Overview of Workshop Categories

The following is a list of past brush making, ceramic and shoe making workshops spanning a thirteen year period. The venues I have presented vary from museums to elementary school classrooms.  I have tailored my workshops to fit the nature of all age groups and special need students.  I have gained a tremendous amount of pleasure both meeting new creative spirits and sharing my love for teaching and sharing my artistic knowledge with others.

Hand Made Brushes

Brush making workshops have been combined with lectures & demonstrations detailing brush making techniques from Japan, the West and techniques developed during the exploration of the hand made brush both as a work of art and a functional tool. 

The materials and techniques are unique and the quality of a handmade brush depends upon choice materials used.  A wide variety of deer hair, horse hair, moose hair and cat hair are used to create individual brushes as well as aged bamboo sections, quality glues and knot tying threads The hand made brushes constructed in workshops function on two primary levels as functional brushes and tools to paint with on ceramic, paper, cloth and a variety of other surfaces and as works of art to enjoy apart from function.  The detailed brush making workshop description gives added details of both the format and agenda of the workshop variations that can be combined.  

Painting on Clay Surfaces with Hand Made Brushes

Brush making workshops can also include the demonstration & combination of painting with hand made brushes on a variety of clay surfaces.  Students get excited when seeing the brushes in action and inspires them to focus intensely on workshop activities.  Ceramic Wheel throwing and hand building demonstrations at the time of the workshop are used to make work to demonstrate the functional uses of these one of a kind tools.

In addition to ceramic vessels and hand built objects, brush making workshops can also include using hand made brushes on clay monotype surfaces to create one of a kind clay pigmented monoprints.  Students, during the time of the workshop, can use the brushes they have made observing the lines they create and creating paintings they can take with them form the workshop experience.

Shoes as Works of Art

Another unique workshop offering is teaching and designing hand made shoes as wearable works of art.  This workshop is independent of the other workshop combinations and requires an extended duration of time such as one week to compete a simple pair of wool moccasins to a three part shoe design with a hard rubber sole.

This workshop requires limited equipment and relies on the ability to work well sculpturally and to have an extended range of imagination!  Students are instructed step by step and are inspired by actual shoes being created by the instructor.   Designing, fitting and constructing a pair of hand made shoes is creatively inspirational and dates back to our ancestors designing and creating functional shoes to wear in their daily lives when the only true mechanical machine was a pair of physical hands.  A detailed shoe making workshop description and cost is available upon request.