In this workshop we will explore techniques to build a colorful surface while relying on the stability of an opaque white glaze underlayer. This is the core characteristic of Maiolica ware - a central component of Italy’s ceramic traditions. Monte Castello is in the region where this technique took hold and continues to be practiced today. We will visit active workshops and museums to deepen our understanding of the tradition as we will also consider ways to make it our own.
In class instruction will emphasize a variety of application methods through brushwork and material choices. We will begin by practicing on locally sourced bisqued tile. In our exploration of colour and pattern, we will draw inspiration from the environment around us; working in cut paper and other materials to expand our surface ideas. Combined, these exercises will provide the building blocks necessary to approach the surfaces of the forms you make with confidence. Vessels will be introduced through a series of demonstrations focused on press-molded and wheel thrown forms. The same courage we develop to approach the surface will also be applied to innovative ways of altering and adding to the forms we create – and all forming methods are welcome. Arriving with basic clay experience is encouraged.
Participants in the workshop will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.
This intensive workshop will be a hands-on immersion into the art and science of taxidermy for conservation and public education. Students will create taxidermy birds and mammals with techniques used in museums, utilizing custom forms and advanced methods for accuracy of any specimen they may work on in the future.
Students will learn to skin animals, prepare skins, read reference materials, create custom forms/armatures, pose animals, assemble specimens, groom and finish the pieces for realism. We will also be teaching advanced techniques such as creating death-masks and molding & casting head forms in order to make both 3D reference and provide an incredibly accurate facial structure.
Our goal is that students leave with both finished work and the ability to practice the craft of taxidermy themselves.
All specimens will be by products from other uses; hunting for food or non-native pest control.
Participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.
This is a 2 week class covering both birds and mammals.
Bird taxidermy is its own unique craft requiring anatomical knowledge, technical skill and an artistic sensibility. In this intensive workshop, we will be teaching students all of these fundamentals utilizing museum techniques. This class is recommended for both beginners and those with taxidermy experience looking to learn Allis Markham’s museum techniques. Birds are also a perfect way to start learning taxidermy because students can go from frozen to finished all in one course. We will be working on Magpies and Crows locally collected as part of abatement / pest control; their deaths are not exclusively for this course. These species also lend themselves well to learning taxidermy and can create beautiful results with a lot of character. In fact, Allis has had the pleasure of creating and displaying both species for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
We will begin with a discussion of Avian anatomy, how to obtain legal specimens and general techniques for working on birds. Students will be learning the skills of: skinning, fleshing, wiring, wrapped body creation, mounting, posing and grooming. All supplies, tools and specimens will be provided for your class. After the end of this course, students will be able to take their own Crow or Magpie home on a base. After the course ends, every student will receive a list of documents, including a list of steps, supplies, tools and video resources all to assist in gaining the knowledge to start their own projects at home.
The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.
The nature of Mammal taxidermy is far different from that of birds. Students will find this course to be more sculpting-centered with a large attention to muscle detail. This class is recommended for both beginners and those with taxidermy experience looking for a way to learn mammal taxidermy and the art of creating custom-made mammal mounts utilizing museum techniques.
In this class, we will be focusing on the taxidermy of two common North American mammals, the Grey Fox and the Striped Skunk. These were collected in the United States as part of abatement / pest control; their deaths are not exclusively for this course.
While these specimens are native to the US, we have taken great care to make sure our materials are all commonly available in Europe and around the world. For instance, we will be learning the very custom technique of wrapping the bodies of the animals instead of ordering commercial forms which may not be available outside of the US, and are not nearly as accurate as creating a form for your specific specimen. This technique is used often for more exotic museum specimens due to the lack of commercial forms for them and the ability to create a more accurate form when custom-made.
We will begin with a discussion of each animal’s anatomy, how to obtain legal specimens and general techniques for working on mammals. Students will start with tanned specimens (due to the process of tanning which requires weeks) but will be given a tutorial and documents on skinning and tanning.
In class, students will learn the skills of: measuring and wrapping forms, posing the forms for behavior and anatomical accuracy, custom-carving heads, Earliner-creation, skin fitting, creating/setting paws, sewing, facial details, and grooming/finishing work. We will also perform a demonstration on how to mold & cast for the creation death masks in order to create incredibly accurate headforms. All supplies, tools and specimens will be provided for your class. By the end of the class, students will take home their own Grey Fox or Skunk on a base. After the course ends, every student will receive a list of documents, including a list of steps, supplies, tools, formula for tanning, and video resources all to assist in gaining the knowledge to start their own projects at home.
The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.
This intensive workshop will be a hands-on immersion into the art and science of taxidermy for conservation and public education. Students will create taxidermy Mammals with techniques used in museums, utilizing custom forms and advanced methods for accuracy of any specimen they may work on in the future.
Students will learn to skin animals, prepare skins, read reference materials, create custom forms/armatures, pose animals, assemble specimens, groom and finish the pieces for realism. We will also be teaching advanced techniques such as creating death-masks and molding & casting head forms in order to make both 3D reference and provide an incredibly accurate facial structure.
Our goal is that students leave with both finished work and the ability to practice the craft of taxidermy themselves.
The nature of Mammal taxidermy is far different from that of birds. Students will find this course to be more sculpting-centered with a large attention to muscle detail. This class is recommended for both beginners and those with taxidermy experience looking for a way to learn mammal taxidermy and the art of creating custom-made mammal mounts utilizing museum techniques.
In this class, we will be focusing on the taxidermy of two common North American mammals, the Grey Fox and the Striped Skunk. These were collected in the United States as part of abatement / pest control; their deaths are not exclusively for this course. While these specimens are native to the US, we have taken great care to make sure our materials are all commonly available in Europe and around the world. For instance, we will be learning the very custom technique of wrapping the bodies of the animals instead of ordering commercial forms which may not be available outside of the US, and are not nearly as accurate as creating a form for your specifi
c specimen. This technique is used often for more exotic museum specimens due to the lack of commercial forms for them and the ability to create a more accurate form when custom-made.
We will begin with a discussion of each animal’s anatomy, how to obtain legal specimens and general techniques for working on mammals. Students will start with tanned specimens (due to the process of tanning which requires weeks) but will be given a tutorial and documents on skinning and tanning.
In class, students will learn the skills of: measuring and wrapping forms, posing the forms for behavior and anatomical accuracy, custom-carving heads, Earliner-creation, skin fitting, creating/setting paws, sewing, facial details, and grooming/finishing work. We will also perform a demonstration on how to mold & cast for the creation death masks in order to create incredibly accurate headforms. All supplies, tools and specimens will be provided for your class. By the end of the class, students will take home their own Grey Fox or Skunk on a base. After the course ends, every student will receive a list of documents, including a list of steps, supplies, tools, formula for tanning, and video resources all to assist in gaining the knowledge to start their own projects at home.
The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.
This intensive workshop will be a hands-on immersion into the art and science of taxidermy for conservation and public education. Students will create taxidermy birds with techniques used in museums, utilizing custom forms and advanced methods for accuracy of any specimen they may work on in the future.
Students will learn to skin animals, prepare skins, read reference materials, create custom forms/armatures, pose animals, assemble specimens, groom and finish the pieces for realism. We will also be teaching advanced techniques such as creating death-masks and molding & casting head forms in order to make both 3D reference and provide an incredibly accurate facial structure.
Our goal is that students leave with both finished work and the ability to practice the craft of taxidermy themselves.
Bird taxidermy is its own unique craft requiring anatomical knowledge, technical skill and an artistic sensibility. In this intensive workshop, we will be teaching students all of these fundamentals utilizing museum techniques. This class is recommended for both beginners and those with taxidermy experience looking to learn Allis Markham’s museum techniques. Birds are also a perfect way to start learning taxidermy because students can go from frozen to finished all in one course. We will be working on Magpies and Crows locally collected as part of abatement / pest control; their deaths are not exclusively for this course. These species also lend themselves well to learning taxidermy and can create beautiful results with a lot of character. In fact, Allis has had the pleasure of creating and displaying both species for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
We will begin with a discussion of Avian anatomy, how to obtain legal specimens and general techniques for working on birds. Students will be learning the skills of: skinning, fleshing, wiring, wrapped body creation, mounting, posing and grooming. All supplies, tools and specimens will be provided for your class. After the end of this course, students will be able to take their own Crow or Magpie home on a base. After the course ends, every student will receive a list of documents, including a list of steps, supplies, tools and video resources all to assist in gaining the knowledge to start their own projects at home.
The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.
In a world leaning towards the virtual and on-line, there is a need for artists to come together to share their experiences of using tangible materials. The knowledge of the body and use of ‘haptic’ skills are being lost and now is the time for reconnecting with these materials in order to re connect with ourselves, each other and with the environment we live in.
Ceramic sculptor Sharon Griffin aims to use her work to express how we can connect with ourselves and each other using clay as a tool of experiencing the body. Within this short course, Sharon will demonstrate her knowledge of working with clay as an expressive material, one which will release the innate stories of the maker, acting as a mirror to the artist.
Sharon explains that...’ the clay acts as a mirror to our own experiences. Learning how to listen to the clay helps us have a truer understanding of ourselves... we can tell all of our secrets to the clay. It is our truest friend!'
The course content
You will learn to let go of preconceived ideas of what a sculpture ‘should’ be through a series of fast and furious making techniques. Gestural mark-making using found clays, slips and oxides taken from the local landscape will enable you to truly find your freedom and capture expression within the clay material.
Using a combination of found objects and resources such as images, reference photos and books, you will have fun exploring and making a series of playful clay faces and bodies. These playful experiments will provide more in-depth opportunities to explore surfaces and patterns within a unique piece or series of works made within the course.
Sharon will guide you in your personal journey of studying the human form and face to create a unique sculpture, one which explores 3 D formal elements such as weight, shape, form, composition, and texture; all of which will help you tell a story.
We will visit Rome and explore the work of the ancient Greeks, drawing inspiration from the ancients and stories told through artefacts and sculptures. Sketching, photographing, and journaling will help inform your own ideas, not just within the course, but in your future developments as an artist if you so desire.
At the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to take home a unique hand-built sculpture which is individual to you. It may need to be sent out at a later date and can be negotiated as your work develops. You will have learned about the processes of clay, where to dig it, sieve it and use it to create your own piece of work- expressing your own unique story.
Drawing, sketches, and experiments within clay are used to capture feeling and express emotion, captivating your audience with a shared human experience.
Through taking part in this course, Sharon Griffin hopes that you will come away from it with a renewed sense of connectivity, one which connects you to history, the people around you and the landscape you live in.
Aims: How to capture expression and emotion using clay within figurative sculpture
Objectives: At the end of the course you will
Be inspired by and understand how shape, form and composition can help to tell a story
Techniques we will cover:
Participants in the workshop will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.
This course is suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels but some knowledge of clay is beneficial. Please do feel free to bring sketchbooks and previous drawings to work from but this is not a necessity. For more details, please contact Sharon Griffin at the ICA
Unlock your imagination and develop coil-building and figure modeling skills in this two week human and animal hybrid ceramic sculpture workshop. Much of ancient Italian art is rich in mythological creatures and transformation that continue to speak to us, often on a visceral level. During this course, we’ll delve into the stories behind some of these beings, and create contemporary interpretations and invent new amalgamations that possess compelling personal narratives.
Through live demonstrations, slide presentations, and time lapsed videos, Adrian will impart a wealth of technical information based on 40 years of working with clay. Human and animal anatomy will be covered, with special attention to heads and faces. We will create medium size pieces, approx. 18” tall; the techniques covered will be useful for building large scale sculpture in the future. This includes sectioning, internal supports and the use of a base and rod for tall sculptures. In addition, we’ll make small sprig molds for surface texture and embellishment. Presentations on contemporary ceramic sculpture, as well as mythology will also be shown as time allows. Each Friday we’ll venture out of the studio to nearby sites, cities and museums for a full-immersion experience.
*Participants are encouraged to take good documenting photos of the process of building their piece and the final sculpture. Arrangements can be made to have work fired after the workshop. Packing and shipping will be at participants expense.
Participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.
The class will focus on what are perhaps the two most expressive parts of the body: the head and hand. In this two-week workshop, students will learn various techniques to create a series of life-sized bust and hands. Both hollow and solid construction methods will be taught as we work from a live model. Participants will gain understanding of the underling anatomical structures that allow these body parts to be so communicative while learning new techniques to achieve life-like sculptures with clay.
With this objective in mind, it is appropriate that the class should take place in one of the great centers of world sculpture! Indeed, through drawing sessions at the Medici Chapel and Academia Museum in Florence and the Vatican Museum in Rome, students will have the direct influence of the masters!
The class will start with a clay skull and add layers of muscle, culminating in a solid finished bust that will be hollowed out. This will allow us to learn about each muscle and its function in creating expression. Various techniques to hair, eyes, and ears will be covered, as well how to utilize the rules for proportion in your own work.
Students will also learn my hollow construction method used for creating instinctive, fast, and stable forms. Numerous presentations, discussions, and demonstrations will cover topics such as: conceptual considerations, how to measure models for reference work, professional development, impactful contemporary figurative artist, portfolio strategies, and any other topics that students might be interested in. Students will have an opportunity to exhibit their work at the end of the workshop. Open to all skill levels.
Participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.
Materials to bring from home:
Xiem, clay tools recommended, Towel, wire tool, paddle (or flat wood), Water spray bottle, small mirror, fabric tape measure
Working on heavy grade watercolor paper, using ink and watercolor, students will employ geometry, line, shape and form to create 2 non-objective paintings.
We will research designs and interpret them for our various individual projects during the second week. Please feel free to bring your design ideas and other inspirational materials to adapt as well.
As inspiration, we will be looking at historic designs found in art and architecture during our trips to both Florence and Rome.
We will be using a variety of techniques gained from studies in both European and Indian processes (including; color filling, line and design work, burnishing, washing, sanding and waxing),
Students will aim to create a harmonious balance from a mix of structure and improvisation by daily:
Meditation— finding thoughtless awareness through the use of affirmations, self awareness and inner peace.
Yoga— basic Hatha yoga practice allowing the student to slow down, tune into oneself and ones breathing and let the body guide you through simple movements such as Surya Namaskar.
Mindful observation 1— sit in silence drawing an object for three minutes, at the end of this time restart, drawing the same object again. 30 minutes.
Mindful observation 2— using the senses to raise awareness and explore imagination through the use of taste, touch and sound.
The course will be run with the help of Danish artist and assistant Emma Holm.
For more information, contact us.
Working from a model for 4 days we will get a chance to hone in on all the details it takes to capture a likeness. Using clay packed onto a pipe armature, we’ll create a solid bust which we will cut off the armature, hollow and reassemble by the end of the 6th day.
The anatomy of the head, the determining facial muscles, neck and clavicle will be demonstrated. Students will come away with an understanding of proportions and how to create believable details of the face and expression.
All levels are welcomed.
During this 10-day workshop led by Cristina Córdova, students will create a 30” torso through the use of slabs with the support of simple patterns and photographic references. Daily demonstrations will cover the construction and articulation of the hip area and upper torso, arms, hands, head and neck. We will touch on general anatomical concepts and modeling strategies to facilitate accuracy and expression as all the components come together. Surfaces will be developed through the use of slips and underglaze transfers among other approaches. In preparation for this project students will develop some smaller pieces to explore the construction of more abstracted, open compositions that will be fired and glazed. All levels are welcome.
Included in the cost of the class is an excursion to the nearby city of Orvieto in order to see the majestic Duomo there, with its fantastically expressive sculptures decorating the façade. For wine lovers, Orvieto has many extraordinary options available for sampling some of the finest white wines in Italy.
For an additional fee, we will also offer a trip to the village of Deruta in order to explore its Maiolica traditions. We will have an opportunity to visit several studios as well as the ceramics museum, the wonderful Museo Regionale Della Ceramica di Deruta. We will also visit the remarkable church of Madonna del Bagni. Here devotional ceramic plaques that decorate the walls. Each of the plaques was commissioned in commemoration of miraculous healings by the Virgin Mary—the oldest (and first) of the plaques is over 400 years old and commemorates the first miracle healing at the site. From here we will travel on to Assisi in order to visit the Church of San Francesco, one of the most richly decorated church in Christendom. The church contains frescos by Giotto, Cimabue, Lorenzetti and many other early renaissance masters. On the road back to Monte Castello, we will stop for a wine tasting at one of the local vineyards in order to see why our territory is considered the best upcoming wine region in Italy.
Minimum Enrollment: 10
Deposits are due by January 21, 2021 to secure your spot.
For more information, contact us.
