Spring Island Blogs

Lecture Series - Arthur Tollefson Music Appreciation

Join Arthur Tollefson for
"Opus 3"
January 16, 18 & 20, 2012
4 to 6 pm
A Tale of Three Cities: Pianism in Vienna, Paris and New York

Proceeding from past Spring Island surveys of the overall classical piano repertoire, this seminar will focus upon piano writing emanating from three discrete cultural centers over  the past two centuries.  
 
In three two-hour sessions, Arthur Tollefson will focus upon the keyboard output of the German, French and American traditions.  As in his 2008 and 2010 seminars, the presentations will be illustrated with copious live performances of excerpts exemplifying  the three cities’ pianistic legacy.    

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Oil Painting Workshop

The Spring Island Trust will offer an oil painting class given by visiting artist James Sulkowski from January 23rd through the 26th from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. daily. For more information, please email us at info@springisland.com.

CONCEPTS AND TECHNIQUES OF CLASSICAL PAINTING

In this workshop, James Sulkowski discusses the effects of light and atmosphere as they relate to forms in space. This timeless Old Master approach results in a luminous painting full of depth and rich in color. The palette, background colors, composition, form and texture will also be a focus of this workshop.

The quality and characteristics of various flowers and still life objects such as glass, copper, porcelain and more are broken down to their simplest concepts.

Demonstrations plus personal instruction will enable the student to understand, simplify and apply these classic principles to their own work.                                                                             

Piccolo Spoleto Festival - Charleston, SC (May 27 - June 12, 2011)

The combination of historic Charleston’s old European charm and the world-class Spoleto Festival USA together produce a unique and impacting synergy for all who come to the city by the sea to experience this magnificent international multi-arts festival. But what really adds the ingredient of magic to the mix is Piccolo Spoleto, which provides access to the festival for every person, especially children.    

Focusing primarily on artists of the Southeast region, Piccolo Spoleto is the perfect complement to the international scope of its parent festival and its 700 events in 17 days, transforms Charleston into an exhilarating celebration of performing, literary and visual arts. Piccolo Spoleto’s traditional program offerings include visual arts exhibits, classical music, jazz, dance, theatre, poetry readings, children’s activities, choral music, ethnic cultural presentations, crafts and film.

Scrimshaw Knife Workshop

"A Whale of a Knife" workshop with Robert Dancik
April 28-29, 2011

Scrimshaw, the historic maritime art of etching on whalebone, is the starting point of this creative and useful workshop.  During the two days of the workshop you will select a knife blank style – either a small hunting or kitchen/home – and fashion a knife handle to fit the blade.  The handle will be made from Faux Bone™, a new artists’ material that has the look and feel of bone or ivory but is safer to use and friendlier to the animal population.  When fitted to the blade, you will then “etch” the handle and rub in special paint and dyes to color your etching.  The result will be a unique knife decorated with your own design.

The designs for your etching may be something you create, can be copied  from a traditional scrimshaw or you can use tools and other materials to impart surface designs like those you see on the knife handles above. Either way, there is NO special drawing, tool or art background needed for this workshop.

Please email info@springisland.com for more information about this workshop.

To learn more about the instructor’s work, please visit www.robertdancik.com and www.fauxbone.com.

Watercolor Workshop April 4-8, 2011

The Wonders of Watercolor with Sarah Peterson
April 4, 5, 7 & 8, 2011
Cost: $400

Sarah's classes are very popular with all levels of expertise. She brings such enthusiasm and excitement about the medium, combined with a gentle nurturing that enables miraculous paintings to unfold. Her focus and dedication to each artist's expression brings life and light and possibility to her classes. Sarah says that she is a fan of water -- it moves paint around more exquisitely than one can imagine. So, her class will be about starting the process of letting loose and being ready to watch the water do its magic. To learn more about the instructor's work, please visit www.sarahfpeterson.com.

Expressing Yourself through Clay - Workshop with Dina Wilde-Ramsing

February 24, 2011 for Beginners

February 25, 28, and March 1, 2011 for Beginners and others

Cost: $100 for Beginners for Day 1/$300 for three days/$400 for all four days

Clay as an artistic medium beautifully lends itself to the free expression of ideas.  Dina likes to help students visually express personal symbology through lines, colors, animals, objects, words, nature, dreams, etc. On the first day, beginning students will learn basic information about the ceramic medium    The rest of the workshop time will explore non-functional wares emphasizing form, textures, and the application of stains, slips, and terra siglilata to encourage personal expression in clay.

Pastels Art Workshop Feb 1-3, 2011

Plein Air Pastel Painting with Doug Dawson
Feb. 1-3, 2011
Cost: $375
This three-day workshop will cover many aspects of landscape painting in pastels,  including what to look for in your subject, selecting colors for underpainting, massing shapes, principles for creating depth, finding color solutions, blocking in a landscape with values and using edges to create the illusion of texture.  Each day will include a demonstration, painting and critiques.