Brush strokes lead to letters, letters to words, words to narratives, to language. Not just to any language but to your idiolect, your own vocabularies of expression, your unique lexicon. Language creates the texture of our culture, behaviors, and even of our personalities. This workshop will offer you an expansive visual study of the place and the significance of verbal languages in our art journals. Through the exploration of shape, form, and movement and the translation of familiar (English) and unfamiliar languages (Hebrew, Chinese, etc.) into our visual language, we will reveal our own intimate textual and textural landscapes. We’ll explore letters as the magnificent, abstract, free moving forms that they are. They will make idiosyncratic statements as solo performers in our journals and impress us as texture when united for a synchronized dance. We will create new imagery and tell new stories. So bring your personal textual ephemera, your soft brushes and inks, and join me for the exploration of your mother language as art and the celebration of your art as your own innate language. I will provide my square basket of curiosities, and related imagery and ‘tools’.
Supply List:
- A large journal, (min. ~8”X10”), no loose papers
- Textual personal ephemera (printed oddments, hand written letters and notes)
- Inexpensive calligraphy brushes (from very thick to very thin)
- Misc. art supplies: masking tape, scissors, water container, paper towels, etc.
- English (and other languages if you own any) letter stamps and stencils
- Acrylic paints- favorite brand and colors (~8)
- Higgins Drawing Inks- Brown, Black and white
- Fluid inks- favorite colors, (Brand ideas: Higgins’, India ink, Dr. Ph. Martin’s, Liquitex, Golden’s)
- Matte Medium (your favorite brand, Liquitex, Golden, etc.)
- A small container of modeling paste (your favorite brand)
- Brown Distress Ink by Tim Holtz (additional color optional) and blending sponges
- Matte Varnish (your favorite brand, Liquitex, Golden, etc.)
- Gel pens, black and white (additional favorite pens, markers and colors optional)
- Heat gun
A Little About ME
I truly believe that the need to be witnessed by the self and by others is a human core need to be fulfilled by the act of creating. Therefore, a compelling part of my journey is the teaching of art making and visual journaling. As a young adult in Israel, I had studied Fine Arts in an artists' village nestled at the foot of Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and later, in the Netherlands, Graphic Design at the University of Arts in the contemporary yet history-drenched city of Utrecht. Now living by the beach of Southern California with my family, I take in all the magnificence of the landscapes that shaped me and of the visual languages I have acquired along the way. I am passionate about the process of marrying multiple media to create a unique visual experience for both the eye and the spirit.
