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Art Focus Our objective is to provide an exciting atmosphere of artistic experimentation so that you may further develop your talents in multi-medium processes.  Focusing on contemporary art, you will be enveloped in a wide variety of techniques and supplies.  The workshops will involve silk-screen, collagraphy, creating polymer clay masters to be used in  resin casting and developing sculptural art dolls. This will be an art submersion not to be missed!

The Venue Jerome is an intriguing old mining town with FABULOUS views! You can see all the way across the Verde Valley with a bird's eye view of Cottonwood and straight over to the red rocks of Sedona. Once teaming with mining activity, then run-down to a ghost town and now reinvigorated with the onslaught of artists searching for fabulous light and a wonderful atmosphere, Jerome is the place to be.   Your classroom and lodging will be in the quaint, old Connor Hotel. And we mean OLD! The architectural details are original and are excellent! The rooms have been charmingly refurbished to the original Old West style. The Connor Hotel, built in 1898, was once the largest hotel in Jerome. It boasts 12 rooms with private baths! You will be situated right above Old Town Jerome with art galleries and eateries right under your rooms. There's a lot of art and areas to see in the tiny town of Jerome - all within walking distance. Hotel check-in is at 3:00 pm on Friday. You can situate yourselves and then go have dinner.  There will be a meet and greet at 7:00 pm, Friday evening. This will give you time to explore the area, have a wonderful day plus dinner and then come to room #1 for gifts, show and tell, and fun. That’ll be our gathering spot and classroom for the weekend.

Project Descriptions

Collagraphy: In this course, Les and Sandy will introduce you to the working process of relief printing through the creative concept of collagraphy. This experimental technique was developed in the late 60's and is only now gaining wide acceptance in the art world. No longer dismissed as "just a kid's craft", many serious artists are embracing the magic that is collagraphy. From making your own matrix board, to designing your personal collage, to running a print through the press, you will get down and dirty with color. But, don't worry. The ink that we will use is water-based, oil paint and is non-toxic. You will be provided with your own aprons and, in fact, we think that you should decorate them in the silk-screening class.

Silk Screen Printing:    Along with general instruction on the technical methods of silk screen printing, you will learn to print on both fabric and paper. Les will instruct you on how the screens are prepared, then you will use those screens in tandem with block-out fluid  to design your own unique screen vision. You will be taught how to ink the screen and how to pull multiple prints. Your goody bags will hold a blank journal in which we hope you will mark this event by exchanging prints with your fellow print makers.

Making Masters with Polymer Clay: This block of time will be spent helping you to develop sculptural masters for your art figures. Les and Sandy will show you how to take a basic clay shape such as a tear drop or a ball, and then add and subtract pinches to create the most personality packed little expressive faces and elements ever. These will be the masters from which you will make your resin casting molds.

Resin Casting:   This class will concentrate on making molds from your polymer clay masters and casting resin faces and assorted elements.  Les will instruct you on the techniques required for a successful casting from the mixing, the pour, the cure time and the mold release. He will take you through his technique of painting your pieces for an incredibly interesting surface texture.

Creating Assemblage Art Figures
All of the techniques of the previous classes will culminate in this class- the creation of your contemporary art figure. You can use your silk-screened paper or cloth, your resin castings and a bazillion of assorted bits and pieces that we have collected for you. Ultimately, we wish to give you good and practical information so that everything you create this weekend will result in personal and wonderfully individual art.

Weekend Itinerary

Friday:

Check in to Connor Hotel at 3:00pm

Meet and Greet at 7:00pm in room #1 in hotel

Saturday:

8:00-9:00am       Good Eats and Coffee

9:00-11:00am      Collagraphy Print Making

11:00-11:30am     Break

11:30am-1:00pm    Polymer Clay Master Making

1:00-2:00pm       Lunch is served

2:00-4:00pm       Silk-Screen Printing

4:00-4:30pm       Break

4:30-6:30pm       Resin Casting

6:30-10:00pm      Dinner and then back to art room (if you still have energy) for open studio time

Sunday:

Hotel Check out is at 11:00am. We have reserved the art room for an extra day so that you can bring your bags to the classroom and continue on with the fun. 

10:00am - 7:00pm Open Studio time to work on your art doll or to do more printmaking- the choices are yours.

A Short Supply List for Workshops

The most important things for you to bring are your sparkling eyes and great smiles. To create, you will want to pack a kit that includes: a pair of scissors, an X-acto knife with a new blade, a small cutting mat, a metal ruler, a heat gun and that's it! We will provide all other materials and a variety of tools for your use. 

Weekend Prices

Total Inclusive Package Price is only $385.00 per person!

Fee includes, not only semi-private art instruction and class kits by Gains & McCall, but also, a muffin breakfast with juice and coffee, a casual lunch on Saturday, on-going snacks and drinks, and 2 nights lodging at the Connor Hotel. These rates are based on double occupancy per room. 

If you require a private room, we can arrange that, based on room availability. For privacy, the rates will be an additional $125.00 per person for both nights.

Some rooms are larger than others in the hotel. All have either a queen or king sized bed, so we hope that you will pick an art buddy and double up in this small, cozy hotel. To be fair, the rooms will be assigned in order of largest to smallest room  by the receipt of e-mail confirmation. 

Registration and Payment

The registration form is in an attachment with your e-mail invitation. Fill it in as per the instructions in your e-mail invitation, and return it to Sandy at McCALLSS@commspeed.net. Then, if you wish to send payment through the mail, print the form out, fill it in and mail it to: Gains & McCall, P.O. Box 351, Dewey, AZ 86327 

WE must have your registration and fee in our hands by September 1st, 2006. We are two of the few remaining people who will accept personal checks. In fact, checks are preferred, but we can also accept PayPal, Visa or MasterCard.

General Information

Days can be quite warm, but evenings will be chilly at this time of year in the high desert, so pack accordingly. A light jacket or sweater will be perfect for evenings. Bring walking shoes, sun glasses, sun-block and a hat so that you can fully explore Jerome.

Parking is wherever you find it. Any place in Jerome is close to the hotel, but the spaces right out front will be available if you come early - before 8:00am. They empty out after the tourists leave- at around 5:00pm when the galleries close up.

There are micro-waves and refrigerators in each of the rooms, so you can bring drinks and snacks. Jerome closes up early and there are no places to get Big-Gulps or 42 oz drinks. In fact, there are no gas stations there either. Get gas in Cottonwood if you need to fuel up. Cottonwood is just down the hill from Jerome- only about 10 minutes away. It is also a small town, but it has all the restaurants and stores that you may need.

	Your host and Instructors			Les Gains and Sandra McCall