Gipson, Zia (#6377) Improv and Abstraction: Process and Play with Words and Collage Workshop, August 30-31

Experiment with chance and spontaneity in this fun, fast paced workshop designed to get you unstuck and re-energized. “Deliberate randomness” will be explored through a series of prompts to guide the generation of both poetry and visual collage. We’ll be taking inspiration from the Surrealists and the games they played. This workshop will focus on practice and process, utilizing easy-to-find supplies.

Day One focuses on generating one or two collages using “chance operations”, a process developed with great success by the musician/artist John Cage (1912-1992). Day Two will allow time for collages to be be developed as more formal artwork in mixed media. A bibliography of background informational sources will also be provided.

Instructor Bio: If you are lucky, sometime in a long life as an artist/maker you will fall in love with some idea, technique, narrative, color palette, sculptural form or other aspect of art at least once. For Zia Gipson, the most recent ‘falling’ happened with felted paper (aka joomchi) about six years ago. She was drawn instantly to this technique of fusing long fiber paper (usually Korean or Japanese) without glue. Given an earlier deep exposure to Japanese culture it was natural that she would dive headlong into this world of exquisitely textured paper since it provides daily opportunities to enjoy the brilliant colors, patterns, and surfaces.

Gipson- Supply List.pdf