Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

This introductory course will provide students with the basic principles and techniques when working with Oil Paint. Students will be introduced to paint-handling and application techniques, color mixing, composition, and different methods for developing a representational painting. Using an exciting direct method of applying paint, and the indirect method of monochromatic underpainting prior to color application, participants will learn how to construct a dynamic image. Favorite photographs will be used to learn fundamentals of observation and alla prima landscape painting. Throughout this enjoyable workshop, emphasis will be placed on lots of individual support. All levels are welcome to come learn from this always popular Instructor.

Nathan Loda is an American realist oil painter. Nathan received an MFA from George Mason University in 2015 and a BFA in painting from Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia in 2011. His work is playful yet painstakingly detailed and steeped in American history and landscape painting from observation and imagination. Loda’s current work explores the mystery and magic of landscape as homage to art history and the Hudson River School of painters. Recently, Nathan and his young family spent a semester in Italy where he taught for the University of Georgia’s Cortona Studies Abroad Program.

Course Fee: $300 + $60 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

In this introductory class, students will learn the exciting fundamentals of woodworking by making their own set of wooden utensils. Starting with an overview of the material, principles of grain, and examining spoon design and tool safety, we will explore the essentials of wood carving techniques. This is a lively course for those who are looking for an opportunity to start their woodworking journeys and makes for an idyllic place to start a dialogue between the trees of our glorious Catskills and you, the maker. Come join us in that important conversation!

Miles Gracey is a furniture/cabinet/object maker, working primarily in wood. His work explores storytelling, ornamentation, and narratives amongst objects— all predicated on touch. Miles received a BFA in sculpture from Otis College and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Gracey has been in residence at Houston Center for Contemporary Art, the Center for Furniture, and Haystack. His awards include Anderson Ranch, Berkshire Woodworkers Guild, and the Jackie Romine Scholarship at the Krevov School, among others. Miles has participated in numerous important group exhibitions.

Course Fee: $200 + $50 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner To Advanced

In this introductory workshop, you'll learn the essential techniques for tying classic trout flies, from the alluring wet patterns that mimic aquatic insects to the vibrant streamers that tempt larger fish. Whether you're a seasoned angler or a curious beginner, this hands-on experience will equip you with the skills to create effective and beautiful lures. Under expert guidance, you'll master the art of tying the Black & Olive Woolly Bugger, a versatile wet fly; the Black-Nosed Dace, a classic dry fly that imitates a small minnow; the Hendrickson, a dry fly designed for mayfly hatches; and assorted nymphs, essential for imitating underwater prey.

Since childhood, fly fisherman Judd Weisberg has been casting lines on the Schoharie Creek and far off destinations such as Montana, Wyoming, and Japan. Each fall, a tradition born in 1966 beckons him back to the vibrant currents of Moosehead Lake. Judd’s creativity flows beyond the riverscape. As an artist, Judd works in various media, exploring the essence of Nature. He recently collaborated with noted pianist, Yi-heng Yang, who teaches at Julliard, creating the "Woven Currents" series. Their collaboration was Inspired by the Schoharie's junction pools.

Course Fee: $100 + $60 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner To Advanced

Coil-building is a foundational ceramic hand-building process with principles used to make things that encompass pottery, sculpture, and even architecture. The techniques taught will lean heavily on understanding materiality (clay), the sensitivity of touch, and ideas of structure. In this workshop, students will engage all three of these elements; learning how to coil-build an array of forms, volumes, and structures as ceramic sculpture. In this amazing workshop, issues of intention, scale, and exploration of form will be shared.

Ebitenyefa Baralaye is a Detroit-based ceramicist, sculptor, designer, and educator. His work explores cultural, spiritual, and material translations of objects, text, bodies, and symbols interpreted through a diaspora lens and abstracted around the aesthetics of craft and design. He studied at Rhode Island School of Design and the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Baralaye has exhibited at David Klein Gallery, Friedman Benda Gallery, and the Korea Ceramic Foundation, among others. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan.

Course Fee: $500 + $60 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

Discovering Your Creativity is a hands-on workshop in which students dive straight into creating acrylic paintings from initial concepts to a finished piece. Attendees will learn basic painting techniques and will be encouraged to draw upon learned life experiences, new ideas and underlying inspiration. This always dynamic workshop will give the student new insights as to how to take risks, learn from experimentation, and make artistic expression a fulfilling life-long endeavor. The fun is always electric in this very popular workshop at the foot of legendary Thomas Cole Mountain.

Kárin Lowney-Seed is a professional artist and designer whose work demonstrates a bold, confident and colorful painting style. Lowney-Seed’s prolific career has spanned the fine arts and design worlds. Featured as a popular guest artist at The Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts, Kárin takes personal pride in elevating her student’s artistic talents by sharing her deep knowledge of technique, color and space. She holds an MFA and BA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Karin currently makes her home and studio in New Jersey.

Course Fee: $400 + $50 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner To Advanced

This workshop will focus on technical skills, cultivating curiosity, and learning from the surprises that arise in a studio practice. We will spend time making pots on and off the wheel, discuss clay’s material poetics, and will prepare together for a salt firing. Technical demonstrations will include wheel throwing, altering, trimming, hand building, slab making, and slip and glaze considerations. We will fire the soda/salt kiln to Cone 6. Potters of all skill levels are welcome!

Katie Fee grew up in Low Country, South Carolina. Fee earned her BA in Art and Geology from the William & Mary and her MFA from Alfred University. Fee’s work has led her to kiln pads and clay studios around the world - most recently to France and Japan - as a visiting artist, wood firing specialist, instructor, and project manager. She currently works full time as Studio Manager for Theaster Gates Studios in Chicago, Illinois.

Course Fee: $500 + $60 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

This class will explore the world of plaster mold making! We will cover every step of the mold making process from start to finish. To begin, the class will discuss prototype selection and development. Utilizing found objects or sculpted clay forms, students will explore a myriad of mold making methods including draft molds and multiple part molds for complex objects. To finish out the week, the class will learn the process of slipcasting and how to make multiples at home. Mold making is a series of problem solving opportunities and this class will be catered to the students' individual goals - the more complex the better!

Jackie Head discovered her love of slipcasting porcelain tile forms and mold making while studying abroad in Jingdezhen, China in the summer of 2014. This experience heavily influenced the work she would go on to make while obtaining her BFA in Ceramics from Indiana University and MFA in Ceramic Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Jackie has completed residencies at The Archie Bray Foundation, the Cité Internationale des Arts, and the Morean Center for Clay. She currently resides in her hometown, Indianapolis, where she maintains a private studio.

Course Fee: $500 + $90 + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

A one day workshop covering all you could want to learn about color, and then a little bit more. No matter where your interests in color lie, this workshop will be an in-depth exploration of this essential element of the creative arts. The workshop will cover what color is and how we use it. Its glorious history and function will be the subject of lecture, demonstration, and hands-on workshopping. While this is a painting focused workshop, the underlying principles color are transferable to other mediums. Come join the fun in this place of bountiful summer color.

Daniel Lloyd-Miller is a painter concerned with place and working from observation. He carefully chooses places to paint in order to harmonize and better understand them. This act of delving into and absorbing a particular place promotes an intensity of experience. He's currently exploring motifs of ‘visibility’ in addition to acute life-paintings of people on the train and other vignettes. Originally from Vermont, Daniel received his BFA degree from Mass Art, and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worked in Japan and France and has exhibited in multiple solo and group shows. Currently, Lloyd-Miller teaches painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Course Fee: $100 + $30 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee