Seeing and Sensing: Perceptual Approaches to Painted Abstraction
Instructed by Scholar in Residence, Megan Wolfkill
Wednesdays, 6-9pm
January 29-March 19, 2025
Registration Deadline: January 26, 2025
[ *** REGISTER HERE *** ]
Description:
“‘Abstract’ literally means to draw from or separate. In this sense, every artist's work is abstract… a realistic or non-objective approach makes no difference. The result is what counts.” – Richard Diebenkorn
“Abstraction allows a man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes.” – Arshile Gorky
In this course, students will engage with abstraction techniques that stem from both seeing and sensing. In a world rich with contradiction, incongruity, and oddness, objects, spaces, and figures are not always what they seem. Our homes, our favorite items, and the places we go hold emotional associations and sense memories that are completely unique and cannot always be observed. Objects and places mean something beyond their physical and visual properties. Abstraction in art allows us to explore the unreal, make the invisible visible, and actualize the impossible.
This class will expose students to:
- Methods for seeing abstractly
- Exploration in mark-making, composition, and color
- The creation of space and depth in a picture plane
- Efficient systems for capturing the essence of a subject
- A personal exploration of subject and form
- Paint as content
Tuition: $350
Class Size:
Minimum: 4
Maximum: 12
Materials List:
(( DOWNLOAD and print materials list PDF here ))
Level of Study: This class is suggested for individuals with basic knowledge of painting materials and techniques. (While the course information will be largely conveyed through the medium of oil paint, students are welcome to utilize other professional-grade painting media—acrylics, gouache, watercolor, flashe, etc.—in consultation with the instructor) Additionally, some observational drawing experience will be beneficial.
LOCATION: Unless otherwise specified, all courses are hosted at Manifest's new facility at 'M1' in Clifton at 3464 Central Parkway (see map and directions below). Manifest's new facility provides multiple studio classrooms, private lesson space, a darkroom, a film processing room, and a multi-purpose lecture and class meeting space as well as on-site parking, grounds, and exterior spaces in which to relax, discuss, and make art. The studios are outfitted with professional equipment, furniture, and study aids.
Map to Manifest's M1 Studios | Studio Calendar | Darkroom Calendar
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Fairfield Porter
Megan Wolfkill
About the instructor:
Megan Wolfkill is a Cincinnati-based painter and dancer who spends her days contending with identity, intimacy, and otherness in her work. She holds a BFA in Studio Art and Dance from Tulane University and an MFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting and Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. For the past several years, Megan has been teaching youth and university courses in three-dimensional foundations, painting, and drawing at UT-Knoxville and the Knoxville Museum of Art.
Megan recently relocated to Cincinnati to be the 2024-2025 Scholar-in-Residence at Manifest following the completion of her graduate degree. She was a finalist in the 2024 Miami University Yeck Young Painters Competition and presented research on interdisciplinary art practices at SECAC in Richmond, VA in 2023. Additionally, Megan has attended artist residencies at Penland School of Craft and the Hambidge Center.
Her work has been included in juried exhibitions across the country and has been featured in publications such as Ouch! Collective, CanvasRebel, and I Like Your Work Podcast catalogs.
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