blueBanksia art directory lists art short courses and events

by Jerry Fresia

I often envy non-plein air painters and then again I don’t. At times I wish I could stay in the studio, close the doors, put on beat-up comfortable clothes and paint without distraction. No dragging my easel and supplies out to wherever. No being on the spot. No being so vulnerable. And yet, a thousand times over, I end up choosing to paint outside, in the midst of the activity of a community and of course in the midst of the air, vibrating colors, wind, smell, sounds that cohere and somehow draw me into an another dimension. Let’s just call it a rush. It’s the reason why I paint. I really don’t think about the results of the painting as I do it. The canvas is a kind of magical surface that when I mark with a brush, I am propelled into this other dimension.

I’ve just spent a very pleasant four days learning about Japanese Woodblock Printing at Warringah Printmakers Studio In Manly Vale, NSW with Rosanna Jurisevic.

Warringah Printmakers Studio is a community based, non-profit organisation offering classes, workshops, studio access, regular exhibitions & a variety of exciting & innovative projects for artists with Studio membership.

Brought to you courtesy of Coastal Claymakers.

Potters and clay artists from the Mid North Coast of NSW dedicated to the study of, promotion and presentation of ceramics.

1. Hand build delicate pieces on newspaper on a bat. This helps prevent distortion as the piece shrinks. The work can then slide easily without additional handling onto the kiln shelf: the newspaper burns away.
2. If you want perfectly texture free slabs, roll out the clay on Vilene. Vilene is a stiffening material which comes in several weights. Choose a heavy weight which will support the clay slab for transfer to the work surface. Vilene is used in dressmaking and can be bought at a fabric shop.

Sculpture classes with Colin Fenn, a brief synopsis…

• Beginning with creating the sculpture by working directly in microcrystalline wax, (Victory Brown), a relatively soft carving/casting wax, the sculpture or model is created by removing and or adding wax to or from a basic form.
• This creative process can result in a simple ‘Brancusiesque’ style, illustrating clean abstract, sometimes rather geometrical forms or a more complex realistic animal, vegetable or human shape, which may include compound and sometimes intricate undercuts.
• The sculpture is refined in aspects of surface texture and detail and is for all intents and purposes ready to be taken to the foundry to be cast.

Colin Fenn – renowned sculptor living in the Central West of NSW was guest tutor visiting Merilyn’s classes at her studio and also at Pigments and Palettes in Bathurst.

Colin loves creating interesting creatures and has a cheeky sense of humour.

Have a look at what he has to say about his creatures….all created using the lost wax method.

'My little creatures, (all happy & none of them bad, but full of mischief), are simply objects of sensation and impression. The power of the imagination, mixed with 'modern' and in some cases quite inexpensive materials allow me to 'create' in ceramics, carved stone and metals such as bronze, stainless steel, cast iron and also welded metals (braze welding, Gas metal Arc, Manual metal Arc & TIG)'