan's natural areas, and how prints can be made from your discoveries. Come ready to hike a little ways and spend time outdoors. Please bring a lunch and drinking water.
NATURE SKETCHING IN CLAY
Anna Ill / KNC Barn
Tue 7/9-7/16 5-8pm
5-8pm / Two Days
$120 / Members: $100
Wet clay invites impressions and the walking trails at the Kalamazoo Nature Center are full of inspiring imagery. Using drawing tools and found objects, we will create compositions from the Nature Center grounds on small ceramic tiles. Each student will have access to several tiles on which to create “clay sketches”. On day one, we will walk the trails, find inspiration, and make several clay sketches. Tiles will be fired and ready for completion with cold finishes on day two. This course will include traditional as well as non-traditional finishing techniques utilizing waxes, polishes, and acrylics. Dress appropriately for this outdoor class. No prior clay experience or special tools are required.