Summer 2023 workshops

Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting
- Artist: Phyllis Shafer
- Cost: $850 +$50 material fee
- Medium: 2D
- Class Cap: 20
Explore the excitement and challenges of painting the Sierra Nevada landscape “En Plein Air" with local artist, Phyllis Shafer. Appropriate for all skill levels, this workshop will cover the basics of landscape oil painting. It will initially focus on an efficient and workable set-up in the field and how to develop compositions that emphasize a personal interpretation of nature. There will be discussions and demonstrations on color theory, color mixing, perspective and brushwork.

Drone Videography in the High Sierra
- Artist: Chris Lanier
- Cost: $750 +$50 material fee
- Medium:Digital Art/Videography
- Class Cap: 10
In this course, we will use drones to explore Tahoe Lake and the Sierras, spending time outdoors capturing aerial views of the Lake and mountains. Students will learn basic principles of drone videography – how to find compositions in the air and how to visually connect footage shot in the air to footage shot on the ground. We will learn basic drone safety and etiquette and explore the subjects required to qualify for a professional drone pilot license and learn some basics of video editing (such as voice-over and speed ramping). Whether you're a local or new to the area, it will give you a unique perspective on the natural beauty of this spectacular environment.

The Narrative in Clay Sculpture
- Artist: Susannah Israel
- Cost: $750 +$50 material fee
- Medium: Ceramics
- Class Cap: 20
This course will demonstrate Susannah’s unique and innovative ways to conceive, construct and finish a ceramic sculpture. This class will review both image and content, delving into our private cast of characters and using them as a source for expressing meaningful imagery and deeply personal ideas. Bring your sketchbook, tools and a sense of adventure.

Smoke and Carbon
- Artist: Randy Brodnax and Don Ellis
- Cost: $750 +$50 material fee
- Medium: Ceramics
- Class Cap: 20
In this hands-on workshop, Don and Randy will share every aspect of fast-fired pottery that only 85 years of knowledge can bring. They will demonstrate a variety of throwing, decorating and firing techniques. Firing will include horsehair, low-fire salt firing using aluminum and clay saggars, naked raku, and mica firing.

Cyanometers: Measuring the Color of the Sky
- Artist: Amanda Salov
- Cost: $750 +$50 material fee
- Medium: Ceramics
- Class Cap: 20
Lake Tahoe is widely known for its vibrant blue color, where the water, sky and mountains closely converge. Together we will explore the ceramic studio, the mountains and along the lake shore. We will learn how to mix and use paperclay and add pigment into ceramics to form gradients. We will mix paperclay and explore the Lake Tahoe region to collect objects to dip into slip while paying attention to the colors of the sky, water and mountains. This workshop will be exploratory, process-oriented and grounding. This week will be used to make, observe and walk.

Art Blitz: All Things Collage
- Artist: Mary Kenny
- Price: $750 + $50 material fee
- Medium: 2D
- Class cap: 20
The beautiful scenery of Lake Tahoe will become a starting point for this mixed-media collage workshop. Light walking and hiking, we will explore the surrounding landscape and document and reflect as a source of ideas and techniques. Exploring various analog and digital collage techniques, we will make new and exciting experimental pieces. Students will explore collage through printmaking, painting, laser-cutting and experimenting with different media to create dynamic imagery.

OOH! Shiny
- Artist: Randy Brodnax and Don Ellis
- Price: $750 + $50 material fee
- Medium: Ceramics
- Class cap: 20
Explore shape, form, and function to gain a new level of understanding of alternative firing techniques. Don and Randy will demonstrate a wide variety of throwing, decorating, and firing techniques. Firing will include post-fire fuming, glass Raku, copper matte alcohol reduction, stannous chloride fuming, and color crackle glazes. There will be demonstrations of new techniques that produce special effects on sculptural work.

Laser Cutting: Layers and Light
- Artist: Erik Burns
- Price: $740 + $50 material fee
- Medium: Sculpture/digital art
- Class cap: 20
This workshop is perfect for anyone looking to explore the creative potential of laser-cutting technology. We will cover the basics of the cutting and engraving processes and their applications through a series of hands-on, skill-building projects and instructor demonstrations. We will learn how to design and prepare artwork to cut/engrave using adobe Illustrator and troubleshoot common material and design issues. Students will have the opportunity to work with a variety of materials, programs and tools to create stunning layered sculptures.

Get Down to Earth: Wheel Throwing
- Artist: Sheri Leigh O’Connor and Rick Parsons
- Price: $750 + $50 material fee
- Medium: Ceramics
- Class cap: 20
This course is designed to meet you where you are, from students who have never touched clay to advanced students who are looking to find their voice. Learn how to make basic pottery forms using the potter's wheel from people that have taught wheel throwing for decades! Beginners will learn how to make a new form each day: mugs, bowls, plates, vases, pitchers, and glaze firing your work! You will learn how to center clay on the wheel, trim bottoms, make and attach handles, how to decorate and glaze your work, all while having a blast getting dirty in the studio! You will see lots of demonstrations and receive hands-on individual instruction all week.

Painting with Light
- Artist: Sharon Virtue
- Price: $750 + $50 material fee
- Medium: 2D
- Class cap: 20
Inspiration will come from the incredible landscape of the Sierra Nevadas. We will work on exploring acrylic painting materials, color theory and building a vocabulary of our personal mark making with oil pastels, scrapers, and handmade paint brushes to make abstract paintings. Color, light and composition are the theme and focus of this workshop. All levels are welcome, come join us to rediscover your inner artist. Please bring photos or sketches you have created as a starting point.

The Unusual Suspects: The Inside Out Technique
- Artist: Arthur González
- Price: $750 + $50 material fee
- Medium: Ceramics
- Class cap: 20
Concentrating on the life-size portrait busts, we will learn to sculpt facial and upper body expressions and depict advanced emotions while creating a narrative. The foundations of academic proportions will be used as a gateway to construct our invented people! Exploring impressionistic gesture and color theory we will underglaze our completed sculptures in the greenware state. Learning the inside-outside technique the artist's hands become the stand-in for the influence of skin and the believability of a skeletal structure. This technique enables the artist to manipulate the figure from both sides of the clay wall so the artist can understand the influence of muscle and bone and skin.