INTRODUCTION:
The American Transcendentalist and Author Henry David Thoreau
wrote:
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've
imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be
simpler."
As you travel to Bear Island from the coast of Maine, Thoreau's message
takes on reality. The island's wildness and immersion in the cycles of
nature invites you to simplify. As you draw the spring water from the
well and gather sweet mussels from the tidal ledges, you see things in
a fresh way. You find private space for contemplation and solitude—and
welcoming places to gather and share the energy of collaboration and community.
1. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
This is a one week workshop, with daily instruction in the
art of making mosaics. Students work with Joshua Winer to learn traditional
mosaic techniques as they each create their own mosaic panels.
Daily Schedule:
Breakfast at the Big House
from 7.30-8.30
Morning workshop time with teacher:
8.30-12.30
Picnic lunch and rest time
from 12.30-2.00
Afternoon workshop time, with teacher
2.00-6.00
Dinner at the Big House
from 7.00-8.30
Evening work time, without teacher
from 8.30-11
2. MOSAICS WORKSHOP (CURRICULUM)
Traditional Mosaics (first week)
This is an immersion in the classical traditions of mosaic art, using
the materials and methods developed in antiquity and still available today.
Students are introduced to the history, design and fabrication of traditional
mosaics. Design issues include classical approaches to tessellation, such
as Andemento, Opus Regulatum, Opus Vermiculatem, and Opus Musivum). Fabrication
issues include introduction to glass mosaic tesserae units (smalti and
vitreous glass); cutting of tesserea; and introduction to substrates,
mortars, and grouts.
a. First Project: We will work with smalti mosaics (unit size 1/2" square)
from Mexico and Italy to create a 10" square panel with an image based
on a natural subject from Bear Island (for example, flowers, plants, sea
creatures). Each student will create an individual sample panel (of their
own, original design) to take with them. Students start with a sketch
from observation, turn this into a design drawing, create the mosaic with
smalti, cement the mosaic with thin-set mortar, then grout the mosaic
with colored grout. This is a two day project.
b. Second Project: We will work with vitreous glass mosaics (unit size
3/4" square) to create a panel of the student's choice, up to 4 square
feet in size. This is a four day project. Mosaic panels may be cutout
(from MDO ply panels) or created on portable masonry panels.
Cracked Tile Mosaics and Pebble Mosaics (second week)
(Note: This is not available in the June workshop)
We will build on the learning experience from Week One, and continue in
new creative directions with more open ended materials and possibilities.
For students who have completed the 'Traditional Glass Mosaics' workshop
(above), this will be a natural extension forward. For new students, this
will be an exciting, dive-right-in opportunity for exploration. Materials
choices include glazed ceramic tile, porcelain tile, stained glass, dishware,
beach glass, beach stones, shells, and found objects. Mortars and grouts
play a bigger role, and may be tinted to provide greater color emphasis.
a. First Project: Cracked Tile Mosaic. We will work with ceramic and porcelain
tile, plus the other possible mosaic materials as listed above, to create
mosaic panels of approximately 4 square feet. The subject will again be
based upon aspects from the natural world of Bear Island, though this
time can have multiple objects (like a larger still life) or depict a
landscape (land or sea, above or below, day or night!). This is a 3 and
one-half day project.
b. Second Project: Pebble Mosaic. We will work with Bear Island beach
pebbles, plus shells, to create mosaic panels 18" square. Materials will
be set in cement. These panels will work with simple graphic forms, which
can be geometric or representational.
3. TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:
Henry David Thoreau was a careful, thoughtful observer of
nature. He used his observations as a basis for many parables about life,
change, beauty, time and the human condition.
When Thoreau wrote
"Nature gets thumbed like an old spelling book"
he was describing an age old way of using nature in the process of creating
art. We will follow this practice and look to Nature as our primer and
source of inspiration. Bear Island's beauty and diversity offers a rich
bounty of Nature to explore and to draw from. Thoreau's writings on the
creative process provide useful insights into working methods for an artist.
He urged the observer to make two journal entries about the same event.
"I would fain make two reports in my journal, first about the incidents
and observations of today; and by tomorrow I review the same, and record
what was omitted before, which will often be the most significant and
poetic part".
This relates to a valuable exercise in seeing, where the artist first
draws from nature, then draws again from memory. This is a process that
we will explore. Participants will be encouraged to keep a written and
pictorial journal of their experience, which may include: drawing from
life; keeping notes on tides and weather; exploring the flora and fauna
of the island; making notes on the color of the sea, sunset, or grasses.
All of this information may be used as a basis for developing ideas and
generating images that may be transformed into artworks. |
