Art Workshops, Classes & Retreats

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"Drop-in Figure Drawing"
March 21, 2024
 

Gain valuable experience working from a live model. Both clothed and nude models will be available once a month for anyone wishing to brush up on their figurative work, take it back to basics, or try anatomical drawing for the first time. These are uninstructed sessions, though a monitor will be present.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Cost: $35
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Advanced Watercolor and New Ideas"
March 22-24, 2024
 

This workshop is design to introduce more advanced techniques and new ideas and push you to a higher level; to help get you beyond your comfort level! You will be doing your own work from your own personal resources and from Sue’s handouts. Please do not bring any imagery from the web, magazines, or books.
 
Location: Jupiter, Florida
Instructor: Sue Archer
Cost: $475
Sponsor: The New Studio For The Visual Arts
Website, email, 561-295-5712


"Plein Air - Dubois"
March 22, 2024
 

Join us for an enriching experience that combines artistic expression with the beauty of the great outdoors in Gretchen Cocuzza's Plein Air classes. Surround yourself in the beauty of outdoor painting as Gretchen guides you through the techniques and nuances of capturing the essence of nature on canvas. Whether you're a seasoned artist or a beginner, these classes offer a unique opportunity to explore the world of Plein Air painting in a supportive and inspiring environment. Gretchen's expertise and passion for the outdoors will elevate your artistic skills, helping you discover the joy of translating landscapes into breathtaking works of art. *If you are new to Plein Air, please contact the instructor ahead of time.*
 
Location: Jupiter, Florida
Instructor: Gretchen Cocuzza
Cost: $50
Sponsor: The New Studio For The Visual Arts
Website, email, 561-295-5712


"Water Bird Series: Beach Boss"
March 23, 204
 

Join us for an exciting new series of water birds, painted in acrylics hosted by the talented artist Cherie Blickenstaff. The second of three sessions will feature the Seagull. This new series is designed to be a grouping that can be displayed together or stand-alone images. These guided sessions are suitable for beginners as well as seasoned painters. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced artist, this series is designed to cater to all skill levels. All supplies and a template for the Seagull will be provided.
 
Location: Jupiter, Florida
Instructor: Cherie Blickenstaff
Cost: $60
Sponsor: The New Studio For The Visual Arts
Website, email, 561-295-5712


"Improving Your Iphone Photography with Editing"
March 23-24, 2024
 

Take your phone photography further with guidance on the best apps and editing techniques. This course teaches students to take better photos with their phones, providing editing instruction and time for practice. Bill Carito is a retiree from Maine who has found the world of iPhone Photography and loves the ease and adventure of seeking out subjects, sharing, and exploring with photographers of all stripes from all over the world.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: William Carito
Cost: $180 / $160 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Figure Painting with Light and Color"
March 23-25, 2024
 

Grasp a better understanding of light and color through painting from life, both plein air around Key West and in the classroom. John Clayton introduces various ways to mix and apply color that will make your painting filled with light and capturing the light key. This class will offer different lessons each day, including using a knife to bring out expressive designs. Clayton studied at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown where he embraced the “Art of Seeing Color” as taught by the late Henry Hensche and Charles W. Hawthorne. He now makes his living painting and teaching throughout Cape Cod in the Summers and the streets of Key West in the Winter.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: John Clayton
Cost: $360 / $325 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"The Artist Entrepreneur"
Mar 25, Mar 27
 

The 21st century art world offers artists an unrivaled variety of opportunities, but also requires a never-before-seen investment in skills beyond artistic talent. Learn how to step into the new arts landscape and build your arts career. Based on his book, The Artist Entrepreneur: Finding Success in a New Arts Economy, with Dr. Ron McCurdy and Dr. Rick Goodstein, Lapin crafts a session that explores practical skills artists need for success. This class will discuss the creative process, idea generation, entrepreneurship, managing your business, grant writing, and fundraising. Every aspect of the workshop will be practical, personalized, and hands-on. This way, participants leave the session with actual outlines, plans, and strategies that they can put into action immediately.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Eric Lapin
Cost: $35 / $25 for members (per session)
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Encaustic Collage"
March 30, 2024
 

Combine curation with creation in a class that offers hands-on exploration with hot wax. In addition, there will be oil sticks, crayons, stamps, and markers to use for drawing onto the encaustic collage. This class is the third in a progressive series, but may also be taken as a stand-alone workshop.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Pamela Kostmayer
Cost: $185 / $155 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Rick Worth’s Painting Boot Camp with Jack McDonald"
Mondays, April 1-29, 2024
 

Leave each class with a finished painting, and appreciation for talents you didn’t know you had. As a visual artist and proud Key West native, the island landscape has always been Jack McDonald’s muse. Primarily interested in street art, Jack is influenced by local color as well as art in public places. He is driven to stretch the boundaries of “street art,” with the hope to raise awareness and establish it as a more legitimate art form. (And, of course, while having a bit of fun!) Through the use of whimsical illustrations, brights colors and shapes, his desire is to have a positive influence on the Key West art scene, while adding an element of familiarity, exploration, and discovery.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Jack McDonald
Cost: $200 / $170 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Capturing the Light"
April 3, 2024
 

This immersive oil workshop is focused on mastering the portrayal of light in your paintings. Throughout the session, you will drive into the fundamental principles of using the value scale to achieve realistic light effects. From understanding highlights to mastering shadows, Karen will guide you through practical painting exercises designed to apply these concepts directly. Participants can expect personalized feedback and guidance from Karen, tailored to their individual artistic goals and skill levels. We will be working from photos we have taken ourselves or you can browse a diverse selection of Karen's extensive photo collection. You will have ample opportunities to explore different scenes and scenarios, enriching your learning experience. Any subject matter can be chosen except for portraits.
 
Location: Jupiter, Florida
Instructor: Karen Leffel-Massengill
Cost: $175
Sponsor: The New Studio For The Visual Arts
Website, email, 561-295-5712


"Paint Pouring"
April 6, 2024
 

Enjoy a fun step-by-step lesson in a loose, unpredictable and satisfying medium. Acrylic paint pouring involves a bit of chemistry, as ratios and fluidity have a direct impact on the end result. Heavier paints sink as lighter ones come to the surface creating beautiful cells. It’s also an exciting and fun technique because you don’t know what the finished product will look like! Sandy West carries a BFA in Commercial Art and is a long-time resident of the Florida Keys. She has been sharing her love of art with others as an instructor at several venues in Key West, and as an artist through her own works depicting the tropical surroundings.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Sandy West
Cost: $90 / $85 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Encaustic Photography"
April 6, 2024
 

Add a layer to your photography with the luminosity of encaustics. This workshop offers tips on prepping your image with apps beforehand plus guided exercises to help you discover photo transfer and inlay techniques, mark-making methods, and color, texture and embellishment possibilities. Cricket Desmarais is a local visual and performing artist who has taught workshops to all levels and ages.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Cricket Desmarais
Cost: $195 / $175 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Making Cyanotypes"
April 9-10, 2024
 

Cyanotypes exist at the intersection of photography and printmaking – perfect for Florida sunshine. Join Timothy in a fun, easy and informative workshop and leave with a few cyanotypes and newfound knowledge of the medium. With a background in printmaking and alternative photographic processes, Timothy has innovated the historical cyanotype process into a larger format using photographic negatives as a base. His time spent with graffiti artists across the country has led him to expand upon the uses of the traditional wheat-paste process to create beautiful and unique pieces. Timothy has a passion for altering spaces through the creation of massive wall pieces that are impactful, boundary-pushing, and completely unique.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Timothy Goldkin
Cost: $125 / $100 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Getting the Glow"
April 10, 2024
 

Join us for an illuminating oil workshop with Karen as she dives deep into the art of capturing that elusive "glow" in your paintings. Through exploration of color temperature, Karen will unravel the secrets behind infusing your artwork with warmth, radiance, and atmosphere. In this hands-on workshop, Karen will do demos to help with the learning process and participants will have the freedom to choose their own subjects from personal photos, ensuring that each painting reflects their unique vision and style. No more painting from someone else's perspective – it's time to bring your own experiences and memories to life on the canvas.
 
Location: Jupiter, Florida
Instructor: Karen Leffel-Massengill
Cost: $175
Sponsor: The New Studio For The Visual Arts
Website, email, 561-295-5712


"Batik: Painting with Wax and Dye on Fabric"
April 11-12, 2024
 

Learn contemporary approaches to an ancient fiber and dye art that originated on the island of Java, Indonesia. Come with 3 pencil drawings on white cotton fabric and leave with hand dyed works of art. Wendy Tatter has lived in the U.S., West Indies, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Brasil. She was introduced to the art of batik in Mexico while attending Instituto Allende. Fascinated by the technique, she has developed a style all her own. Her work often reflects the people and places from her travels and has been exhibited and collected worldwide. Tatter is the recipient of the Dr. Gail Pflaster ROWITA (Recognizing Outstanding Women in the Arts) lifetime achievement award for women who have made significant contributions to the arts.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Wendy Tatter
Cost: $185 / $160 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Drop-in Figure Drawing"
April 18, 2024
 

Gain valuable experience working from a live model. Both clothed and nude models will be available once a month for anyone wishing to brush up on their figurative work, take it back to basics, or try anatomical drawing for the first time. These are uninstructed sessions, though a monitor will be present.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Cost: $35
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Sculpting and Drawing the Head II"
April 19-21, 2024
 

Mark Lineweaver will demonstrate the stages of sculpting the head from our live model throughout the program. Nettie Spiwack will teach implicit principles and structures seen by sculptors, painters and draughtsmen that are all represented in the mastery of drawing and are essential to advancing your drawing skills. You can choose your area of concentration: • If you want to concentrate on DRAWING the head, then observing the process of building a sculpted head will serve your ability to draw better. • If you want to concentrate on SCULPTING the head, then moving between drawing and sculpting will improve your observation and understanding. We work from a live model and reinforce the fundamentals through examples.
 
Location: Jupiter, Florida
Instructor: Mark Lineweaver and Nettie Spiwack
Cost: $350
Sponsor: The New Studio For The Visual Arts
Website, email, 561-295-5712


"Color Theory Through Drawing"
May 4, 2024
 

Paloma Martinez bases her artistic practice on color theory, and is excited to share her passion for it. This workshop explores color and its theory through drawing and a detailed lecture. Students will learn how to use color to manipulate drawing composition, create harmony, and to contextualize their desired aesthetic and conceptual framework. Students will be provided an array of materials to deepen their understanding of color (i.e. pastels, color pencils, color cut-outs, watercolors) and will also obtain guidance on how to use these materials.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Paloma Martinez
Cost: $75 / $60 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Photographing Key West from A Different Viewpoint"
May 23, 2024
 

Photograph Key West with a different viewpoint, looking for beauty in less-picturesque spaces of the city. Denise Burge draws upon her 32 years of experience in teaching art to lead a workshop that is packed with experiential and fun learning. The afternoon begins in the classroom with some showcasing of images and writing samples to get students in the right frame of mind. The group will then proceed outdoors to spend some time photographing before meeting up to discuss the day’s discoveries. This experience aims to sensitize artists to the deeper beauty of eroded and overgrown form, vernacular spaces, and the beautiful effect of light on a surface as surprising as a sidewalk.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Denise Burge
Cost: $75 / $60 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Drawing Auto-Biographical Comics"
May 27, 2024
 

Draw on your experience to create graphic renderings of your life. Ajuan shares the works of several comic creators, showing how this diverse group of individuals draw themselves. Students compare the artists’ self portraits with the artists’ press photos, while Ajuan discusses the strategies veteran comic creators use to create a character to represent themselves on the page. Participants will then use the same strategies to create drawings of themselves, and using a handful of autobiographical writing prompts, create a 4- to 6-panel autobiographical comic.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Ajuan Mance
Cost: $85 / $70 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Summer Solstice Plein Air Watercolor Workshop"
June 18-21, 2024
 

Enhance your painting skill and technique, guided by a popular instructor, New York/Key West artist Susan Sugar. Each evening begins with a group critique with the goal of becoming comfortable sharing your process with other painters. After the group critique, students disperse to paint on their own. Sugar circulates from person to person, offering individual counsel, as needed. The workshop culminates with a final critique and potluck at Sugar’s home/studio Turtle House and an exhibition of student work hosted by The Studios of Key West at a later date. With a background in dance and architecture, Susan Sugar interprets life in terms of rhythm, space, and light, recreating what she sees with her brush.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Susan Sugar
Cost: $275 / $225 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Developing Personal Visual Archetypes"
July 8-9, 2024
 

Often, Southern folklife is represented visually as a whole in redundant cliches. The repainted tropes strip away all meaning, beauty and dignity, and unfortunately, result in a loss of interest and respect, with the real danger of having no societal contribution. Nonney shares new visual archetypes that are based on specifics – regional folklife, folklore and indigenous flora and fauna, but with an added personal twist. These twists reclaim individuality, and use modernism coupled with tradition to create a new depiction of Southern Art. Create your own new archetypes influenced by her presentation.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Nonney Oddlokken
Cost: $80 / $65 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Summer Solstice Plein Air Watercolor Workshop"
July 9-12, 2024
 

Enhance your painting skill and technique, guided by a popular instructor, New York/Key West artist Susan Sugar. Each evening begins with a group critique with the goal of becoming comfortable sharing your process with other painters. After the group critique, students disperse to paint on their own. Sugar circulates from person to person, offering individual counsel, as needed. The workshop culminates with a final critique and potluck at Sugar’s home/studio Turtle House and an exhibition of student work hosted by The Studios of Key West at a later date. With a background in dance and architecture, Susan Sugar interprets life in terms of rhythm, space, and light, recreating what she sees with her brush.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Susan Sugar
Cost: $275 / $225 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Making and Printing Linocuts"
July 26-27, 2024
 

The workshop will show participants how to make a relief print without a press. There will be a visual lecture showcasing the variety of artists working in this medium and the history of relief printmaking from both fine art imagery making and commercial use. Jennifer Basile also introduces the materials on which these lino-blocks can be printed, guiding participants toward the best surface for their work. Participants will create works of art or repeat patterns that can be printed numerous times to make other artworks beyond their relief image.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Jennifer Basile
Cost: $110 / $85 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Storytelling Through Mixed Media Collage"
July 29-30, 2024
 

The workshop includes a short lecture and presentation highlighting storytelling through mixed media collage with the use of historical imagery. Participants will observe a demonstration and view artwork made by the artist instructor. A hands-on session follows, covering the use of mixed media collage including examples of methods and projects as well as reference materials for the classroom. Lavett Ballard is a female mixed media visual artist, art historian, curator and author. She holds a dual Bachelor’s in Studio Art and Art History with a minor in Museum Studies from Rutgers University- Camden and an MFA in Studio Art from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Ballard’s art has been commissioned twice as a cover for Time Magazine.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Lavett Ballard
Cost: $100 / $75 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


"Portrait Painting from a Photograph"
August 1-2, 2024
 

Dianne Hebbert leads a portrait painting workshop. Students are invited to bring in a printed or digital copy of a photograph they would like to translate into a painting. The class begins with the drawing and moves into developing the acrylic painting, going over the grid method, under paintings, and finally, how to add personal details to finalize your painting. Regardless of skill level, there’s something for everyone to learn. Dianne Hebbert is a Nicaraguan-American artist based in New York. She works primarily in painting, printmaking and installation art. As a Miami native she attended New World School of the Arts before she earned her BFA in Painting and Drawing from Purchase College and her MFA in Printmaking from Brooklyn College.
 
Location: Key West, Florida
Instructor: Dianne Hebbert
Cost: $110 / $85 for members
Sponsor: The Studios of Key West
Website, email, (305) 296-0458


 

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