May 2 - May 16  Morning

POETRY WORKSHOP: Finding Art in the Lines

We step into poems the way we step into the fascinating structures we admire: curious, but from the outside. What lures us into the delicate, vivid, and sometimes puzzling rooms of a memorable poem? Elaine Sexton’s prompts and provocations, lessons and handouts, are designed to inspire writers from all disciplines and levels of experience to learn new ways to draw our ideas from our imagination and put them into words. Students will learn how to find and use the often “invisible” structures great poetry is built on, and try out as many new strategies to get their words on the page as days we spend together. Each lesson offers a way to help us respond, uniquely, to what we see and experience. Every day is a site-specific expedition: in class, en plein-art––on a road trip, the nearby villages, in the local caves and cathedrals. We will take full advantage of this unique and stunning setting to read, write, think, and observe together.

Day long excursions to Paris, Vezelay and Autun are included in the class.

May 2 - May 16   Afternoon

Ro Lohin conducts this intensive drawing class in the environs of the commune of Mailly-le-Chateau, located in the Burgundy region of the French countryside. Using multiple clothed models in natural settings, the class explores the dynamics of human figures in landscape. Drawings sessions take place in the village and its surrounds, consisting of rivers, canals, chalk cliffs, forests and farms. The class also offers day trips to museums in Paris, and the nearby town of Vézeley.  During these excursions  students draw from artworks ranging from medieval, classical, impressionist, and modern masterpieces.

May 2 - May 16   Morning

Renowned artist and teacher Stanley Lewis will conduct Plein Air Painting sessions in the stunning Burgundy countryside surrounding the commune of Mailly-le-Château. Daily outdoor on-site sessions and instruction are followed by critique and discussion in the studio. Students live in the magnificent Chateau de Mailly, dating back to the 13th century. Here is a chance to study with this artist/educator who has influenced generations of artists. 

May 17-May 31   Morning

Set within the historic grounds and surrounding countryside of Château de Mailly, Color Fields will explore how landscape can serve as a point of departure for abstraction. The Yonne River valley features winding waterways, limestone cliffs, and rolling fields. Participants will investigate how color, light, atmosphere, rhythm, and memory can become the foundation for paintings that move beyond direct observation, transforming and distilling the experience of place. Exploring the material and expressive qualities of paint, artists will experiment with color, composition, gesture, and spatial relationships while cultivating a personal abstract visual language. Based in studio work, outdoor painting, discussions and individual critiques, the workshop will also include excursions to Paris and nearby historic sites and culminate in an exhibition on site.

May 17 - May 31  Afternoon

Processing Pattern

Set in the Burgundy region, this workshop will explore design processes for generating pattern and tiling systems. Participants will move between drawing, folding and cutting paper to CAD software. Day trips to see traditional polychrome patterned terra cotta roofs around Dijon, as well as visits to Gothic cathedrals with their ornate stained-glass windows and decoration will serve as inspiration as individuals develop their own ideas and projects. The workshop will incorporate design strategies for both two- and three-dimensional projects from stencils to relief tile. Artists interested in learning different ways of generating 2D patterns, incorporating digital design into their process, or planning custom architectural tile projects will find this class rewarding. We will also be taking an all-day group excursion to museums and galleries in Paris.

A Mac or PC laptop and a two button mouse with a scroll wheel is required.

May 30 - June 13   Morning

The workshop invites artists to engage with the ordinary - objects, gestures, spaces, routines - as a catalyst for artistic exploration. Participants will cultivate a sensitivity to the overlooked, habitual, and intimate, in order to enhance their engagement with the everyday, and create new ways forward in their practice. The four-week workshop unfolds in two parts. It will begin with a series of virtual solo and group critiques designed to introduce each artist's practice and generate critical discussion. The virtual sessions will foster community, help articulate questions, and lay the groundwork for future site-based inquiries. Following the virtual phase, artists will gather for a two-week intensive residency in the Umbrian Hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Immersed in place, artists will visit museums and cultural sites in Florence and Assisi to engage with and experience historic visions of the everyday while creating works that build on and reflect their practices and experiences. The residency will culminate in an exhibition. Throughout the workshop, select readings (from poetry to cultural philosophy and memoir) will serve as a thread, helping artists expand their practice and deepen their engagement with observation and the everyday. The workshop is ideal for artists working across disciplines and media who aim to enhance their practice through slowness, observation, and reflection.

May 30 - June 13   Afternoon 

Monotype literally means “one of a kind” and refers to printmaking techniques where an artist paints directly onto a plate, which is then printed on paper. The result is a unique print of the image, which can be manipulated but never duplicated. This class will teach students a variety of painterly techniques including additive and subtractive mark making, stenciling and masking, overprinting and various other image making techniques. The class also investigates relief printing using linoleum and wood block techniques. We will cut and ink blocks to produce graphic images which can be combined with painterly monotype techniques. Students will have access to a large etching press and other hand printing techniques. This is a class for experimentation and play within a painterly language. The class consists of demonstrations, painting and printing sessions, critiques and field trips. Solvents, etching inks and plates will be provided. Additional supplies may need to be purchased.

May 30 - June 13   Morning

This painting workshop will focus on working between observation and invention to explore color and the symbolic potential of the landscape. The landscape has long offered artists a space for reflection, serving as both a physical and psychological terrain. We will use the Italian landscape as a point of departure to investigate how symbolic narratives emerge through perception and imagination. Working both outdoors and in the studio, students will move between direct observation and invention, using painting, drawing and collage to translate experience. Slide lectures will complement the class as we explore how color, space and symbols can expand our understanding of place and individual perspective.

 

May 30 - June 13   Morning

The Spring Mentoring Program is led by two painters, Dusseldorf-based Jutta Haeckel and New York-based Kevin Wixted.  The Program runs for a four-week period, and includes both cohort and individual meetings. The first two weeks are conducted online by Zoom, and consist of critique, readings and conversation. The final two weeks take place in the studios at Monte Castello di Vibio, where you meet and work with your cohort members and faculty. Each artist has a private studio, and participates in weekly individual and group critiques. Research excursions to Assisi, Perugia and Orvieto occur weekly. Here you will build a lasting community of colleagues while experiencing great Italian art and culture. The course culminates with a group exhibition. 

June 13 - June 27   Morning

This session will be focused on painting within landscape mode and structure. We will paint both outside as well as in the studio. We will explore the continuum between painting pictorially and non-pictorially. Some paintings will be painted entirely outside, some taken back inside and re-worked, some painted completely inside, some beginning inside and then taken outside etc. Drawing and structure will be central and consistently entertained regardless of differences in the appearance of the paintings. Drawings, collages, and watercolors will also be a part of the session. We will explore a range of approaches, all driven by the traditional, stacked vertical landscape structure.

June 13 - June 27   Afternoon

The use of egg tempera as a painting medium is an ancient technique that crosses the cultural boundaries of east and west. In Italy, some of the finest examples of its use in western culture can be found in Roman, Gothic and art of the Italian Quattro Cento. It’s an art form of simple materials applied by very specific procedures that lend themselves to expression of well pre-planned drawing and abstract conceptual vision. Our plan for the Egg Tempera Project is to explore the basic techniques characteristic of the method in a studio atmosphere. By using limited color, focus on tonal relationships and reproductions (partial and full) of masterworks to facilitate the role of drawing in the procedure it will mainly focus on paint manipulation. The experience will be augmented by visual presentations of a range of historical and cross-cultural expressions of egg tempera painting as well as a trip to the pinacotheca at Perugia to see actual masterpieces. Our end goal is for each of the participants to complete two paintings that demonstrate a strong working knowledge of the procedure and the confidence to continue working in the medium. Prepared panels and pigments will be provided, additional materials may need to be purchased.