I was very lucky to participate in 3 different 5-day drawing classes July/August at the Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) with Wendy Welch. Wendy is the director of the school as well as a gifted teacher who gives so much. She has the most creative ideas for the classes that she teaches.

Ornament and Decoration:

"Often more associated with design and craft, ornament and decoration is increasingly part of the vocabulary used by many contemporary artists and illustrators. This workshop focuses on how the decorative can be both surface and content. A range of imaginative approaches to creating designs from doodles, making patterns based on geometry as well as free-form organic designs are covered. Materials used include pencils, ink, watercolours and gouache". (VISA)

These are the artists work we looked at during the slideshow.

William Morris, Gustav Klimt, Terence LaNoue, Dijanne Cevaal, Dtienne Zack, Gene Davis, Joyce Kozloff, Judy Pfaff, Robert Kushner, Robert Zakanitch, Dan Bennett, Sandra Cinto, Laura Ownes, Sigmar Polke, Lecia Dole-Recio, Valerie Jaudon, Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, Jennifer Bartlett, Terry Winters, Random graph paper art, Lorenzo Duran.

Jill Ehlert

Language of Mapping:

"Maps are a visual representation of specific places. Early maps were made by artists who often had no hands-on experience with the location depicted in the map; they were made through the testimonials of others and the imagination of the artists. This workshop uses the language of mapmaking to explore other terrains such as the imagination, memory and space". (VISA)

Artists work we looked at:

Landon McKenzie, Nancy Graves. Hirokazu Kosaya, Jeff Woodbury, John Hurrell, Kristin Bly, Adolf Wolfi, Clodagh Emoe, Dannielle Tegeder, tilbor kalman, Howard Horowitz, Irwin Morgan, Mark Bradford, Simon Evans, Susan Hiller, Susan STock well, val Britton, Jasper Johns, Guillermo Kuitca, Sara Fanelli, Nina Katchadourian, Kelvin Wilson, Harry Allen, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Paula Scher, Kim Dingle, William Wegman, Chris Kenny, Joyce Kozloff, Julia Ricketts, Quentin Blake, Mark Bennett, Julie Mehretu

Drawing classes at the Vancouver Island School of Art

A record of my studio practice and sources of inspiration.