Filed under: Member News, Workshop & Classes | Tags: Amber Blanding, Baking, basket, Bread, Brush, Carol Ianniti, Chinese, classes, Decorative, education, flowers, food, Getchonis, glass, Golden, Harriette Adamson, Indidan, Jane Taylor, Jean Chapin, Leigh Yardley, Leland, Martinez, Meredith, painting, Paste, pendant, photographs, Portrait, quilting, Rich Grant, Rosita Dickson, Sami, spring, Suzanne Lappan, workshop, Writing
Feb. 24 – Photographing & Reproducing Works of Art
Wednesday, February 24, 6:30 – 8 pm
Instructor: Rich Grant
Location: Digitall Art and Media Studio
$20 member; $25 non-member
Class limited to 5
This class will focus on best practices for photographing artwork to insure proper color and reproduction. Ideal conditions for photographing your art will be demonstrated. The class will also cover printing on alternative media such as canvas and silk. Grant’s Digitall Art and Media Studio is located approximately one mile out of Hamilton; participants will receive directions.
Rich Grant is the Associate Director of Technology Planning at Colgate University and has extensive experience in all aspects of digital imaging technology. In addition to his technical background in digital imaging, Grant is an accomplished fine art photographer and operates Digitall Art and Media from his home studio in Hamilton, NY.
Feb. 27 – Making a Market Basket
Saturday, February 27, 9 am- 4:30 pm
Instructor: Jean Chapin
First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 27 Broad Street, Hamilton
$15 member; $20 non-member
Plus approx. $15 materials fee payable to instructor – fee dependent on materials selected
Class limited to 10
Learn the basics of basket making and go home with a lovely market basket, approximately 8”x11” in size. The basket is made with a hand-carved oak handle; the body is flat reed (colors available) with a rim of flat oval reed and sea grass and two narrow rows of veneer which may be stained or left natural.
Students will need to bring:
Awl; bath towel; plastic dishpan to soak reed in; sharp scissors; measuring tape or 12″ ruler; weights such as a heavy flat-iron, large rock or heavy book to weigh down basket bottom; bag lunch & snacks.
Jean Chapin is a well-known basket maker in the Hamilton area. Beautifully constructed Nantucket baskets are her specialty. As Jean notes, “Spring is not far away, and the arrival of the first Saturday of May and the local ‘Farmers Market’ will take on a life of its own…bring your newly made market basket to carry home fresh baked goods”!
March 13 – Fused Glass Pendant Making
Saturday, March 13, noon – 3 pm
Instructor: Amber Blanding of
Amber Waves of Glass
Location: MAD Art Community Art Space
$30 member; $35 non-member
Plus $10 materials fee payable to instructor
Class limited to 5
Learn the art of fusing glass to create a one of a kind pendant or pin! Each student will learn to make one piece of fused glass art, either a pendant or a pin, and how to wire wrap or attach findings to complete the piece. Visit http://www.amberwavesofglass.com for examples.
Amber Blanding graduated from Alfred University in 2002 with a BFA in glass and neon. She started Amber Waves of Glass in 2004. Her business encompasses the many ways she manipulates glass through casting and fusing in a kiln, glass blowing, hot glass bead making and stained glass design. Amber truly enjoys teaching the art of glass.
March 20 & 27 – Art Quilting for Beginners
Saturday, March 20 & 27, 12:30 – 3:30 pm
Instructor: Suzanne Lappan
Location: Hamilton Public Library
$25 member; $30 non-member
Class limited to 8
Come have fun with fabric and create your own Art Quilt! Learn the basic steps to creating your own work of art through fabric and thread design. Sue Lappan leads this 2-session workshop, where you will become inspired, design, stitch, and embellish! All skills are welcome. Art quilts may range in size from 12-20” square depending on student preference. Must have own machine and basic sewing skills. Materials list will be provided upon registering.
Suzanne Lappan is a graduate in Textile Design from Philadelphia College of Textiles. She creates Artquilts and Artdolls, many of which have been published in Art Doll Quarterly. She now owns her own company, Ecoleeko, where she creates plush toys from eco-friendly and sustainable materials. Suzanne also started CNY Etsy, a group of Central New York artist and artisan online sellers.
April 10 – Focus on the Face – The Portrait
Saturday, April 10, 10am–4pm (with a break for lunch)
Instructor: Rosita Dickson
Location: Colgate Bookstore Community Room, 3rd fl.
$35 member; $40 non-member
Class limited to 8
While figure study focuses on the body often with the face turned away and unseen, portraiture focuses on the face. Rosita will use a live model to help students learn to capture the character and expression of a face using the materials with which they are most comfortable – drawing pencil, acrylics, or pastels. With Rosita’s gentle guidance leading the group through the evaluative process, students will share and discuss their work to gain perspective, draw insight and assist in their technique. The all-day workshop affords ample time to learn and work through to a finished piece.
Rosita Dickson is an accomplished portrait artist living in Hamilton, NY. Her portraits are well known in the area, as are her one-of-a-kind ceramic hand-painted ornaments and jewelry designs. She has a degree in Art and Art History from her native Puerto Rico where she taught art, became an illustrator, and worked in advertising. In this country, Rosita studied portrait painting extensively at the Boca Raton School of Art.
April 18 – Chinese Brush Painting
Sunday, April 18, noon – 4 pm
Instructor: Jane Taylor
Location: Colgate Bookstore Community Room, 3rd floor
$20 members; $25 non-members
Participants will learn the basic tools and techniques used in Chinese brush painting. Learn to properly hold the Chinese brush and practice the strokes on practice paper before executing your final work on rice paper. Rice paper will be available for purchase at a nominal fee. A materials list will be provided upon registering.
Jane G. Taylor is a signature member of the Central New York Watercolor Society. Her special artistic interests include Chinese brush painting and mural painting. She has demonstrated and taught Chinese brush painting extensively throughout CNY and Mohawk Valley region. She has exhibited widely and won several awards for her Chinese brush painting, both regionally and nationally. Jane is also well known in Rome NY as the artist who created the giant murals for the Rome Sports Hall of Fame Building and the Capitol Theater.
April 24 – Decorative Paste Flowers
Saturday, April 24, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Instructor: Harriette Adamson
Location: Earlville Free Library
$20 members; $25 non-members Class limited to 6
Imagine a flower bouquet on a cake so lovely and real looking you’re not quite sure what it’s composed of! This is the artful and decorative craft of gum paste flowers. This class will concentrate on learning to make simple flowers such as daisies and roses. Each participant will go home with the flowers they have made. Because the flowers keep for months they can be saved and used on a cake or in a decoration when your own special occasion arises.
Harriette Adamson – If you attended last year’s Mother’s Day Tea in Earlville you were among the lucky who enjoyed Harriette’s incredibly real and beautiful creations. (Her flowers are not for sale locally.) Harriette began working with caterers in New York City twenty years ago and has continued that exclusive relationship since moving to Earlville. Her work is so highly regarded, a special truck and crew is sent to Earlville to pack and transport it back to the city.
April 27– May 18 – Here to Stay!… A writing workshop 
Tuesdays, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18, 7 – 9 pm
Facilitator: Meredith Leland Getchonis
Location: Hamilton Public Library – 4/27, 5/4, 5/18
MAD Art Community Art Space – 5/11
$25 Members; $30 Non-members
What brought you to upstate New York? Why do you stay? As Upstaters, we live in Central New York for any number of meaningful reasons. Books have been published or are scheduled for publication on “Why We’re Here”, with some essays authored by those who may have only briefly stayed in Central NY. This writing workshop will work from the local’s perspective, voicing what brought us here and keeps us here. All ages of adults with any level of writing experience are welcome, mutually encouraging and supporting each other. The goal is to have at least one essay from each participant and to publish a collection of our own perspectives.
Meredith Leland Getchonis, a native of Central New York, is a Teaching Artist in Creative Writing with the Utica Arts in Education Institute of the Stanley Theater. She has a BA and MAT from Colgate University, both specializing in English, as well as a MA in Liberal Studies from NYU. She loves local history, especially ghost stories, and her favorite writer is Edgar Allan Poe.
May 1 – Love Indian Food? Make an Easy Weeknight Dinner
Saturday, May 1, 1 – 3 pm
Presenter: Samanthi Martinez
Location: St. Thomas Parish Hall, Hamilton
$25 members; $30 non-members Class limited to 6
Looking for ways to infuse healthful spices and rich flavors into your meals? Try cooking Indian food! Join Samanthi Martinez as she shares traditional recipes for versatile curries that range from mild to spicy and prepares savory basmati rice, saucy chicken and vegetable curry, and cool cucumber yogurt salad. Learn to use spices like cumin, fennel, coriander, cayenne and turmeric, then enjoy a delicious Indian meal and take home recipes and enough spices for another meal.
Samanthi Martinez is a freelance writer, cook extraordinaire and a born teacher. Growing up with parents who are Sri Lankan she has been exposed to the intricacies of foods from many cultures and has found cooking a great place to express creativity. Believing in the rejuvenating power of celebrating with food she often cooks for friends as well as family. Fresh, seasonal and interesting ingredients all play a major role in the recipes she creates. In her classes she shares not only the recipes and the food she cooks, but the health benefits of those foods and spices.
May 14 – Community Bread Baking
Saturday, May 15, 10 am – 4 pm
Leader: Leigh Yardley
Location: Common Thread Community Farm
Free and open to all!
Be part of a creative community with bread! In 2009 MAD Art and the community built a sculptural oven with mud and recycled materials. Join others and learn to build the fire for a wood fired oven, prepare dough for baking, then sample the bread or pizza baked in the oven.
One of many Art Walk events planned May 14th & 15th.
Wednesday, June 23, 1 – 6 pm (visit is 2-5pm)
Leader: Carol Iannitti
Destination: Golden Artist Colors
$5 members; $10 non-members
Group limited to 12
This trip includes a tour of Golden Paints followed by a 2 hour workshop on using acrylic gels and mediums to extend and modify acrylic paints and to create textural surfaces for many kinds of media including pastels and oil paints. These products are also excellent adhesives and can be used to develop “skins” for use in paintings, sculptures and collage. Artists will get hands on instruction blending paints with gel mediums and using the mixtures to achieve various effects on sample boards.
Car pool drivers will be reimbursed $5 per occupant.
Microsoft Word – Registration Form MAD Art
MAD Art, Inc.
Lebanon Street Alley
PO Box 177 Hamilton, NY 13346
(315)824-1843
Donors
MAD Art, Inc. is deeply grateful for the support it has received from our community businesses. Thank you for making this programming possible.
Youth Policy Institute
Vantine Imaging
Hamilton Initiative, LLC
Colgate Inn
Colgate Bookstore
& thank you to MAD Art Members
MAD Art, Inc. would not exist without the enthusiastic participation and support of its members.
Mad Art Inc. 
