Artist Level Classes

Do you have to be an artist to take an artist-level class?

No.

Will it help you with your own artistic path?

Probably.

We offer classes designed to help you with your creative endeavors. It's all about connections - can that class in watercolor help a clay artist? Can a sculpture class shine some light on process for a pencil artist? Does photography help with quilting? Our sources say "yes"!

Come in and experience life from a different artistic perspective. You'll enjoy the artists, the company, and the insights.

And if you'd like to register online, please CLICK HERE for your registration form. Thanks!

Saturday, September 11

Saturdays & Sundays, October 2, 3, 9, 10

Friday, November 12

From Studio to Show
with Gail DeMeyer

From 9 to 4 p.m.

Gail DeMeyer will guid artists through the fine points of getting their work out of their studios and onto gallery walls. This workshop will be structured yet informal, so that all attending can ask questions. She will discuss presenting work at its best, contacting galleries and art centers, artists statements, documentation, and framing. Bring your portfolios for critique. 

$50.00 for Members, $65.00 for Non-members

May 13, 14, 15 from 9:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Watercolor Excitement with Ink! 
with Ed Fenendael 
Using ink with watercolor adds wonderful dimension to your art. Explore the creativity that ink provides as we add line to our art with various applications of permanent and water-soluble ink. Discover the potential to create spontaneous, quick imagery and find this technique perfect to capture the essence of your subject. Using these two media together will expand your visual horizons and will be used over and over, especially on location. Plan to have fun as we experiment with the excitement of ink and watercolor.
Students bring their own supplies; supply list will be made available. 

Wednesdays, April 7, 14, 21

PhotoShop Workshop

This Introductory workshop to PhotoShop basics can be especially helpful to the studio artist.  
This is an artist demonstration, not a hands-on workshop. Participants are not required to have a PhotoShop installed laptop but if you do, bring it with.
The artist will walk you through step-by-step so you’ll learn about the workspace, tools and file types.
Demonstrations focus on:

Fall 2009 - Artist Level

CROSS-TRAINING IN THE STUDIO: 
COLOR AND COMPOSITION WORKSHOP 
with Kathie Briggs

Using the same source of inspiration or subject matter, each participant will develop four or more small studies by experimenting with compositional arrangement and color schemes. A variety of specific exercises will guide participants through variations resulting in a series that can be further developed. Assorted media will be made available: pastel, watercolor, acrylic, pencil, crayon, paper and fabric for collage.  Students are encouraged to supplement these materials by bringing along favorite media.

Members $45, non-members $56; materials furnished as above

Mixed media fiber artist Kathie Briggs of Charlevoix has been working with a focus in composition and color for over 25 years. A special interest in the interplay of color has become a hallmark in her own work, and her explorations of form and structure underlie both her artwork and workshop instruction.

Briggs has won awards for her creations from Chicago International Quilt Festival and Fiberarts Connections in California, and the Quilt University Challenge among others. Her artwork has been displayed in international exhibitions in Chicago, Houston, and the Netherlands as well as in competitions throughout Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois. Touring and small group exhibits have taken her work to Southern California, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. 

Professional affiliations include Charlevoix Circle of Arts, Crooked Tree Arts Council, Fiber Artist Coalition, Jordan River Arts Council, and Studio Art Quilt Associates’ Michigan.

She has been showcased in articles in many publications including; Interweave Press, Quilting Arts, C & T Publishing, and Quilting Arts Magazine and has co-curated several exhibits in Lower Michigan.

Briggs facilitated a workshop, Creating Strong Compositions, at the Bonifas in 2004. Visit her website at www.kathiebriggs.com.

Past Classes - Artist Level

Summer 2009

Moldmaking/Casting Glass Made Easy. Maybe. with Herb Babcock 

Friday, June 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Students will enjoy Babcock's demonstration of the process, and learn to transfer clay models into glass sculpture by creating a plaster mold.

Fee for the workshop is $50 for Bonifas members and $63 for non-members. Participation is limited; sign up soon. For more information, call (906) 786-3833 or visit www.bonifasarts.org.

Babcock, juror for the Fires Around the Lakes glass exhibit, will also present a free lecture titled Glass and Metaphor on Thursday, June 25, at 7 p.m., discussing the use of glass blowing, casting and coldworking to pursue an artist's vision.

Babcock, of Oxford, Michigan, received his BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He currently serves as Chairman of the Glass Department at the College for Creative Studies and has been a professor at CCS since 1974.

He began his artistic career as a metal sculptor, studying glass blowing in 1969 and creating a series of Glass Image Vessels in 1974. Eventually Babcock began to combine metal and glass in sculpture. The Pillared Series, which includes glass, steel and stone, began in 1989. His work is represented in numerous national and international exhibits, galleries and collections.

Winter 2009

Introduction to Encaustic Painting with Bernie Park

Saturday, April 4; Noon to 4 p.m.

Encaustic is one of the oldest methods of painting, dating from ancient Egypt where it was used to decorate mummy cases, among other things. It is among the most permanent of painting techniques and utilizes a combination of beeswax and oil paint. This workshop includes a history of the methods, samples and demonstrations from the artist and lots of hands-on studio time. So whether you’re looking to learn more about encaustic or for something new to add to your studio experience, come and experiment. Students will each work to produce one small painting. Members $50; Non-members $62; includes all materials. 

Fall, 2008

PRINTMAKING FOR PAINTERS
Friday, November 7; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Join visiting artist Mike Volker as he demonstrates his approach to creating original painterly monotypes in the form popularized by Edgar Degas. Beautiful monotypes created in oil and overlaid with pastel demonstrate the immediacy and freshness typically seen in Degas' work.

Traditional painting and printmaking instruments such as brushes, daubers, and cotton rags are used as well as nontraditional homemade tools, as Volker shares his techniques for combining some of the strongest characteristics of both oil and watercolor media. Workshop participants are encouraged to experiment with drawing materials such as pastels in order to further enhance their images. Volker will also discuss water-based inks as an
alternative to oils.

Students will create several small prints during the workshop. The monotype is equally effective for representational genre such as portraiture, landscape, and still life, or more experimental abstract images.

Members $45, Non-members $55; materials included (students are encouraged to
supplement with their favorites)
  Artist Biography
Michigan artist Michael Volker, one of the featured artists in the Interpretive Landscapes Exhibit at the Arts Center in January, 2008, returns to the Bonifas Gallery as juror and awards judge for Northern Exposure XV. Volker earned his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in painting and printmaking at Central Michigan University, where he also studied art history and contemporary theory.

During this period Volker became interested in the relationship between the natural environment and human culture. "As a landscape artist I am the benefactor of a rich and defining tradition in American Art. My goal is to create a visual space that is reflective and consciousness-raising, as well as entertaining," Volker says. Volker has exhibited extensively in galleries, museums, and juried exhibitions, where he has garnered awards for printmaking, including monotype and painting. In 2000 the artist was awarded a self-directed residency by the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust. He spent 3 years under exclusive contract to Bensen Galleries, LTD, where a limited edition print of his work was published. He is also included in "Journal of the Print World. His work is in the permanent collection of Alma College and Saginaw Valley University, as well as many private collections throughout the U.S. Some of Volker's works are now traveling with the 27th Annual Alma College Statewide Print Competition.

Volker has conducted workshops and lectured at various art institutions throughout the state. Between 2001 and 2006, he taught at Alma College as a Visiting Instructor in Art and Design. Volker now teaches at Central Michigan University as Assistant Professor in painting and drawing, while maintaining a studio at his home in Bay City, MI, where he lives with his wife, Sarah.