Pacific Northwest Art School

All About Water: Reflections, Transparency, Depth, and Dimension in Oil Mike Wise, Instructor Date: Friday, February 24th – Sunday, February 26th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $395 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Please join Mike Wise for three days of on-location instruction at his beautiful home studio on Whidbey Island minutes from the town of Coupeville. Mike is known for his gorgeous lake and lily pond scenes and will teach his students methods and techniques for creating beautiful compositions containing floating water lilies, underwater…

Dynamic Landscape Mike Wise, Instructor Date: Friday, March 24th – Sunday, March 26th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $395 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Join Mike Wise for three days of on-location instruction at 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…

Creating Bright Vibrant Energetic Landscape Paintings from Photos Mike Wise, Instructor Date: Friday, April 28th – Sunday, April 30th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $395 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Join Mike Wise for three days of on-location instruction at 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…

Fabulous Florals Elizabeth St. Hilaire, Instructor Date: Monday, May 8th – Friday, May 12th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $825 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD In this course, we are going to paint and collage fabulous floral arrangements from life. Whatever your level of ability, you CAN paint flowers! They are organic, they are forgiving, they are colorful FUN shapes that have been the source of joy for many occasions and for many years. Because it’s about creative color and simple shapes! Join me…

Responsive Mark-Making through Line and Stitch with Lisa Pressman and Susan Stover Lisa Pressman and Susan Stover, Instructors Date: Tuesday, May 16th – Saturday, May 20th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $1,250 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Are you wanting to explore the drawing potential of hand-stitching? Perhaps you love to draw but want to expand your vocabulary of mark-making options? Or maybe you work with textiles and want to start including more mixed-media processes in your work? If you answered yes to any…

Amanda Hawkins, Instructor Date: Wednesday, May 17th – Saturday, May 20th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $675 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD A Painters Guide to Color is a comprehensive course for painters of all levels and styles. The class combines theory, demonstration, hands-on practice, and art history for a robust learning experience designed to deepen your knowledge of all things related to color within a painting practice. This course is a carefully considered sequence of exercises that covers a wide range of color…

Simplification and Massing for Landscape Painters Mitch Albala, Instructor Date: Saturday, May 20th – Sunday, May 21st, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $350 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A It’s easy to paint a thousand points of light with a thousand brushstrokes. It’s much more difficult — but infinitely more eloquent — to paint a thousand points of light with only one hundred strokes.” – Mitchell Albala, from “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice”The ability to simplify — to…

Felt Your Dream! Prefelt Rug Workshop with Nomadic Design Flóra Carlile-Kovács, Instructor Date: Tuesday, May 30th – Friday, June 2nd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $600 Registration: $25 Materials: $120 In Kyrgyzstan, when a daughter got married, her mother and her relatives felted her a rug. Using their ancient symbols they felted her best wishes and good luck into the rug that stayed with her for the rest of her life. In this workshop, you’ll create a felted rug (approximately 3’x5’) with the…

Felt Your Dream! Prefelt Rug Workshop with Nomadic Design Flóra Carlile-Kovács, Instructor Date: Tuesday, May 30th – Friday, June 2nd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $600 Registration: $25 Materials: $95 In Kyrgyzstan, when a daughter got married, her mother and her relatives felted her a rug. Using their ancient symbols they felted her best wishes and good luck into the rug that stayed with her for the rest of her life. In this workshop, you’ll create a felted rug (approximately 3’x5’) with the…

Printing Your World: Creating a Palette of Fabrics with Monotype Cameron Mason, Instructor Dates: Sunday, June 4th – Thursday, June 8th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $625 Registration: $25 Materials: $40 In this workshop we will use natural and found materials to make series of prints on fabric, each related but unique. Using thickened dye and simple tools we will make monotypes of positive and negative images. We will also use paste resists and dye attractant to expand the mark-making possibilities of your…

Capturing the Light in Watercolor Lynn Ferris, Instructor Date: Saturday, June 10th – Tuesday, June 13th, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $675 Registration: $25 Materials: TBD Take your work to the next level. Light and shadow shouldn’t be afterthoughts in our paintings. In fact, good use of light and shadow is one of the best ways to take a painting from ordinary to extraordinary.In her signature workshop “Capturing the Light,” Lynn will show students how to use light and shadow to design stronger…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Landscape Photography with Charlie Waite Charlie Waite, Instructor Date: Tuesday, September 19th – Saturday, September 23rd, 2023 (9am-4pm) Tuition: $1,400 Registration: $25 Materials: N/A Our workshop is primarily centred around two pivotal elements crucial to all photography; ‘perception and communion’ But when applied to our photography, what do these two words mean? We will be exploring both of them in depth. Our photography will be about attending, intending, identifying and ultimately joyfully embracing what we have emotionally and visually fully and…

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…

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…

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…