Workshops
Refunds will not be provided within 30 days of workshop.
Michael Keyes: Lively Woodcut Printmaking, en Plein Air
Friday, September 15 (9:00 AM to 4:00 PM)
COST: $130 / Maximum of 10; Minimum of 4 / All ability levels
Participants will be introduced to wood and paper types, carving tools, inks, brayers, and printing tools used in making woodcut prints. We will discuss how to store and safely transport paper, ink, tools, and equipment so that they can set up shop in an outside location temporarily, in order to make woodcut prints “en plein air” (weather-dependent). This workshop will be held indoors or under a shelter. Along the way, we will discuss sharpening and honing carving tools, the effects of hardness and porosity of wood, mixing oil-based ink to proper consistency, proper application of ink to the woodblock, hand-printing techniques to achieve desired results, and techniques to repair mistakes. We will also briefly discuss multiblock color prints, and color/reduction woodcut prints.
Participants must bring a sketch or drawing as a reference for the woodcut print to be produced! Woodblocks, ink, paper, and accessories are included in the fee and carving tools will be provided for use. Instructor will have additional woodblocks available for sale. The goal of the workshop is for participants to produce an edition of five black and white fine art woodcut prints from their sketch or drawing.
Michael Keyes is a woodcut printmaker and oil painter, and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Degree from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
In woodcut printmaking, he is challenged by composing black and white shapes into active, impactful images. His woodcuts relay visual stories—either a simple story of a breathtaking landscape, or a complex story of people helping people, as in food bank distributions in early days of the Covid 19 pandemic. The addition of brisk color, produced with oil-based ink, brings a special liveliness to works originally published in black and white. He belongs to Red Delicious Press printmaking coop, and several art associations in the Greater Denver, CO, area. He teaches woodcut printmaking at Art Students League of Denver. He received “Award of Merit” at Escalante Canyons Art Festival for the woodcut, “Desert Relief,” in 2022.
Visit Michael’s website to see more of his work here.
Margie Lopez Read: Patterns from Nature
Saturday, September 16; 9:00 AM to noon – COST: $60 / Maximum of 15 / All ability levels and ages
With this workshop we will explore the value of ‘knowing’ your subject matter as a means to improve the quality of your art. This includes involving more than visual observation of the subject, and needs to include all your senses – touch, smell, and an understanding of how the subject came to look as it does.
We will spend some time reviewing Nature’s Shapes and then will explore our surroundings to find examples of what we have discussed. Look for similar types of patterns, even if they are very different things. Example: Bilateral symmetry in animals and also plants. Sketch or paint your discoveries. Then we will regroup and compare what people have found.
The goal of this workshop is not to send you home with a nice painting. Rather, the intent is to provide you with an opportunity to Slow Down and observe so that you can gain a greater understanding of understanding what surrounds you. In this way you will create art with a greater understanding.
Please bring a sketch pad or drawing paper, graphite pencils or color pencils.
Workshop Registration
Margie Cooper Lopez Read is a retired scientist and a self-built artist specializing in oil and pastel media, both studio and plein air. She uses art to generate funds for non-profit organizations through a project she calls ‘Donation Art’. She is a firm believer that everybody can make art and promotes the value of individuals finding their own measures of artistic success.
Margie has been giving art lessons since high school – preferentially to the most open-minded (aka Kids). In 2014 she was selected for an Artist Residency (the first!) at Cape Perpetua National Scenic Area in Oregon. This video link shows some of her happiest moments teaching visitors about plein air on the trails at the Cape. She recently has begun to conduct some free art workshops on “Patterns In Nature” which explores the beautiful designs that nature creates following basic laws of physics and species survival. For more info about Read and her work, please see the following sites: www.margies-art.com and Facebook: Donation Art.
Kadi Franson: Linocut Workshop for Bryce Canyon Centennial Celebration
Monday, September 18 (1:00 PM to 4:00 PM)
COST: $46 / Maximum of 15; Minimum of 5 / Beginner level
Join us for a collaborative event between Escalante Canyons Art Festival and Bryce Canyon National Park to celebrate art in the park and Bryce Canyon’s centennial year.
In this workshop, you will learn how to hand print a mono-color linoleum block print from start to finish. By the end of the session, everyone will have a carved block and at least one final print to take home. Please bring a few images or sketches to use in your designs. The carving block is 4×6″, so designs should be prepared to fit within those dimensions.
The workshop will be held in the park’s original ranger station, which was built in 1932 near Sunrise Point. It now functions as the High Plateaus Institute, which aids the interpretive, educational, and scientific activities of Bryce Canyon National Park through the support of its non-profit partner the Bryce Canyon Association.
2023 marks 100 years since Bryce Canyon was first set aside for protection, and a variety of celebratory activities and events will occur throughout the year. Learn more at www.brycecanyon.org
All material costs are covered by the workshop fee and participants will leave with their carving kit and linocut print.
You can pick up a park entry fee waiver form at the Escalante Community Center during artist sign-in and plein air stamp-in. The artist sign-in and plein air stamp-in schedule is available here.
Kadi Franson is an interdisciplinary artist addressing ecological resilience and loss during the Anthropocene, the geological era of human impact. She is also a licensed architect in the state of Utah with a special interest in sustainable design and an educator. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008 and a Masters of Architecture from California College of the Arts in 2012.
She has lived in Southern Utah with her favorite park ranger since 2018. She is an amateur naturalist and citizen scientist, and has affectionately dubbed their cabin the “Nuthatch Field Station.” She writes a nature column for the local newspaper, The Insider, called “Notes from the Nuthatch.” You can see more of her work at kadifranson.com
Sue Martin: Experiments with Mixed Water Media
Tuesday, September 19 (9:30 AM to 4:00 PM) and Wednesday, September 20 (9:30 AM to 12:30 PM)
COST: $200 / Maximum of 8; Minimum of 4 / All ability levels
Sue Martin starts each year playing with paint. Experimenting with mixed water media in a playful way helps her shrug off old art habits and processes to make way for something exciting and new in the new year. In this workshop, she’ll lead participants through her play process, working with watercolor, acrylic paints and inks, mediums, and mark-making tools. It’s a fun, “no-fail” kind of day ripe with new discoveries. On day one, you’ll experiment indoors or under a shelter. On day two, you’ll learn how to take that new freedom outdoors (weather permitting) to capture the landscape in a new way.
NOTE: Participants need to bring 1” masking tape (beige), a water container, a water spray bottle, brushes, an apron, water-soluble crayons (Caron d’Ache, Inktense, Stabilo woodies, Art Crayons, etc.), any watercolor, gouache, or acrylic paints they already own. Feel free to bring any decorative stamps or stencils that you may have.
Sue Martin reinvented herself after her mother died in 2007 when she realized life was short and if she really wanted to be an artist, she’d better get serious. In a few short years she went from “watercolor hobbyist” to college art major to second career professional artist and instructor. Though she loves plein air painting, she also enjoys working in the studio and playing with the elements of design to take her landscape paintings toward abstraction. She challenges herself to paint as loosely and expressively outdoors as she does in the studio. Sue’s work has won many awards and is in private collections all over the country. Sue works out of a studio in her home and in a shared studio in Salt Lake City.
You can see more of her work at SueMartinFineArt.com
Roland Lee: Getting the Most from Plein Air Painting
Thursday September 21 (9:00 AM – 7:00 PM) and Friday, September 22 (9:00 AM to 4:00 PM)
Lunch and rest break noon to 2:00 PM
COST: $200 / Maximum of 12; Minimum of 6 / Intermediate and Advanced ability levels
Roland Lee will teach three specific ways to get the most from outdoor painting on location. He will include a PowerPoint demonstration combined with outdoor painting experiences in the Escalante area. Students should have some painting experience and be comfortable working outdoors. Roland will be demonstrating in watercolors but all mediums are welcome.
Bring a coat and hat, sunscreen, water. Folding chair if you use one, tripod and palette of your choice. Paints brushes, Viva paper towels. We will be outdoors working in the field at least half the time.
Roland Lee is an avid landscape painter who has been painting for over 50 years. His original paintings are in over 2000 art collections worldwide. He is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society, Watercolor West, and Utah Watercolor Society. His work has been featured in Artist’s magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, Southwest Art, Western Art and Architecture, and Western Art Collector magazines among others. His landscape paintings of the National Parks have become icons. He is featured in the PBS Utah documentary “Call of the Canyon – Zion National Park,” and the book Discovering Zion, a Pictorial Guide to Zion National Park. His work is also featured in several other art books including “Art of the National Parks,” “A Century of Sanctuary, the Art of Zion National Park,” and “Painters of Utah’s Canyons and Deserts.”
Roland is a former full-time college art teacher and has produced 20 instructional painting videos, many of which are found on YouTube and has taught painting workshops across America.
Roland enjoys painting from his cabin at East Zion, and at his studio and gallery in historic downtown St. George. He and his wife Nellie have five adult children, 29 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The Roland Lee Studio and Gallery is located at 165 North 100 East, St. George, UT 84770 (435-673-1988).
To learn more about Roland, visit his website and YouTube channel.