THREE DAY PLEIN AIR PAINTING WORKSHOP TO FUND ART EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS
WEST PARK, ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
JUNE 2-4 2017
I'm super excited about this special event! The West Park Civic Association approached me about a year ago to join with them in their endeavor to more fully integrate the arts into the community on the west side of Allentown. Thanks to JoAnn Jones from the West Park Civic Association and her exceptional grant writing that led to winning a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, we can now bring you the West Park Civic Association Plein Air Workshop–a plein air painting workshop in beautiful and historic West Park.
So I'm going to teach a 3-Day Plein Air Workshop from June 2 to June 4 for the very accessible fee of $125. All the funds raised from tuition will be donated in full to the newly established 'West Park Civic Association Arts Education Scholarships' to be utilized at The Baum School of Art.
My goal is raise enough money to fund (at-least) four scholarships:
- Senior Citizen Arts Education Scholarship
- Young Adult Arts Education Scholarship
- Adult Arts Education Scholarship
- Youth Arts Education Scholarship
My primary intention with this workshop (besides helping participants improve their painting skills) is to establish these scholarships as a resource for people who dream of pursuing an art education but for whatever reason cannot afford to. I've been in that situation and I've known countless students who have been as well. This small resource could be the difference that someone needs to become the artist they know they are meant to be.
I've taught at the Baum School of Art since 2004. The school means a great deal to me and is a unique gift to the Lehigh Valley community. There is a history there that I am very proud to be a part of and know so many students, faculty, and alumni who feel the same. There is also a future ahead of it that I am eager to help cultivate. I want these scholarships to help provide opportunities for students to be a part of that future. Lately it feels as if the essential resources of creativity and arts education need extra attention, investment, protection, and encouragement. Let this be a start.
So, come paint with me this June 2-4th! It's a great opportunity to further your education while also contributing to someone's future education!
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO SIGN UP
I was lucky to be interviewed
again by the great Kenn Michael
for WDIY's radio show called Musings.
Click the photo below to listen
to the interview.
click the image to sign up
The 3-day format, content, and focus will all be the same as it is in all my plein air workshops. We'll start painting at 9am and go until 4pm with about an hour for lunch at 1pm. Participants will also get the 10 page reference guide I made called 'Notes on Plein Air Painting' which serves as guide for all levels of painters. I also include some tools like viewfinders, value guides, and some other treats in your workshop package. All participants will also be featured in Allentown's acclaimed 'Arts-in-the- Park' festival on the weekend of June 17th.
This workshop is for absolutely ALL SKILL LEVELS. It's for everyone who's always wanted to learn to paint plein air; beginners who want to learn fundamental techniques, intermediate painters who want to gain experience and move to higher levels in their current painting practice, and advanced and veteran painters who want to challenge themselves with three days of intensive painting and critiques. For more specifics on how I run my workshops please visit the plein air workshops page or feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.
FOLLOW UP...THREE MONTHS AFTER THIS WORKSHOP
So I thought I would add to this blog post three months later and let everyone know that this workshop ended up raising $2500! My initial goal was to raise enough for three or four scholarships, maybe $1200 at the most. More than doubling my goal is absolutely amazing! I'm so thankful for the 19 students who enrolled. Because of them, many people will get to pursue their dreams and goals by getting an education at the Baum School of Art
Yesterday we launched the first search for scholarship recipients. I made the poster to the right and it was sent to thousands of people and circulated on social media. I'm looking forward to reviewing the applicants and working with new students this fall semester. We are offering two scholarships for students of any age that want to study with me in my Fundamentals of Landscape Painting Class, which is a 10 week course of plein air and studio painting.
West Park is a really lovely place to paint. I honestly don't think I would have gone there to paint if it weren't for this workshop. I tend to be more drawn to vast views and the park has anything but that. Being way outside of my comfort zone really proved useful though. It made everything feel new again. The painting to the right is a demo I started on the first day and meant to go back to the following days. As I attempted to paint back into it I really couldn't imagine what to do next. It felt finished and had a character to it that I really liked. I only put a few highlights in and that was that. So far it's my favorite plein air painting I've done. On to the next one tho...
