Through grants and donations, Art Explorers seeks funding for guest artists to come into the studio once a year. This is a wonderful opportunity for the studio artists to learn new techniques and to connect with local and visiting arts professionals.
Over the years, the studio has hosted artists for varying lengths of time who work in a range of mediums from ceramics to collage, metal leafing, Japanese water marbling, and puppetry. We are always looking for new ways to expand what is happening in the studio and are always open to new proposals!
If you are interested in learning more about hosting a workshop in the studio, you can find our application procedure HERE
Visiting artist and experimental filmmaker, Ursula Brookbank, visited the studio during her residency at the Larry Spring Museum of Common Physics and worked with the AE studio artists to make experimental projections using found objects and drawings on an overhead projector. These creations were later screened at the Larry Spring Museum during the Mysteries of the Round performance series.
Multimedia artist Gina Napolitan visited the studio and taught a three-day stop motion animation workshop, using collage and 2-D art materials. In this workshop, studio artists made phenakistiscopes and zeotropes - two of the original animation machines invented, with themes that focuses around animals, local history, and self-portraiture. Gina's workshop was a part of Film School - a filmmaking workshop program which had initially been selected to receive funding through an National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Challenge America grant initiative, but was made possible through generous support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.
Members of the Echo Park Film Center Collective - Lisa Marr, Andrew Kim, and Jade Faith, taught a three-week live action video workshop at the studio. It was such a blast! Studio artists learned the necessary cinematic skills to make Bragging Rites: A Bigfoot Story - a collaborative film that celebrated North Coast mythology and small-town community in all its glorious connectivity, oddity, banality and wonder. The workshop involved collective screen writing, storyboarding, sound effects, costume design... and a wonderful short film was created using local Fort Bragg locations and starring Art Explorers studio artists. Made possible as a part of Film School - a filmmaking workshop program which had initially been selected to receive funding through an National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Challenge America grant initiative, but was made possible through generous support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.
Visual artist and performer, Nathan Maxwell Cann worked with the studio artists over a series of sessions constructing puppets out of traditional materials such as paper maché, chicken wire, and felt, while also encouraging artists to incorporate found objects and organic materials specific to the area such as dried Bull Kelp. The artists were then encouraged through the process of using their creature creations in performances at the studio! This workshop was made possible through community donations.
Collage artist, Sandy Oppenheimer brought her love for paper collage to the studio and worked with the artists over a series sessions to make 2D and 3D projects in the form of collaged works on paper, and paper hats inspired by the Italian sculpture tradition to protect a craftperson's hair from the materials they are working with! This workshop was made possible through a generous from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County.
Ceramicist, Ian Wieczorek brought his plaster molds, a mix of home produced and commercial glazes & clays, and ceramic throwing wheels to the studio and worked with the studio artists to produce ceramic vessels and sculptures. Several fieldtrips took place during Ian's time at the studio - as a former resident of Cider Creek Collective in Albion, CA, he facilitated a field trip to that property so that the artists could tour the anagama kiln shed. Another trip took studio artists to Fort Bragg's Glass Beach to collect found objects for mold-making and to imbed in their work as decorative elements. This workshop was made possible through a generous from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County.
Visual artist and educator, Solange Roberdeau was a guest artist at the studio for several different projects. The first was to teach the studio artists a combination of suminagashi (Japanese water marbling) on paper, and gilding (applying metal leaf to a surface) on paper and mixed media! Solange returned the following year to lead the artists in a repeat pattern screen printing project where their original designs were made into repeat patterns that they screenprinted on tote bags, handkerchiefs, dishtowels, and paper. These workshops were made possible through a generous grant by the Community Foundation of Mendocino County.
