WITH MEGAN MARDEN

Mondays

July 31

August 7

August 14

August 21

August 28, 2023

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

ONLINE. Artists build a greater sense of connection to the world by making daily sketches. After several days of 'artist walks,' we might find ourselves looking at everything as if it were a painting. Participants will keep small, daily sketchbooks using portable media like pencil and watercolor. We will review the sketches in class each week and select one or more to use as the point of departure for a new painting. Working from these quick, observational studies allows the opportunity to revisit and reconsider formal issues in the new painting, while embracing the fluidity and immediacy of the original sketch. Some areas will need to be resolved through invention and interpretation. Others will require the artist to access their memory of the experience. Equal weight will be given to sketches and building a painting. Meetings will be held on Zoom and work will be shared on the Padlet platform.

WITH NICOLE SANTIAGO

August 9 - 13, 2023

Wednesday - Sunday

Two meetings per day:

11 a.m. eastern time

4 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. The interior is an ideal subject to examine the complexities of light, space, composition, and content. In this five-day workshop, I will share my process of creating interior paintings from direct observation through demonstrations, discussions, work sessions, and critiques. The depiction of the interior throughout art history will be presented. The Padlet platform will be used to share images; workshop meetings will be held on Zoom. All exercises will be completed using oil paint; other acceptable mediums include acrylic, gouache, and casein.

WITH ERIN RAEDEKE

SEPTEMBER 7-11, 2023

Thursday-Tuesday

In this five-day online workshop, we will explore the self portrait using a chromatic palette.  Using no earth colors and mixing optical blues and yellows we will get to know a palette that is full of possibilities.  We will tame and harness potent colors, yet also learn to embrace their strength. As we discover more about each color's inherent qualities and potential, we will carefully observe the structure of the head, focusing on color, temperature and value.  

Palette:

Cadmium Orange (Gamblin Artist Brand)

Cadmium Red Medium

Alizarin Crimson

Quinacridone Red

Dioxazine Purple

Chromium Oxide

Phthalo Green

Titanium White 

WITH NANCY McCARTHY

Eight meetings

Tuesdays 6:30 -10 p.m.

September 12 and 26

October 10 and 24

November 7 and 21

December 5 and 19

2023

There are 3 main objectives in this ONLINE class:

• To identify aspects of your work that are distinct and personal to your painting and to explore ways of developing and fortifying those aspects.

• To determine areas of your work that are weak and/or diminish your work and (using a variety of exercises), work to improve those areas.  

• To establish a consistent, disciplined painting practice.

The goal of creating more personal and powerful paintings will be addressed by considering the following issues: content, composition/format, color, surface as well as materials and craft. We will explore the aspects of painting that interest each student most, including experimentation with materials and conceptual and technical approaches to painting or more traditional work from observation. Classes consist of discussion, image presentations and critique. Each student will develop a set of written goals as well as a painting schedule. Students must be present and are encouraged to participate in all discussion and critiques. Students will post new work, preliminary drawings, and work in progress on the Padlet each week for discussion. Additionally, students are required to research and identify their relatives, 3 artists whose work shares common elements with their own work or the work they aspire to do.

Those who want more structure and/or direction will be given assignments tailored to their particular needs. Group discussion of student work along with looking at contemporary and historical painting will enhance the class.

Meetings will be held on Zoom and work will be shared on Padlet, the online platform.



WITH CLNTEL STEED

SUNDAYS

October 1-29, 2023

1-4:30 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. In this five-week course we will discover why transcribing is still a powerful tool in contemporary art making. Transcribing has a long history and many painters we celebrate were strong believers in history and transcribing from master works. Studying masterpieces from other centuries can lead us to new concepts and ways of composing. This process will also expand our color mixing abilities. Much is revealed in the transcribing process that is not available to us when we simply view a painting.

In this course we will not be making straight up copies, but will seek to discover the structure beneath the painting. We will look past the narrative and allow ourselves to get lost in the geometry of the painting. We will consider geometry’s importance and potential power in painting.

I will choose one transcription each week for the class to work on. The pieces and centuries I choose will be deliberate and will focus on space and pictorial evolution. Ideally, you will be spending 30 hours on each transcription, not necessarily finishing the painting but thinking about the relationships, the color, the forms, and the geometry.

We will meet on Zoom and share work on the Padlet platform.

WITH PETER VAN DYCK

TEN SESSIONS

Tuesdays

October 3

October 10

October 17

October 24

October 31

November 7

November 14

November 21

November 28

December 5

2023

10:30-2:30 eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. This 10-week workshop will focus on creating still-life paintings that incorporate the larger spatial context in which the still life is set. Participants will make paintings from observation with an emphasis on light, color, structure and pictorial design. We will start by finding a subject and looking at the practical and formal aspects of setting up a still life. We will discuss how to organize and simplify complex information, how to create a unified sense of light throughout a picture, and how to interpret color and tone relationships. We will also cover aspects of drawing that will help in the creation of a convincing sense of space.

WITH MAUREEN NATHAN

WEDNESDAYS

OCTOBER 11

OCTOBER 18

OCTOBER 25

2023

11 a.m.-2 p.m. eastern time, US and Canada

ONLINE. This workshop will introduce intaglio and relief printmaking, together with collage. You will learn to print a drypoint edition, as well as create unique layered monoprints. Work will be shared on the online platform Padlet, which will make it easy to discuss our experience and knowledge throughout the workshop. We will use non-toxic water-based inks and, where possible, recycled/found materials.

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to use a press. If you do not have access to a print studio, there are many craft presses suitable for these methods; they are available at relatively low cost. Contact blackpondstudio@gmail.com for a list of craft presses.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

Fridays

November 3

November 10

November 17

November 24 (skip this week due to Thanksgiving holiday)

December 1

December 8

2023

In this intensive five-week online workshop, we will transcribe from paintings of Giorgio Morandi, Rosso Fiorentino, and Mantegna, and discuss how they are intrinsically connected to the cinema of Pasolini and Fellini. There will be a small reading list to accompany this class as well as films to watch. 

The process of transcribing involves studying a painting to better grasp how it was created, looking for what it is that makes it a masterpiece. Rather than copy the paintings, we study the underlying abstract composition, searching for rhythm, repetition and duality. Participants receive a small kit from Italy in the mail containing prints of the images we will be working from as well as Fabriano painting and drawing paper.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

THURSDAYS

January 11-February 8, 2024

In this online class, we'll focus on the masterpieces of four female Italian painters, investigating just what it is about them that is so timelessly captivating. Using the method of transcription, we will draw from these paintings without copying them, but searching for the brilliant uses of rhythm, duality and repetition within the geometry of these compositions. We'll begin by looking at ancient Roman paintings, into the Renaissance to Sofonisba Anguissola, and towards the baroque Diana di Rosa, Elisabetta Sirani and Artemisia Gentileschi.  In each session we will explore a specific painting at length in a group discussion over Zoom. After the introduction to each painting, participants will have a week to prepare a drawing transcription, as well as a chromatic study created with oil paints, to better grasp the use of color in that day's masterpiece. MacGillis will present demos from her studio in Italy to show how she goes about mixing the colors in the paintings using a limited earth palette and palette knife.

Each participant will receive a kit in the mail, prior to the course, containing the prints of the four paintings we will transcribe as well as paper measured in proportion to the works. There will also be primed Fabriano paper provided for the color oil painting studies. 

Lucy MacGillis has been living and painting in Umbria, Italy for over twenty years. She enjoys interpreting Italian art history from the perspective of a painter rather than that of an art historian.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

February 17-19, 2024

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

In this intensive ONLINE painting class, we'll create our own oil paint from Italian pigments. Once we've created our full earth color palette, we'll do gradient studies in order to understand the colors we are working with. Next we'll sketch a composition of lemons in our respective studios. Finally we'll create a still life of lemons. Each of the three days will include group discussions based on the images uploaded by the participants, guided by Lucy MacGillis. Lectures on the color yellow in painting, the lemon in the history of painting and demos from MacGillis' studio in Italy will also be included. We will discuss our paintings of lemons in group discussions/critiques over zoom.

Prior to the class, participants will receive the kit from Zecchi in Florence containing Fabriano oil painting paper, the pigments, linseed oil, and a palette knife.

The cost of materials from Zecchi is included in the workshop fee.

WITH ELIZABETH REAGH

THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL

WEDNESDAYS

May 31-June 21, 2023

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE. Through a series of short and sustained exercises, we will incorporate invention into representational work. An example: shapes that can be read as light or shadow that have no basis in objective reality, but somehow enhance and become integral to the composition and overall painting, and importantly, make sense in the world of the painting. Working from photo references and life, we will alter what we see in order to make a more compelling image. Analysis and intuitive leaps will play equal parts in arriving at unexpected outcomes. We will prioritize “right” over “correct”. There will be demos, slide shows, and discussions about the resulting work. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on the Padlet platform.

WITH NANCY McCARTHY



THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL

June 9 - 11, 2023

Friday - Sunday

10 a.m. — 5 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND. The spring greens and chromatic grays of trees, field, and pond are a potent source of visual content. Using watercolor, participants will respond to landscape by looking deeply and translating what is observed into shape, value, and hue. A series of exercises will enhance fluency with the medium and deepen understanding of color mixing and compositional strategies. Each day multiple studies will be completed. This course is ideal for those people new to watercolor and those with some experience. Lunches are included in the cost of the workshop.

WITH LUCY MacGILLIS

THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL

June 27-29, 2023

Tuesday - Thursday

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

IN PERSON AT BLACK POND! In this intensive three-day workshop we will work from a still life setup, with handmade Italian earth paints. Lucy will share her joy of 'la materia', the material of paint itself, and the grinding process of oil paint. The limited earth palette and use of palette knives will help participants improve their mixing of tones, and consider more carefully the relationships of colors. We will make several quick studies and a longer one; daily critiques will include art historical references. Some pigment will be supplied, and lunch will be provided each day

WITH JENNIFER POCHINSKI

THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL

July 9-13,2023

Sunday-Thursday

ONLINE WORKSHOP

The focus of the workshop will be working from photo references. Since the mid 1800s, working from photographic sources has been a common practice in painting. We will explore ways to sharpen our personal language when painting from mediated imagery, as well as ways to add more adventure. Participants will meet in the morning to watch a presentation of ideas and exercises. They will work on their own and then meet again each morning for group discussion and more presentations. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on the Padlet platform.

This is a hands-on workshop. Participants must be present.

Sunday, July 9

Intros and presentation of concepts and the exercise and discussion

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-noon EST

Monday, July 10

Presentation of concepts and the exercise and discussion

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-noon EST

Tuesday, July 11

Critique/feedback

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. EST

Wednesday, July 12

Final presentations and discussions

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-noon EST

Thursday, July 13

Final Critique/feedback

Meeting time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. EST

 WITH NANCY GRUSKIN

THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL

WEDNESDAYS

September 6

September 13

September 20

September 27

2023

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. eastern time

ONLINE WORKSHOP. The genre of still life need not be still. We can record our observations of objects and then alter, transform, and activate these recordings. For example, a still life painting can be cut up; the pieces rearranged; and the composition changed to suit the needs of a new picture. Artists in this online workshop will explore the visual arrangement and rearrangement of their own still life objects through drawing, painting, and collage exercises. We will work on our observational skills, but also strengthen our intuition as artists and push our work to be greater than the sum of its parts. Meetings will be on Zoom, and work will be shared on Padlet, an online platform.