Summer Arts Workshops
Alfred Summer Arts 2023 features four weeks of arts workshops in a variety of media areas designed for participants working at all levels: artists, teachers, community members and visiting professionals.
Alfred Summer Arts 2023 features four weeks of arts workshops in a variety of media areas designed for participants working at all levels: artists, teachers, community members and visiting professionals.
Workshop registration is now open!
Alfred Summer Arts Workshops offer the following discounts:
- 50% off tuition for K-12 teachers
- 25% off tuition for local residents
Please contact Laura Souther for more information.
All workshops are filled on a first come basis until the participant maximum is met. Once the class limit is reached, a waiting list will be kept. Workshop participants must be 18+ years of age. Students 16-17 years of age may participate in workshops, provided a parent/legal guardian accompanies them in the campus housing.
Open Studio Intensive Workshop
June 26 - July 21, 2023
With resident artists/advisors: Walter McConnell, Elsa Sahal, Michael Eden, Youngmi Lee and Ara Koh. Includes day-long workshops with guest artists: Adero Willard, Stephanie Hanes, and Sanam Emami.
After a four-year hiatus, the Summer Ceramic Workshops at Alfred will once again be in session offering courses designed for participants working at all skill levels in ceramic art. Every day the ceramic studios will come alive with demonstrations, lectures and conversation with Alfred’s Ceramic Art faculty, international resident artists, graduate teaching assistants, and fellow participants. The Open Studio Intensive is beneficial to ceramicists of all skill levels looking to work independently and advance their studio practice in ways made possible through extended access to Alfred’s ceramic facility.
View Artist Gallery
Participants will work semi-independently and focus on their individual studio practice with guidance and advice from Alfred’s Ceramic Art faculty, resident artists, and Ceramic Art graduate students. Resident artists and faculty work alongside participants in the studios. Participants will connect with resident artists in one-on-one interactions and group discussions throughout the session.
In addition to concentrated studio time, participants will have access to supplemental programming activities including demonstrations and lectures by prominent artists in ceramics and other media areas. Daily interactions, demos, and presentations by Alfred’s talented up and coming MFA candidates in Ceramic Art is a core part of the experience. The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum and Scholes Library on campus are invaluable resources open to participants to further their research outside the studio.
Summer Ceramic Art’s Two-Week Workshop Sessions in Wood Firing and Digital Design offer participants an opportunity to investigate age-old firing practices and new age technologies with expert practitioners in the field. The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum and Scholes Library on campus are invaluable resources open to participants to further their research outside the studio.
Lighting Up: Firing the Alfred Wood Kilns
June 26-July 7
With Matt Kelleher
This intermediate/advanced workshop will focus on firing the Alfred train kiln and a new gas/wood hybrid kiln. The workshop will begin with studio work time, guided by demonstrations on wheel and hand-built techniques.
Participants will create work to fill both kilns during the workshop and are also encouraged to bring up to 3 cubic feet of bisque ware (cone 10 stoneware or porcelain). Slip and glazing ideas will be discussed along with loading and firing strategies.
Digital Design and Clay Printing
July 10-21
With Del Harrow and Johnathan Hopp
This 2-week workshop, intended for students and practitioners in Art, Design, or Architecture, will explore a range of techniques and processes for realizing 3D Computer Models as physical ceramic form.
Clay 3D printing and hand-building with clay will be core techniques introduced and enhanced during the workshop. CNC machining, plaster molds, plastic printing, extrusion, and other methods will be optional as interest and time allow. Clay printing will make use of Alfred’s 3 Lutum printers.
While workshop participants will also have time to pursue individual projects, in order to make full use of the sophisticated Alfred fabrication facilities students will be encouraged to collaborate and to develop projects in small research teams. Potential research projects could include: ceramic furniture, modular components for architecture (tiles, cladding, etc.), tableware, or sculptural forms.
Alfred Arts {Word + Image}
June 26-30
Photography & Writing
Taught by Kelsey Sucena
In the interpretation and understanding of photographs, contextualization is critical. Outside of the niche world of academic photography, photographs are rarely, if ever, engaged with as isolated and atomized objects. As such, text is a crucial aspect of any photographic practice, whether it is through the use of written and/or spoken words, or through the less obvious use of intertextual information (educational background, and/or shared social constructs). During this workshop we will seek to craft projects at the intersection of text and image. While “text” does refer to written and spoken words, we will also seek to better understand how photographs operate as texts in and of themselves.
This workshop will be a practical investigation of narrative strategies as a predominant aspect of still photography and photo-related imagery. Text, sequence, series, linear and nonlinear approaches, and literary/poetic models are explored as the deep structure of subject. In addition to assigned readings and visual exercises, participants will develop a self-directed project in consultation with the facilitator, resulting in a portfolio of images, a book, performance, video, and/or a photographic installation.
Photo and text by Kelsey Sucena, 2022
Anatomy, Touch and Movement Repatterning
August 7-11
Taught by Colleen Wahl and James Cornell, LMT
Spend a week in Maine this summer with massage therapist, James Cornell and movement specialist, Colleen Wahl to learn anatomy, touch, and movement practices that will change how you experience and move your body.
During this weeklong workshop, expect to deepen your understanding of the material of your body and how you can work with it in healthy ways. As you gain new insights into your body and how your body moves, you will also learn touch and massage skills to use on yourself and other people. Over the course of the week, create or supplement an already existing morning movement practice, and integrate touch skills into your practice.
Note: This workshop is not designed for participants to receive one-on-one sessions with the facilitators.
Body, Landscape, and Creative Process
August 14-18
Taught by Colleen Wahl
Interested in working through your body to refresh or deepen your creative practice? Curious how immersive experiences in nature can inform what you are already working on and provide time and perspective on your work? Housed on an idyllic property in Harrington, ME, this weeklong, immersive experience is a hybrid residency-workshop designed to facilitate your creative process through somatic experiences and relevant outdoor excursions into Maine’s spectacular landscape.
Notice the spreading of the five rays of your toes as you read this. Let that ground you.
Begin each morning with a guided movement practice that connects you to your body and deepens your understanding of the material body. Based on the explorations in body and movement we will enjoy an excursion into the natural world.
Your spreading feet will notice their buoyancy on a moderate hike to the summit of a nearby mountain, or they rest in the sun and wind on the rocks of a hidden Acadia beach. As part-residency, there each day will include open time for you to work in your chosen modality, read, or reflect, as well as time in community of other participants to share your work and reflections.
Color from Nature: An Experiential Leap into Applying Color to Yarns and Fabrics
July 17-21
Natural Dyes
Taught by Debra MacCrea
A whole week of playing with color…Who could resist?
We begin by visiting the instructor’s gardens to harvest plant material, learn a bit about growing or foraging for dye plants, and sound, sustainable environmental practice in the dyer’s art. Returning to the studio, we prepare and dye with fresh-leaf Indigo, in a unique and time-sensitive method for using this ages-old plant source of incredible shades of blue. Next we move into Eco-printing, a contact dyeing method which yields imagery of the leaves and their mysterious color pigments onto fabric.
Throughout the week, we will sample other surface design methods, like rust dyeing and resist paste work, all the while brewing immersion dye baths to apply rich color to wool yarn. At week’s end, these will be sampled onto cardstock, allowing each student to take with them a colorful record of having attained close to 100 different tints and shades. Using various pre- and post-mordants and modifiers, for long-lasting color, students will essentially have recipes for future work in their own artistic journey.
This course combines centuries of traditional dye knowledge and craft with modern application and inspiration, equipment and tricks to offer the fiber artist a vast arsenal of techniques from which to draw.
…definitely the moon
July 10-14
Sculpture & Photography
Taught by George Ferrandi
In this week-long workshop, we’ll combine a Japanese technique for making illuminated paper sculpture (Nebuta) with long exposure photography/light painting to recreate—or riff off of—a moment from Georges Mélies’ pioneering classic short film, A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la Lune). This gorgeous and playful early experiment in “trick” filmmaking featured an elaborate, stylized set and innovative, low-tech special effects. We’ll also look at historical representations of Greek goddess/lunar deity Artemis and listen to excerpts of stories by revered author of science fiction, Octavia Butler.
Photo Credit: Michael Mandolfo
Egg Tempera: Lost and Found Horizons
July 3-7
Painting
Taught by Patrick Brennan
Egg tempera paintings are very long-lasting examples from the first century AD that still exist. Egg tempera was the primary method of painting until after 1500 when it was superseded by oil painting. In this comprehensive five-day workshop students will learn all aspects of the medium: egg tempera’s rich history, how to make genuine homemade gesso panels starting from scratch, the characteristics of powdered pigments, how to mix fresh paint, and separate eggs, as well as a chance to engage with and paint the sublime Allegany County landscape! The workshop will explore Alfred and surrounding areas well-known as well as some beautiful secret spots! Mid -week there will be a slide lecture on contemporary painters working with traditional material and the landscape as subject. Students will also get an introduction to color theory and paint mixing.
Patrick Brennan, Spring Moon, 2018
Expanded VR: Experimental Practices for Immersive Media
June 26-30
Taught by Matthew Gantt
This course will offer a hands-on introduction to creating immersive VR and 3D environments using the Unity and Unreal Engine game engines, as well as open source WebVR platforms like Mozilla Hubs. Participants will learn foundational approaches to scripting interaction, deploying software to VR headsets and hardware, and creative strategies for working with sound and spatial media. Additional material will cover experimental approaches to interfacing digital 3D media with analog audio and video systems with MIDI, OSC and similar.
Supplementary lectures will contextualize hands-on skill building with an overview of pioneering immersive media works, connecting contemporary virtual technology with early experimental media works. Students completing the course will leave with both a practical skillset for working with virtual reality, as well as a portfolio of their own creative projects.
Experimental Printmaking
July 17-21
Taught by William Contino
Focused on the development of images, utilizing the media of print, both traditional and digital, we will work with the tools, materials and processes that will open new possibilities into the creation of personal imagery. We will start in the print shop working with multiple methods of transfer, using traditional techniques and experimental forms to arrive at images. We will then move these images to a digital form, where editing and expanding with the aid of computer software and digital printing can advance these images to new, exciting, and perhaps unrealized results. All levels; beginners encouraged.
Introduction to Woodblock Printing
July 3-7
Taught by Jacoub Reyes
This course is an introduction to woodblock printing. Students will learn about various artists, methods, and the history of woodblock printmaking. We will cover its origins and advancements in medicine, revolutionary pamphlets, to present-day self-published books and zines. Students will draw, transfer, and carve onto wooden blocks. They will then print on paper using hand printing techniques. Drawing and design are important; experimentation is encouraged. Notable artists covered include Pavel Acevedo, Sthenjwa Luthuli, Mk Kabrito, StinkFish, Mazatli, KillJoy, Judy Pfaff, Frank Stella, Ivan Bautista, among others.
Introduction to 3D Printing
June 26-30
Taught by Erin Taylor
This workshop is designed to give an introduction to the concepts and requirements for successful 3D printing. We will cover what features to look for in a 3D printer, as well as basic operation and maintenance. Students will learn how to do benchmark testing for better print results. Understanding the different features of slicer software for preparing 3D models for 3D printing will also be covered. We will also discuss ideas for projects to integrate into curriculum for both arts and engineering classrooms. The workshop is designed for beginners. Basic computer skills are required.
Music from the Other Side of the World
July 10-14
Taught by Mingren (Morgan) Huang
Participants will experience folk songs, musical instruments, folk dances, and operas from China and other Asian countries; they will learn and appreciate the music, art, and culture from the other side of the world, increasing their knowledge and experience of world music through hands-on workshops.
Through a week of learning and appreciation, the final project outcome will be a mini-show that everyone in the workshop will participate in. No prior musical knowledge required.
Pulped Fiction & Fabrics of Truth
July 10-14
Paper Making
Taught by Patsy Rausch
This workshop is designed to encourage conversations of cultural collaboration related to fabrics and materials significant to each narrative. The vehicle for this dialog is a portable papermaking studio, including Hollander Beater. The studio promotes an atmosphere of exploration, creative license, and celebrated risk, integrating cotton fabric, plant fibers, pigment, and natural dyes in 2D and 3D designs. The cotton fabrics of intention are broken, beaten to a pulp, then pulled from vats to form sheets of handmade paper.
Over the week, attendees will learn the fundamentals of hand papermaking, from cloth to pulp to sheets of paper. Instruction in internal vs. external sizing, watermarking, pulp printing, and pulp painting to ready the final sheets for independent presentation or mixed media incorporation.
Sound Connections - Creative Music Retreat
July 3-7
Taught by Jesse Chandler and Ben Zucker
No matter your background or level of experience, music-making is a rewarding yet unpredictable process. How do you keep yourself open to creativity and keep up that openness with your collaborators? In this workshop, participants (principally music/sound artists with some demonstration of existing work and practice) will be offered the chance to stretch themselves as individual and interactive creators. Daily sessions will explore various methods of group devising in facilitated and self-guided environments in the inspiring landscape of Alfred, NY and the Alfred University campus. Members will work on their individual practices and share them in constructive settings meant to help all participants better articulate their visions and talents. The workshop will culminate in a set of performances for the Alfred community. Participants will leave with a new set of friends and artistic peers having developed their talents and knowledge about how to navigate across musical genres and industries.
Who is this for? There are absolutely no limitations regarding background, personal identification, or musical identification. We encourage sound-based artists from all genres, with or without formal training. On a practical level, the ability to self-produce and manage your instrument/setup is important, and some experience with the logistics of recording or performance are extremely useful, as we cannot guarantee the extent of our resources.
We imagine this meeting to be of the most interest to individuals who have some experience with creating and performing original music, in solo or collaborative situations. While some public performance is envisioned as part of the program, perfectionism and competition and showing off are not the goals here. Most important is a willingness to share, explore, and expand your horizons of artistic confidence through new creative partnerships, to the best of your personal ability.
Pattern & Color on Thrown and Handbuilt Terracotta
Saturday, July 1
9am-4pm
Led by Adero Willard
Adero Willard, Visiting Assistant Professor in Ceramic Art at Alfred and a functional potter, will lecture on her work and demonstrate techniques to accomplish complex and colorful clay surfaces with slips and underglazes on thrown and hand-built terracotta forms. Exploratory approaches to form and surface are encouraged using slab, coil, stencils, paper resists, stamps, and tape. Adero will discuss how pattern and color work together and bring participants to a deeper understanding of a visual language on clay form. This workshop is included in the tuition for the 4 Week Open Studio Intensive. Participants not already enrolled in the 4-Week Open Studio Intensive may register to join for the day.
Formulating and Firing Reduction in-Glaze Lusters
Saturday, July 8
9am-4pm
Led by Stephanie Hanes
Stephanie Hanes, Assistant Professor of Ceramic Art at Alfred, will lecture on their large-scale figurative sculpture and demonstrate their use of Arabian luster glazes first developed in the middle east over 1000 years ago. Participants learn reduction firing techniques to achieve seductive lustrous effects and get to glaze and fire a work of their own. Several different methods to create unique metallic surfaces will be covered. This workshop is included in the tuition for the 4 Week Open Studio Intensive. Participants not already enrolled in the 4 Week Open Studio Intensive may register to join for the day.
Plein Air Painting
Saturday, July 8
9am-4pm
Taught by Patrick Brennan
Joing Visiting Assistant Professor Patrick Brennan for the Plein Air Painting one-day workshop. Participants in this workshop will spend the day painting the lush Allegany County landscape.
Large Vessels & Surface Decoration for Functional Pottery
Wednesday, July 12
9am-4pm
Led by Sanam Emami
Sanam Emami, Associate Professor of Ceramic Art at Colorado State University and Alfred Alumnus, will lecture on her work and demonstrate throwing techniques for large vessels and design strategies for resist surface decoration. This workshop is included in the tuition for the 4 Week Open Studio Intensive. Participants not already enrolled in the 4 Week Open Studio Intensive may register to join for the day.
AMACO Glaze Workshop
Saturday, July 15
9am-4pm
Led by Cory Brown
AMACO is coming to Alfred! Try out all the new glazes, along with the classics. The workshop will cover the wide variety of mid-range glazes and underglazes AMACO offers. Instruction includes morning demonstrations on application, layering combos, and general glazing knowledge, along with a few tips and tricks. In the afternoon, participants will have the opportunity to experiment with 50+ AMACO glaze products on their own bisqueware. Tests will be fired following the workshop.
Bring test tiles and/or 3-5 smaller bisque fired objects suitable for firing.
Eco-Printing on Fabrics or Paper
Saturday, July 15
9am-4pm
Taught by Debra MacCrea
Using freshly picked plant material from the instructor’s gardens and foraged local flora, lovely contact prints will bloom onto paper and fabric through steaming and the predictable interaction of plant tannins and an iron solution, to create one-of-a-kind botanical prints with a beauty only nature provides!
All materials provided. Each student will leave with several finished prints on quality watercolor paper and cotton, silk or linen fabrics.
Alfred University is home to world-renowned, state-of-the-art facilities where participants will find everything they need to immerse themselves in their creativity and craft. Movement and music courses will be hosted in the spacious, light-filled studios at Miller Performing Arts Center, while ceramic art, painting, drawing, photography, printmaking and interactive media courses will be hosted the state-of-the-art studios in Harder Hall.
Workshop participants also have access to the vast collections of Scholes Library, a special academic library that serves as an information resource and source of creative inspiration for the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, as well as for the greater international arts and sciences research community.
Housing
On-campus housing is available for $100 per week. Each two-story townhome consists of 6 single bedrooms (2 downstairs and 4 upstairs), two bathrooms, a full-sized kitchen, and a living room. Linens are included.
Meals
Optional meal plans through campus dining services are available.
- 4 Week Meal Plan: $980 (includes 20 breakfasts, 26 lunches and 26 dinners)
- 2 Week Meal Plan: $460 (includes 10 breakfasts, 12 lunches, and 12 dinners)
- 1 Week Meal Plan: $200 (includes 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 5 dinners)
Limited dining options are available within walking distance of campus.
Arrival
Alfred University is 81 miles from Rochester and 90 miles from Buffalo. The most convenient way to get to Alfred is by car, but Alfred will also offer a shuttle service to and from Rochester airport which will be available for each session for a fee of $50 one way or $100 round trip. Please contact us for more information on the shuttle service and times.
Students should plan to arrive to the Alfred Campus before 5:00pm on Sunday and attend a welcome event that will begin at 6pm.
Departure
Sessions will end on Friday evening with Saturday morning departures. Friday evening dinner will be the last meal offered; departures will take place Saturday before 10am.
Enrollment
Alfred invites participants of all ages 18+ at all levels of experience, from beginners to professionals, to join us for our summer workshops. We welcome a diverse body of participants and are inclusive to all experiences, backgrounds, races, and professions. Class size is limited to allow for generous workspace, interactions with teachers, and safety for participants.
Students 16-17 years of age may participate in workshops, provided a parent/legal guardian accompanies them in the campus housing.
Registration Fees and Deadline
Registration takes place online, and there is a $30 processing fee for all participants. Registration is on a first come, first serve basis and continues until workshops are filled.
Refunds and Cancellations
You may cancel anytime up to 30 days before the beginning of a workshop and receive a refund minus the $30 non-refundable processing fee and a cancellation fee of $100.
If you cancel less than 30 days before the beginning of the workshop, refunds are not available due to deadlines for material acquisitions and artist travel agreements.
If it is necessary for Alfred to cancel a workshop for any reason, participants will be notified and offered another class or a full refund. We cannot, however, be responsible for non-refundable travel expenses.
Processing Fee and Deposits
When registering for a class you will be charged the full amount of the course + processing fee + the material cost for that course. You may select additions such as housing and meals which will be charged at the time of registration.
Waiting Lists
If the workshop you are interested in is full, we invite you to put your name on our waiting list. If there is a cancellation and space become available, we will contact applicants in order, by the date received. You do not need to place a deposit to be put onto the waiting list. If you would like to put your name on our waiting list, please contact southerl@alfred.edu.
Housing
Alfred offers on campus housing, which is ideal for participants looking to focus on the workshop experience. In addition to daytime classes, participants frequently find themselves spending a great deal of early mornings and late evenings on campus for dinners and after class events.
Alfred housing is townhouse dormitory style living with single bedrooms. Housing is air-conditioned, and the furnishings are the college-style furniture one can expect from university housing. It should be noted that we can only provide housing for individuals enrolled in our workshops.
Meals
A meal plan will be available through campus dining services for a separate fee.
Off-Campus Students
If you choose to live off-campus it is still possible to enroll in our meal option and participate in all day/night activities that will take place during your workshop.
Cost of Materials/Studio Fees
Course tuition does not include the cost of materials needed for the workshops. Some of the workshops will require participants to bring certain materials and most of the workshops will have a small materials fee. This fee will vary depending on the materials needed for the class. Materials fees also support the maintenance and upkeep of our studio facilities.
Safety
In our workshops, participants will work with tools and equipment that could be dangerous if used incorrectly. Instructors will review safety protocol; however, participants take workshops at their own risk when working with tools and equipment at Alfred University.
Policies
- To provide a safe and supportive educational environment for all those involved in Alfred Summer Arts programs, we ask that faculty, staff, and participants treat facilities with consideration and respect.
- Drugs and Alcohol are prohibited in studios.
- Personal Property: Alfred is not responsible for the person property of participants, instructors, or staff.
- Pets: No pets allowed on campus
- Unacceptable Behavior: Alfred reserves the right to dismiss any student, without refund, for unacceptable behavior that is disruptive to the workshop working and living environment.
- Workshop participants should comply with Alfred University COVID policies.