Session 10: Inspiration Peace by Piece with Kathy Thaden
Friday, September 20, 2024, 10:00am – 12:00pm
Hands-on
All Levels: Artistic Development
Price: $150 (Includes $25 materials fee)
As visual artists of any level, beginning a new work can often be challenging.
- Where do I start?
- What do I want to say?
- Who will see this?
- How, as an artist, might I engage with the world in which I live?
This session should particularly benefit those who are seeking inspiration to use our medium to respond to the world in which we live. With over twenty years of mosaic experience, instructor Kathy Thaden thinks of her art as her voice. Each mosaic created may provide an opportunity to engage in a visual conversation regarding our care of all that surrounds us.
Our goal in this workshop is to identify issues of personal importance, discover ways those themes might be expressed visually, and spend time on some rough designs. Through a variety of prompts, participants will have the opportunity to explore diverse concepts and compositions. Part lecture presentation and part hands-on exercises, Kathy will share thoughts and processes that have helped her create numerous works which speak to the environment, politics, health, compassion, social justice and more.
Handouts will cover general art principles in relation to mosaic art plus guidelines for possible subject matter and topics for inspiration. While we will not make a mosaic, an assortment of mixed media will be available for play, to loosen up and get your creative juices flowing. Paper, paint, fabric, markers, pencils, etc. will allow you to create small design experiments, imagining new possibilities for your future artworks.
Kathy will provide one-on-one feedback and there will also be a brief time for those who choose to share their inspiration projects with the rest of the group. At the end of our 2-hour session participants will leave with several small studies, seeds of ideas for your next mosaic!
All materials will be provided including:
Bristol board, glue, various papers, paints, brushes, scissors, markers, colored pencils, fabric remnants, handouts, miscellanea.
Kathy Thaden’s contemporary mosaics range from abstracts to commissioned works. She has over twenty years of mosaic experience, including teaching various mosaic workshops for 14 years.
Her hope is to use her art as her voice, to express care for the earth and all humanity. Issues of social justice are complex, and Kathy strives to understand her role within society, engaging the viewer with themes of reconciliation and healing.
“It is important to me that no one is cast aside, valuing every person. Seeking beauty in the brokenness, I treasure discarded items from our “throw-away” consumer culture, letting nothing be wasted.”
A full-time studio artist, Kathy’s award-winning mosaics have been exhibited across the US. She is a professional member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, Episcopal Church & Visual Arts, Women’s Caucus for Art Colorado, and founding member and Past-President of Colorado Mosaic Artists. Kathy lives, and works, with her husband on their 15-acre homestead in Western Colorado. thadenmosaics.com
