The focus of this workshop is to give students, grades 6 – 12, the opportunity to create a wearable piece of art that explores cultural trends, nontraditional materials, and fine art processes. Similar to the Project Runway design style, students make wearable art by reconstructing clothing, found objects, and recycled materials. Inspiration comes from the VMFA collection, artists, and fashion designers. Workshop attendance also gives students a snapshot of the annual Teen Stylin’ runway show held each year in December and open to all teens living in Virginia.
Request ProgramVisual and Performing Arts Programs
VMFA visual and performing arts programs are designed to stimulate greater community involvement in art education and to provide opportunities for individuals to work closely with noted professional artists. These artists have been selected for the merit of their work, their serious commitment to professional excellence, their teaching experience, and their communication skills. The wide variety of workshops allows the VMFA partner the flexibility to schedule programs that meet specific audience needs and satisfy different levels of skill and/or experience. See Booking Visual Arts Workshops and Performances for information about requesting a workshop or performance
Mixed Media Sculpture
Participants in this workshop are asked to bring 10 objects that can fit into a backpack. Using those objects plus a variety of provided “treasures,” students will enjoy a day of creating sculpture! Concepts such as connections, texture, focal points, stability, longevity, and other elements involved in developing mixed media sculpture will be explored. Students will walk away with new brainstorming techniques as well as the information and skills needed to create sculpture using a variety of materials.
Request ProgramWriting an Effective Artist’s Statement
The daunting challenge of writing an artist’s statement can cause even the most accomplished artist to lose confidence. How long should it be? What should it include? Should it be creative or just state the facts? This workshop helps visual artists craft statements about their work that are effective and express their individual personalities. Participants learn how to critique their current statements, how to avoid common pitfalls, how to determine the requirements of particular tasks — from exhibition statements to grant applications, how to select and manipulate words to create a lively sense of who they are, and how to compose a general statement easily adapted for different purposes. Above all, this workshop takes the fear out of writing and replaces it with self-assurance and fun.
Request ProgramProfessional Practices for the Visual Artist
This workshop is devoted to the needs of the individual artist. Topics include photographing artwork, funding opportunities, developing professional relationships with galleries and publications, copyright issues, and marketing on the web. This workshop can be offered as a day-long workshop with a strong focus on photographing artwork or in a half-day or evening format that focuses more on gallery relationships, funding, and the business of art.
Request ProgramPainting Portraits in Oil
Discover how a portrait is so much more than simply recording proportions, it can be one of the most expressive paintings you can create. We will focus on identifying the simple patterns and forms that are the basis for a well-designed portrait and learn how to use oils to capture the character of your subject. Students will learn from demonstrations of color mixing and technique. Students should bring a printed photo or an image on iPad/tablet to work from. Images with clear lighting are easiest but working with images in all lighting situations will be addressed.
Request ProgramPortrait Drawing in Charcoal
Discover how a portrait is so much more than simply recording proportions, it can be one of the most expressive drawings you can create. We will focus on identifying the simple patterns and forms that are the basis for a well-designed portrait, students will learn through demonstration to use form, value, and line to develop expression. Students should bring a printed photo or an image on iPad/tablet to work from. Images with clear lighting are easiest but working with images in all lighting situations will be addressed.
Request ProgramOil Painting Basics
This class provides insight into oil painting for beginners starting out in oils to experienced painters developing techniques. During a demonstration of developing composition, participants discover the results of painting wet in wet and creating form with color. By understanding how the paints work, students will be able to translate what they see into finished oil paintings. Emphasis will be on employing a full range of techniques to create an expressive painting. Students can choose to work from their own photos or from still life.
Request ProgramLandscape Painting
How do artists capture the mood and light effects in landscape? In this workshop, participants explore how to use color and form to create an expressive landscape painting. A demonstration shows how to see color and simple shapes as a starting point and how to create atmospheric perspective and depth while developing individual styles. The class can be offered as an oil painting or a watercolor class.
Request ProgramExploring the Mellon Collection: I Spy through Herbert Haseltine’s Eye
This workshop begins with I Spy with My Artist’s Eye, a warm-up game that helps students see the world of nature through their “artist eyes.” Through this exercise, students learn to identify an “artist’s alphabet” of the elements and shapes found in nature. (A poster serves as a quick reference during the sessions.) Once the students have begun to use their “artist eyes,” they explore Herbert Haseltine’s animal sculptures through slides and photographs. Inspired by his work, they create an animal using the “animal alphabet.” These drawings are transferred to watercolor paper and painted with watercolors and oil pastels using a resist technique. The finished work is mounted on a brightly colored card stock, which “frames” the piece. A dramatic finish (optional) is provided as the students use colored paper clips to join the squares to form a paper quilt.
Request ProgramExploring the Mellon Collection: I Spy through George Catlin’s Eye
In this workshop, students study the paintings of George Catlin through slides and photographs. After learning about Catlin’s interest in preserving and documenting the life and culture of the North American native tribes, students explore aspects of their own lives that they would most want to document and share with another culture, as Catlin did when he visited Europe. Students create tempera paintings on cardboard that reflect what they have learned and discovered.
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