Workshops for the Artistically Intimidated
Maybe an adult told you when you were a child that your drawing was terrible or thought the dog you drew was a dinosaur. Maybe, like me, you never had any exposure to arts during your K-12 education. No matter what’s got you intimidated, I can offer you experiences with art-making that are playful and empowering. You’ll come away with new skills and maybe even a piece of art you’re happy with. Collage and printmaking are processes you can do in your own home, with relatively inexpensive materials. It’s hard to feel fear and despair when you’re actively making things!
More Art Less Fear workshops
I remember thinking I had no artistic talent. My artistic journey started with filmmaking and photography because I wasn’t afraid of technology. But over time as I started taking classes in printmaking and other visual arts and training myself in a range of media, I began to realize that there were so many ways to be express myself creatively. And as I started doing workshops for people with little to no arts training, I saw firsthand that all of us can be makers but a lot of us need some encouragement and support to get started. In the words of one of the participants, “I didn’t know I was an artist until you said it was okay.” I offer a menu of workshops that include printmaking basics (gelliprinting, linocut and screenprinting), collage, and mark-making. I bring the skills of over two decades of teaching to these workshops, and the empathy of someone who felt very intimidated in my very first art classes.
Make Art Make Justice workshops
Make Art Make Justice is a series of community and creative skills building workshops that require no previous art experience, intended for groups working on social justice issues. If you belong to a political, mutual aid or support group or asocial action committees with faith communities, consider hosting one of these workshops. Art is a powerful tool of democratic engagement and solidarity building. Art and creativity are central to relationship building, developing vision and imagination, suffusing joy into our community organizing and developing messaging that moves people into action. Also, it’s much harder to feel despair or fear when we are making things with our hands–our brains love hand work! Each workshop has a core activity centered around a specific art skill or medium, and should tie directly with a call for political action. Potential workshops include:
Linocut basics to make postcards
Handlettering basics to make postcards
Signmaking with Flair
Found poetry/blackout poetry
Political collage
Gelliprinting basics to make political posters or postcards
Urban foraging to make textured papers
Nature foraging to make textured papers
Screenprinting basics to make signs, posters or postcards
Poetry collage
Stencils and stamping
Designing for Justice–graphic design basics for better flyers and social media posts
Zinemaking