Blooming Art: A Visual History of Botanical Illustration and Still Life Painting

Contemplate the glorious beauty of flowers in a slide presentation on the history of floral painting. Learn about the rich history of botanical illustration and flower paintings from the earliest medieval herbals to the present day. The lecture will include flower lore and symbolism, the 17th Century Dutch tulip trade, still life paintings, Impressionist garden paintings, and contemporary approaches to floral painting. (Image: Self Portrait by Julie Heffernan)

Exploring the Unexpected: Surrealism in Art

One of the most compelling components of art is mystery. In this slide lecture, discover how the Surrealists arrived at their amazing imagery through word games, dreams, stream of consciousness, chance and accident, automatic writing, and a collaborative drawing exercise called the Exquisite Corpse. The lecture will include the work of Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Rene Magritte, Paul Delvaux, Giorgio de Chirico, and Andre Mason, as well as the work of women surrealists Remedios Varo, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington, Lenor Fini, Eileen Agar, Meret Oppenheim, and Kay Sage (Image: Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River by Remedios Varo).

Elements Of Design

Need a refresher on the elements of design? This slide lecture/discussion covers the necessary components of a unified artwork: line, texture, harmony, composition, rhythm, volume, color, picture planes, negative and positive space, balance, and symmetrical and asymmetrical design. We will analyze various artworks from painting to sculpture, and discuss what works and why it works. And one of the most burning questions for any artist: "How do I know when it's finished?" (Image: Rose Garden by Paul Klee)

Option 1: Monday, July 5th 7 - 9pm

Option 2: Monday, August 16th 7 - 9pm

Landscape Composition

This workshop will explore the many approaches to landscape compositions. After a half-hour slide presentation on landscape paintings by Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Monet, Thomas Cole, and Thomas Hart Benton, students will experiment with different arrangements of the same landscape: vertical, horizontal, bird's eye view, aerial view. Composition, texture, perspective, line, and color will be discussed as ways to strengthen the mood and energy of the landscape painting. (Image: Moonlight on the Osage by Thomas Hart Benton)

Get Your Artwork Ready for Market

In this three-hour workshop, gallery owner Gayle Picken provides insights and answers your questions on the topics of pricing, packaging, portfolio presentation, artist statements, approaching galleries, finding shows, developing mailing lists, and good customer service tips. This is a great workshop for artists new to the market or for professional artists looking to take their career to the next level.

Option 1: Monday, June 14th 6 - 9pm

Option 2: Wednesday, August 4th 6 - 9pm

Art Marketing in the Digital Age -- A Weekend Workshop for Artists

We are pleased to have Gayle Picken back here to teach her series for artists: "Art Marketing in the Digital Age-A Weekend Workshop for Artists". Sign up for one day or the whole weekend! Owner of Gallery by the Bay in Stanwood, WA, Gayle Picken has over 10 years experience promoting and marketing artists and small businesses. She ran a custom web site design firm for five years before becoming a full-time gallery owner. She loves helping artists and small business owners come up with incredible ideas for taking their marketing efforts to the next level.

Day 1: Get Your Web Site up and Running!
Start the year with your very own web site! In this information-packed workshop, we'll cover everything you need to know to plan and build your own site! We'll cover technology basics like URLs and hosting, and review other artist sites for best design practices. We'll explore a great web building tool designed specifically for artists and build an actual web site in class. Most importantly, we'll cover the 8 Essential Decisions you must make before starting your site. Bring a notebook, lunch, and a great attitude for learning. This day will fly!

Day 2: Online Marketing-The Future is Here! (And "Free" is the Key...)
Take your art marketing to the next level with the power of the Internet and social media. In this day-long workshop, we'll launch your online marketing campaign with search engine optimization techniques, strategies for writing about your art, tools for creating compelling stories, tips for using Facebook and Twitter to fascinate your fans, and a bonus session on photographing your art. Learn how to maximize the free marketing tools available on the Internet and still manage to save time for creating your art! Bring one of your art pieces and lunch and get ready to be energized. You'll come away with more marketing ideas than you thought possible!

Day 1: Get Your Web Site up and Running!
Saturday, September 25th 10am - 3pm

Day 2: Online Marketing-The Future is Here! (And "Free" is the Key...)
Sunday, September 26th 10am - 3pm

Beginning Snitzels (Fabric Collage)

Fiber artist Jean Brautigam Mills, co-author of Fearless Design for Every Quilter, will be here to teach her once-a-month 10-month class that uses the principles and elements of design as a backdrop for exploration of the student’s own creative abilities in fiber art. The classes provide the students a safe community environment in which to take risks, and share constructive critique and knowledge. Working in a small format, students will learn technique in threadwork and beading, and will experiment with color, texture, beads, and surface embellishments. Highly recommended for quilters and fiber artists wanting to explore new possibilities as well as for artists wanting to work in fabric collage, this class is also a chance to turn your fabric scraps into art! No prior experience necessary, but basic sewing skills are helpful. A supply list will be provided upon registration.

Introduction to Glass Fusing

Let the sun shine! Learn the fundamentals of glass fusing while creating sun catchers or window panels perfect for the garden or inside your home. You make 2-4 projects from a 12x10 sheet of glass, and learn about choosing materials, cutting and arranging glass elements. You'll be working with transparent, opaque, and iridescent glass as well as frit, stringers, and rods. The sun catchers will be fused later at my studio, but we'll discuss the fundamentals of kiln work as well as sources for glass supplies.

Option 1: Tuesday, July 13th 6:30 - 9:30pm

Option 2: Tuesday, August 24th 6:30 - 9:30pm

Option 3: Tuesday, September 14th 6:30 - 9:30pm

Viking Knit Bracelet

Have you ever wanted to make your own handmade chain? Come explore Viking Knit, a wire-weaving technique used for centuries. In this class, you will learn how to weave thin, 26-gauge fine silver or copper wire into a beautiful and unique bracelet. You will also learn how to make your own secure bracelet clasps. All materials will be available at the class, including some wire-working tools. However, if you have your own tools, such as chain-nose, round-nose and flat-nose pliers, wire cutters, files, and steel bench block, please feel free to bring them.

Dichroic Fused Glass Jewelry

Please join us as we make some awesomely beautiful dichroic glass! In this two-session workshop, we will start with the basics and learn how to cut textured and non-textured opalescent, clear, or dichroic glass into squares, rectangles, and triangles. In the first session, we will choose our colors and styles, and then cut and shape the glass into rudimentary earrings and pendants. In the final session, we will glue on sterling silver earring and pendant findings for our own personal and very unique creations. In between sessions, I will fuse your glass, do some minimal shaping and then fire-polish it to take the rough marks away. All tools, grinders, glass, and sterling silver findings will be provided.

Mix It Up! Dimensional Collage

Art is messy! And so much fun. In this workshop we will experiment with several techniques for creating layers and textures and adding embellishments. Using household materials, we will make colorful painted layers from paint, templates, and paper towels; printing blocks from corks and Styrofoam; textures with forks, sponges, mesh, pebbles, skewers, tissue paper, glue; repetitive images with rubber stamps; and transfers from packing tape. Materials will be provided, but you are encouraged to bring things from home, too. Bringing a rubber brayer is recommended. Dress to mess! Suitable for beginners and seasoned artists. Please bring a lunch or $ for local take-out.

Option 1: Sunday, June 27th 10am - 3pm

Option 2: Saturday, July 31st 10am - 3pm

Option 3: Monday, August 9th 10am - 3pm

Dealing with a Full Deck

Open up your playful side with this fun and fast collage workshop. Using a deck of playing cards or flash cards as your art surface, we will create individual collages on each card, working intuitively and trying different combinations of images. This is an easy and fearless way to experiment with compositions, images, color and line. Learn how to build layers and burnish your cards to look antique. The cards can be used in many ways: sewn together thematically as an accordion art book, made into a paper art quilt, incorporated into an altered book or larger collage, turned into greeting cards or post cards or traded with friends. The sky’s the limit! We will use non-toxic watercolors, pencil and pen, gel medium, glue stick, stamps, stickers, magazine images, letters, and small embellishments. All materials will be provided, but you’re encouraged to bring some personal items to include. Please bring a lunch or $ for local take-out. Suitable for both beginners and seasoned artists.

Polymer Clay Project Workshop

There are at least 4,000 ways to use polymer clay. In this workshop, beginning and advanced students will learn to create a shadowbox with 3 kinds of polymer clay surfaces (transferred images, textured tiles, and flat, abstract designs). Optional 3-D pieces will be built to place inside the shadowbox itself.

Option 1: Sunday, July 11th 12 - 5pm

Option 2: Sunday, August 22nd 12 – 5pm

Option 3: Sunday, September 12th 12 – 5pm

Visual Journaling: More than Words Can Say

In Western cultures we prefer verbal and written language to symbolic language. But, as children, images and feelings were our first language. They're still the primary language in many other cultures. Carl Jung developed Visual Journaling as a way to connect with the sensations and images of our unconscious. This is a contemplative, non-judgmental process of quieting the mind and opening the heart and breath to emerging awareness. Its purpose is to nurture the freedom to accept ourselves, the ways in which we express what we feel, and what we really want. No art experience necessary. A supply list will be provided upon registration.

Option 1: Sundays, July 11th - August 1st 6 - 8pm (4 sessions)

Option 2: Sundays, August 22nd - September 19th 6 – 8pm (4 sessions, NO class September 5th)

Introduction to Altered Books

Starting with a used hardcover book, learn how to create an altered book. The instructor will demonstrate techniques for removing and adding pages, painting and glazing pages, sewing pages, selecting images and text, planning the composition, and adding ephemera. You will also learn how to make interesting envelopes, tags, and folded pages. Students may bring materials from home to include. Hardcover books and other materials are provided. Suitable for beginners and seasoned artists. Please bring a lunch or $ for local take-out.

Option 1: Friday, July 23rd 10am - 3pm

Option 2: Saturday, August 21st 10am – 3pm

Collaged Journal Covers

Your journal is an important document of your Artistic and personal process. Why fill the pages with glorious art and have a boring cover? In this workshop you learn how to create a wonderfully complex and colorful journal cover that speaks volumes about you and your art! Collage materials provided. Please bring a new hardback blank journal of any size. Suitable for both beginners and seasoned artists.

3-D Collage and Painting in Polymer Clay

Did you know polymer clay is an unbelievably colorful, versatile medium for creating landscapes, abstract paintings, collages, and sculpture? A pasta machine, some mica powder and your revved-up imagination can give you bas-relief and flat work to incorporate into mixed-media paintings, collages, and assemblages. This class is for both beginners and advanced students. Basic design principles, layering techniques, and contrasting colors and textures will be addressed.

Option 1: Sunday, August 15th 11am - 3pm

Option 2: Wednesday, September 8th 5:30 – 9:30pm

Beginning Collage

Wondering how to create a unified, interesting artwork from a variety of materials? Join collage artist Susan Olds for a workshop on the fundamentals of building and completing a collage. At the start of the workshop, Susan will present a 10-minute slide show on well-known collage artists. The hands-on workshop will include the following: selecting images and objects, varying scale and building layers for background interest and texture, creating a sense of movement, balancing positive and negative space, unifying the work with color and line, and adding final embellishments. Supplies will be provided. Participants are encouraged to bring their own photos, stamps, and other materials to use in the collage. Suitable for both beginners and seasoned artists. Bring a lunch or $ for local take-out.

Introduction to Assemblage

Take collage a step further in this workshop introducing assemblage, or 3-D collage. The workshop will begin with a slide presentation on assemblage artists and their many approaches to the medium. Shadow boxes and other materials will be provided. Students are welcome to bring items from home to include in their assemblages. Suitable for both beginners and seasoned artists. Bring a lunch or $ for local take-out. (Image: Object (Roses des vents) by Joseph Cornell)

Acrylic Painting for the Fun of It! With Ricco

Option 1: Wednesday, June 16th 6:30 - 9pm

Option 2: Wednesday, July 7th 6 - 8:30pm

Option 3: Wednesday, July 21st 6 - 8:30pm

Option 4: Wednesday, August 18th 6 - 8:30pm

Option 5: Wednesday, September 22nd 6 - 8:30pm

Acrylic Painting: Color and Feeling

Do you feel as if you could do more with color in your paintings? Are your true feelings hiding behind the confusion of color? What if you could play with color on big pieces of watercolor paper and find out what works? Need guidance in a particular area? Take one session or take them all. Time between sessions allows for practicing what you’ve learned and getting your questions answered at the next session. All materials are provided, including paint, brushes, 300 # watercolor paper, and waterdishes.

Session 2: Value. I value hue. Using the color wheel to understand value. Shades of gray, and a whiter shade of pale, lightening and darkening colors.
Tuesday, August 17th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Session 3: Intensity – Using the color wheel to understand intensity, the power of primaries to cancel color. Practice naming hue, value, and intensity.
Tuesday, August 31st 6:30 - 8:30pm

Session 4: What is color harmony? Munsell's theory of harmony and "balanced color", practice creating harmony in color.
Tuesday, September 7th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Session 5: The effects of light – color constancy, simultaneous contrast, practice estimating intensity level.
Tuesday, September 28th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Session 6: Meaning and symbolism of colors. Color and emotion – your color preferences and expressions. Practicing your understanding of the meaning of color.
Tuesday, October 5th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Effectively Organizing Your Still Life

Still life painting celebrates the physical beauty of natural and human-made objects, such as flowers, fruit, musical instruments, books, pottery and glass. But it can evoke memories and aspirations far greater. You can convey the present or the past; warmth and sensuality, or coolness and contemplation; grandeur, intellectual refinement, and a sense of specific culture; or something simple and universal about the human condition. It depends on your choices: Your subject; your composition; your lights and shadows; your color; your painting style; your chosen lighting; and your personal point of view. We will discuss still-life works from history and paint one or two small still-lifes of our own to experience various messages and moods. Intermediate and advanced acrylic, oil, and pastel painters are all welcome. A supply list will be provided upon registration.

Outdoor Survival Skills for Painters

Plein-air (outdoor) painters experience the joy of the open spaces. They also experience the discomforts and risks that go with that. An experienced hiker and landscape painter will share skills, techniques, and gear lists developed over years of painting en plein air. You will get criteria to help you define your own acceptable level of risk. You'll also get your instructor's sources for good affordable gear, for up-to-date information on conditions, services and terrain, and for maps that are actually worth something. This class will help you safely and confidently paint outdoors, whether you stay on the path or go where there is no path. After this class, you may also participate in the optional Yakima River Canyon trip. There is no supply list for this class since it is lecture and demonstration only. Some needed demonstration materials will be provided.

Painting the Yakima River Canyon

Join us in the rugged (but with good trails), sunny, beautiful Yakima River Canyon to paint en plein air. The area is high desert hills, punctuated by Ponderosa pines, cut by the fast-flowing Yakima River and broken by unusual basalt cliffs in red-brown and plum-grey. We will be based in a Bureau of Land Management recreation area. This day is planned as a master class, with minimal group instruction and a primary focus on individual painting, according to the needs, experience, and desires of the students. We will try to arrange carpools. A supply list will be provided upon registration. "Outdoor Survival Skills for Painters" workshop is recommended as a prerequisite, but not required.

Finishing Your !@%$#&! Painting!

How many times have you started a painting enthusiastically, only to bog down when it's nearly done, frustrated with how it's turning out, unsure of your next step, or even afraid that you'll ruin it? This class will help you de-stress, and get control of the end-stage of your paintings. We'll cover:

• How to decide upon and apply your the critical last few touches
• How not to overwork your painting
• When to set it aside, when to come back to it later, and when to stop for good
• How to finish your painting correctly and preserve it archivally
• Developing your index of your work

There will be demonstration and discussion, plus working on your own near-finished canvases (bring one or two). Intermediate and advanced acrylic and oil painters are all welcome. A supply list will be provided upon registration.

Bookmaking and Bookbinding

In this series we will explore the fundamental aspects of bookmaking and bookbinding. You will learn about the basic components of a book, folding and cutting paper, non-adhesive bookbinding, and different sewing techniques. Bookmaking materials and tools will be provided, and a short supply list will be provided upon registration.

Bookmaking series Option 2
Mondays, Sept 13, Sept 20, Oct 4, Oct 11, 6-9pm

Or Choose Individual Session Date(s)

Session I: Accordion Fold Book
We will learn how to fold paper and create a non-adhesive hard cover.
Option 1: Monday, July 12th 6 - 9pm

Option 2: Monday, September 13th 6 - 9pm

Option 2: Monday, September 20th 6 - 9pm

Option 2: Monday, October 4th 6 - 9pm

Option 2: Monday, October 11th 6 - 9pm

Papermaking

In this series, you will learn the history of paper, different fibers and different kinds of traditional papermaking, tools, equipment, and materials. We will recycle art paper and commonly used recycled paper.

Or Choose Individual Session Date(s)

Option 2: Monday, September 13th 10am - 2pm

Option 2: Monday, September 20th 10am - 2pm

Option 2: Monday, October 4th 10am - 2pm

Option 2: Monday, October 11th 10am - 2pm

People Pictures

Have you ever wanted to take a photo of someone you saw on vacation but did not know how to approach the person? If so, you've faced a dilemma that many others have faced. It is not an easy thing to do, but with practice, you can make those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities happen. Award-winning photographer and photojournalist Robb Mitchell will share with you some of the keys to better people photos whether of strangers or of your own family. From US Presidents to an Egyptian driving a burro-drawn cart in Cairo, he will show you how to return with better people pictures on your next outing even if it is a trip to Seattle.

Option 1: Tuesday, June 15th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Option 2: Tuesday, September 21st 6:30 - 8:30pm

Shoot Like a Pro with your Point and Shoot

Just the right information to get started with that new camera for spring and summer use. Learn what your camera will do and how to get up to speed and enjoy taking photos again. Shed that film mentality and explore the new digital world. Use your "scene" settings to the max. It can be daunting with a new digital camera. Take some of guess work out of the experience and start shooting right in class.

Option 1: Tuesday, July 13th 10am - 12pm

Option 2: Tuesday, July 27th 6:30 - 8:30pm

Photographic Exposure

What you see is not always what you get when taking a photograph. Exposure is a critical element in getting the most out of your photographs. In this class, you will learn how to set your camera for any situation, what to look for in a scene, and how to avoid the pitfalls of digital exposure. You will gain professional tips that eliminate a lot of work at your computer after taking your photos. Students should bring examples of their photographs for some helpful tips on making them better. This workshop applies to both film or digital cameras. For specific help with your camera or its settings, bring your camera and the instruction manual with you to class.

Photographic Composition

Getting the right elements in the right place in a photograph can be the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph. In this class, we will examine a variety of elements which can take your photograph from so-so to WOW! by learning the tools that can help you to get the best shot. You will gain hands-on experience in setting up situations so you are at an advantage when shooting photos. You will learn how to make the most out of family photos as well as travel photography. Students should bring examples of their photographs for some helpful tips on making them better. This workshop applies to both film or digital cameras. For specific help with your camera or its settings, bring your camera and the instruction manual with you to class.

Seeing Photographs

Take a journey with award-winning photographer Robb Mitchell to improve your ability to see photographs. The Saturday-morning session will be a walk through downtown Issaquah and beyond with Robb as your guide. After the shoot, everyone will meet back at UP Front Gallery for a wrapup and to view students’ photos.

Travel Photos

Memories of a vacation are precious. Do your photos tell the whole story? Upgrade your snapshots to photos that are memorable and recreate what you experienced. Learn how to arrange your photos and create a slide show or a book on your computer.