Archive for experimental

Separation Oil in Enamels with Gabrielle Castonguay (online)

By Jenn Parnell
 on September 10, 2021
 with no comments

         

Join world-renowned enamelist Gabrielle Castonguay for a two-day LIVE online intensive workshop on the use of separation oils with enamels.

Separation oil provokes a chemical reaction on the surface of enamel by modifying its viscosity, forcing expansion of the surface and allowing the underneath enameled layers to show. 

It is a powerful, fun and unique effect that helps enhance contrasts between transparents, opaques, and textures. When separation oil is applied accordingly to the requirements of the material it allows the enamelist to explore and play with stimulating effects of light and surfaces.

Whether you work large or small, separation oil opens up a world of possibilities for your work!

ALL LEVELS WELCOME! Prior enameling experience is recommended, kilns are required for this class.

REGISTER HERE!

Gabrielle S. Castonguay is an enamelist from Montréal, impassioned by enameling since the age of eleven when she started learning the art from one of the lead master enamelists in Quebec, Canada. She studied and graduated from Fine Arts, Theatre and Design programs from local Colleges and Concordia University in Montréal. For many years now Gabrielle has been back working as a full time enamelist, the essence of her true passion and the expression of her artistic engagement.

Her work is well known and well regarded in North America as well as the larger international enameling field. She specializes in enameling wall pieces, sculptures, vessels and integration of enameled metal pieces in design/architectural work. She was a faculty member of the Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California, teaching the art of enamel from 2012 to 2014. She has exhibited in Canada, Europe, the USA and Japan, and her work is part of private collections in Canada, the USA, South America and Europe. She co-curated the national Canadian Enamel Exhibition 2013: “Fire and Fusion”. She has been awarded several grants for her work over the years.

 

 

 

Workshop Hours:

Friday and Saturday 10 AM to 5PM Pacific Time, 1 hour break in the middle of the day. 

September 10 & 11, 2021

Cost: $375

Materials List: Provided after registration

Registration: Maximum of 15

Refund Policy: No refunds unless your workshop position can be filled by another person.

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The Saddest Aisle – A talk by Keith Lewis

By Judy Stone
 on November 16, 2019
 with no comments

The Center for Enamel Art is honored to sponsor a talk by enamelist/jeweler Keith Lewis.

For over 20 years, Lewis has investigated the ways that jewelry can represent a form of regard and remembrance. Beginning with a series of brooches commemorating friends and acquaintances who died of AIDS and continuing through work that explored gay male identity and sexuality, Lewis has used jewelry as a vessel of love, regard and political memorialization.

In his newest body of work, “The Saddest Aisle”, Lewis addresses his longstanding belief in the obligations of empathy through the abandoned, forlorn baskets in the aisles of Goodwill. Silent, uncomplaining receptacles of joy and pain, he believes that they deserve redemption and regard. So he takes them, renders them permanent and then dresses them in finery as a recognition of the lives that they have witnessed.

In his talk, Lewis will discuss the trajectory of his work and the ways that the current series–– despite being ornamental and non-narrative–– continues to allow him to explore his longstanding goals and preoccupations.

This is a free talk, so there’s no need to register. Everyone is welcome to come and learn about Keith’s work and his techniques for enameling. The talk is in conjunction with the Enamel Oddities workshop he is teaching at Silvera Jewelry School this weekend. The workshop is hosted by Silvera and is part of the Center’s 2019 workshop series.

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Enamel Oddities – a workshop with Keith Lewis

By Judy Stone
 on November 15, 2019
 with no comments

 

THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL.
Email to be put on the waitlist.

This 3-day workshop will feature a number of somewhat unusual enameling techniques that are straightforward and simple, but which significantly expand the expressive potential of enameling. We will begin with a brief overview of basic painted enamel techniques including drawing directly onto enamel, the use of watercolor enamels, the preparation of enamel paints from raw oxides, the use of lusters, and other methods of painting.

After that we will explore four rendering methods in detail:

  1. The firing of graphite drawings into enamel, producing highly detailed and delicate images. We will learn how to prep the enamel for the pencil marks; how to blend, shade and use graphite washes; and how to build up layers and use overglazing in combination with painting techniques. As an alternative to kiln-firing we will learn a simple method of torch-firing that maximizes image clarity.
  2. The use of reflective glass beads (used on airport runways) to create unexpected optical effects. Demos will include the use of various sized beads, compatible enamel undercoats and the complex optical interactions that can be created.
  3. The use of synthetic aventurine (goldstone) to produce enamels that sparkle, a historical method virtually unknown in contemporary enamel circles.
  4. The application of delicate sgraffito drawings in gold leaf, a technique derived from Roman glass portrait rondels and adapted for enamels. Demos will focus on the crucial aspects of surface preparation and precise firing conditions that are necessary to achieve the effect.

 

Keith Lewis received his BS in Chemistry from Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) in 1981 and his MFA in Jewelry & Metalsmithing from Kent State University (Kent, OH) in 1993. He has been teaching at Central Washington University since 1994, where he is currently a Distinguished Professor. His jewelry deals with issues of sexual identity, memory, loss, and the notion of jewelry as a transportable polemic. His work has been widely published and shown both nationally and internationally, and is represented in a number of significant public and private collections, including the Tacoma Art Museum, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, The Rotasa Foundation (CA), The Museum of Arts and Design, The Smithsonian Institution, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) and on the Metalsmith magazine Editorial Advisory Board.

Workshop Hours:

Friday-Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM , with meal breaks at Silvera Jewelry School

Cost: $595 + $35 materials fee

Materials List: Provided upon registration or when ready

Registration: Limited to 9

Refund Policy: No refunds unless your workshop position can be filled by another person.

Lodging, Meals, Transportation:

Coming from out of town? Check AirBnB, Priceline, and other discounted online lodging sources, The Center will try help you make your stay comfortable and stress free while you are a workshop participant.

 

 

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Captured in Glass: Photography+Enamel with Gretchen Goss

By Judy Stone
 on June 7, 2019
 with no comments

THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL.
Email to be put on the waitlist.

Have you ever wished you could capture a photograph in a permanent medium like enamel? Do you love making discoveries with experimental techniques? This is your chance to discover the potential of photographic imagery in your enameled work! In this four-day workshop, we will learn several methods of image reproduction:

  • acid etching, in which images are etched into copper prior to enameling
  • decals, in which images are fused to a layer of enamel
  • image transfer using gum bichromate
  • photograms, which are silhouettes created with objects or stencils

This 4-day workshop will also cover basic drawing and painting methods in enameling. Finished surfaces and methods of presentations will be discussed. Students will produce a series of fired samples as well as pieces ready to be framed, mounted, set or otherwise finished for presentation.

Some preparation for the workshop will happen ahead of time. Prior to the workshop, students will receive instructions for materials to purchase and prepare, including negatives on acetate and objects for photograms.
Basic enamel experience is required.

Gretchen Goss is a professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art, teaching enameling and craft and design courses for ceramics, glass and jewelry/metals students. Her work has been supported by multiple Ohio Arts Council Individual Artists Grants, and included in exhibits nationally and internationally. She has been a curator, juror, visiting artist, and lecturer, and taught numerous enameling workshops nationally and in the UK.  In 2013 she was awarded the Creative Arts Awards from the Enamelist Society.

Workshop Hours:

Friday-Saturday, Monday, 10 AM to 5 PM , Sunday, 10 AM to 4 PM
at the Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA.

Cost: $650 plus $50 materials fee

Materials List: Provided upon registration or when ready

Registration: Limited to 8

Refund Policy: No refunds unless your workshop position can be filled by another person.

Lodging, Meals, Transportation:

Coming from out of town? Check AirBnB, Priceline, and other discounted online lodging sources, The Center will try help you make your stay comfortable and stress free while you are a workshop participant.

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“Place as Landscape” Free Docent Presentation

By Judy Stone
 on February 16, 2019

Join Judy Stone in the South Gallery of the Richmond Art Center for a 1 hour tour of this unique enamel exhibition.

Stone will talk about how the exhibition came to be, why the work was chosen, the artists in the exhibition, and how the work was made. Her presentation is a shortened version of the talk she gave in Taipei, Taiwan at the opening of Blaze,  international enamel exhibition last year.

There will be a repeat of this presentation on March 2 at 2 PM.

A limited number of catalogues from Blaze will be offered for sale ($40ea.) at this event.

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