Outreach
Annapolis, Continuing Education and Fine Arts
Fine Arts Workshops - Spring 2010
Workshops offer instruction in the practice of the fine arts. They meet weekly beginning on February 13 and ending on May 8, unless otherwise noted. Workshop size is 12-16 students.
Strength of Character
Instructor: Laura Oliver
Tuesday, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
April 13 - May 4
Barr Buchanan Center, Room 109
Tuition: $85. 4 sessions
Character is the single most elegant point of entry into a memoir, novel or short story. In this workshop students develop intimate portraits of their characters and narrators because what a story is about begins with knowing who a story is about. Class members learn how to allow the characters they develop to drive both plot and literary tension in their work. An in-depth study of character authenticates every action, reaction, gesture and thought in a student’s story. It is an inspiring springboard for creative writing of all genres. The skills illuminated in this interactive workshop are essential for both advanced writers who have already published and beginners.
Pottery: Open Studio
Instructor: John Jensen
Tuesday, 7-9 p.m.
June 19 - August 21
Mellon Hall, Room 28
Tuition: $185; Materials fee: $35. 10 sessions
Have you ever wished you could spend time in a professional potter’s studio? As much as possible this open studio class will let you do just that. While students are free to work on their own projects throughout the class time, the instructor will be giving ongoing demonstrations in production pottery techniques: throwing, trimming, wedging, mixing and using glazes, hand building, carving and other forms of decoration. Beginners will be given a short lesson in throwing at the beginning of the first three classes. Class members will be invited to the seasonal Raku firing.
WEEKEND FINE ARTS WORKSHOP
The Gilded Page: Techniques of the Old Masters
Instructor: Jean Brinton Jaecks
March 20 and 21; 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Mellon Hall, Room 202
Tuition: $145. Materials fee $25. Tuition includes lunch both days
From the 10th – to the 14th-century, gold leaf was used to adorn initial letters, illuminated manuscript borders, and miniature paintings. In a studio setting, students will copy an initial letter, a gold-embellished border, or a medieval manuscript illumination, employing 24K gold leaf over raised gesso and the egg tempera technique. Through demonstration, slides, and discussion, students will learn to apply a pillow of gesso as a base for the gold leaf. Gilding, burnishing, and preparing paint by grinding pigments and using egg yolk as a binder will be part of the workshop experience. Duc De Berry’s Psalter, a Book of Hours, or a medieval manuscript will be a model for the illumination. The materials fee will cover the cost of the supplies including gold leaf and dry-pigments. Lunch will be provided by St. John’s College and a critique will complete the day.
The Painted Sketch
Instructor: Jean Brinton Jaecks
May 22 and 23; 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Tuition: $150, includes lunch both days
Meet in FSK Lobby
This two-day workshop will explore the painted sketch. While working en plein air on St. John’s beautiful campus, artists will sketch and paint the spring gardens, historic buildings, landscape and College Creek. Watercolor sketching can be very portable with materials and a sketchbook that will fit in a backpack or purse. The workshop will focus on capturing quick sketches and personal expression. Students will be given instruction in watercolor techniques, linear perspective, and expressing light. Lunch will be provided by St. John’s College and a critique will complete the day.
Creative Writing: Finding Subject and Voice in the Personal Essay
Instructor: Laura Oliver
June 5, 9:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Hodson Room, Mellon Hall
Tuition: $50
It is never too late to be what you might have been.—George Eliot
A writer finds his subject by identifying what is most important to him. A writer finds his voice by addressing that subject with authenticity. In this workshop, students turn life into literature and the personal into the universal as they explore their lives for writing subjects. In addition, by examining the voices of a variety of successful writers, each participant is exposed to styles that inspire his own. Through an exploration of published essays and stories, in-class writing exercises, and discussion of student work, each class member has the opportunity to find his authentic voice and discover what it is he really wants to write about.
Creative Writing: Reader as Witness
Instructor: Laura Oliver
June 12, 9:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Hodson Room, Mellon Hall
Tuition: $50
My objective is to show what I found, not what I was looking for.—Pablo Picasso
Using the Mary Hood story, “How Far She Went,” students learn the most important skill a writer can possess: the ability to dramatize a scene so readers intuit both meaning and emotion. This is the skill that brings flat work to life. It is an ability that allows writers to show rather than tell, and to detail the action rather than summarize the events. Participants in this workshop learn how to telegraph character through dialogue and how to illuminate metaphor. In-class writing exercises and discussion give class members new tools to enhance both fiction and memoir. This is a fun, stimulating and supportive environment.