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Shake Rag Alley
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Artist mentions
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Claudia Rankine
KEYNOTE ADDRESS April 25 7 PM – Mineral Point Opera House – 139 High St. Claudia Rankine has authored five poetry collections including Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely; two plays including Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue, numerous video… Continue Reading…
NEA Big Read Kick-Off
Free copies of Citizen: An American Lyric and other Big Read materials will be made available during theBIG READ LAUNCH EVENT: Saturday, April 4 10:00 am to noon Mineral Point Opera House139 High St. Any remaining copies will be made available throughout… Continue Reading…
Happy on the Hearth
Terri wove a rag rug too lovely for the floor. Here it is happy at home on the hearth. Aren’t you glad you expanded that image? Clearly, Terri has an artist’s eye – we’re swooning over this color palette and… Continue Reading…
Believing Art & Process
On a gray weekend, before the arrival of bright fall foliage, collagists at Shake Rag Alley kick-started an explosion of color. Students in Laura Lein-Svencner’s Believing Art and Process – Collage workshop began by staining bold tissue paper overlays. They… Continue Reading…
From Loom to Home
Robust Rag Rug workshops with instructor Carole Spelic’ routinely sold out early. Students were eager to join in the meditative pleasure of working alongside other weavers on traditional looms. From the thrum of the treadles to the hum of a… Continue Reading…
A Lovely Jade Hitchiker
Steve and I really enjoyed the class we took making the bent willow chairs in June. We look forward to taking another class. I must say, we don’t spend much time in our chairs, because we are so busy, but… Continue Reading…
March workshop News: FEBRUARY 2020
workshop news
looking ahead to march 2020
As Mother Nature blankets our campus in a new layer of February snow, we couldn’t be more excited to be looking forward to the start of our full 2020 workshop season in less than a month. Whether you and a young family member or friend would like to brush up on your limerick-writing skills during a morning with Nancy Schmalz, or you’d like to spend a weekend with Audrey Christie immersed in woodcut art, including how to use and care for woodcut tools like those pictured above, don’t delay and register today: The deadlines for these workshops, like spring itself, are on the horizon.
upcoming march workshops
Let’s Make a Limerick!
March 14 (Register by March 2)
Nancy Schmalz
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, pairs of adults and children age 10 and older are invited to spend a creative and fun morning learning the form of the limerick. Experiment with constructing your own limericks, while exploring the use of rhythm and rhyme.
Classic Woodblock Prints with Paint
March 28-29 (Register by March 20)
Audrey Christie
Create a woodblock print and explore how to hand color and use your prints. Learn the history and strengths of woodcut art and how to use and care for woodcut tools. Practice strokes and techniques then create and carve your original composition, then add color with paints.
RECURRING WORKSHOPS: DRAW, SEW, & PLAY WITH CLAY!
Think of them as mini-courses: workshops that meet weekly across one or more months. This year there are several opportunities to learn and improve skills – and generate art! – in this continuous fashion. You’ll certainly meet new friends. Or bring someone you know and make it a weekly get-together or date night!
An Introduction to Drawing
Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30pm
April 7-May 26
Richard Moninski
In this series of eight two-hour evening classes, we’ll explore diverse techniques and drawing media to give participants a solid grounding in basic drawing.
Learn to Sew – Upcycle!
Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30pm
June 3-24
Linda Bernhardt
If you are new to sewing, or need to refresh your skills, this is the time! These days, we’re all interested in keeping fabric out of the landfill, and making a pet bed of discarded fabric is one creative way to do just that.
Basics of Ceramics
Thursdays, 6-8:30pm
Aug. 6-Sept. 10
Joelle White & Katie White
Learn the essentials of working with clay! Start from the very beginning in this series of six sessions. You’ll progress through a wide variety of processes, from making pinch pots through coil techniques, and finish up by throwing on the potter’s wheel.
WARNING: THESE WORKSHOPS ARE ABOUT TO SELL OUT
Fine Silver Rings in a Day
May 3
Sherry Viktora
Create your own unique .999 pure silver ring using precious metal clay silver and wear it home. Learn the techniques to size, form, refine, embellish, and set a fire-in-place stone into your ring.
Intro to Torch Welding
June 7
Dennis McKernan
Want to give welding a try? Learn the process of cutting and welding mild steel that will give you the basics for working on steel sculptural assemblages.
Carve a Linocut Leaf
July 11
Judy Sutcliffe
Find a well-shaped leaf you like, ink it, and print it onto a piece of linoleum. Judy will demonstrate carving out the leaf, showing its veins, for a beautiful linocut print.
[This workshop requires a Woodlanders Day Fee.]
Textured Mixed Media
August 27
Tom Cabezas
Create a unique painted art piece rich in texture, with deep layers of color, and sophisticated design. Tom will share some great ideas and techniques for using acrylic paints along with unusual textured compounds, a variety of papers, and some offbeat found objects. As a design teacher, Tom will share his composition principles, design ideas, and new ways to use your art materials to add heightened impact to your mixed media creations.
WHAT TO DO IF A WORKSHOP YOU WANT TO ATTEND IS FULL?
If a workshop you are interested in is sold out, please sign up on the waiting list so that we can contact you if a space becomes available. A waiting list link appears at the bottom of the Registration Policies & Waiting List tab displayed alongside each workshop description.
These 2020 workshops have already sold out, but are open to waiting list sign ups:
- Metamorphosis: Creating a Figurative Sculpture (April)
- Robust Rag Rugs (April, June, August, October)
- Intro to Torch Welding (April)
- Jewelry Boot Camp (May) Band Rings, Broken China Pendants – AM (PM available)
- Bento Box (May)
- Beginning Blacksmithing (May)
- Gas Forge Blacksmithing (May)
- Make a Bent Willow Chair (June)
- Blacksmithing 101 (June)
- Tuck Point Our Potter’s House (July)
- Woodlanders (July) Forging a Calla Lily, Blacksmithing a Garden Bell, Forging Leaf Hooks, Intro to Throwing on a Potter’s Wheel
WINTER WRITERS READING SERIES
March closes out our 2019-20 Winter Writers Reading Series featuring prize-winning Wisconsin authors selected by the Council for Wisconsin Writers and Wisconsin People & Ideas. Don’t miss out on this exciting final roster of readings and discussions.
Driftless poets
Join our ever-expanding and ever-productive Driftless Poets Workshop. Meet with others who love poetry on the second Saturday of the month at 2:00 pm in the Lind Pavilion, 411 Commerce St. New poets are always welcome, but only those who submit work prior to the workshop will receive feedback and critique. There is no cost, but an RSVP is appreciated.
Women's art party
WELCOME BACK! The Women’s Art Party resumes its regular schedule in March, meeting on the third Wednesday of every month through November to work on new projects or those brought along from home. In March we will take a look at collage work by Wangechi Mutu, as featured in Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, our April NEA Big Read book, and play with collage work integrated with magnets and wearable buttons.
Please consider helping Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts to:
- provide educational experiences in visual, performing, and literary arts to adults and children
- cultivate the creativity that thrives in our rural community
- rehabilitate and preserve our historic buildings and rustic campus.
Click Here to discover various ways you might offer tax-deductible support.
