JULY–NOVEMBER WORKSHOPS at the MENDOCINO ART CENTER CERAMICS COLLABORATION: FROM THE WILD TO THE WOODS Scott Parady & Jason Walker July 16–20 UTILITARIAN SCULPTURE/ SCULPTURAL UTILITY Doug Browe July 30–August 3

SKIN DEEP – EXPLORING SURFACE TEXTURE Sarah Logan November 10–11 ANAGAMA ON THE EDGE Nick Schwartz November 12–16

FIBER ARTS TEXTURE SCREENING Cindy Shaw July 14–15

DESIGNING ART QUILTS Lura Schwarz Smith August 16–18

MORE TAPESTRY Kathe Todd-Hooker November 2–4

MAGIC OF BASKETRY Susan L. Miller September 22–23

3D ADVENTURES: BEASTS IN THE JUNGLE Susan Else November 3–4

THE LANGUAGE OF COLOR IN TEXTILES Adriane Nicolaisen September 26–October 31 WEAVING TAPESTRY Tricia Goldberg September 28–30

FINE ART CHROMALIOUS Alicia Keshishian July 13–15 WORKING WITH THE MODEL, LOOSELY Judith Greenleaf July 14–15

NATURE TRADITION: CULTIVATING INSPIRATION Adam Field August 13–18 SENSUOUS ENCOUNTERS: DESIGNING ENGAGING FORMS gwendolyn yoppolo August 27–31 COMMUNITY CLAY Derek Hambly September 5–October 11 FORM AND SURFACE EXPLORATORY Derek Hambly October 2–23

DREAM LANDSCAPE: EXPLORING EMBELLISHMENTS Rose Hughes July 16–20 POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE Deborah Fell July 21–22 BUSINESS ASPECT OF ART Deborah Fell July 23 FREE FORM PIECING Deborah Fell July 27–29 SILK PAINTING WITH JEANBAPTISTE Daniel Jean-Baptiste July 30–August 3

NERIKOMI Arie Grie October 6–8 ANYONE CAN CENTER AND BEYOND Michael Berkley October 20–21

Summer 2012

BEGINNING SEWING Nodja Jones September 29–30 MAGNIFICENT MONOTYPES Marsha Shaw October 6–7 SECRETS OF SHADOW WEAVE Linda Hartshorn October 12–14 DRUMS OF TRANSFORMATION Lynne Baur October 12–14 FIELD STUDIES IN SILK Susan Louise Moyer October 19–21

SEEING PEOPLE: PAINTING PEOPLE IN OIL Seamus Berkeley July 16–20 DRAW LIKE A PAINTER Jeff Leedy July 20–22 INVENTIVE COLLAGRAPH PRINTMAKING Robert Rhoades July 23–26

EXPLORING MARK MAKING Nick Coman August 6–10 POINT AND SHOOT FABRIC Kerby Smith August 13–15

PAINTING – TEXTURE, COLOR, FEELING Jan Sitts July 16–19

POLYMER CLAY BOOKS Dayle Doroshow October 20–21

INVENTING A UNIVERSE Jesse Allen July 23–26

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ANIMAL FORMS IN MIXED MEDIA Pamela Blotner August 27–31

JEWELRY

ADVANCED PAINTING Blagojce Stojanovski October 1–5

CLOISONNÉ ENAMELING MADE EASY Ricky Frank July 23–27

CHASING SHADOWS Larry Bencich September 8–9

CREATING ‘WOW’ WITH PASTELS Elaine Leedy and Jeff Leedy July 27–29 MIXED MEDIA MEETS MELTED WAX Mira M. White July 30–August 3 REALISTIC PORTRAITURE IN PENCIL Peggy Magovern August 4–5

ANATOMICAL LANDMARKS FOR ARTISTS Larry Bencich September 10–14 WATERCOLOR DRAMA USING THE WHITE OF YOUR PAPER Patricia Martin Osborne September 15–16 NATURE IN THE ABSTRACT Lynne Cunningham September 15–16

FLOWER BASICS Birgit O’Connor August 4–6

LET’S PAINT IN WATER MIXABLE OILS Mariko Irie August 11–12

TROMPE L’OEIL / MURAL WORKSHOP Blagojce Stojanovski September 17–21 PLEIN AIR WATERCOLOR Michael Reardon September 22–23 EXPLORING CONTÉ CRAYON Linda Kay Papadakis September 22–23

PLEIN AIR WATERCOLOR John Hewitt August 13–17 ABSTRACTION FROM NATURE Tesia Blackburn August 16–19 LUMINOUS OILS Brian Davis August 20–24 Optional: August 25–26 PLEIN AIR OIL PAINTING Jeanette Le Grue August 24–26

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FABRICATING GORGEOUS JEWELS Patsy Croft August 6–10

ARTISTIC PAPER Joan Rhine October 6–7

ART CLAY – ANYTHING GOES Arlene Mornick August 13–15

PAINTING WITH PAPER Sandy Oppenheimer October 6–7 DRAWING FURRY BEST FRIENDS Peggy Magovern October 13–14 MONOTYPES I – IMAGES AND TEXTURE Bob Rhoades October 13–14

COLOR AND SPACE Jean Gallagher August 6–10 BEYOND FLOWER BASICS Birgit O’Connor August 8–12

CLOISONNÉ & CHAMPLEVÉ ENAMELING, 2 & 3 DIMENSIONAL Patsy Croft July 30–August 3

FRESCO PANEL (DA VINCI – VEROCIO) Blagojce Stojanovski September 24–28 WATERCOLOR YOUR WAY Nancy Collins September 27–November 1 SKIES, SUNSETS AND SILHOUETTES Nancy Collins September 29–30 COLLABORATIVE PAINTING IN ACRYLIC Ricia Araiza and Michael Leventhal September 29–30

MONOTYPES II – MEDIUM AND MESSAGE Bob Rhoades October 20–21 MYTHOLOGY IN COLLAGE Rachel Leibman November 3–4 STUNNING ABSTRACTS WITH SOFT PASTELS Mira M. White November 3–4

ARGENTIUM AND SILVER METAL CLAY: RING PARTNERS Arlene Mornick August 16–17 MOKUME GANE SEAMLESS BAND RINGS Eric Burris August 20–22 FLAMEWORK GLASS BEADMAKING Harlan Simon August 21–24 FLAMEWORK SPECIAL TOPICS/ GUIDED PRACTICE SESSIONS Harlan Simon August 25–26

PAINT, DRAW, PAINT Karen Bowers November 10–11 DECIPHERING THE DIGITAL CAMERA Larry Wagner November 10 CREATING ARTISTIC PHOTOS Larry Wagner November 11 CREATING ARTISTIC PHOTOS – LAB Larry Wagner November 12

CHAMPLEVÉ JEWELRY USING LASER ETCHED ACRYLIC MODELS Dr. John Cornacchia and Marge Stewart August 24–26

Mendocino Arts Magazine

ORGANIC METALS Marne Ryan August 27–31 FABRICATE: TO MAKE BY ART OR SKILL AND LABOR Nancy Gardner September 14–16

SCULPTURE WORKING WITH THE MODEL, LOOSELY Judith Greenleaf July 14–15

OLD WORLD ENGRAVING Les Bryant and Andrea Kennington October 12–14

VISIONS IN GLASS MOSAICS Nancy Shelby September 15–16 OUTDOOR SCULPTURE IN CAST STONE Judith Greenleaf July 16–18 Optional: July 19–20

HOLLOW FORMS – METAL CLAY Patrik Kusek November 3–4

CREATING A PICTORIAL BAS RELIEF Colin Lambert July 23–27

BASIC GEMSTONE AND PEARL SLAM Penny Nisenbaum November 10

DARJIT FREEFORM SCULPTURE Brent Sumner August 6–8

Summer 2012

FIGURATIVE STONE CARVING Robert Milhollin September 6–8 SCULPTURE IN WOOD, STONE AND MARBLE Blagojce Stojanovski September 10–14

CASTING – YOU CAN DO IT! Barry Schrager September 21–23 METAL CLAY MEDLEY: EXPLORING SILVER, COPPER AND BRONZE METAL CLAYS Mary Neuer Lee October 5–7

CHASING AND REPOUSSÉ IN COPPER Heather McLarty August 31–September 2

SCULPTURE IN WATER-BASED CLAY AND PLASTELINE Blagojce Stojanovski October 8–12 BEGINNING BLACKSMITHING Gert Rasmussen October 20–21 BASIC BLACKSMITHING TOOLS Gert Rasmussen October 26–28

Please visit the Mendocino Art Center’s Web site at www.MendocinoArtCenter.org for complete descriptions of all workshops. 707 937-5818, ext. 10

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BLAGOJCE STOJANOVSKI, Master Artist By Peggy Templer

In the half century of its existence, the Mendocino Art He had his first exhibit at age 12, winning recognition from Center has welcomed a number of famous master artists, the International Children’s Exhibition for Fine Art. Blagojce’s work from the beginning to this day has always but the arrival of Blagojce Stojanovski is a high-water mark for artistry. He is truly a master of the arts, internationally strongly reflected the influences of his father, his culture, known as a Fine Artist in the widest definition of that term, and the historical heritage of Macedonia. The inspirations excelling at painting, drawing, sculpture, fresco, bas relief, for his artwork are “reflections of my emotional exploraprintmaking, trompe l’oeil, and design. He doesn’t work in one tion of the Balkan peninsula, Europe’s artistic rebirth, and a passion for embracing the medium, but many: bronze, Western world’s ancient and wood, marble, pen and ink, stylistic past, fused with modgraphite, watercolor, oil. This ern significance.” hugely accomplished artist is In Macedonia, Blagojce now offering Master Classes studied art and architecture, (intensive immersion in drawand worked on a number of ing, painting, and sculpture) projects restoring old buildto MAC’s students, including ings, churches, and artifacts. courses for credit through In 1988, he came to the east MAC’s new affiliation with coast of the United States. He Woodbury College. quickly established himself as Blagojce is a long way a fine artist, exhibiting and from home – “home” being his attracting an international clinative Macedonia, the land of entele for his paintings, sculpAlexander the Great – where tures and portraits. In 1995 he was born and raised and he made the trip west to his began (“from the cradle”) his current home in Pacific Grove, distinguished artistic career. near Monterey, where for sevEven as a very young child, he eral years he ran his own galwas drawn to all things artistic lery and taught workshops. as a means of expressing himBlagojce describes his self, and comfortable from the own unique style as an amalstart with an unlimited range gamation of everything he of mediums. Blagojce says, has learned in his life; his “For me, everything was easy. Libyan Sibyl, 60” x 48”, iron pigments on canvas, study after style incorporates his “entire Artists are born, not made!” Michelangelo’s fresco from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

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Mendocino Arts Magazine

Blagojce says the fine arts are like an persona.” His approach is humani18-wheeler or a bus. Every “wheel” tarian; his interest is in people, soci(composition, color, design, drawety, and the human soul, and features ing, anatomy, perspective, etc.) is a lot of figurative work. His stylized crucial. “If you don’t have all the art seems to have one foot in the cenwheels on the bus, you’re not going tury of the great European masters, to move forward.” another in the age of impressionism Blagojce believes the artist needs and yet another in the contempoto give back to society, and has given rary, abstract art world. He refers to freely of his time and talent to help his work as a “bridge connecting the non-profit organizations across the last centuries to the present, allowcountry, including Boys and Girls ing us to walk in this new century Clubs, Meals on Wheels, Toys for with the spirit of the old masters.” Tots, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and His work is soulful, passionate, countless others. He has provided powerful, and strongly resonant poster art for many of these groups. of his Macedonian roots. One of His book American Art Posters is a his favorite motifs is the horse, and collection of this wonderful “art for his description of the horse as icon a cause.” “If God gives you a specould just as easily describe Blagojce cial talent,” he says, “that himself: “…all combined in one soul, brings responsibility.” with the power of thunder and movement that is like a ball of fire….” Blagojce has studied Clockwise from top: with a long list of world Boy with Balloons – Flying High, 48” x 36”, oil on famous master artists. He canvas, from the “Children’s says he has studied not to Series”. learn techniques or style, End of the Game, 52” x but to try to comprehend 35”, oil on canvas, from the mind of the artist at the series “Once We Were work – the thought proChildren Too”. Ice Cream Man and the cesses that result in creChildren, 50” x 38”, drawation. That is how he hopes ing, graphite on BVK-paper, his students will approach from the series “Once We his teaching. “An art class Were Children Too”. is not a factory. We are not making shoes,” he says. He is looking for “students who have potential. If they have that I can help them from there. Blagojce Stojanovski will be teaching five, week-long workshops But they also need to know the importhis fall at the Mendocino Art Center. tance of listening.” Blagojce deplores the lack of SCULPTURE IN WOOD, ADVANCED PAINTING emphasis on the basics that he sees in STONE AND MARBLE October 1–5 contemporary art education. “We’ve September 10–14 lost 500 years of knowledge. Students SCULPTURE IN WATER-BASED are not learning the fine arts in all the TROMP L’OEIL / MURAL CLAY AND PLASTELINE detail that is required. I cringe when I WORKSHOP October 8–12 hear an art instructor say, ‘You don’t September 17–21 need to know how to draw in order to For detailed descriptions visit FRESCO PANEL (LEONARDO do a fine painting.’ Of course you need www.MendocinoArtCenter.org DA VINCI – VEROCIO) to know how to draw!” Drawing an September 24–28 analogy from modern transportation,

LEARN FROM A MASTER ARTIST!

Summer 2012

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Meet the Staff… Jewelry Coordinator

Nancy Gardner Nancy Gardner photo by Larry Wagner.

By Debbie L. Holmer Walking along Main Street in Mendocino, I have a number of favorite little shops that I like to visit. One of them is the Mendocino Jewelry Studio, so I was delighted to finally meet the owner/operator Nancy Gardner. As well as her own work, Nancy’s shop features handcrafted works by other local Mendocino jewelers, painters, ceramicists, and stained glass artists. “This area has an amazing amount of very talented people. I am honored to have a gallery where I can exhibit some of their work.” In addition, Nancy offers custom and repair services. In her freshman year of high school, Nancy took a metalsmithing class and, as she says, “I just really fell in love with working with metal.” One of her greatest influences, however, was her grandmother. As a child in Clarence, New York, Nancy would spend hours, “playing with my grandmother’s jewelry, which was kept in a brown velvet box in the attic. Although filled with mostly costume jewelry, there were a few pieces of fine jewelry. So, it seems kind of natural that I’ve gone this direction.” Nancy followed her dreams to Europe where she studied in Siena for a semester and learned old world

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Scarf clasp, sterling silver, carnelian.

goldsmithing from master craftsmen in both Italy and Portugal. “I fell in love with Italy and found a school in Florence to further my studies, spending a semester at SACI – Studio Arts Center International, followed by an independent study in 1984 at AR.CO, an art university in Lisbon, Portugal.” Nancy graduated from Buffalo State College with a B.A. in design, concentration in metalsmithing and then returned as an instructor at AR.CO, teaching beginning metalsmithing. After moving to Mendocino in 1985, Nancy became a bench jeweler at Studio 2, working for Barry Schrager, owner, while at the same time exhibiting her work at various galleries and shows throughout the United States and abroad. Nancy has taught silver and gold jewelry fabrication, soldering, and repousse, both in Europe and at the Mendocino Art Center. It was a natural move for her to become the coordinator of jewelry classes at the Mendocino Art Center this year. Although Nancy likes working with both silver and

Mendocino Arts Magazine

gold, she especially likes workwant them to see? “I want them to ing with gold. “It’s a little trickier ‘feel’ comfortable and have enjoyuntil you get to know it,” states ment from it. I like it a lot when Nancy, “but when you do have one of my pieces brings a smile experience, it’s a lot quicker and to someone’s face. It’s kind of the crisper.” spice of life, isn’t it?” Much of her When first developing a piece work still reflects the European or line of pieces, Nancy does a influences of fine craftsmanship lot of sketching. For some of her and ageless elegance. larger pieces, like the trillium, Nancy has been an active part Nancy actually dissected the of the Mendocino community, flower, examining all the parts to raising her two children here. see how it was made, so her work She was the coordinator of “The is botanically correct. Parents” Group – a type of PTA For the young jeweler startcreated to help MUSD; committee ing out, Nancy recommends that member for the renovation design they make a decision as to where of the Mendocino K–8 school; they want to put their focus. “Are chairwoman of Measure AA – a they interested in being an aca$25 million bond to rebuild the demic jeweler or do they want to Mendocino K–8 school, improve Pendant, 14ky, tourmaline, fresh water pearl, be a bench jeweler? Or they might the water main to Mendocino and diamond. want to focus on stone-setting – restore the Mendocino Recreation many decisions to be made.” Center building (the bond passed What other jewelry artists does Nancy most admire? by 70%); president of the Citizens Oversight Committee; Rene Lalique and the Fouquet family – three generations member of MUSE (main coordinator for the Big Fun of jewelers. Fair); and president of MUSE (Mendocino Unified School How does her interest in other areas inform her work? Enrichment, a non-profit dedicated to raising funds to “I love to garden and love natural beauty and do a lot of support the arts in Mendocino schools). ‘nature’ jewelry. I love picking something up and thinking how I can recreate it into metal. Every piece of jewelry The Mendocino Jewelry Studio is located at 45104 Main that I create can be worn and worn comfortably – that’s Street in Mendocino. For more information, visit Nancy’s website at www.mendocinojewelry.com or phone 707-937important to me.” When someone looks at her jewelry what does she 0181.

Sterling silver, 14ky, pink tourmaline, moonstone, iolite.

Summer 2012

Hair comb, sterling silver, 14ky, moonstone, chrysocolla.

Ring, sterling, 14ky, iolite , chrome tourmaline.

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Art Center Ukiah A Community Art Center

Corner Gallery

An Artist Cooperative

www.artcenterukiah.org 201 S. State Street Ukiah, California

707- 462-1400

Tuesday–Saturday 11:00am–5:00pm EVENTS · EXHIBITS WORKSHOPS · ART WALK

INTIMATE APPAREL BRAS, PANTIES AND OCEANFRONT INN & COTTAGES Just steps to the beach and a stroll to fine restaurants, galleries and the Mendocino Art Center. ocean views • decks • fireplaces An enchanting refuge for rest and renewal... On Main Street at Evergreen Mendocino Village 800 780-7905 • 707 937-5150 www.oceanfrontmagic.com

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“MORE USED BOOKS, PLEASE”

MAIN ST. BOOKSHOP

SLEEPWEAR ‘TWEENS TO QUEENS

990 MAIN ST. MENDOCINO

937-1537

OPEN DAILY “THE ONLY USED BOOKSTORE IN TOWN”

310 N. FRANKLIN FORT BRAGG 964-5013 Mendocino Arts Magazine

MENDOCINO ART CENTER’S

Superstar CERAMICS DOUG BROWE N July 30–August 3 Utilitarian Sculpture / Sculptural Utility

FIBER ARTS DEBORAH FELL N July 21–22 Postcards from the Edge July 23 Business Aspect of Art July 27–29 Free Form Piecing

Summer 2012

Summer Instructors

DOUG BROWE brings 38 years of experience as a self-supporting ceramic artist to his workshop students. He prides himself on bringing a “fresh look” to new work, enabling him to help developing ceramic students find their own voice. “They may have heard or felt that inner voice, but it just hasn’t fully arrived. That’s where I can really be of help,” Doug says. Doug started his own work in ceramics with an apprenticeship and a yearlong stint with several British potters. Back in the U.S., settled in the Ukiah Valley, he established the Hoyman/Browe Pottery Studio with Jan Hoyman. Their emphasis was creating handmade, utilitarian ware using local materials. Their studio attracted national recognition and apprentices from the U.S. and abroad. Today, many of those apprentices are involved in contemporary ceramics. Doug refers to this group as “The New Functionalists” – artists “who are technically trained in fine art using utilitarian ceramics as their art form.” Doug’s knowledge of prospecting and mining local materials brought him to the attention of Potters for Peace, who asked him, in 2002, to set up a pottery in a Burmese refugee camp, using local materials. He also taught pottery making and adobe kiln building, and was so inspired by the experience, that, at the age of 50, he returned to college for a Master’s of Art Degree so that he could teach ceramics at the college level. He was hired in 2007 as the head of the Ceramics Department at Mendocino College, where he teaches full time. Doug continues his own studio practice at Doug Browe Ceramics in Elk. His current interest is “the relationship of architecture and human figures on our collective lives. I use this interwoven relationship to express a variety of personal and social issues in my work.” Students should expect a lively, interactive workshop with Doug Browe, as he brings his own excitement to the making of sculptural clay objects. Time permitting, students may even take to the field to prospect for local materials. DEBORAH FELL says, “I make quilts because they are a means of self expression, combining the beauty of art and the comforting tradition of quilting. I have made quilts to celebrate great happiness and to depict shadowed confusion, and to maintain the balance of my inner self. When Deborah first became interested in traditional quilting, she went the total immersion route, taking 13 classes and creating 21 quilts in short order. A family tragedy, however, pushed her off the traditional quilting path, when her struggle to express her emotions resulted in the creation of a quilt top that was new, spontaneous, and free form – her first art quilt. As she explains, art quilts and traditional quilts are structurally the same, with three layers (top, batting, back), but different uses: traditional quilts are for covering the bed or the body, whereas art quilts are a fine art form meant to hang on the wall. Deborah approaches her quilt tops as a painter approaches a canvas, using fiber reactive dyes, textile paints, stitching, collage, and found objects. She “focuses on abstract, organic shapes using surface treatments like dyeing and painting, creating dimension and movement using color and line.”

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Deborah loves to teach and looks forward to helping students “find their design voice.” In Postcards from the Edge, students will create postcard sized art quilt studies using fabric remnants and found objects. Deborah promises a safe, fun environment, in which “there are no mistakes and learning is done in a positive, kind way – no pomposity! I try to help my students grow.” She plans a walking field trip to help her students to understand that the environment is full of design elements waiting to be discovered and incorporated into art quilts. With regards to her Free Form Piecing workshop, Deborah asks, “Would you love to make a functional, traditional quilt without lots of rules, measuring and a pattern? Take a leap and do something fun for yourself!” Deborah also teaches a class on the business aspects of art, and addresses the question, “How do I make money with my art?”

FINE ART JESSE ALLEN N July 23–26 Inventing a Universe

JEWELRY HARLAN SIMON N August 21–24 Flamework Glass Beadmaking

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JESSE ALLEN describes himself as a “soul catcher.” “When I have the Beholder’s eye, I have . . . the window to the soul.” In a radical departure from most painters, he becomes the viewer, or the eye of the Beholder, as he paints. Jesse says, “I use colour and design that draw my own eye and I apply them in a painting to reach the Beholder’s eye with my information. My images are dense with this information. The Beholder is the ever present companion in my every decision during the process.” What the Beholder sees in a Jesse Allen painting is a stunning, vibrantly colorful, multilayered, dream-like imagery that comes right out of Jesse’s unusual background. He was born and raised in Africa, a world of tropical jungles, wild animals, spectacular color, witch doctors and shamans. Many of his paintings are land or seascapes filled with fantastic plants and animals in brilliant colors (think Jackson Pollock meets Dr. Seuss). His paintings are full of African echoes and allusions to anthropology, biology, and everything in nature, but depicted as though from a shaman’s or soothsayer’s dream world. Jesse says, “I have had a series of experiences and visions in my psychic and working life similar to those associated with the most ancient traditions of shamanism. My paintings are seductive machines to lure you out of this world into a shamanic dream world. The images I make are of another world that reflects our world, that are associated with our world but not exactly of it.” Well-educated in Africa and at Oxford, Jesse is nevertheless largely a self-taught artist. It was while teaching languages at Stanford, on a trip to Mendocino, that he experienced an epiphany and knew that he needed to quit academia to become a full time artist. Jesse looks forward to teaching the process of painting to MAC’s students. He will provide a strategy for painting that will enable students “to express whatever they are trying to express, whatever that may be.” Jesse’s goal is “to add a new arrow to the student’s quiver of techniques.” Jesse works in watercolor, oil, gouache, and acrylic, and also does etching, silkscreen, lithograph, and collage. From barrister to beadmaker may seem like an unlikely career path to some, but to HARLAN SIMON, who sees the synchronicity and interconnectedness of everything in the world, it doesn’t seem odd at all. “Being a trial lawyer was a lot like trying to sell my jewelry. They’re both about the art of persuasion,” he says. Harlan took metal and plastic shop classes in middle school, and jewelry making in high school. In college, he took a wide variety of classes, including math, science, sociology, languages, philosophy, history – piecing it all together to form a world view that influences and informs his work to this day as an artisanal glass and jewelry designer and maker. “When I am absorbed in glass work, I am aware of some of its history, the science behind it, the way fire and alchemy and experimentation have come together historically to allow us today to make beads, vessels,

Mendocino Arts Magazine

JEWELRY August 25–26 Flamework Special Topics/Guided Practice Sessions

SCULPTURE BRENT SUMNER N August 6–8 Darjit Freeform Sculpture

Summer 2012

window glass, and microscope, camera, and telescope lenses. Glassmaking, from its early pyrotechnological roots, to its role in semiconductors and the fiber optics of the information age, is a huge driver of social and technological development.” Indeed, Harlan maintains that whereas the bronze and iron ages have come and gone, the “Age of Glass,” begun nearly 4,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, is more pervasive and has even more impact today than at any other time in history. Even in terms of art, Harlan muses that the advent of lenses and mirrors may have played a significant role in the development of perspective and the flowering of the Renaissance. When Harlan learned to make beads in the traditional hand-spun flamework method, he “reconnected to an inner, early self, fully focused and joyful.” He experienced a sort of ‘flow state’ and felt fully alive. Harlan says, “Making beads provides almost instant satisfaction. It reaffirms a person’s intrinsic abilities and a capacity for mastery. The essence of being human is creativity. In this regard, the ancient art form of flamework is a most magical and mesmerizing enabler. Harlan says it is unfortunate that many students have a preconceived idea of flamework as intimidating and scary, but he considers it one of the most accessible hot glass techniques. “Flamework is also a very clean pursuit, and a person can make a bead in less than half an hour. Flamework is very intimate, hands on, in the now. Kind of like miniature scale tactile-visual music.” Harlan encourages his students to contemplate the way in which physics and western civilization come alive in this art form, and to further meditate upon the relationship between art and technique. He welcomes a classroom of thinkers (and doers) into his nurturing environment. BRENT SUMNER’S workshop provides a unique opportunity to learn from the artist who actually developed the medium the class will be using – in this case, the sculptural material called Darjit. Darjit is an architectural sculpting compound created several years ago by Brent in New Zealand. His motivation in developing Darjit was to recycle clay mine waste. It is a 95% recycled, non-toxic, natural blend of china clay, rock powder (a by-product of mining) and cellulose from recycled fiber. It can be used as a finish plaster for a Mediterranean style adobe look, and can be used to create sculpture, fireplaces, pillars, fountains, privacy walls, gates, planters, garden art, and interior walls. Tiles, mosaics, and all sorts of decorative items can be set into the Darjit while working it. Brent is a committed recycler and environmentalist, and that was his primary motive in creating this versatile building material. An award winning sculptor/designer (he recently won a top award at the San Francisco Garden Show), he is now more interested in creating and allocating personal living space as opposed to sculpture as a purely artistic form. He envisions the day when a recycled material like Darjit will enable people to build small, soulful, personalized dwellings without incurring large construction costs and huge mortgages. Brent says, “I want to teach people how to beautify their surroundings with what we have generated as trash.” In his own structures, in addition to Darjit, he has incorporated everything from empty plastic bottles to recycled tires. Students in this workshop will learn how to use Darjit as a free form sculptural material to create garden art. Brent will help each student with technique and with construction approaches, leading toward the completion of a unique sculpture which the student can take home.

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