Natural Ink Making on the Meadow

with Elizabeth Schmuhl

Saturday, June 15, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

Tuition: $120

This workshop includes lunch at 1 p.m.

Create original paintings, book marks, and cards with freshly foraged, handmade inks – and gain some inspiration for future inky experiments! We'll begin the day outside (so dress for the weather) foraging for plants and other natural materials. You are also encouraged to bring plants or other materials from home; anything can be used to create ink! Next, we will learn the ink-making process using your new found materials. Wrap up the day by experimenting with your fresh inks on different substrates. Materials will be provided.

Elizabeth Schmuhl is a multidisciplinary artist who creates work that explores nature, movement, and memory. Schmuhl deeply investigates the natural world, its cycles, and entropy, all of which inform her work. Schmuhl is a multidisciplinary artist and the author of Premonitions (Wayne State University Press). Her book of paintings created with natural ink from her centennial fruit farm in Benton Harbor, The Four Seasons, is out from Greying Ghost Press. Fishes of the Great Lakes, a book containing paintings with natural inks made entirely from the Great Lake watershed and materials that surround it, is her newest art book. She has shared her work globally and holds an MFA and a BA (University of Michigan). Schmuhl has taught at University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and elsewhere.

Flowering: History & Arrangement

with Maddie Reyna

Saturday, August 3, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Tuition: $130

This workshop includes lunch at 1 p.m.

This workshop will invite students to create a living sculpture with florals. We will consider foundational historical styles including Dutch Baroque, Ikebana, and contemporary movements, and experiment with vessel armature techniques such as wire mesh, pin frog, and tape grid. Local and exotic live flowers will be provided to each participant, and after demonstration, arranging, and group discussion, they will take their ephemeral arrangement home. For a full-day making experience, during which you will make a painting of a floral arrangement, sign up for the second part of this workshop, Floral Still Life Painting led by James Brandess!

Maddie Reyna is an American painter who began arranging flowers as a way to have live subjects for her work. That practice has come to stand alone as she applies considerations of color, form, and composition to three-dimensional organic matter. She has a Masters in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, studied at The Flower School of New York, designs flower arrangements for brides and other party throwers in Chicago, and is the Academic Program Director for Ox-Bow School of Art.

Introduction to Indigo and Shibori

with Sue Cortese

Saturday, August 17, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Tuition: $130

This workshop includes lunch at 1 p.m.

Learn to use indigo dye and several shibori, or Japanese manual tie-dyeing, techniques to create stunning textiles. We will learn several tying methods and then use an indigo vat to dye the bound cloth. In Arashi, we will use a pole to help manipulate the fabric. In Itajime, we will fold and bind the fabric between boards or sticks. In Kumo, we will use string to bind the fabric. We will also touch on stitched or nui shibori. Try out all styles or concentrate on one or two! You will be given a yard of cloth on which to practice techniques, but you may also bring their own pre-washed clothing or fabric to use.

Sue Cortese is textile artist who lives in Holland, Michigan. Using indigo dye and shibori manipulations allows broaden her work. Please see website for more information.