Experimental Techniques in Watercolor / Found Objects
with Jan Heaton
A three-hour, hands on, painting workshop for curious creatives with little, a lot, or no watercolor experience. The class will emphasize exploring experimental applications of pigment on 300# weight imported cotton paper. Departing slightly from the classic techniques of watercolor the class will be painting with found object tools. Chopsticks, dishtowels, sticks, sponges, fruit slices, the possibilities will be endless. Focusing on form, movement, composition and line the group will explore watercolor techniques and learn new approaches to painting through demonstrations and individual experimentation. Creatives from all stylistic backgrounds are welcome, but the non-representational style is emphasized. This workshop encourages self-expression.

Jan Heaton www.janheaton.com

Rubylithing For a Better Tomorrow with Jay Ryan
The cutting of rubylith for graphic purposes is an art which is nearly dead, recalled now only by veteran newspaper pressmen and former graphic design students who are at least 45 years old. Come meet Chicago-based screenprinter Jay Ryan, owner of the Bird Machine Poster Shop, and see how he uses rubylith daily to create separations for his non-digital hand-drawn screenprints.

Jay Ryan - The Bird Machinewww.thebirdmachine.com

Seeking The Present Moment
with Steve Sikora
We are an addled bunch, our attentions splintered by a million distractions; cell phones, email, social networking, YouTube, calendar alerts, instant messaging, GPS coordinates, texting, texting, texting. That’s us, always thinking about something that is happening someplace else, to someone else or in some other timeframe. The bottom line is this. We cannot return to the past and the future never arrives. That leaves us with the here and now. The present moment is all we ever really have, and what a wealth it is. An entire lifetime fits neatly inside of it. Let’s explore finding and being in the moment.

We will search for the present moment and ironically attempt to capture it with brush and watercolor.

Steve Sikora www.designguys.com

Squeezing the Ink: Intaglio Monoprinting with Diana Sudyka
Be on the cutting edge of printing technology circa 1650, and learn how to use an etching press by creating monoprints on zinc plates. Images will be built using a variety of techniques: direct mark making with brush, applying and layering color with brayer, adding additional layers with chine colle paper, acquiring copious amount of ink on hands. Diana Sudyka is a Chicago area illustrator with a background in printmaking, mainly intaglio, lithography, and screenprinting.

Diana Sudyka www.dianasudyka.com

Swab Your Own Poop Deck
with James Victore
James wishes this workshop to remain anonymous.

2D to 3D—The Reconstructed Page
with Thomas Allen
Ready to earn your merit badge in the fine art of Trashing Novels? In two hours, I will teach you how to cut and manipulate characters from the covers of books (or any other 2D surface) to fashion mini dioramas that create the illusion of 3D. Outfitted with an X-acto knife, straight pins, glue stick, tape and Band-Aids (if needed), you will learn that you don't need a computer to shape real-world materials into eye-catching art.

Requirements: Decent vision ('cheater' glasses will be permitted), the ability to look at something with one eye closed, the stamina to remain conscious at the sight of blood (not that I foresee this happening) and the desire to have fun.

Thomas Allen Foley Gallery

Reuse Design - Sticky Business
with Grace Hawthorne – Co-Founder, Ready Made
The Indestructible Duct Tape Wallet - An armchair, a skateboard, a steering wheel-if it breaks, you can fix it with duct tape. Its durability appeals to the Home Depot set, but the distinctive finish in a range of colors makes it the material of choice for designers, too.

Reuse Design - Sticky Business
Reuse Design - Glowing
Reuse Design - Take the Edge off Sweather Weather

READY MADE MAGAZINE

Reuse Design - Glowing
with Grace Hawthorne – Co-Founder, Ready Made
Make puzzle-piece pendant lights. (Dan Goldwater) Construct a lampshade like one in a trendy designer lighting store. These shades are made using pieces of a single, simple shape you can cut from a sheet of paper or plastic. The finished product should satisfy both your outer hipster and your inner geek.

Reuse Design - Sticky Business
Reuse Design - Glowing
Reuse Design - Take the Edge off Sweather Weather

READY MADE MAGAZINE

Reuse Design - Take the Edge off Sweather Weather
with Grace Hawthorne – Co-Founder, Ready Made
Reuse those knits - Make a skirt, hat or scarf with that oversized alpaca. Here is a workshop that helps you find a few painless ways to turn all those old sweaters that miss the mark into stuff that’ll get you through early spring. So simple, even guys with no skills can make a warm fuzzy for their honeys.

Reuse Design - Sticky Business
Reuse Design - Glowing
Reuse Design - Take the Edge off Sweather Weather

READY MADE MAGAZINE

Knotty Things
with David Kampa
Do you know your Monkeys Fist from a Turks Head? Are your Granny Knots all in a wad? Is the Jug Sling something you tie up or tie on? Find out the answers these questions and more alongside designer David Kampa.

Masta Pressa
with Kelley Toombs
Masta Press — One goes in. Many come out! Thing 1: You will learn how to make a simple flatbed press for less than $100. Thing 2: Create relief prints by crafting a plate through assembly using local organic materials, found objects, scraps of chipboard, wood, etc. or by wood burning, carving, or combining any these and other options that inspire you. SPONSORED by Wausau Paper

Polaroids at Dawn and Dusk
with Sean Carnegie
Ever do something you thought you shouldn't? Consider this your invitation. Using the now obsolete, rude and rough Polaroid medium, you'll be given the rally call of capturing what some consider the un-capturable. In the dark of night and using available, forced and created light, we'll aggressively trouble shoot and generate spontaneous compositions that will instantly and forever, become your personal and reckless love letter at being for at least one moment in time, a risk taker. Not for the light of heart. Come prepared to drive fast, take chances and stay up well past your bed time.