Renew Your Creativity: Take a Workshop

Do you want to expand your creativity, build an artistic practice, or learn new craft techniques? A studio workshop might be the way.

I have been attending workshops for many years, ranging from half-day seminars to week-long workshops. I am attracted to workshops positioned at the intersection of art and craft. They provide hands-on experiences overlaid with principles of art and design. They are accessible to people with craft skills without being intimidating. Even experienced artists can use them to spark new areas of creativity.

There are lots of places you can find these workshops. In my early explorations, I looked for ways to learn about fiber techniques that were related to knitting. One great resource is the Handweavers Guild of America’s biannual Convergence conference. There I took classes on spinning yarn, felting with wool and silk, and using mixed media techniques to alter and embellish fabric.

In one Convergence seminar, tapestry weaver James Koehler introduced me to Johannes Itten’s Color Star. The color star consists of 12 color hues, each in 6 gradations of tints and shades. It comes with eight discs cut out with different arrangements of star points. By rotating the discs over the star, you reveal different combinations of harmonic color chords, ranging from simple complementary colors to complex six-tone chords. It’s a great tool to use when you are stuck in a color rut.

I have also taken workshops in areas that were unfamiliar to me. Artist John Garrett led another Convergence workshop where I learned to twist 18 gauge galvanized wire with a power drill. At the time, I was looking for a way to make armatures to improve the internal structure of my knitted sculptures. This three-day long workshop provided lots of hands-on experience and an opportunity to experiment under the guidance of an experienced teacher. I adapted the twisted wire technique for use in my sculptures for many years. It forms the internal structure for the golden limestone blocks in my piece Jerusalem Stone. I also applied it to thinner wire twisted with yarn for the stems of the cyclamen flowers in that piece.

The next Convergence conference will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee in July 2020. The sessions are likely to include topics in weaving, hand spinning, dyeing, basketry, felting, and professional development.

This October, there will be a fiber art conference sponsored by the Surface Design Association in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s being held in conjunction with the exhibitions of Innovations in Textiles event. The workshop schedule will be announced soon.

Workshops where you get to interact with other participants over a number of days can be especially invigorating. You don’t need to be an experienced artist to take a workshop. Many are open to beginners and people who want to explore their creative side for a few days. The North Country Studio Workshops offer 5-day workshops in which you immerse yourself in one inquiry. I took a basketry workshop one year, and a mixed media sculpture workshop another. Other participants in my workshops have included a retail store manager, an environmental biologist, a jewelry maker, a decorative metalworker, and a retired art teacher. Some had worked with the materials or techniques before, but others had not.

At NCSW, participants take over the Bennington College studio arts building while the regular students are on winter break. We stay in the dorms and eat in the dining hall, forming our own art community for the week. Conversations about art continue over meals. Evening lectures by the instructors are a stimulating addition to the studio work.

The studio workshops include book arts, photography, clay, encaustic, jewelry, printmaking, basketry, sculpture, and textiles. Don’t be fooled by the traditional sounding techniques. The artists who lead these workshops are frequently engaged in radical experimentation with unusual materials. The leaders for the January 2020 sessions have been announced and the class descriptions sound exciting. It’s going to be hard to choose which one to take. But, by January, I know I’ll be ready for some fresh inspiration and creative exploration.

Have you attended a stimulating art workshop? Share your experience in a comment below.