Sculpture workshops!

The studio is well into the 6 week sculpture workshop session instructed by Kate Britton ( a practicing sculptor trained in London). Here's what some of the students have to say so far...

"Thanks so much for a wonderful evening! You made me feel as if I belonged in front of that wad of clay. Your teaching style is perfect: coming over when you feel it's necessary, answering questions, providing help when someone asks, always encouraging."
Mary Kay Harrington

This workshop is about finding the movement and abstraction within the human form.

A three day weekend workshop is coming up. 5/6/7/June. Check the website for full details.

CorkStop artists on the radio

Ears on Art (KCBX)

Ears on Art with Crissa Hewitt & Steven deLuque - The first and second Wednesday of the month,

Crissa Hewitt and Steven deLuque explore the exciting world of printmaking in an interview with CorkStop Studio artists Anne Stahl and Pacha of CorkStop Studios. The interview will be aired on Wednesday May 13th at 4:30pm.

• Visit 'Ears on Art' at KCBX

Hot hot heat

Lynn Kishiyama leads a one-of-a-kind workshop at the CorkStop barn and art space

BY CHRISTY HERON

INTOXICATING Corkstop Studios presents an encaustic workshop with Lynn Kishiyama, titled Hot Wax/Cool Art 2, a two-day event taking place March 14-15. Encaustic wax was used over 2,500 years ago by the Greeks and is experiencing a revival in contemporary art. Beeswax, tree resin, and pigment is applied hot and fused to a substrate creating a beautiful, translucent effect that can’t be achieved by paint alone. Highlights will include safety, mixing colors, melting wax, individual work time, a 3-D demo, problem solving, critique and more. The workshop is held at CorkStop Studios in Arroyo Grande. $275. Info: 550-6399, Info@CorkStopStudios.com or o-washiart.com. IMAGES COURTESY OF LYNN KISHIYAMA

New Times You have an interesting background.

Lynn Kishiyama I was born in the Philippines but grew up outside of San Francisco. And I’ve lived all over the East Coast. Then I went to Japan and that is really when I started to do my artwork.

New Times You were a ranch hand, an actress in NYC, and you studied spiritual psychology?

Kishiyama I have a masters in spiritual psychology.

New Times How do those play a part in 
your art?

Kishiyama I believe that everything you do brings you to where you are today. All of my training, my experiences, working for a Fortune 500 company in sales and marketing taught me how to sell my artwork. How to market it.

New Times So how did you find this medium?

Kishiyama I went to Tokyo kicking and screaming in 2000 ... and I learned about paper and how important paper was in their culture. It brought me to study the art of papermaking. I had been trying to be an artist my whole life but didn’t have the focus. Everything I’ve done is self-taught. I wouldn’t recommend it because it gets expensive. But that is how I started doing the Japanese kimonos.

New Times But what about encaustic? Tell 
me about this workshop.

Kishiyama Encaustic is pigment in wax. What I was looking for with my paperwork was an alternative to showcasing them in glass (the glass wouldn’t be gentle on the art). I started reading about encaustic, and encaustic and paper love each other. They go together really well. I went to New York in 2005 and studied papermaking and encaustic. The pigments are oil based and they are mixed with beeswax and varnish (which makes it hard). You can use a heat brush, a dry brush. You can inscribe and put different coloring in, scratching it out. You can put dried flowers under it. And they will stay like this forever. It has a wonderful luster that you can’t get with oil.

New Times What do you want prospective workshop participants to know?

Kishiyama If they work in oils, and are frustrated because they can’t achieve a textural quality to the oil, mixing the oil with wax may be what they are looking for.

New Times Are you going to give them the freedom to do the encaustic work on any type of surface?

Kishiyama Just flat ... (on a square piece of wood) and we will do press molds. We’ll make a mold out of clay and we will press an object into it and you pour in the wax and pop it out ... and you have a perfect mold. You can have repeated patterns. It’s great fun. Barn boards are nice to work on. I will work on some pieces that are sticks, like bamboo sticks with wire, and I will dry brush this on the wire and it will become a free- standing sculpture. You can get everything from really textural pieces to quite controlled. I’ll do a slideshow of the history and what people are doing with it now.

New Times What do artists need to bring?

Kishiyama The only thing they would have to bring are some boards. I’ll provide everything else. It’s an opportunity for someone to experiment and have it be cost effective. It’s an opportunity for them to learn the tools, safety, learn the colors, see what it can do, and see if it’s appropriate for where they want to take their artwork.

CorkStop artist wins Merit Award on Abstract Exposure

Xenia Madison of Corkstop Studios wins Abstract EXPOsure's Merit Award!

Link to July 2008 Exhibition online: http://www.abstractexposure.com/exhibitions.html

About Abstract EXPOsure:

Abstract EXPOsure celebrates the vibrations of the soul through a unique platform committed to actively promoting abstract artists and their work. Knowing that there are many artists who engage the abstract voice, Abstract EXPOsure aims to use the current technology and accessibility of the World Wide Web to breath life into the abstract genre. Abstract EXPOsure was created in direct response to the lack of an exclusive abstract venue and functions as an online international gallery-without-walls.

Abstract art is a lively, progressive style that deserves its own exhibition space. Historically, abstract art has flowed out times of crisis, tragedy or social and political unrest. Current difficulties in our world are being addressed by artists around the globe. Abstract EXPOsure provides a place to expose these feelings about society and also gives voice to the personal life experience of the artists themselves.

CorkStop artist wins major award for this painting

Congratulations to Xenia Madison, one of CorkStop Studios artists who won the artists entry for the 24th Central Coast Wine Classic 2008. Her winning painting - "Open to this Moment" will be etched on a 9 liter Salmanazar bottle of a limited edition, locally produced Cuvee. The actual painting will be on auction at the same event on July 12th, 2008. This is a huge charity event which typically raises over $700,000 for charity annually.

For 2008, the Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation Board of Directors has chosen the following beneficiaries:
Assistance League of San Luis Obispo County, Atascadero Loaves & Fishes, Cal Poly Arts, El Camino Homeless Organization, PCPA Theaterfest, Project Angels Bearing Gifts, San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra, San Luis Obispo YMCA, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts, & Tierra Sagrada, The Sacred Earth Foundation. The Annual Fund-A-Need Auction Lot will inure to the benefit of French Hospital Medical Center's Hearst Cancer Resource Center.

Do you want an encaustic Workshop at CSS

There seems to be some interest in an encaustic workshop of some kind. I know that R&F paints offer workshops on the east coast, but there doesn't seem to be much on the west coast.

If there is enough interest CorkStop Studios, located in San Luis Obispo, California (between LA and SF) would be the venue for the workshop.

At this point I simply need to hear back from anyone who is interested in attending this workshop.
Please contact me with the following details:

• Your Name.
• Your level of painting experience
  with a link where I can review your work.
• Your available dates
• Your preference for length of a workshop
  hours/days?
• Where you will be coming from
• Describe what you want to learn/achieve.

Thanks,
Anne Stahl