Classes and Open Studios – 2019

registration form

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Group Critique

Instructor: John Lorence

Beginning April 30 

• Tuesdays for 6 bi- weekly sessions until July 9

• 1:30 pm to 4 pm

Members $150  /  Non-members $165

This is an every other week forum allowing individuals to have their work reviewed constructively.  We will be considering composition, color, structure and technique.  Bring paintings, prints, drawings and / or sculpture – up to one or two pieces maximum for each meeting.

John will provide a list of words we will often use to help us navigate an individual’s work.

“We will only make references to the object you present before the group.  This is not an analysis of the individual maker.  This must be understood. The maker can agree or disagree with what is said about the maker’s work.  There can only be constructive references!!!  There can be no malice.  We all gain from what is speculated upon: we all gain from what we will participate in.  Activity neutral.  A safe place.”

John Lorence is well known to the members of River Arts for his own works of painting and sculpture.  He has a broad experience of teaching, creating and exhibiting art in Maine and abroad in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  He has had extensive studies in design, sculpture, painting and archeology at Case Western, Parsons School of Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge School of Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, and Oxford University.  His broad knowledge of art, his years of instructing college level courses, as well as his own excursion into multiple mediums have given him a unique ability to conduct insightful and thought provoking critiques so that students working at all levels may benefit from participating.

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Drawing Workshop

 The Intuitive Object
“Drawn to and Drawn From ~ Intuitive Objects in Nature”

Instructor:  Rachael Eastman

April 13  /  Saturday  /  10 am to 2 pm

$60 Members / $65 Non-members

 Is there an object you are drawn to when out walking in nature that you cannot resist picking up? Might it clue you in to your own creative stride?

 In this one day workshop, participants will explore a variety of traditional and experimental approaches to drawing in dynamic response to objects from nature. Students are guided to trust their instincts and to visually explore their natural environment, while creating sensitive and personally meaningful new works of art from the objects that call to them.
In learning to follow their intuition toward stronger drawings and paintings, a still life that becomes un-still with traditional drawing implements, inks, and mixed media, and objects are explored beyond the limitations of stillness, and literal space. Students learn how to incorporate their own inner nature with the wisdom of the materials as they observe and explore objects that become much more than simple on their pages. Art history and meditative means factor in to Eastman’s approach to building perception, facility, and fun! Bringing the outdoors in, and be *guided* from within, the students create an experience and drawing to remember. All levels of experience welcome to come play with materials, and learn to see.  Supplies List available upon registration.

                                                 Rachel Eastman “Cove Mist”  Oil on Panel   36 x 36

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Drawing Workshop

 “Drawing Powerfully from Memory and Observation”

Instructors: Rachael Eastman and John David O’Shaughnessy

April 27 / Saturday /  10 am to 3:30 pm

 Members $90  / Non-members $100

A unique two instructor one day workshop experience

In this dynamic workshop, artist couple Rachael  Eastman and John David  O’Shaughnessy will empower their students in drawing from their own direct observation and from the trail of their memory. Students will be encouraged to explore mixed media drawing both from life observed and from memory as they expand their ability to see, perceive, and make strong, convincing drawings.

Working with charcoal, ink, acrylic and graphite, the class will experience a range of approaches to materials. Students learn to trust their direct responses and to looking deeply in order to see the world in new ways. Keen observation skills are honed as the students gain mastery in representing the subject  (nature) on their powerful pages.
Drawing from nature with increased confidence, students enjoy and explore the ever changing phenomena of the natural world under various conditions, and within specific environmental contexts.

          

Rachael Eastman

     Perhaps best known for witnessing thousands of consecutive sunrises over the ocean, and the resulting atmospheric drawings and paintings, Rachael Eastman has a passion for ocean storms as they meet art. Awarded Hewnoaks Artist Colony Residencies, Vermont Studio Center Residencies, a Pace House Residency at Maine College of Art, Eastman incorporates the Hudson River School research from her museum work into her visceral experience of nature.
Eastman’s education includes a BFA with honors in painting from  Maine College of Art, residencies Vermont Studio Center working  with Lois Dodd, and Wolf Kahn, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, independent studies in Europe . Her work with Historic New England Museums includes Maine historical research and house museum oration, and her work is shown in both public and private collections. She is currently represented by the William Scott Gallery in Provincetown,Massachusetts, Ocean House Gallery in Cape Elizabeth, and Barn Gallery in Ogunquit.

      

     John David O’Shaugnessy                                                                Best known for painting seascapes directly from the shifting light all along the New England coast, John David O’Shaugnessy comfortably strides abstraction and figuration with the gestural mark of his brush. A New Jersey native, who studied Painting at Massachusetts College of Art with Rob Moore, Jeremy Foss, George Nick, and others . John David O’Shaughnessy has been featured in  numerous juried shows and plein air events and is sought for carrying an intensity of movement that are held in bold gesture, saturated, improvisational color, and an unrelenting pursuit of fugitive light. O’Shaugnessy was particularly inspired by his study with the late Jon Imber, and he carries that passion through current examinations and evocations of the Maine ocean that has pulled him to it. John teaches drawing, painting and printmaking at the Currier Museum of Art along with other art centers. He shows his paintings in galleries throughout Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont. He is a member of Ogunquit Art Association in Maine,and a Member of Provincetown Art Association and Museum, along with his fiance and co-instructor. 

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DROP IN and PAINT!  Mondays!

Open Studio morning for painters.  Each Monday this drop in group will begin at 10:00 and end around 12:30.  We are asking for a $5.00 donation for the gallery. The fee will be paid at the time of your arrival.  All levels of ability are invited.  You will work on your own painting projects. Bring your own supplies.

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Ceramic Studio Monthly 

The studio is open from 12:00 until 4:30 pm Monday thru Friday.   Join the ongoing  group!

A two-hour class is offered every Wednesday from 1PM until 3PM. The three basic methods of hand building with clay are pinch, slab and coil. We will explore all of these, both alone and in combination, to create both functional and decorative items. You will also learn basic glazing techniques. Use of the studio at other times must be done with the approval of the River Arts Director.

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