Festival International du Pastel 2011

Since its start in 2001, the Festival International du Pastel, organized by the Société des Pastellistes de France in partnership with the village of Feytiat, holds reputation as one of the most prestigious art festivals in the world dedicted to pastel.

Each year the festival receives near 20000 visitors desirous to see the near 300 works by pastelists from around the world.

Several workshops will take place during the festival, offering participants the chance to improve their techniques, learn from the experience of master pastelists and put in practice the acquired knowledge.

The workshops, in the number of four, will cover the following themes and subjects: still life, florals, nude, portraiture, landscape, seascape and animal portraiture.

Starting with a welcome cocktail followed by a dinner on Monday at 19h00, the workshops will start on Tuesday (10h00 - 12h30; 14h30 - 17h30 ). Participants will enjoy a lunch with the artists in a convivial atmosphere.

Regular fees to attend the workshops start at 100 Euro per day (subjected to availability) and go up to 400 Euro for complete workshops.
Children between the ages of 10 and 14 can attend a two days workshop (no lunch included) for 174 Euro.
Feytiat inhabitants are eligible for special prices.
Download the poster and the form for the workshops.

This year's edition will count with artists from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (including from Quebec), Colombia, England, Finland, France, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Russia, USA, Spain and Vietnam.
Violette Chaminade is this year's guest artist.

The Festival International du Pastel will take place at the Espace Georges Brassens in the village of Feytiat near Limoges (Limousin, France) from July 2 through September 4, 2011.

Entrance is free, with the following schedule: (14h00-19h00 Mon-Fri) and (10h00-12h00; 14h00-19h00 Saturday, Sunday and holidays).

Serralves em Festa! - 40H Non-Stop (Party at Serralves!)

Serralves em Festa! (Party at Serralves!) is the major contemporary arts festival that takes place in Portugal, lasting for 40 consecutive hours and including activities for all ages, all families, and for the whole family.

From 8 a.m. Saturday, May 28, to midnight on Sunday, May 29, Serralves will host more than 240 events, including Cinema, Video, Installation, Photography, Performance, Music (Improvised, Pop Rock, Electronic, Experimental, Jazz, DJs), Contemporary Dance, Acrobatics, Contemporary Circus, Sound Objects Circus, Theatre (Street Theatre, Theatre for Children, Puppet Theatre), Exhibitions, Workshops, Guided visits, and a range of activities for children and families.

Admission to all activities is free and the access to Serralves em Festa! will be made through Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa (main gate of the Serralves Foundation).

Check this page for more useful information about the event or call 808 200 543.

In 2010, Party at Serralves! received more than 102,000 visitors during its 40 hours.

Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference 2011 (Monterey, California)

Now in its third year, Weekend With the Masters is an internationally renowned art event that offers an enlightening experience through contact with some of the most famous fine artists worldwide.

Presented by the American Artist magazine, this year's edition will take place in the Portola Hotel & Spa at Monterey Bay, California (September 7 through 10, 2011).

During the official four days of the event - Sunday is considered an extra day - several workshops and demonstrations will provide instruction on art techniques approaches to certain themes and subjects. Lectures and panel discussions conducted by the masters themselves will give you insightful ideas for your next art project and even for your artistic career.

A series of special and evening events will take place, starting on Wednesday, September 7, where after the opening reception ((6:30PM-9:30PM), David A. Leffel will kickoff the first official night of Weekend With the Masters by moderating a panel discussion titled “The Objectivity & Subjectivity of Art: Is Beauty Really in the Eye of the Beholder?”
His panelists include Richard Schmid, Jacob Collins, Rose Frantzen, George Gallo, Daniel Gerhartz, Quang Ho, and a curator from the de Young Museum, in San Francisco.

On September 8, the notable painter and instructor Richard Schmid, keynote speaker at Weekend With the Masters, will conduct a live portrait demonstration of Los Angeles artist Alexey Steele, at the same time engaging in conversation about various topics related to the current and future state of representational art.

Attendants will not want to miss the event on Friday evening, September 9, when Quang Ho and Daniel Sprick will carry a side-by-side painting demonstration of the same model, where both artists will show how they convey their particula interpretion of the same model and depict it using their techniques and artistic approaches, both realistic but different, either resulting in a more expressionistic result or in a tightly controlled contemporary realism influenced by an Old Master-like technique.

On Semptember 10, a special fund-raising silent auction that will include drawings, paintings, DVDs, books, and art materials donated by master instructors, local organizations, and event sponsors—will be donated to the California Art Club’s Mentor Program, which provides opportunities for artist-members under the age of 30 to connect with and learn from their signature members.

Although Weekend With the Masters officially ends on Saturday, September 10, participants will have the opportunity on Sunday (9AM-12PM) to have a painting they created during the event critiqued by one of the instructors and receive individualized feedback.
Scott Burdick, Quang Ho, Susan Lyon, Dan McCaw, and Dan Thompson are the five instructors leading this ending critique.
Twenty seats will be available on each session for those who want to observe but not participate.

The registration for the Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference 2011 is available online until the event dates or until the workshops are full, and are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
You may consult this page to learn more about participant information and FAQs.

If you are really interested in participating, The Art Inquirer advises you to read everything carefully, take notes and sign up the Weekend With the Masters e-mail updates.

Read about the Weekend With the Masters Intensive: New York, taking place in June.
This article contains excerpts from original texts (c) Interweave

Art Day at The Overland Inn Museum with Live Models in Victorian and Edwardian Clothing

Located in McCutchenville, Ohio, the once McCutchen Inn was built in 1829 by Col. Joseph McCutchen with the purpose of serving as a stagecoach stop on the Harrison Trail, a formerly Indian Trail that extended from the Scioto River at Columbus, Ohio and continued north to Lake Erie, later expanded by General Henry Harrison to accommodate his troops during the War of 1812

After serving as a hotel and an apartment building, the Inn was acquired in a state of deterioration by the Wyandot County Historical Society in 1964.

Three years volunteer work from the community transformed the building into a museum dedicated to stagecoach, where visitors can delight in the quaint structure furnished with antiques donated by residents of Wyandot County and sorrounding ones, as well has having a glimpse of the nineteenth century travel throughout Ohio and America.
To enhance the experience, the reception and bar room where travelers registered to spend the night is still original.

With the financial support from current and former Wyandot County residents, businesses and organizations, including money collected by McCutchenville school children, and help from volunteer workers, The Overland Inn Museum went through a major renovation that started in 2002 and stretched out over a four-year period.

On June 10, 2007, more than 500 people traveled to McCutchenville, Ohio, for the grand reopening of the Inn.

Now thanks to an idea conceived by the museum's curator Janet Engle, The Overland Inn Museum will hold on Saturday, September 24, 2011 (10h00 am - 12h00 pm) a drawing and photography session.

Entitled Art Inn-spiration, it will feature live models dressed in Victorian and Edwardian clothing and still life arrangements from the museum’s collection, all in period surrounding.

Participants will be able to sketch with dry media and photograph as much as they wish.

The vacancies are limited and the registration form must be sent by September 12, 2011.
A small fee of $5 applies.

An exhibition of the works completed by the participants will be held next year at a date yet to announce.

The Overland Inn Museum boasts an impressive collection of textiles, including weavings, embroideries, laces, and quilts from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
It also provides workshops that offer its visitors the chance to travel to the pass and experience the American culture and life of their ancesters.

Vessel International Curatorial Workshop 2011

Vessel, an independenent non-profit space inaugurated on April 14 and devoted to contemporary art, has announced an International Curatorial Workshop that will offer the opportunity to 14 young curators from around the world to work with internationally renowned curators, dealing with many challenging issues of theoretical and practical aspects of curatorial research.

Participants will be divided in groups and will work with different curators from Committee and with the staff to build particular projects on case studies.
The core of these case studies will be comprised of varying exercises dealing with secondary material concerning the curatorial practice in relation to the overarching exhibition made in a certain geographical area.

The course aims to raise awareness and reflect about the role of the curator, as well as promoting research projects in the filed of contemporary visual culture.
Other objectives include setting up working platforms that will enable participants to develop further curatorial works and expand the networking between young creators of the visual art scene, thus stimulating the international circulation of cultural projects.

Among several subjects, the 3-day intensive workshop will focus on the influence that the state of the world and social relations have in art and how the curator can use art to interact with society, emphasizing on the evolution of curating as a profession and its essential role in social and cultural redefinition.

The Vessel International Curatorial Workshop will take place between the 28th and 30th of May, 2011, and will be held by the Scientific Committee of Vessel composed of Charles Esche, Ilaria Gianni, Cecilia Guida, Denis Isaia, Viktor Misiano, Marco Petroni, Roberto Pinto along with the curators of the space Viviana Checchia and Anna Santomauro.

Interested applicants from any nationality may apply. No study certificate and academic degree required. The workshop will be delivered in English, for this reason at least an intermediate level of English is required.

Applications whould be sent by e-mail until May 15, 2011.
There's a €300 participating fee to cover all the expenses for meals and residency including a double-bed hotel room.

Make sure that you read the rest of the submission guidelines before submiting your application.

Vessel is located at Via Guido De Ruggiero n. 6, Bari.
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and Apulia (Puglia), Italy.

CHA 2011 Summer Conference & Trade Show

The Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont IL, will host Craft & Hobby Association's CHA 2011 Summer Conference & Trade Show during July 19-21 (pre-Conference sessions starting July 18th).

Counting with 250 exhibitors and over 100 product categories that include art materials, card-making and stationary supplies, craft supplies, dollmaking supplies, embellishments, jewelry & beading Supplies, craft kits, scrapbooking, yarns & fibers, floral products, glassware, modeling compounds and home decorating supplies, the event attracts some of the worlds leading craft exhibitors.

Wholesale suppliers and exhibitors have in the CHA 2011 Summer Conference & Trade Show a chance to show their latest products and innovations, while retailers and other professionals can find new products for their clients, often at promotional prices, turning this event into a business opportunity for everyone involved.

The programme will include seminars, workshops (applies to Buyer Badge type only, space is limited) , keynote presentations and demos.
A Conference and Trade Show badge was created to permit unfettered access to the Trade Show floor, conference programs, and events.

A special Craft Fusion Center, located on the Show floor, will bring exhibitors and buyers together to capitalize on the mixed-media theme, where they will explore the several effects that a variety of materials combined in non-traditional ways has to offer, as well as the latest mixed-media and color trends from the experts in the field, among other things.

The registration for the CHA 2011 Summer Conference & Trade Show opens on May 5.

Weekend With the Masters Intensive: New York

Those wanting to get in close touch with renowned artists and learn what they have to share from their knowledge and experience can register for the American Artist’s Weekend With the Masters Intensive: New York City, which will take place in several locations between June 20-26, 2011.

Designed according to a track system, the intensive programme will focus on representational figurative, portrait, or interior subject matter, namely Classical Figure Drawing, Figure in Color (Oil), Professional Portraiture, Figure & Still Life in Watercolor, Figure & Still Life in Pastel, Contemporary Realism Figure in Oil, Allegorical Figure & Landscape, Sculpted Figure in Bronze, and Illustration, where enrollees will select a specific block of study of similar subject matter, media, and style led by a group of New York-area artists. Depending on the track, instructors and students will be working in either drawing media, oil, pastel, watercolor, or sculpture. The requested materials list can be consulted here.

The Weekend With the Masters Intensive: New York City will include in its special evening events a painting demonstration by Nelson Shanks on the 23rd at the National Arts Club, a challenging panel discussion, and museum tours led by history experts.
Closing reception will take place at the Arcadia Fine Arts gallery.

The Event Flat Rate Fee for the Weekend With the Masters New York City Intensive Standard Master-Participant for 3 ½ days of instruction and special evening events is $1,495. The John Howard Sanden track is $1,195 for 3 days of instruction. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Tour on Friday night, June 24 is an optional event for participants with an additional $30 admittance fee.

Weekend With the Masters Intensive: New York City is being organized by the team behind the acclaimed Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference.
The historic Salmagundi Club will be the event headquarters and location for some of the evening festivities.

Read about the Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference 2011, that will take place in Monterey Bay, California (September 7 through 10, 2011).

The Affordable Art Fair Brussels 2011

The third edition of the AAF (Affordable Art Fair) Brussels will take place at the Tour & Taxis in Brussels, between the 25th and the 28th of February (preview on the 24th by invitation only).

Around 100 contemporary galleries from Belgium and other countries will be present in an art fair that will offer to its visitors a programme of activities that will include an "ARTY-LICIOUS EVENING" with Yves Mattagne and Eric Boschman, the performances of Jef Aérosol and Belgium ALVARI.

Visitors are also invited to participate in free workshop of print making, hosted by the 'Centre de la Gravure de la Louvière'.

During the AAF Brussels 2011, part of the collection of Alain-Dominique Gallizia will be exhibited in a street-art section.

Founded in 1999 by Will Ramsay, the Affordable Art Fair has in its main objective to make contemporary art accessible to everyone, and to show you don’t need to be an art expert or a millionaire to enjoy and buy art.

To know more about the AAF and its next editions, visit the main page.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts: smARTpower

Administered by The Bronx Museum of the Arts, with the purpose of increasing the mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries through social and cultural values, smARTpower will send fifteen American artists abroad to work with local artists and young people around the world to create community-based art projects and develop programs in cooperation with local arts organizations in host countries including China, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kosovo, Lebanon, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Venezuela.

The selected artists are required to address a full range of relevant subjects such as women’s empowerment, the environment, health, education, and civic engagement, which may be represented through several visual arts media, including but not limited to painting, sculpture, drawing, video, installation, photo-based work, public art, and interdisciplinary projects.
Artists are encouraged to work in group.

Among other requirements, the participating artists will be asked to establish professional working relationships with partner organizations, provide workshops and other outreach activities, facilitate the sustainability of the program's core concepts beyond the project, and communicate the development of their activities through blogging and other social media resources.

Each recipient will be provided with an honorarium of up to $11,000.00, travel funding, a budget for materials of up to $10,000.00, resources for documentation (including photography, video, and web posting), and on-site logistical support.

The smARTpower project is only open to professional artists who are not part of the Bronx Museum of the Arts staff, nor students currently enrolled in a BFA or MFA studio art program.
Entrants must also be United States citizens with at least 18 years of age, having resided in the U.S. within the last year. Residents and Green Card holders without citizenship are not eligible.

Owning experience in working with youth, engaging with other artists, art educators, and other community members, as well as being able to demonstrate high standards of quality and records of accomplishment, are of significant relevancy for being selected.

All applications and application materials must be received via the smARTpower website by midnight Eastern Standard Time, February 28, 2011.
Before sending their applications, the artists are advised to carefuly read all the participating requirements, including the submission process.

smARTpower is an initative of the Department of the State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with the participation of The Bronx Museum of the Arts.

The Little Draw: Free Drop-in Art Workshop at The Wallace Collection

This Sunday 9th January, 2011, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm, The Wallace Collection will present a free drop-in art workshop catered for all ages and levels of artistic experience.

Entitled The Little Draw, the workshop will be lectured by William Riding, a specialist in Islamic geometry, Orthodox Icon painting, and portraiture.

William’s own practice concentrates on the harmony, rhythms and movements that come from composing an image using traditional and sacred geometrical forms and motifs.

The Wallace Collection is displayed at the Hertford House, located in the Manchester Square London, UK.

Drawing Lessons for Beginners

One of the most well known forums for artists is Wetcanvas.
In this forum, beginners and more advanced artists have access to a great source of information about several mediums.
Thanks to the generosity of its members, basic drawing classes are easily accessed, permiting beginning artists to develop their skills through easy to follow lessons.
The artist Ann Buckner has made PDF versions available on her website.