Director's Notes ...
Spring/Summer 2012

SCULPTURE GARDEN OPEN HOUSE & IRON POUR BENEFIT

Be sure to come to our Sculpture Garden Open House Saturday June 2nd from 11 – 4. We will be having an iron pour to benefit one of our sculptor friends with cancer. The exhibit launches with an open house and artist reception and continues through October. The Open House will include a tour of Green Foundry, our iron, bronze and aluminum casting studio, and a public Iron Pour into hand carved “scratch molds” ($15 each) to create tiles that can be taken home that day.

The lush gardens are complemented by the work of regional professional sculptors, creating a symbiosis that enhances both the work and the plantings. Visitors are invited to enjoy the beauty of original sculpture, relax on the grounds, feed the chickens and perhaps create a small iron tile to take home that day.

SPRING & SUMMER CLASSES

This season we have lots of “plein air” workshops to choose from. Of special note: popular and energetic Erin Murray is returning from Maryland for a week long Seacoast daily painting session in July. Dustan Knight is offering an abstract plein air 5 session Wednesday morning class from mid-May til mid-June (as well as an Evenings in the Watercolor Studio) which covers experimental techniques. Todd Bonita offers a 3 session seacoast intensive in mid-June and a Monhegan Island 4 day painting retreat in August. And then there are my favorites- botanical master Carol Ann Morley's Drawing in the Garden and her Quick Sketches on Location where she teaches a two pencil technique on toned paper to capture the drama of the seacoast for those with limited time on vacation. Dewitt Hardy offers his inimitable week long Watercolor Landscape in early June and Sean Beavers teaches a very effective June two-part oil painting plein air workshop; an in studio discussion and demonstration of materials and techniques in the morning and painting on location in the afternoon to implement those techniques.

Shane Chick returns with a short Summer Printmaking workshop and a couple of day long Bentwood Garden Creations Workshops for making an arbor, trellis, bean climber or sculptural fantasy. Steven Carpenter returns with his excellent The Artful Stone Wall. Norma Machado offers Drawing for the Beginner, Russel Whitten offers 3 Drawing & Watercolor classes in landscape, portrait and still life. ShiaoPing Wang returns to teach Color & Collage in Abstraction and her painting and drawing class using the symbolism of Chinese characters- Pictures of Words.

Rebecca Q. Yankes, an illustrator, designer and painter, and new to our teaching staff, is offering three classes; The Sketchbook, an Acrylic & Gouache Painting Workshop and a Contemporary Figure Drawing class. There is a delightful interview with Rebecca here, the Children's Museum and Theater of Maine blog.

Antoinette Schultze offers a late afternoon Soft Stone Carving class that I love to take, working by increments on an everlasting marble piece. The Green Foundry professionals return to teach an Organic burn-out to bronze class- Driftwood & Lace. And I teach Portrait in Clay for those who wish to work intensively with models to create a likeness. Jennifer Field teaches a couple of wool Felting classes- Felted Jewelry and Felted Birds. Trisha Coates teaches 3 ceramics classes before going to Kansas to graduate school- Tile Making, Ceramics Open Studio and Slab Made Ceramic Platters, Plates & Bowls.