Shelley Certified/PRINTMAKERS OPEN FORUM

Color into Print

 Women’s Studio Workshop  

 July 9 – 18, 2013 / Shelley Thorstensen

 Antica Tenuta Le Casacce (Residenza Montale), Tuscany ITALY

Picture the color of Tuscany. Changing hues from dawn to dusk.  Rolling landscapes of yellow ochre and verde fields accented by vermillion, poppy, terra-cotta.  Siena and umber earth. White-washed medieval architecture surrounded by century-old olive groves.  Sepia pasta with porcini fired over the grill, that golden oil which is at times lime or pure molten ore. Picture ripening vineyards below endless azure skies. Picture timeless beauty.

Immerse your senses in these colors of Tuscany with printmaker and teacher Shelley Thorstensen in the nine day workshop, Color into Print, offered by Women’s Studio Workshop during the summer of 2013 held at Antica Tenuta Le Casacce, Tuscany. Explore, expand and deepen your vision, inspired by how the Tuscan palette resonates uniquely with you.

Color into Print is designed to activate and accelerate your interpretation of color. It will generate momentum in your entire art-making practice. The focus is on color multi pass monoprint, drypoint, collograph, and simple polyester plate lithography, each printed in concert of the full complement of color options including layered surfaces, chine colle, and viscosity printing. This is precise yet juicy printmaking tailored to the needs of each participant. This is a low-stress, high reward workshop.  Leave with a record of your color journey in Tuscany.

Our Italian Workshop coordinator, Susan Fateh has selected this exquisite new site because it features breathtaking views whichever way you look,  ample and well lit indoor work-space opening out onto a private terrace, pleasant, charming bedrooms, and  sublime food prepared by a top Roman chef.

This panoramic location about 3 km from the medieval village of Seggiano. The villa is an ideal place for experiencing fine Italian cuisine in an evocatively authentic setting. Students may opt for private rooms or double occupancy and significant others and/or friends are welcome at a 20% discount.

Dating back to the 13th C, the villa’s recent renovations have rendered it comfortable without losing traditional character. All aspects of the workshop will be held in the original farmhouse on the estate that has its own pool. The farmhouse will be completely devoted to Women’s Studio Workshop participants – which can be men and women. The charming village of Seggiano is off the main tourist routes and maintains its traditional Tuscan charm and unspoiled countryside. Students may opt for private rooms or double occupancy. Partners and/or friends are welcome at a 20% discount.

On a typical day, the class will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. After a leisurely lunch break you can take a siesta, a swim in their lovely pool or go back to the studio for some quiet work time. Instruction will resume for another 2 hours before the evening meal. The studio itself can be used around the clock.  

Included in tuition:

-       most materials (paper, inks and plates)

-       housing

-       full board of 3 meals a day, including abundant vegetarian fare (extra charge for very particular dietary requests)

-       a day trip to nearby Siena

-       group transportation to and from Rome’s Fumicino airport will be provided 

 Prices are $4100 for a single, $3700 double

 For more information, call Women’s Studio Workshop at (845) 658-9133

 Registration deadline February 28, 2013

Shelley Thorstensen has expertise in all printmaking techniques. She is a fount of technical knowledge when it comes to color. Her work is part deep personal archive, part printmaking evangelism, woven together in fabric of color, metaphor and commentary. Art critic Edward Sozanski writes of her work “The ease with which she combines these processes and exploits their individual strengths gives her prints uncommon presence and, more often than not, transcendent beauty”. Recent solo shows include: (2011) This the Smoke from when the Horses Left at the Painted Bride, (2010) Counterpoint: The Leap from Vision to Print at Woodmere Art Museum and (2009) The Preponderance of Evidence at The Print Center (Philadelphia). Shelley currently teaches printmaking and drawing at Tyler School of Art. Her work can be seen at Dolan/Maxwell (dolan/maxwell.com) and is collected across the US, Europe and Japan. She is President of the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) in New York City.

Susan Fateh serves as the Program Director for WSW’s Italy workshops. She holds a BA/Hon. from Scotland, an MFA from NYU, and apprenticed at S.W. Hayter’s Atelier 17 in Paris. Susan was a production papermaker at WSW, where she first learned the craft. She has conducted various workshops in Jordan, Trinidad, and Italy, and has coordinated a women’s handmade paper self-help group in rural South India. Her own mixed-media works are in diverse collections around the world. For the past ten years, she has lived in Italy with her young son.