Online and Residential Workshops
Online Workshops
Offered as an alternative to the residential experience, the online workshops offer participants the opportunity to draw together remotely, as we look at botanical and geological specimens hand-selected and sent to you (yes, a box of canyon and sage will find its way via post!).
For registration and more information, please click below:
Residential Workshops: 1) Badlands Drawing: May 12-17 and 2) Cañon del Rio Retreat: May 20-25, 2023
**** UPDATE - we are no longer taking applications for the May 12-17, 2023 Badlands Drawing Workshop; Applicants will be reviewed for the 2024 session, or placed on the waitlist ****
There is one spot available in the May 20 - 25 Drawing Retreat at Cañon del Rio (as of 4/4/23)
The residential workshops center on drawing from the diverse geology and flora of the region, the 'canyon, sage, and sky' of Northern New Mexico, and are geared toward practicing visual artists. Each day combines a field excursion, hands-on tutorial, and time and space to create artwork in the field and at the workshop site. Each evening, we gather to dine and talk about our larger studio interests.
This way of working mirrors my own studio practice, in which a morning walk yields the subject matter of the day, and natural pigments and charcoal give me a starting point for describing my environment, its colors, shapes, and movements.
I share mixed-media drawing techniques honed through twenty years of studio production and professional teaching, offer supportive and constructive feedback, and provide supplemental readings from relevant artists and writers. My hope is to provide an experience for artists to work intensively in this environment that I know to be so creatively stimulating, grounding, and inspiring.
In-person Residential Workshop Structure
Field
Dialogue
Studio
Each day, we venture to field sites chosen for their beauty, natural history, and relative isolation. Equipped with portable shaded workspaces, we set up within ancient badlands, a petrified swamp forest, and on a sage-covered mesa with sweeping views of redrock canyon walls. Here, we sketch, collect images and fragments, and hunt for pigmented clays.
Sara has created artwork in the region for the past several years, locating sites that offer the chance to wander deeply, finding points of natural inspiration in unexpected places.
Some walking over uneven terrain is necessary, for distances up to one mile.
Studio
Dialogue
Studio
The workshop site is our space for independent artmaking and drawing tutorials, including:
- Handcrafting natural art materials - charcoal from piñon and watercolor from pigmented clay.
- Mixed media techniques that combine wet and dry mediums - charcoal, pastel, graphite, watercolor, ink, wax, and gouache, working on a range of grounds.
- Observational drawing primers on gesture, line, value, and sighting.
Studio work is taken at your own pace, focusing on what interests and inspires. There are many sheltered spaces at the ranch to enjoy working in relative solitude, with panoramic views of the Sierra Nacimiento range. Constructive feedback is offered as desired, and silence is respected.
Participants will receive a material kit that includes a range of mediums, papers, and tools. A list of supplemental materials will be provided.
Dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue
There are several occasions to talk about your work. Each evening, we gather to share the day’s successes and insights over a relaxed dinner. In addition to casual conversation, there is structured time for each participant to share images and discuss their ongoing studio practice and professional interests. The workshop offers an extended opportunity to connect with like-minded practitioners and colleagues.
There seemed to be a perfect balance between focused, individual work time and reflection, and exchange of ideas and critique with others. I enjoyed not only discussions about materials and techniques, but also dialogue about teaching and the sharing of artist opportunities and career strategies. I was encouraged by others viewing my work but was also presented with thought provoking questions and suggestions that helped me expand as an artist.
- M. Robinson, printmaker and professor