Sign up for Faculty PIC, January 4, 2024

Locations for workshops currently listed as TBD will be provided on the morning of the conference.

Write to Remember

Ruth Ann Schmitt

Location TBD
Let’s do a little journal writing to recall some childhood memories. We might even shape a poem or a letter to ourselves. We’ll use pen and paper to honor the mind and body connection in remembering and thinking. Let’s get lost in creating childhood poems or a bit of memoir.

Discovering Beauty Wherever You Are: Photography as a Form of Meditation

Joel Geffen

Location TBD
Have you ever wished you were on a beach, just relaxing in the sun? Have you ever dreamed of waking up in the mountains, breathing in fresh air? Have you ever wanted to travel to new and exciting places?

Well, here’s your chance! Sort of . . .

What does relaxing on a sunny beach sun, breathing fresh mountain air, and travel to new places have in common? That’s right: you stop worrying about stuff in your life for a little while. You immerse yourself in the pleasure of the moment. And the cool thing is that when you do that, you feel centered and content. Happy, even.

This session is all about that. With photography as our magic carpet, we will explore places we know to find the beauty hiding in plain sight. Children do this all the time, right? They see a spiderweb hung with dew and imagine it as a string of diamonds. They see a flower and are amazed, as if it’s the first flower ever seen in the world. They look up at clouds and envision dragons, frogs, and rocket ships. Their world is filled with wonder. They don’t have to try.

Each of us has a kid inside. In this session, using our cellphones – or a camera if you wish -- we will give that kid permission rise to the surface. We are going to allow that part of ourselves be curious, to be fascinated, to photograph the beauty of everyday objects. If the weather is reasonable, we’ll go outside. If it’s not, we’ll wander the halls. In either case, I guarantee you, there are tons of cool things to photograph. Guaranteed!

We’ll photograph on our own or in small groups for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Then we’ll come back together again, share what we’ve found, and talk about the beauty all around us. This is not about trying. It’s simply about relaxing, taking time to breathe, and noticing. I’ve led workshops like this for years. People always enjoy them. Come and join me!

Build and Decorate Your Own Ceramic Mug

Steve Glazer

F163
Using the slab process, participants will be guided through the assembly and decoration process of making a personal drinking mug. The mugs will be bisque fired, covered with a clear gloss glaze, glaze fired, and given to maker. Note that drying, firing, glazing and glaze firing all the mugs will take a few weeks, but all participants will get their own high fired, food safe mugs.

Automatism with Negatives and Printing: marked, crumpled, and cut

Karen Larson-Voltz

F216 (and F212, Darkroom)
This session visits a technique adopted by the Surrealist movement to create images that utilize subconscious reactions to the physical materials at hand. Session participants will create their own handmade negatives by using a combination of mark making, cutting, folding, and crumpling on clear film that will then be contact printed in the darkroom. During this 50-minute session, each participant will get to work with their hands, light, and chemistry by moving from the studio into the darkroom to create 1-2 resin-coated photographic prints.

Improvisational Collaboration Through Playacting

John Michael Sefel

Adray Auditorium (theatre, F building)
Participants will break into groups and, over approximately 20 minutes, will "world build" a story (with guidance from workshop leader) using very specific prompts, storytelling rules, etc., all designed for maximum imagination and silliness. The project is designed to avoid hierarchical work patterns, instead encouraging every participant to contribute at their comfort level and with their strengths, emphasizing a real "we all have something to add" approach. It is childlike in a nonconfrontational format and works as an "icebreaker" without many of the "forced action" activities that make so many people fear icebreakers. This process really emphasizes letting go of perfection, allowing creative impulses to lead you, and building on your entire team's strengths rather than having a "firm" end product in mind and trying to force your team into that box.

Drum Circle/Sound; Music for Wellness/Drum Circle

Jeremy Palmer, MT-BC

F110 Rick L. Goward Band Room
Music for wellness explores ways to promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being through various uses of music in a drum circle setting. Enjoy a unique hands-on experience where participants engage in communal rhythm and music-making under the direction of a board-certified music therapist. No prior musical training required.

Mixed-Media Journaling

Vicki Shepherd

F218 (upstairs art room)
In this session participants will use a variety of art mediums, collage, and word to art journal. Using intuitive expression based on a feeling or intention, participants will put marks on paper. This is not about creating beautiful art rather finding peace in the act of creating.

Zentangle

Patti Sekulidis

Location TBD
The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. We call these patterns, tangles. You create tangles with combinations of dots, lines, simple curves. Doodling with intention.

Monoprinting

Ashley Berry

F162
Monoprinting is a type of printmaking where the intent is to make unique prints. Unlike other methods of printing (e.g. screenprinting, woodcut, intaglio, etc) where you edition in multiples of the same image, it can only produce one copy of an image. Printmaking is an active learning medium, meaning every time you pull a print, is a time that you should learn something new, and monoprints allow for this to happen fluidly and immediately within the process. Using additive and subtractive methods with paint on acrylic plates, participants will create a one-of-a-kind print and explore their creative side via spontaneous and expressive printmaking while learning the basic processes of creating a print from start to finish.