Art Adventure

A Mixed Media Art Retreat

August 26 - 29, 2021

Treat yourself to an artful getaway –

four days, 19 workshops, 11 talented instructors
collage, assemblage, book arts, mixed media, and more
after class social hours and a “swap table”
and, of course, the charming art community of Mineral Point with over 17 art galleries to browse

All skill levels welcome.

Registration deadline August 16.

Art Adventure Instructors

This year we welcome eleven talented instructors to Art Adventure.

Jill Berry

Jill is a mixed media artist who makes books, maps, paintings, and other storytelling structures. She works in mixed media with a bent toward classical art and teaches painting, lettering, journaling, mapmaking, and various other mixed media classes worldwide. You can her work in Somerset Studio, Letter Arts Review and Cloth, Paper Scissors, Art Journaling magazine, Drawing Lab, Journal It!…Read More

You can her work in Somerset Studio, Letter Arts Review and Cloth, Paper Scissors, Art Journaling magazine, Drawing Lab, Journal It! The Complete Decorated Journal, 1000 Artists’ Books, and various other publications. She has written three books: Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking and Map Art Lab and Making Art From Maps. Her artists’ books are in private and public collections nationwide.

Jill feels that art is necessary and accessible to everyone.

Instructor Website

Workshops

Three Letter Words

An Intimate Atlas

Marianne Biagi

Instructor Profile Forthcoming

Tom Cabezas

Tom Cabezas is a Mineral Point wood-worker and mixed media artist. He has been designing and building unique quality furniture since 1991. With a background in sculpture and a deep respect for craftsmanship and detail Tom strives to create work that does not attempt to place form over function or function over form. His work has been shown nation-wide and has won numerous awards.…Read More

Instructor Website

Workshops

Bent Willow Plant Stand

Bent Willow Wall Shelf

Textured Mixed Media

Dee Hooks

“I am a recycling artist: I give found objects new life as fun, fantastical, and functional household items such as lamps, clocks, jewelry, and wall hangings. I have a varied art background having worked in professional theater as a hair stylist, wig maker, dresser, and costumer; as a visual merchandiser doing in-store and window displays; and in antique rug and tapestry restoration. I have stuck junk together for most of my life. My husband and I live in Mineral Point where we are in the process of restoring 214 High St. where I operate DeeConstruct, an art and junk emporium.”

Instructor on Facebook

Workshops

Stacked Found Objects Lamp

Tess Imobersteg

With a background in art education and long years working in the computer field, Tess Imobersteg likes to combine her interests in art, technology and multi-media and loves to teach. In 2013 she became a Certified Zentangle© Teacher and has worked at incorporating that method into her art and quilts. Tess has taught classes in the U.S. and when she lived in Switzerland in various media, including Spinning and Yarn Design, Photos on Fabric, Art Journaling, Journal Quilting, Watercolor, and Zentangle© and Zentangle© on Fabric. She has taught Zentangle basic and advanced classes in many venues in Wisconsin, including as an instructor in the Wisconsin Quilt Expo, as a featured artist for the Cambridge Wine and Art Night, and at many shops, quilt guilds, and studios in and around Madison. In spring 2018 in Portland, OR, Tess was privileged to be among the instructors at the largest Certified Zentangle Teacher conference in the U.S. With an international bend, she has also taught Zentangle in Switzerland in the local Swiss German dialect. She is inspired by her students insights and their delight in learning something new and encourages everyone to “keep learning and creating.”

Instructor Website

Workshops

Introduction to Zentangle®

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Zentangle® on Dark Paper

Leighanna Light

Leighanna Light is a passionate art instructor, thingmaker, bookmaker, and figurative assemblage artist. Her background is in fine arts and photography, and she has been teaching art workshops for the past 18 years. Leighanna is represented by galleries and museums across the country and her work has been published in numerous books and magazines. “I love to create, to hunt for things to create with and to share my creativity with others. It’s what I live for, it’s my oxygen.” Leighanna grew up in a small town in upstate New York and has spent most of the past 20 years in New Mexico. She currently resides in Taos, NM, with her best friends Thomas, Ruby, and Lily.

Instructor Website

Workshops

Vintage Metal Deck: Taking the Mystery Out of Working with Metal

Spirit Protectors: A Metal Figurative Assemblage

Richard Moninski

Originally from Massachusetts, Richard Moninski received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Fine Arts from the University at Albany, State University of New York. He completed additional study in surface design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. As a painter, Moninski is strongly influenced by historic textiles and other decorative arts traditions. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited nationally. Awards include a grant from the American-Scandinavian Foundation for research in Norway, and artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. He is currently distinguished lecturer in the Department of Performing and Visual Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and resides in Mineral Point.

Instructor Website

Workshops

An Introduction to Drawing

Deborah Petronio

Deborah Petronio is an assemblage artist from Buffalo, New York. She describes herself as a lover of mermaids, gnomes, and old dollies. Her work exemplifies the juxtaposition of old and new, treasure and junk, and dark versus whimsy. She has been an instructor at art retreats and classes locally and nationally. Her pile of art supplies is legendary.…Read More

Instructor Website

Workshops

Mermaid Assemblage

Assemblage Necklaces

Lorraine Reynolds

“I seek out the cast off, the unwanted, the lost and forgotten. My subjects are steeped in nostalgia and speak to the past. I am interested in the places where sadness and longing linger. I am attracted to decaying landscapes and spaces where metaphor and myth dance together. I look for the place where dreams, memory, and trauma intersect.…Read More

Lorraine Reynolds is a mixed media artist who works in fiber, assemblage, collage, video, and installation. A storyteller by nature, she uses reclaimed materials to help further the narrative in her work. She holds an MFA in visual art from Vermont College of Fine Art. Lorraine has taught and exhibited her work regionally as well as nationally. When she is not working in her studio or teaching, she is employed in the fashion industry as a technical designer. She lives in Mineral Point with her husband, son, and two enormously affectionate German Shorthair Pointers. She has served on the board of Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts since 2015.

Instructor Website

Workshops

Akasha Dolls

Upcycled Mixed-Media Collage Cards

Soul Houses

Extraordinary Objects

Carole Spelić

Carole Spelić creates a variety of artworks from many media. Originally from the East Coast, she earned her MFA and then spent 17 years as a productive artist in Manhattan. She now lives in Mineral Point and works at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts. Check out her music output with bands Point Five and Stay Tuned! Carole and her partner, artist Richard Moninski, own the Green Lantern Studios where they create their artwork, cuddle Lena the cat, and enjoy the downtown vibe.

Workshops

Robust Rag Rug – April

Robust Rag Rug – June

Hypertufta Yard Art

Burlap and Leather Placemats and Coasters

Robust Rag Rug – August

Robust Rag Rug – October

Jacqueline Sullivan

“Mixed media, acrylic paints, calligraphy, bookbinding, and fiber arts – I have loved them all since I first discovered each medium. Personal artistic development has been a lifeline as I work my way through the challenges life has brought. My mixed media, book art, calligraphic, and acrylic work has been shown in galleries and top juried art fairs nationwide. I believe that asking ‘what if?’ and keeping a spirit of adventure and discovery is important as I follow my creative path and attempt to make something original. I love experimenting with texture, layers, marks, paint, and dyes. I have been a teaching artist for 30 years and I love to teach! Seeing the joy in a student’s face when they create something that pleases them brings me joy. I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given to inspire others to be creative. I am proud to be a certified teaching artist for Golden Paints.”

Instructor Website

Workshops

Texture Meets Metal

Molding Paste and the Book

Delicollage

Art Adventure Schedule

Thursday, August 26

Thursday

9 am – 4 pm Stacked Found Object Lamp Dee Hooks

9 am – 4 pm Mixed Media Wingding Richard Moninski

9 am – noon Absurd Sculpture Carole Spelić

1-5 pm Textured Mixed Media Tom Cabezas

Thursday–Friday

9 am – 4 pm Spirit Protectors Assemblage Leighanna Light

Thursday Social Hour

4:30 – 5:30 pm in the Lind Pavilion

Friday, August 28

Friday

9 am – 4 pm Three Letter Words Jill Berry

9 am – noon Introduction to Zentangle® Tess Imobersteg

1 pm – 4 pm Zentangle® on Dark Paper Tess Imobersteg

9 am – 4 pm Upcycled Mixed-Media Collage Cards Lorraine Reynolds

9 am – 4 pm Texture Meets Metal Jacqueline Sullivan

Continuing from Thursday:

9 am – 4 pm Spirit Protectors Assemblage Leighanna Light

Friday Social Hour

4:30 – 5:30 pm in the Lind Pavilion

Saturday, August 29

Saturday

9 am – 4 pm Mermaid Assemblage Deborah Petronio

9 am – 4 pm Soul Houses Lorraine Reynolds

9 am – 4 pm Molding Paste and the Book Jacqueline Sullivan

Saturday – Sunday

9 am – 4 pm An Intimate Atlas Jill Berry

9 am – 4 pm Vintage Metal Deck Leighanna Light

Saturday Social Hour

4:30 – 5:30 pm in the Lind Pavilion

Sunday, August 30

Sunday

9 am – noon Serenity Stones Marianne Biagi

9 am – 4 pm Assemblage Necklaces Deborah Petronio

9 am – 4 pm Delicollage Jacqueline Sullivan

1 – 4:30 pm The Mystical Pyramid Treasure Box Marianne Biagi

Continuing from Saturday:

9 am – 4 pm An Intimate Atlas Jill Berry

9 am – 4 pm Vintage Metal Deck Leighanna Light

Click here for a printable Art Adventure schedule.

Art Adventure FAQs

How much does it cost to attend Art Adventure?

There is no event fee. Workshops are individually priced. See below.

Do I have to sign up for a minimum number of workshops?

Nope. No minimum. You may sign up for just one or as many workshops as you like. Most workshops are one full day. Some are half day classes and there are some two-day classes as well.

How do I register?

Register for each class individually. You may register online (see below) or call the Shake Rag Alley office at 608-987-3292.

Where do I check in for class?

Check in for class at the Shake Rag Alley office, 18 Shake Rag St., Mineral Point. You can park on Shake Rag St. or in the grassy lot across the street. Classes are held in one of several buildings on the Shake Rag campus or in nearby artist studios. You will receive your classroom assignment(s) when you check in. Please plan to arrive a few minutes early to allow time to get to your classroom.

What if I have to cancel my registration later?

Cancellations made 31 days before the published registration deadline date for any given workshop are eligible for a full refund less 25% of the workshop fee OR a gift certificate in the full amount of the workshop fee. The gift certificate can be applied to workshops or lodging through Dec. 31 of the following year and is transferable.

Cancellations made 30 days or less than the published registration deadline date for any given workshop are not eligible for refunds. We encourage all students to purchase trip insurance, available for a reasonable fee.

Cancellation requests must be made by calling our office at 608-987-3292.

If a class has materials fees, do I pay those to the instructor or do i pay them when I register?

Materials fees are shown in the class listings and are usually paid with the tuition payment, although in some cases materials fees are paid directly to the instructor at class time. Check the class listing.

Can my child attend with me?

Our workshops are designed for ages 14 and up, as described on our Planning Your Workshop Experience page.

Can my spouse attend class with me as a non-registered guest?

We do encourage your spouse to accompany you to enjoy Mineral Point! But sorry, only registered students are allowed in class unless there is a medical need for assistance.

Will I receive a class confirmation when I register?

Yes, you will receive an email confirmation. If you do not have an email address, we will send a postal mail confirmation.

How do I get to Mineral Point and Shake Rag Alley?

Mineral Point is located in Southwest Wisconsin about 45 miles from Madison. See our Planning Your Workshop Experience page for travel info.

I will want to stay overnight. Where can I find accommodations?

Shake Rag rents three guest rooms right on campus and two apartments a few blocks away. Students receive a 10% discount on Shake Rag Alley lodging. See our Lodging page for more information. In addition, Mineral Point has a variety of motels, hotels, inns, and bed and breakfasts with a wide range of prices and amenities, many within walking distance of Shake Rag Alley. See our Local Lodging Directory.

What about meals?

You are on your own for meals. Mineral Point has a number of terrific restaurants offering a variety of cuisines and price ranges. Most restaurants are within walking distance of the Shake Rag Alley campus. See our Local Dining Directory. Or, you are welcome to bring a bag lunch or picnic and dine al fresco on Shake Rag’s charming campus. Several buildings on campus have refrigerators where you can store a bag lunch and there are tables and chairs on the patio outside the Art Café as well as benches throughout campus.

How can I find out about shops, galleries, and other attractions in the area?

Mineral Point boasts a large number of artist galleries/studios and shops, as well as several historic sites. Other cultural offerings can be found in nearby communities. Parks and outdoor activities are available in Mineral Point and outside of town as well. Please see our Planning Your Workshop Experience page for more information.

Will there be other special activities in addition to the workshops at Art Adventure?

YES! During Art Adventure we welcome you to:

Unwind and enjoy complimentary wine, cheese, and snacks at our nightly After-Class Social Hours
Find a new treasure at the Swap Table
Visit the Mineral Point Market on Saturday morning
Take in Mineral Point’s many galleries, artist studios, and historic sites
Attend a movie, musical performance, or theater event in town

Click here to check the Mineral Point community calendar, which may be updated with new events as your workshop date approaches, and review the list of possibilities provided on our Planning Your Workshop Experience page.

Click here for a printable schedule of Art Adventure extra-curricular activities.