IN STUDIO? LIVE ONLINE? OR AN ONLINE COURSE? WHAT KIND OF WORKSHOP TO CHOOSE?

One of the greatest opportunities in the modern world is to get an art education of your choosing.

While it is important to learn and practice the fundamentals of art, how do you desire to learn these. Short, intense workshops usually up to a week are combined with being in a “destination”; longer, more comprehensive slower-paced courses are more likely in a private studio or live online. I call this type of workshop Studio Practice. There are also newer online video-based courses with larger numbers of participants and social media based. And there are a mixture of these. Each has advantages and limitations.

1. Short Intense Workshops - These usually are specialized in topic and are more narrowly focused. The student is immersed in creativity with a lot of fast-paced instruction and personal help. Students quickly bond and share together much like “camp.” These workshops are great for learning and practicing because the emphasis is usually on process and exploration. It is a wonderful way to meet various levels of artists from a variety of places and to get away completely from daily routines.

2. Studio Practice Courses - These longer courses usually meet on a weekly basis; learning is at a more leisurely pace with the emphasis on learning and practice and building habits for a sustained artist life. This is a great way to mentor and to develop skills and confidence while growing as an artist. Such a course is usually close to home and artists meet other like-minded artists in their own locale. Some may be given both as in-studio or live online. They are less expensive since there is not travel involved.

3. Online Courses can be done either alone at your own pace or together in a large virtual group. In the latter case, there is usually a meeting and sharing arena on social medial. The emphasis is more on the lessons, less instructor contact, and more reliance on the other students for connection. Often there are very large groups in on line courses from across continents. They can be great melting pots of all kinds of people to meet, and a great exchange of support and ideas among the participants. Less personal instructor involvement and again there is no travel involved.

4. In-studio and live online Courses. You can choose to travel or not. Teaching is done over a webinar type platform with students actively participating and receiving input from peers and the instructor. These courses can either be short and intense or over longer periods of time like Studio Practice Courses. These have the advantage of working in one own studio. The instructor is able to give plenty of one-on-one attention to all students. The group becomes cohesive throughout the course on social media and through checks-in during classes. This is a relatively newer form of workshops. They are usually fewer students and they often live in far away places.

We hope this helps you be able to choose the right workshop for you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us in the form below.

We hope you take a look at our workshops and find one that is just right for you. We offer all types of creativity learning opportunities.

Suzanne and Grant

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HOW TO BE A GOOD STUDENT

I get excited once I have chosen a workshop to take. Usually I am taking a workshop as a personal retreat, a gift to myself, where I refresh and renew myself creatively and inspirationally.

To that end, I make sure that I take time to visualize myself expanding joyfully and creatively. I plan the trip and gather all the tools and supplies I will need. I do all of this with great lead time, so I can arrive fresh and feeling preesent.

I get excited to meet the instructor and to be open to whatever transpires. I like letting the workshop unfold with no expectations other than curiosity, good energy, eagerness, and feeling like a sponge ready to absorb it all.

By giving myself fully to the experience I feel like I am a vessel that is ready to be filled up, hold all the lessons, and even get ready to trade the old vessel for a new one. It is always going into the unknown. I love meeting new like-minded people who are just as excited and eager to learn and share as I am. But, I also keep my distance so that I can fully immerse myself into my own process of exploration feeling attuned to my own body rhythm and intuition where ever it may lead me. I suspend any kind of judgment and open only to what is it that I like and where does it lead me, a form of discernment which is different from analytical thinking.

In the end, I relish feeling supported in a safe and nurturing environment where I can let go and play in that infinite field of creativity with my senses wide open, following my heart and where my intuition and its expression get wild! My feelings and discernment are the real skills that I am cultivating in a workshop.

Of course, I show up on time, work hard, am cooperative, courteous and self-sufficient, part of the experience of group oneness.

How are you a good student?

We hope you look at our list of abstract art workshops and find one that is right for you!

Suzanne and Grant

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“Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain

an artist when we grow up.”

— Pablo Picasso

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WHY TAKE AN ABSTRACT ART WORKSHOP ?

Maybe a better questions is why not take an Abstract Art Workshop?

They are fun! They get the creative juices flowing. They are inspirational. They are nurturing and a great way to meet like-minded people.

If you are stuck, a workshop can give you new perspectives.

If you are a beginner, a workshop can teach you what abstract art is and the fundamentals of art..

If you have been away from your art, a workshop can jump start you back into your practice..

If you want to grow, a workshop can push your edges.

If you are curious, a workshop can ignite your imagination.

If you are open, a workshop can offer you new techniques for your toolbox and new perspectives.

If you are adventurous, a workshop can bring out your wildness! .
If you are daring, a workshop is a place to take risks and explore, delve and excavate.

If you are timid, a workshop can help you gain confidence to trust your intuition.

Workshops help artists become better artists!

We hope you look at our list of abstract art workshops and find one that is right for you!

Suzanne and Grant

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MEET MICHAEL CUTLIP

“I’m painting with paper. It’s totally improvised. The shapes are very impulsive.”

— Michael Cutlip

Michael Cutlip is a master at unexpected juxtapositions——Image a big, dynamic abstraction in red, orange and white, with chunks and splashes of other colors, and graphic elements taken from the street……this is Michael Cutlip’s art. Direct, Bold. Compelling……

Michael says he is inspired by the naïve gestures and honesty of children’s art, as well as the layering and weathered aspects of paint and postings on old buildings. He uses house paint, Xerox transfers, a printing press, wallpaper, book pages, and many other things not usually found at an art supply store. “In life I think I tend to be somewhat serious, but when I’m in the studio, it’s like playing. I’m having fun and putting things together. Then I find something that works and it makes me smile,” said Michael.

“I might start out just throwing down a bunch of flyers from a telephone pole, or tear up some posters just to get some stuff underneath, which a lot of times you see revealed in the edging,” he says. “What paper taught me is composition, and about color. Now I’m just dealing with the basics. Taking a piece of paper and tearing it, layering another piece on top of it, layering, layering — you start creating something you wouldn’t have imagined.”

Michael’s vocabulary has roots in the Abstract Expressionism of Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and Clyfford Still, and in Mark Tobey’s calligraphic scribbles, and have the same sort of grooving street energy, mixed with fine-art finesse.

As a teacher, Michael is very skilled at helping others see new directions. He encourages pushing edges, exploring the unknown and finding the magic that comes from the process of collage making.
Michael Cutlip and Suzanne Jacquot will be giving a 3 day Mixed Media Workshop July 19, 20, 21 and it is a rare treat to have such a talented teacher and artist make this special visit to the bay area. .

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