Pacific Northwest Art School

Salon Series #4 Joomchi with Zia Gipson Zia Gipson, Instructor Date: Saturday, June 10th, 2023 (1pm – 4pm) Tuition: $35 Welcome to the Salon Series! Hosted by a couple of our local “celebrity” creatives: Zia Gipson and Ilene Sorenson. Have you ever wondered how some of our local talent choose their palette, subjects, plan, plot, and create? Now is your chance to watch up close and personal at any one of the three sessions in this fun and informal “salon…

Stunning Abstracts with Soft Pastels Mira M White, Instructor Date: Saturday, June 17th – Monday, June 19th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $525 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD We are going to have a great time working with soft pastels in a variety of experimental ways: under-paintings with acrylics, watercolors or pastel diluted with rubbing alcohol.(No petroleum-based solvents in this workshop.) We will be layering both dry and wet processes. Lots of exuberant mark making on several surfaces! Open to continuing artists of all levels…

Stunning Abstracts with Soft Pastels Mira M White, Instructor Date: Saturday, June 17th – Monday, June 19th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $525 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD We are going to have a great time working with soft pastels in a variety of experimental ways: under-paintings with acrylics, watercolors or pastel diluted with rubbing alcohol.(No petroleum-based solvents in this workshop.) We will be layering both dry and wet processes. Lots of exuberant mark making on several surfaces! Open to continuing artists of all levels…

Salon Series #5 Poetry Collage with Zia Gipson Zia Gipson, Instructor Date: Saturday, June 17th, 2023 (1pm – 4pm) Tuition: $35 Welcome to the Salon Series! Hosted by a couple of our local “celebrity” creatives: Zia Gipson and Ilene Sorenson. Have you ever wondered how some of our local talent choose their palette, subjects, plan, plot, and create? Now is your chance to watch up close and personal at any one of the three sessions in this fun and informal…

Plein Air Studio Mike Wise, Instructor Date: Wednesday, June 21st – Sunday, June 25th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $625 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Join Mike Wise for three days of instruction in his beautiful home studio on Whidbey Island minutes from the charming town of Coupeville. Mike is known for his gorgeous paintings of lily ponds, rural American farms, lush rivers, and aspen groves. In this workshop, students will learn the methods and techniques for creating dynamic landscape compositions from photo reference.Throughout…

Salon Series #6 Kumihimo Braiding with Ilene Sorenson Ilene Sorenson, Instructor Date: Saturday, June 24th, 2023 (1pm – 4pm) Tuition: $35 Welcome to the Salon Series! Hosted by a couple of our local “celebrity” creatives: Zia Gipson and Ilene Sorenson. Have you ever wondered how some of our local talent choose their palette, subjects, plan, plot, and create? Now is your chance to watch up close and personal at any one of the three sessions in this fun and informal…

Impressionistic and Abstract Photography John and Lisa Merrill, Instructors Date: Saturday, July 8th – Sunday, July 9th, 2023 (8:30am-9:30pm including optional sunsets) Tuition: $495 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A When can a blurry photo be beautiful? When you create blur intentionally by moving your camera, lens or both during a long exposure. Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) embraces the power of play, flexes creative muscles, and can result in fascinating, impressionistic images. Join travel and social impact photographers John and Lisa Merrill for…

Papermaking from Around the World #1 Jane Ingram Allen, Instructor Dates: Monday, July 10th – Tuesday, July 11th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $325 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD In this workshop participants will learn about papermaking traditions, equipment and plants used in ten different countries (Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Bali Indonesia, Brazil, Tanzania and England). The instructor will share her experiences as an artist in residence in these countries where she made handmade paper from local plants to create her…

Voltron! Irene Roderick, Instructor Dates: Monday, July 10th – Friday, July 14th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $750 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD VOLTRON!!! Defender of the Quilt World! Voltron is a strip-pieced, kaleidoscopic, fascinating quilt that finishes about 60”x72″.Come join Irene Roderick in a workshop in which we will construct 17 strip sets of varying colors and widths, cut them into triangles, construct the quilt from the center out, and then engineer them into a beautiful, complex design!

Papermaking from Around the World #2 Jane Ingram Allen, Instructor Dates: Thursday, July 13th – Friday, July 14th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $325 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD In this workshop participants will learn about papermaking traditions, equipment and plants used in ten different countries (Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Bali Indonesia, Brazil, Tanzania and England). The instructor will share her experiences as an artist in residence in these countries where she made handmade paper from local plants to create her…

Mad about Motif Pat Pauly, Instructor Dates: Monday, July 17th – Friday, July 21st, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $850 Registration: $25 Materials: $60 Pick a handful of strong motifs — from light and airy to big and bold – and use them to print spectacular fabric. Using thickened dyes, we will combine motifs to create whole cloth prints, or overall prints, or some to cut later and use in fiber work. You will use your graphic motif in several printing techniques from…

Exploration of Black as a Primary Color: Creating a Body of Work Orly Avineri, Instructor Dates: Thursday, July 20th – Monday, July 24rd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $850 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A It’s when we become friends with what is feared that we find freedom and joy in the creative process of painting and collaging. Whether it’s the fear of the blank canvas, fear of drawing, or fear of painting portraits, we are all aware, that fear is our main challenge. In…

Nuno-felted Scarf or Beret Marjolaine Arsenault, Instructor Dates: Sunday, July 23rd – Monday, July 24th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $425 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Join Marjolaine in a 2-day class to create a nuno felt scarf you can wear different ways and closing with a button. You will also create a beret to match your scarf. During this workshop you will explore the technique of nuno felt, a wet felting process combining silk fabric and wool roving. The felting is accomplished by…

Nuno-felted Tunic/Vest Marjolaine Arsenault, Instructor Dates: Wednesday, July 26th – Saturday, July 29th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $775 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Join Marjolaine in a 4-day class to create a reversible tunic. You also have the option to make a vest, using the same resist pattern. Her fascination for the limitless possibilities of making nuno felt seamless garments led her to playful creations. Clothing should be fun to wear! During this workshop you will explore the technique of nuno felt. You…

Sainted Love – Santos Doll Rochelle Gaukel, Instructor Date: Friday, July 28th, Sunday July 30th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $475 Registration: $25 Materials: $75 In this course you will be sculpting a Santos doll and soldering the cage dress using the stamped hot solder technique. There are no limitations on what your doll could look like. You will be supplied with everything you need to complete your doll, but if there are bits and pieces that you have in your personal…

Bold and Uninhibited- Oil and Cold Wax Painting Serena Barton, Instructor Dates: Thursday, August 3rd to Sunday, August 6th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $675 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Creating abstract art with oil paint and cold wax medium is intuitive, bold, and full of discovery. Your pieces will take on lives of their own through the many layers of oil and cold wax you apply, addition of mixed media elements, and the areas you choose to scrape away. Each oil and cold…

Imagining Paradise Keith Carter, Instructor Date: Monday, August 7th – Friday, August 11th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $1,300 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A This workshop is designed to help you discover or renew your creative spirit, and broaden the way you think about photography. Its purpose is to help serious amateur or professional photographers reconcile practical and creative lives, to re-examine your own creative process exploring the narrative, aesthetic, and emotional aspects of image making, and find new paths to creative growth. Our…

From Observation to Translation: Metals Basics for Jewelry Trish Ramsay, Instructor Date: Tuesday, August 8th – Friday, August 11th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $625 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD This class covers metalsmithing basics for jewelry making: creating and transferring a design to sheet metal, sawing and piercing, hammering, texturing, stamping, chain making, cold connections and riveting. We will explore the pliant characteristics of non-ferrous metals including doming, forging and forming a dimensional shape, as well as surface color such as patina and…

Skins, Skeletons, Nets, and Pantyhose Mo Kelman, Instructor Date: Sunday, August 13th – Thursday, August 17th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $850 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD In this experimental workshop, students will learn methods for building skeletal structures with rigid and semi-rigid materials like rattan, bamboo, wood and found materials.  Techniques will include lashing and chaotic plaiting. To build skins onto these structures, we will work with gut, rice papers and a variety of netting systems. As well, methods and coatings for transforming…

Whidbey Plein Air Paint Out! Artist Registration: $70 Paint Out: Monday, August 14th – Thursday, August 17th, 2023, all-day painting hours, locations all around Whidbey Island Artwork Submission: Thursday, August 17th, 4pm – 6pm @ PNWAS (Pacific NorthWest Art School) Gala: Friday, August 18th, 6pm – 9pm @ PNWAS Weekend Art Sale: Saturday, August 19th & Sunday, August 20th, 10am – 4pm @ PNWAS Plein Air Artists! We want YOU next summer for our fourth annual Plein Air event, August 14-17, 2023 on gorgeous Whidbey Island.…

Resist-Based Pendants: Hollow Forms, Dimensional Surfaces and Object Entrapment Lisa Klakulak, Instructor Dates: Monday, August 21st – Thursday, August 24th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $750 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD A course combining multiple three-dimensional techniques for small-scale object refinement. Design unique hollow forms and bails for hanging by using two-dimensional resists. Learn to encase durable found objects to add color, texture, material complexity and conceptual relevancy to your work. By simply wrapping fiber around an object one doesn’t provide ample space for…

Explorations of the Wandering Mind Andrea Matus deMeng, Instructor Dates: Thursday, August 24th – Sunday, August 27th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $900 Registration: $25 Materials: $45 “Not all who wander are lost”. Embodying this quote we will pull and follow the threads of dreams, projections, and thoughts to create an inspired series of artworks. Guided by abstract concepts, forms and high-impact design patterns we’ll transform our thoughts to their existence on our canvases incorporating a plethora of mixed media techniques. With a strong…

Felt Fabric Fusion & Object Inclusion Lisa Klakulak, Instructor Dates: Saturday, August 26th – Monday, August 28th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $575 Registration: $25 Materials: $10 Introducing alternative materials and objects in your felt work has the potential to add color, texture diversity, associations based on memory and experience as well as weight and movement to your work. Participants are asked to bring a range of objects to incorporate as well as suggested types of fabric. A variety of choice fabrics are…

Ice Flowers Keron Psillas, Instructor Date: Tuesday, September 5th – Friday, September 8th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $750 Registration: $25 Materials: $35 Join Keron Psillas Oliveira for four and a half days of discovery, learning, and fun! Keron will offer you all her knowledge of how to photograph flowers in ice, and how to develop your images to perfect your personal vision. Her beautifully textured and intriguing images were developed over many months of trial and error, integration of inspiration, and evolution.…

Color Mixing for Dyers Carol Soderlund, Instructor Dates: Monday, September 11th – Friday, September 15th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $800 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Students will be creating new color families not previously dyed in Carol’s classes. This is a THIRD set of families, and we will be using some different yellow. red, and blue dyes as primaries than in previous classes. If you have been wanting a new set of samples, but would rather do the work cooperatively with classmates, this…

Glacier National Park David M. Cobb, Instructor Date: Thursday, September 14th – Sunday, September 17th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $750 Registration: $25 Materials: $50 During late September, the snow begins to dust the steep mountains of Glacier National Park, and most of the tourists have gone home. Deer and elk can still be spotted, and bear, moose, bighorn, and mountain goat still roam the park in full view. Beginning on the western side of the park we’ll photograph some of the spectacular…

Mindful Photography Robert Stahl, Instructor Date: Friday, September 15th – Sunday, September 17th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $495 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A This workshop in color will advocate a ‘mindful’ approach to the photographic process. To accomplish this, emphasis will be on becoming more fully aware of moments as they pass by. And in so doing provide photographers a greater sensitivity for potentially compelling subject matter. By minimizing thinking and judging new ways of seeing will be cultivated. Additionally, the virtues of…

Woven Moments: Photo, Paper, Thread Christine Mauersberger, Instructor Date: Sunday, September 17th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $225 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Join visiting artist, Christine Mauersberger to learn how to weave without a loom using your own photos, handmade papers, and/or thread/yarn. Remember weaving colored papers in grade school? It was simple and fun. You do not need to know how to weave but you will soon understand the technique and be on your way to hours of fun with simple…

Studio Days with Christine Christine Mauersberger, Instructor Dates: Monday, September 18th – Thursday, September 21st, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $800 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Spend 4 days with master teacher and multi-media artist, Christine Mauersberger. You will receive curated guidance regarding your practice, projects, and goals. She will join you where you are with the work you bring and help you engage deeper through the joy of play and experimentation. To support your experience in the studio, we will have a gelli…

Three-Dimensional Fiber Sculpture Cameron Mason, Instructor Dates: Tuesday, September 19th – Saturday, September 23rd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $625 Registration: $25 Materials: $35 Take your fiber work into another dimension. In this workshop we will explore multiple ways to turn a two-dimensional flexible plane into fiber sculpture. You will use your own fabrics, either hand-dyed or commercial, easily accessible materials, and a sewing machine to create stable 3-dimensional objects. Starting with your images for design inspiration, we will turn drawings into patterns…

Contemporary Approaches to Mixed Media Art Joan Fullerton, Instructor Dates: Tuesday, September 19th – Friday, September 22nd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $650 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Join us for inspiring demonstrations, lectures, encouragement and practice. You’ll learn how to coax hints of reality from an abstract background, how to control values and colors for emotional emphasis, and how to suggest rather than delineate. You’ll explore working intuitively, responding to what shows up, working in a series, mixing and utilizing neutrals for softer,…

Painting Landscapes, Understanding Color in Nature Mike Wise, Instructor Date: Friday, September 22nd – Sunday, September 24th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $395 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Join Mike Wise for three days of instruction in his beautiful home studio on Whidbey Island, minutes from the charming town of Coupeville. Mike is known for his gorgeous paintings of lily ponds, rural American farms, lush rivers, and aspen groves. In this workshop, students will learn the methods and techniques for creating stunning three-dimensional oil…

Evocative Travel Photography John and Lisa Merrill, Instructors Date: Thursday, September 28th – Monday, October 2nd, 2023 (7am-8pm including optional sunrises and sunsets) Tuition: $1,250 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A In their engaging workshop, John and Lisa Merrill will help you nurture your creativity and strengthen your ability to tell compelling visual stories of the places you explore and the people you meet. Whidbey is a fascinating and beautiful island on which to learn, connect, and dive into the art of travel…

Evocative Travel Photography John and Lisa Merrill, Instructors Date: Thursday, September 28th – Monday, October 2nd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $1,250 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A In this fun workshop for photographers of all levels, John and Lisa Merrill will help you nurture your creativity and develop the skills and mindset to tell compelling visual stories of the places you explore and the people you meet. Whidbey is a fascinating and beautiful island on which to learn, connect, and create, and improve your…

Itajime: Subtractions and Additions Elin Noble, Instructor Dates: Monday, October 2nd – Friday, October 6th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $800 Registration: $25 Materials: $50 In this class we will explore what happens when color is repeatedly added and removed through sequential itajime shibori steps. Itajime shibori, or clamp-resist dyeing, is based on wooden boards held on either side of accordion folded cloth before the cloth is dyed. This class is an in-depth exploration of how the different folds, and the location, shape,…

Sculpture for the Body: Surface Design + Garment Construction Fiona Duthie, Instructor Dates: Tuesday, October 3rd – Saturday, October 7th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $900 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Sculpture for the Body explores the manipulation of the surface of a garment; building up organic shaping that alters the structural lines, beautifully, dynamically and unexpectedly. We’ll create highly wearable art pieces that can be gathered, folded, pleated, shaped and layered using embedded cords, rings, tapes and ties. These pieces are made to be…

Layered Surface Design: The Hand-Made Stitch on Hand-Dyed Cloth Lisa Binkley, Instructor Dates: Sunday, October 8th – Thursday, October 12th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $825 Registration: $25 Materials: $15 There is enormous potential in the interplay of patterns and textures found on hand-dyed fabrics and in hand stitching with beads and threads. In this workshop students explore contemporary mark making and texture making through hand embroidery using a wide variety of stitches with beads, embroidery threads, and other embellishments on hand-dyed fabrics.…

Color Harmony in the Landscape Mitch Albala, Instructor Date: Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $525 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A The landscape painter strives to use color in ways that capture the beauty of outdoor light and convey a sense of atmosphere. When observed in nature, colors always appear harmonious and “correct,” but for colors to appear the same in a painting, they must be organized around a color strategy — a specific set of colors that…

Color Harmony in the Landscape Mitch Albala, Instructor Date: Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $525 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A The landscape painter strives to use color in ways that capture the beauty of outdoor light and convey a sense of atmosphere. When observed in nature, colors always appear harmonious and “correct,” but for colors to appear the same in a painting, they must be organized around a color strategy — a specific set of colors that…

Long Exposure Sharon Tenenbaum, Instructor Date: Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $850 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Learn to create breathtaking Fine Art Long Exposure images. If you are already familiar with Long Exposure and want to take your images to the next level, or are just getting started, this 3-Day Workshop will cover all the material from basics to advanced. Even though the class teachings will be in person, Sharon will be screen-recording every step of…

Beginning Deconstructed Screen-Printing: the Intuitive Way to Print- ONLINE Kerr Grabowski, Instructor Dates: Friday Oct 13th through Monday, Oct 16th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $575 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Explore a different facet of screen printing on fabric; the unpredictable, the intuitive, the “happy accident”. In this guided online workshop, you will experiment with the silkscreen as a painting and monoprint tool. Using fiber reactive dyes, deconstructed printing and polychromatic printing, create marks, textures and images unique (mostly) to this process.…

Encaustic & Mixed Media Portraiture and Figurative Lora Murphy, Instructor Dates: Friday, November 3rd – Sunday, November 5th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $650 Registration: $25 Materials: $50 An exciting and hands-on workshop will investigate exploratory techniques and approaches in Encaustic Portraiture and Figurative art. We will focus on the creation of rich and expressive surface designs and original pieces done with a combination of encaustic painting and mixed media techniques. Throughout the workshop, some different demonstrations will be done, providing an extensive…

Abstract Macro Photography Jack Graham, Instructor Date: Monday, November 13th – Wednesday, November 15thth, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $500 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Please consider joining us for this special workshop on Whidbey Island in November, 2023. This 2 ½ day workshop will be an intensive two days of field and classroom work based on Jack’s curriculum that has been developed in over 30 years of teaching workshops.In a sense, we’ll leave the photography that is normal for us behind and venture…