Adventures in Mixed Media
Instructor Gayle Gerson
Thursdays, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
September 8 - October 27, 2011
Enroll at: The Art Center
Gayle Gerson teaches this class to give artists of all skill levels practice in
working with experimental painting and collaging techniques to
create beautiful compositions, both representational and abstract.
Students will be able to devote plenty of time to each of 4 or 5 art
works in order to create a pleasing image that releases the sparkle
of the artist’s personality. During each class, Gayle will present a
“mini-workshop” to build compositional and color manipulating
skills. Art journaling and drawing sessions will also be part
of this dynamic class.
The following is an outline and example of the class she taught March 10 - May 5, 2011
Week 1 - Elemental
{-- Click on titles for details of each week of class.
• Introductions
• Journaling and Discussions
• Design for Dummies
• Create Book of Elements
Week 2 - Making Under-layers (grounds)
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Expressive Design- Creative Variations
• Create 4 collage grounds (substrates) (at least one on canvas or board)
1. color; 2. text; 3. grid; 4. doodling
Materials: • Art Journal • 4 grounds • Usual
Collage Materials and Tools
• markers or paints
Week 3 - Color and Fabric
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Custom Color Palette -
color harvesting
• Make a Fabric Ground
Materials: • variety of paint colors • fabric
pieces • canvas ground
• collage materials • magazines
Week 4 - Rhythmic Elements
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Creating rhythm/
movement
Materials: • paints and collage materials
• prepared grounds
• photo reference
Week 5 - Moving Shapes
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Shape Design
• Work on Paintings
Materials: • paints and collage materials • prepared grounds
Week 6 - Simplify
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Simplifying objects
• Work on Paintings
Materials: • photo of an object • paints and
collage materials • prepared
grounds
Week 7 - Value Judgment
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Working with Values
• Work on Paintings
Materials: • black, grey, and white paper • variety
of drawing tools
• paints and collage materials • prepared grounds
Week 8 - Every Which Way
• Journaling
• Mini-Workshop: Creative Placements
• Work on Paintings and critique
Materials: • tracing paper and photo reference •
paints and collage materials
• prepared grounds
"Many of my students are either new to or getting reacquainted with the arts after many years of pursuing other more "left-brained" careers. These highly successful and organized people come into my classroom full of trepidation telling me that they "can't draw", "aren't creative", "love color but don't know how to use it", "are afraid of paint" and "have no idea what they are doing". At the end of an eight week session, these same people are ARTISTS: happily flinging paint around, drawing in their sketch books, coming up with ideas that are so creative that I want to steal them and producing many beautiful works of art. It is my joy as a teacher to watch this progression and my greater joy when they sell work and continue to take classes(mine or others) and make art part of their everyday life." ~Gayle Gerson
galstarr@bresnan.net
970-241-8561