“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

What happens when you make a book, on purpose, dedicated only to those guideposts that touch you or move you like “the blast of a trumpet”?

This class is full. To get on the waiting list, click here.

Investigating seeds is fuel for words, for paint and for pencil. Seeds awaken a sense of everything becoming something else, of the “something evermore about to be” (Wordsworth). Seeds are the promise of the new life that arises from what has gone. Seeds come from the natural world, from dreams and from ideas. A sown seed is the beginning of creativity.

In the classroom, seeds cross-pollinate.

This class is full. Sign up for the waiting list here.

This is a class centered on investigating the place we are in through words, pattern and image, and is tailored to the interests of the group. Class exercises are designed to strengthen the work of students at all levels. We will explore writing, watercolor and drawing in traditional and experimental ways.

Each morning brings a new adventure, as we head out in our van to a nearby Umbrian village. On these excursions students have a session with me, and you can also wander: there are linens, pottery, cafes, bells, art and lovely unexpected discoveries. We have seen the paper maker, the bell maker, local artists, galleries and musicians. Most afternoons we return for lunch at the monastery, and to the workshop space in the chapel.

This class is full.

We will work with phrases, or short quotes, that have meaning for you. Notice what touches you, what you respond to, and begin collecting words from poems or songs or newspapers or books or conversation, and write or paste them down.

This class is full.

Hans-Joachim Burgert, German sculptor and calligrapher, was a hero of mine before I knew his name. Like Paul Klee, he experimented with quality of line through rhythm, contrast, direction and repetition. This class is based on a love for Burgert’s work, and a continuing striving to understand more. We will explore drawing and writing with ink, pencil and paint, using various calligraphic and found tools. The class will be held at Akademie der Künste in Berlin, where we have access to his original work. Through this study, I hope that we will all make new discoveries in his work, and in our own. We will make a simple book showing our explorations.

This class is full. To get on the waiting list, click here.

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

This idea, along with Gerard Manley Hopkins idea of “inscape”, (which I will address later) is what is fueling the theme for my 2023 classes.

This class is full.

What is the thread that connects something from your inner world with something particular in the New Mexico landscape? At Mabel’s we are situated next to the Pueblo, the place of the red willows, with a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the smell of desert sage in blue uninterrupted sky. This is food for your inscape. How do you find the continuity between something in your inner world, and something particular in the landscape? Unexpected connections dramatically open perspective and the muse arrives. We will explore these ideas through words and poetry, story and image, writing, drawing and painting.

I will introduce one of my alphabets, that is accessible to calligraphers and non-calligraphers. Having a secret writing system is one way to find words and images for your experience. We will make a book using ink, pencil and watercolor for word, image, color and texture.

A few spaces are open!

The stone is contained, representing stillness and structure. The tree expands toward the sky, representing movement and expression. In developing one’s own voice in the creative pattern, there is a balance that needs to be maintained between form and expression. One must learn a form well enough to internalize it. This mastery of form leads to freedom of expression.

This class is full.

Make a book with four international teachers in Tuscany. All levels of experience welcome!

Because we love Italy, and working together, we are enthusiastic about a class in a wonderful venue in Tuscany. We will have amazing food, a lot of room to work in different spaces, a pool, and Italian countryside… We are looking forward to a fantastic group of students.

This class is full.

the roses
Had the look of flowers that are looked at — T S Eliot

The flowers that are looked at look different than the ones that are not noticed. The same is true of anything we give full attention to — including the work you do. You can feel the care in a line or a gesture, and this is the “something else” that the viewer senses in your work.

Join us for three days of exploring landscape through line, gesture, pattern, movement and texture.

This class is full. To get on the waiting list, click here.

This class is full. To get on the waiting list, click here.

At the dawn of civilization, when writing and painting were the same thing [line] was the basic element. – Paul Klee

Are you interested in exploring the place where writing and painting meet? To consider the infinite variations of line? To see how inspiration flourishes when we are gathered in contemplation and intent?

We have the opportunity to spend a week at the St. Meinrad Archabbey. This retreat is in a natural rural setting in an old monastery meant for study and experimentation.

In this atmosphere, fueled by students who have enthusiasm for words and letters, we will take advantage of old traditions to spark new ideas, and bring our experiments home in a book.

I am enthused, delighted and honored to be collaborating with Nancy Culmone, and having Paul Maurer as a featured guest in this class. These are two artists I revere, and I cannot wait to see what happens.

This class is now full.

Students will make a book that becomes a visual journey. All levels of experience are welcome. The materials we use for painting, drawing and writing exercises include fine point pens, graphite, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencils and sumi ink.

This workshop is full. To get on the waiting list, click here.

I am enthusiastic about this retreat at the edge of the Saguaro Cactus forest. The area that the saguaro sentinels inhabit, extends south to Mexico, and touches California on the west. This is the only place in the world that this cactus grows. Our class at Tanque Verde Ranch will be activated by the presence of this unique desert.

Are you looking for direction or a next step? Are you having difficulty with focus or just where to begin? Whether you are a beginner or a well-seasoned maker, bring your questions, your thoughts, your dreams, your work.