Gualala Arts Workshop
Creating Household Shrines
Instructors: Jan Maria Chiappa and Sharon Nickodem

Introduction: Saturday September 5, 2009
Open workshops (your choice) Saturdays/Sundays
September 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Canceled

Register by:	August 22, 2009
Tuition:	$50 members; $65 non-members (for complete series of workshops)
Materials fee:	Varies. Approx. $10 - $25 per session (depending upon materials used)
Materials list:	Household Shrines materials list

This series of workshops calls together artists at all levels of accomplishment, using any media, to create shrines and altars. These workshops are offered in anticipation of the Arts Center's celebration of "Day of the Dead" with its November 1 festival. The shrines created during this workshop may be shown at the Household Shrines - Sacred Spaces in Everyday Life exhibit running from October 10 through November 8.

On the first Saturday, September 5, we will take a look at: the history of shrine building, of honoring ancestors, of our human desire to be part of a continuum, and our struggle to incorporate loss with living. You are invited to participate in any and all of the weekend sessions, which will include demonstrations and ideas for using ceramics, wood, gourds, metal, fabric and paper to make shrines, decorated with all kinds of ephemera. These sessions will provide support and encouragement for your creative processes. We hope you will share your experiences and your ideas with the group. And, we encourage collaboration to create group shrines and altars, for example, a shrine honoring coastal women artists.

About Jan Maria Chiappa

A painter and draftsman, Jan Maria holds a BFA, her formal studies include time at the Chicago Art Institute and Rutgers University. She was co-founder and curator of the first women's art gallery on the West Coast, "The First Majority," in Berkeley, California. Jan Maria maintained a studio in Berkeley for many years. She has taught art on all levels from pre-school to graduate school. She currently teaches an ongoing Open Clay Studio class at Gualala Arts on Monday and Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. Jan Maria offers workshops and is available for individual classes. She maintains a private studio in Gualala.

About Sharon Nickodem

Twenty-five years ago, Sharon Nickodem discovered that photography was the best creative media to express her love of the patterns and beauty in nature. She has extensive formal photographic training, supplemented by attending workshops given by such artists as Marion Patterson, Kathleen Carr, Ted Orland, Huntington Witherill, William Neill and Ruth Bernhard. For several years, Sharon was Ms. Patterson's workshop assistant. In 2006, she retired from a high-tech Silicon Valley company to focus on photography, especially alternative processes, such as digital infrared capture and the application of photographic images onto non-traditional substrates such as clay, canvas and fabric.

See also: Gualala Arts Workshop Registration, Payment & Cancellation Policy.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.