Only got a day?! Then our Wednesday Workshops are for YOU!

It's summer time, the weather's fine, but you need a break from the sunshine? New to art? Well here's a start that'll enrich your mind and warm your heart!

Starting tomorrow 7/8/09, Bette McCarron will hold Wednesday Workshops in the mornings from 9:15 to Noon, and every week the theme is different. From July 8th through August 12 the schedule is as follows:

Making Fleece into Felt 7/8

Felting is an ancient technique that even predates weaving.
Using various colors of unspun wool, you will feel and see the fleece shrink
and mat together to become 'felt' as you create a small bag or hand puppet.

'Eco'Weaving* 7/15
By weaving on a back strap loom with colored yarn and strips
of plastic shopping bags, you will create a recycled bag with a rope strap.

Creating an Accordion Book 7/22
After making your front and back covers, you will assemble
a unique book with pages folded accordion style to decorate with stencils
and stamps. This will be a special place to record your writings and drawings.

Fishy Fabric Windsock 7/29
By adding a tail and fins to color, fish-shaped cloth, each student will
create a unique fish windsock. After decorating it with trimming and paint, a string
and swivel hook will be attached to the open mouth so it will twirl in the wind.
Complete fish will be about 4.5 feet long.

Painting with Mud: Bogolanfini 8/5
In Mali, Africa, locally woven cloth is decorated with local
mud to create designs to tell stories and then dried in the hot African sun.
You will duplicate this process to tell your story on a tote bag
with different colored muds from various sources:
South Carolina riverbanks, Texas cotton fields, and New Jersey marshes,
as well as any you may bring!

Round Reed Basketry 8/12
Starting with circular bases, students will develop their ability to control
form and design while twining or weaving with different colors
of round reed. Students will be able to complete a small basket and no two will
look alike. This class is for beginners to advanced basket makers.

All workshops are $25 + $5 for supplies and ages 6+
*Indicates a workshop that is ages 8+

Pictured at the top from left to right: accordion book, fleece into felt, ecoweaved bag, round reed basket. Picture above: fishy fabric windsock.

Week of July 6th, 2009

After a wonderful July 4th weekend, the Arts Center has officially kicked off its summer session as ALL classes are now a go for the next two months. This morning we have Repurposed Art Camp starting in studio 3, Places Please (performing arts) for the week in the dance studio, and Sue Rau's painting and folk art classes all morning and into the afternoon.

This is a very busy time as we've got classes to prepare for, our Annual Summer Luncheon this Wednesday, and Art Camp to keep up with!

Don't forget that we also have a Meet the Artist Reception this Friday, July 10th from 6-8:30 pm with Richard Samuelson. His show BIG PAINTINGS IN BLACK AND WHITE, small works in color opened in our gallery last week, officially commencing this Friday, and will be up on the walls through the week.

We've got much for you to stop by and enjoy, so pay us a visit and see what we have to offer!

Big Paintings in Black & White, Small Works in Color

Today our July exhibitor Richard Samuelson finished hanging his show which will be up in the gallery through this month. Almost every inch of wall space is covered with his captivating pieces, so much so that it almost feels as though you're inside the mind of the artist. The large paintings in greyscale are offset by small, colorful acrylic works. Though the sizes all vary, there is almost a uniformity in shape, and very playful cartoons and sketches are intermingled between the aforementioned paintings. Samuelson has provided us with an array of swirling brushstrokes and fierce line work that appears to have been pulled from a far off plane or emotional realm that is closest to the artist himself. Join us next Friday evening, July 10, for a Meet the Artist Reception at the Ocean City Arts Center from 6-8:30 pm.

NEXT WEEK

Our summer classes officially begin. Are you signed up yet?

Introduction to Figure Modeling with Chad Fisher

There will be a demonstration of this upcoming class on the Ocean City Boardwalk next month (official date TBA, but contact the Arts Center if you're interested). Held by instructor Chad Fisher, the demonstration is entitled Head Structure and Portrait for Beginner /Intermediate/Advanced students.

This will provide an in-depth analysis of the portrait with an emphasis on both specific anatomy and sculpture technique. We will study the overall structure of the face with exercises intended to sharpen our understanding of planes and how features relate to one another. After a brief introduction to the material, a demonstration will be given focusing on sculpture and drawing technique to help students understand where “form” begins and where it ends.

Enjoy a nice time out on the boardwalk in lovely weather seeing art in progress and learning something while you're at it!

Some information about Chad can be found at:

National Sculpture
Grand Central Academy
and Sculpture Competition Winners

A completed work in progress

Above are two photos of Marie Natale with her painting A Pleasant Stroll on the Avenue. The top photo is Marie working on the piece at our May 30th Spring Sampler, and below is her and Jack Devine with the completed work. Marie is a watercolor instructor here at the Arts Center. She achieves fresh, clean, glowing effects through the method of direct painting and truly creates magic on the paper.

Pleasure Avenue Meet the Artists Reception

This past Friday was our Meet the Artists Reception for our 2009 Annual Themed Show. This year's theme, Pleasure Avenue, was brilliant in that it was open to so many avenues of interpretation. Pleasure Avenue is a street here in Ocean City, often thought of as "one of the great unsung, quiet residential neighborhoods" (said by our President, Dr. Jack Devine), and so the local ties the theme had provided a wonderful atmosphere for the opening whose attendees felt a close bond with the works. The artists invited to participate in this group show also had the option to create works that responded to the words "Pleasure Avenue" in a literal sense. So with each of these ideas fused together, the body of work we received yielded much aesthetic promise. As said by the President of the Board of Trustees, and this goes for all of us, we "are delighted that the show has brought a new consciousness to this fine old street and [we're] delighted that so many artists responded so beautifully to the Arts Center's appeal for work."

Below are photos from the reception.

Cynthia Sabatini and Zoe Rosenberg stop for a photo opp at the opening.

Board Members pose in the gallery.
From left to right: President Jack Devine, Vice President Peggy Lloyd,
Paula Fortune-Angelo, Connie Smedley, and Eleanor Raymond.

Artist Lance Balderson with his painting Spring Pleasure

People enjoying themselves in the gallery.

Artist Louis Castagna with his polytych Four Perspectives.

Old and new generations enjoying the work.

People talking at the reception.

Artist and former Board member Fred Arnold with his
painting A Walk in Wales (top left).

The show will be up in our gallery through the month of June. Following Pleasure Avenue will be BIG paintings in black and white, small works in color by artist Richard Samuelson. If you stop in the gallery this month, be sure to pick up a MEET THE ARTISTS guide available at the desk or at the gallery sign-in.