Monday, February 6, 2023

RISD Continuing Education Offers 170+ Online Courses for Adults and Teens

Artwork by RISD Pre-Collegiate Advanced Program Online student Erin S.

Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education (RISD CE) is thrilled to open registration for over 170 online courses this spring for adults and teens. Programs include online certificates for adult learners, RISD’s pre-collegiate Advanced Program Online, and new teen online courses.

Continuing Education students at Rhode Island School of Design can take classes from anywhere in the world, at any time of day or night. Courses are taught by academics, creative practitioners, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders who advance our mission to provide an art and design education for everyone!

With no entry requirements, the non-credit online adult certificate programs allow you to learn with motivated peers to develop your portfolio, broaden existing skills, explore a new career path or life pursuit, or start your own business — and build the network that will help you do it.

Teen online courses represent 11 visual arts and design subjects and allow students to engage in a community of makers while crafting their own stories. Students ages 13 to 17 attend weekly live Zoom meetings, receive narrative assessments with written personalized feedback in place of grades, and gain support and guidance from RISD undergraduate student teaching assistants. When students join teen online classes at Rhode Island School of Design, outstanding artists, designers, and educators will lead them toward inspiring career paths and creative problem-solving skills.

At RISD Pre-College, rising high school juniors and seniors can live like RISD students and work alongside hundreds of other creative, highly motivated students who will inspire them to push their limits and produce their best work. Students will follow a college-level curriculum with day-long studio classes, visits to the Nature Lab and RISD Museum, critiques, and projects that will forever shape the way they approach art and design. The Summer 2023 session runs from June 24 to July 29.

RISD’s Advanced Program Online is a year-round online intensive and designed for high school students interested in pursuing art and design in college. This certificate program is for changemakers who want to develop their art practice, learn new ways to collaborate, and create a future they’re excited about. The Spring 2023 term runs from March 4 to May 21, and the Summer 2023 term runs from June 17 to August 13.

Both pre-collegiate programs offer a college-level curriculum that provides a strong foundational understanding of drawing and design principles. Whether on-campus or online, students will participate in courses led by professionally practicing instructors, learn to manage time and self-motivate, and develop a portfolio of concepts, sketches, and finished pieces that can be included in or inform their college application.

The Spring 2023 term starts February 27. For more information, visit ce.risd.edu.

Apply for the RISD Pre-College residential summer immersive, and register for RISD’s Advanced Program Online year-round intensive.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article RISD Continuing Education Offers 170+ Online Courses for Adults and Teens appeared first on Colossal.



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Sunday, February 5, 2023

Explore Hundreds of Exquisite Botanical Collages Created by an 18th-Century Septuagenarian Artist

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

All images via The British Museum

At age 72, Mary Delany (1700-1788) devoted herself to her art practice, taking up a form of decoupage to create an exquisite collection of botanical collages from dyed and cut paper. She interpreted many of the delicate specimens she encountered in Buckinghamshire while staying with her friend, the Duchess of Portland, through layered pieces on black backdrops. From the wispy clover-like leaves of an oxalis plant to the wildly splayed petals of the daffodil, the realistic works are both stunning for their beauty and faithfulness to the original lifeforms.

Known for her scientific precision, Delany labeled each specimen with the plant’s taxonomic and common names, the date, location of creation, name of the donor, and a collection number, the latter of which was used to organize all 985 collages in her Flora Delanica series. Together, the works create a vast and diverse florilegium, or compilation of botanicals and writings in the tradition of commonplace books.

The British Museum houses most of Delany’s collages, which you can explore in an interactive archive that has information about the plants, artworks, and the option to zoom in on images of the pieces. You also might enjoy The Paper Garden, a book that delves into the artist’s work and what it means to foster a creative practice.

 

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

A scan of a botanical collage made of paper

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Explore Hundreds of Exquisite Botanical Collages Created by an 18th-Century Septuagenarian Artist appeared first on Colossal.



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Friday, February 3, 2023

Construction Goes Small Scale with Mini Materials’s Tiny Building Supplies

An overhead photo of mini construction materials


All images © Mini Materials

Building a tiny home gains new meaning when working with Mini Materials. The U.S.-based company invites craftspeople and masons to think small for their next projects, offering pallets of cinder blocks and lumber ready to be slathered in mortar or nailed into position at either 1:6 or 1:12 scale. From construction supplies like road signs and barriers to kits for creating a backyard firepit, Mini Materials offers a vast array of products intended for minuscule fabrication, all of which are made of the same concrete or wood as their life-sized counterparts.

Shop the small supplies on the company’s site, and find a variety of projects and how-to guides on its blog and YouTube.

 

A photo of a mini wheelbarrow and cinder blocks

A photo of a mini trowel, bricks, and mortar

A photo of a mini forklift and cinder blocks

A photo of a mini forklift

A photo of a mini cinder blocks

A photo of a mini dolly

A photo of mini pallets

A photo of a mini mold and concrete blocks

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Construction Goes Small Scale with Mini Materials’s Tiny Building Supplies appeared first on Colossal.



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Miniature Ships Sail Atop Asya Kozina’s Extravagant Baroque Wigs of White Paper

A photo of two people modeling elaborate paper wigs topped with sea scenes

All images © Asya Kozina, shared with permission

Artist Asya Kozina is known for her elaborate paper wigs that soar into the air with scenes of miniature metropolises and various botanical frills, coils, and pleats. Referencing the ominous tale of the Flying Dutchman, Kozina’s latest collection transports wearers to the sea with fleets of ships that sail across the cut-and-folded headdresses. The legend states that seeing the vessel portends imminent danger, a sense of mystery and hazard the artist juxtaposes with blossoming botanicals and butterflies full of life.

Kozina is based in Ukraine, and in a note to Colossal, she shares that Russia’s ongoing aggression has necessarily paused her practice as she focuses on volunteer efforts and caring for her family.  “We are in a state of more or less stress,” she says. “My attention is focused on air alarms and news and correspondence with relatives in other cities of Ukraine. At the same time, we pretend that we have a normal life… It’s completely surreal.”

You can find more about Kozina’s work and support her practice on her siteBehance,and Instagram.

 

A photo of a person modeling an elaborate paper wigs topped with florals

A detail photo of an elaborate paper wigs topped with sea scenes

A photo of a person modeling an elaborate paper wigs topped with a sea scene

A photo of a person modeling an elaborate paper wigs topped with a sea scene

A detail photo of an elaborate paper wigs topped with a sea scene

A photo of a person modeling an elaborate paper wigs topped with a sea scene

A detail photo of an elaborate paper wigs topped with a sea scene

A detail photo of an elaborate paper wigs topped with a sea scene

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Miniature Ships Sail Atop Asya Kozina’s Extravagant Baroque Wigs of White Paper appeared first on Colossal.



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Join Us for A Colossal Workshop on Playful Character Drawings with Mattias Adolfsson

An open sketchbook spread with dozens of quirky character drawings

Image © Mattias Adolfsson, shared with permission

Grab a pen and paper, and join artist Mattias Adolfsson (previously) and Colossal on March 11 for a virtual workshop on small character illustrations. In this one-hour session, Adolfsson will teach students how to draw a few of his signature quirky characters in ink and color and how to utilize those principles to keep sketching.

Register here, and if you’re a Colossal Member, be sure to use the code in your account for $5 off. Ten percent of the proceeds for this workshop will benefit Chicago Books to Women in Prison.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Join Us for A Colossal Workshop on Playful Character Drawings with Mattias Adolfsson appeared first on Colossal.



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Thursday, February 2, 2023

Ornate Picture Frames Sprout Twisted Roots in Organic Sculptures by Darryl Cox

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

“Winter.” All images © Darryl Cox, shared with permission

In Darryl Cox’s organic sculptures, gnarled tree roots or branches merge with the ornate grooves, patterns, and gilding of picture frames. The Bend, Oregon-based sculptor (previously) continues to explore the material possibilities of wood and its relationship to domestic interiors and the natural environment in the series Fusion Frames.

Cox begins each work by connecting pieces of reclaimed wood to the found decorative objects. “Typically—but not always—I begin the sculpting process at the point of fusion, and move in either direction from there, depending on the piece,” he tells Colossal. “Carving and modeling is a protracted process, so once I have a rudimentary joint, I work on segments at will.” To make formerly disparate pieces of wood appear as though they extend organically from one another, he spends hours meticulously carving, sanding, painting, and staining each piece. The artist retains some of the mosses or lichens that grew on the roots in the wild, further emphasizing the contrast between the finely hewn surfaces of the frames and the rough textures of the raw timber.

This summer, Cox will exhibit his sculptures at Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver in July and Oregon’s Art in the High Desert fair in August. Find more of his work on his website.

 

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

“Flynn”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

Detail and overview of “Lacey”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

“Bond”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

Detail of “Bond”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

Overview and detail of “Jasper”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

“Maestro”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

“Jacques”

A wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

Left: “Titan.” Right: “Joplin”

A detail of a wooden sculpture that fuses tree roots with an ornate picture frame.

Detail of “Jacques”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Ornate Picture Frames Sprout Twisted Roots in Organic Sculptures by Darryl Cox appeared first on Colossal.



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Commuters Go Wild in Matthew Grabelsky’s Uncanny Subway Paintings

A painted portrait of a horse-human figure riding the subway

“Giddy Up” (2022), oil on canvas, 14 × 16 inches. All images courtesy of Thinkspace Projects, shared with permission

Urbanites know the subway is a prime location to spot the city’s oddities, and yet, a run-in with one of Matthew Grabelsky’s characters would be a particularly wild encounter. The Los Angeles-based artist has spent the last few years rendering human-animal hybrids that nonchalantly ride public transit. Sometimes snacking on a cracker or brushing up on some reading, the characters are surreal, uncanny additions to an otherwise mundane scene.

Grabelsky’s newest oil paintings, which are currently on view as part of Riders at The Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale, California, are hyperrealistic and laced with witty details similar to earlier works in the series. Set on the New York City Subway and London Tube, the portraits are narrative-driven and embedded with pop culture references. The artist shares:

My goal is to create the effect of looking at a scene on the subway as if it were a diorama at a natural history museum. The images present richly detailed moments frozen in time allowing the viewer to closely inspect every element and make connections between them to read an overall story. In this world, people are transformed into part-animal to create scenes that are strange, funny, and endearing.

Curated by Thinkspace Projects, Riders is on view through March 17. You can find an extensive collection of Grabelsky’s commuters on his site and Instagram.

 

A painted portrait of a father and son human-monkey hybrids riding the subway

“Curious George Takes A Train” (2022), oil on canvas, 16 × 20 inches

On left, a painted portrait of a woman-crow figure on the subway, on the right, a painted portrait of a woman-parrot figure eating crackers on the subway

Left: “Crow-Magnon” (2022), oil on canvas, 28 × 38 inches. Right: “Polly Wanna Cracker” (2022), oil on canvas, 24 × 36 inches

A painted portrait of a dog-human hybrid riding the subway

“Texas Hold’em” (2022), oil on canvas, 12 × 16 inches

Left: A painted portrait of a wolf-human hybrid riding the subway. Right: A painted portrait of two panda-human hybrids riding the subway

Left: “An American Werewolf In London” (2022), oil on canvas, 24 × 32 inches. Right: “Sichuan Express” (2022), oil on canvas, 14 × 20 inches

A painted portrait of a bat-human figure riding the subway

“Gotham Local” (2022), oil on canvas, 12 × 16 inches

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Commuters Go Wild in Matthew Grabelsky’s Uncanny Subway Paintings appeared first on Colossal.



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A Knotted Octopus Carved Directly into Two Pianos Entwines Maskull Lasserre’s New Musical Sculpture

“The Third Octave” (2023). All images © Maskull Lasserre, shared with permission Behind the hammers and pins of most upright pianos is a ...