Spring and Summer Class Schedule

Today I spent some time putting together my class schedule for the rest of the Spring and the Summer.  I'll be teaching art classes for beginners and intermediates and offering a class by a wonderful teacher, Thomas Bosket, for advanced students.  In addition, I have two classes coming up which are about body image - Body Shop and Naked Self Portraiture.  The details are below.  Both are very gentle classes which give participants to look at their feelings about their bodies using different modalities in a safe, supportive environment.

All information is next to the class title.  This information is also on my website, www.susansinger.com.  Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the classes.  I'd be delighted to have you join me for any of these pursuits!

To see a calendar listing all classes, please see Calendar of Classes page.

Putting Together a Face, One Piece at a Time

In this six week class, the student will learn the basic anatomy of a face and have the opportunity to practice drawing each element of the face in detail in pencil.  The last two weeks will be spent drawing a self portrait using the knowledge gained from the first four weeks.  No previous drawing experience necessary.

Friday mornings

May 6 - June 17 (no class May 27), 10 AM -12:30 PM, $180

held at my studio in Southside Richmond

Contact me to sign up and for more information.

SusanSingerArt@msn.com

Body Shop: An Exploration of the Body through Image and Word 

Susan Singer is a full time artist, writer, speaker and teacher who is dedicated to helping people feel compassion towards themselves and their bodies.  Through the processes of drawing, writing and sharing, participants will explore the impact that our body image has on our inner and outer lives.  In this intensive three hour workshop designed for women, participants will gently but honestly uncover how we really feel about the woman beneath our clothes. 

Saturday, May 7, 10 AM - 1 PM

Cost: $40 Members; $50 Non-members of Chrysalis
         * Register by April 22 to receive a $5 early registration discount 
Location: The Chrysalis Gathering Space (3527 Ellwood Ave.)  

Naked Self Portraiture:  Drawing Inward to Draw Outward.

Part exploration of the soul, part exploration of the body, this class will give you time and permission to see yourself as you truly are with loving eyes.  We’ll draw and paint and sculpt with simple materials like Playdoh and finger paint, easy for the inexperienced artist and interesting enough for even the professional artist.  We’ll go inward through Authentic Movement and guided meditation to find the essence of who we are on the inside. Come prepared to disrobe, to explore, to laugh, and to discover richly, deeply your own gorgeous self, inside and out.
(This illustration is not an example of the work we'll be doing in the class.  Our explorations will be much more basic and intended for beginners as well as women with some artistic background.)

Saturday, May 14, 10 - 4 AND

Sunday, May 15, 11-5

$150

Students: $125

At Illumination Dance Studio, Richmond, VA

Contact me to sign up and for more information.  SusanSingerArt@msn.com

Beginning Pastel Drawing at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond

Are you ready to try a new medium? How about one that is direct, forgiving, simple and luscious? Come learn all about color, composition, value, line, and marks, not to mention pastels and pastel papers! This class is ideal for beginners to art, as well as experienced artists wanting to learn a new material.  It is taught with an analytical approach which will allow even the utter newbie to create better art than he ever thought possible!  Materials will be provided for the first night of class and a list will be given out then for the other class meetings.

Tuesday night

June 7 – July 26, 6:30 – 9:00 PM, 8 weeks, $190

Contact the Visual Arts Center to sign up

Intermediate Pastel Drawing at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond

If you've already begun exploring the fabulous, rich, exciting medium of soft pastels, this class is perfect for you! Take time to indulge yourself each week in an exploration of yourself as an artist under the supportive and encouraging tutelage of the instructor. Bring your own project and draw to your heart's content! 

Thursday night

Session I - June 9 - July 14, 6:30 - 9:00, 6 weeks, $155

Session II - July 28 - August 25, 6:00 - 9:00, 5 weeks, $155

Contact the Visual Arts Center to sign up.

Honing Your Vision with instructor Thomas Bosket

If you are at the intermediate skill level or beyond, this could be a fabulous class for you!  In this six day class, Thomas Bosket, visiting professor from Parsons School of Design in NYC, will lead us on a journey together through some tough stuff and some very stunning parts of what it means to be human - a journey that exposes our deepest longings and desires - one that will be tough at times and thrilling at others.  We will be taken out of our brains into our bodies.  We will be exposed to raw energies and experiences that may be uncomfortable but definitively alive. 

In his almost twenty years of teaching art, Thomas has developed many exercises to help students break through their self-imposed limits on their artistic abilities. This class is for students who want to explore the interior aspects of creating art, those which transcend the skill-based aspects.

Sunday - Saturday, June 19 - 25, 2011           Sunday, June 19, from 2-6 with dinner afterwards
           Monday - Friday, June 20 - 24, from 10-4 daily
           Saturday, June 25, from 10-2
Where:  Crossroads Art Center at Staples Mill and Broad, Richmond, VA
Cost:  $600 for all instruction and dinner on the 19th
How to sign up:  send me an email at SusanSingerArt@msn.com, then send me a $300 deposit to reserve your place.  The remainder will be due by June 1.

Basic Drawing Skills

Have you always wanted to learn to draw but never thought you could?  Are you one of those people who says, "I can't even draw a straight line?"  In this class you won't need to, and you will learn to draw beautifully!  You will learn the basic tools of drawing as well as how to see in a way which is fundamental to learning to depict the world accurately.

Come find out just how terrific an artist you can become!  Beginners eagerly welcomed!  More advanced artists welcomed as well!

Friday mornings

July 8 - August 12, 10 AM - 12:30 PM, $180

held at my studio in Southside Richmond

Contact me to sign up and for more information.

SusanSingerArt@msn.com

Doodling Defined: Zentangles

All Levels

We all do it – whenever the meeting gets boring, or the teacher drones on too long, we take out our pens and start doodling.  This fun class will formalize your doodling just enough to make you want to do it all the time – not just when you’re on interminable hold with the telephone company.  You’ll learn new patterns and ways to put them together, and maybe you’ll even invent some to share with the class. This is a fun and interactive class for all ages. Class is appropriate for ages 10 and up. Children under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult.

On session only

Sunday, August 7, 1:00 – 4:00 PM, $55

More Details

Contact the Visual Arts Center to register

Individual instruction

anytime mutually agreed upon

If you prefer working one-on-one, Susan offers outstanding instruction in many media including pastels, drawing, oil painting and watercolor as well as art appreciation.  Email her to set up an appointment today!  SusanSingerArt@msn.com

at her home studio in Richmond, near Stony Point

Testimonials from Susan Singer's students:Susan's a great teacher, very encouraging, knowledgeable, organized and can tailor a student's needs to his/her progress

Susan presented very concrete, well-planned lessons which included thorough explanations and examples of materials (papers, types of pastels), techniques and approaches to the medium.  She was encouraging and positive in her instruction, always able to find good qualities in each person's work.

This was by far the most comprehensive coverage of pastel painting I've ever had.  I don't see how the class could have been better!

I feel like I'm improving not only my skills, but also my ability to see what I need to do to improve my painting.  It really helps for Susan to point out what is "off" or what needs to be approached next.

Susan's critiques (each class) helped us to progress more rapidly.  She is very encouraging, yet challenging.  I also learned a lot about color theory and application, which have made me much better able to work in pastels.

Hope to see you soon!

Susan Singer

SusanSingerArt@msn.com

 

The studio!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
May				6 Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	7  Body Shop 10-1	8
9	10	11	12	13  Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	14  Naked Self Portraiture 10-4	15 Naked Self Portraiture 11-5
16	17	18	19	20  Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31	June 1	2	3  Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	4	5
6	7  Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	8	9  Intermediate Pastels Session I 6:30 - 9	10 Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	11	12
13	14 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	15	16 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	17 Putting Together a Face 10-12:30	18	19 Honing Your Vision with Thomas Bosket 2-6, dinner
20 Honing Your Vision 10-4	21 Honing Your Vision 10-4  Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	22 Honing Your Vision 10-4	23 Honing Your Vision 10-4  Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	24 Honing Your Vision 10-4	25 Honing Your Vision 10-2	26
27	28 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	29	30 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	July 1	2	3
4	5 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	6	7 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	8 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	9	10
11	12 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	13	14 Intermediate Pastels 6:30 - 9	15 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	16	17
18	19 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	20	21	22 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	23	24
25	26 Beginning Pastels 6:30 - 9	27	28   Intermediate Pastels Session II 6 - 9	29 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	30	31
August 1	2	3	4 Intermediate Pastels 6 - 9	5 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	6	7 Zendoodles 1-4
8	9	10	11 Intermediate Pastels 6-9	12 Basic Drawing 10-12:30	13	14
15	16	17	18 Intermediate Pastels 6 - 9	19	20	21
22	23	24	25 Intermediate Pastels 6 - 9	26	27	28
29	30	31	September 1	2	3	4

Pure Joy

I did more work on Valley's portrait today, trying to refine her features a little bit more and make the bathing suit brighter.  The surface I put on the canvas seems to have soaked up the paint overnight making it duller than it had been yesterday.  I'll be curious to see how it looks tomorrow.  For now, though, I feel like it's finished.

I also finished Woman Seated (though it sure needs a different title), I think.  The sunlight was coming in and shining on the bottom part of it today.  It was thrilled to see how the sun was making all the transparent paints show up.  It made me smile with joy.

After working on both of those, I began a new piece I'm calling Woman in the Mirror.  It's in the very beginning stages.  Rob Vander Zee had recommended I do it in Grisaille first - do all the values monochromatically like Rembrandt and the other Old Masters did, so thats's the stage I'm in now.  Then tomorrow once that's dry, I'll get to go over what's there now and do glazes to make the whites more luminous and luscious and subtle and to make the darks more complex and interesting.  I can't wait to see how it goes!  I love the mystery of the image.  It's almost abstract in passages because it's completely dark, yet upon further examination, it's clear what it is - I hope!

Today I listened to a TED talk about happiness and realized that I am truly happy right now.  It is wonderful to wake up each day with a head full of ideas and plans and excitement about what I'll get to do during the day.  Each day I get to eat nice meals, then paint or draw, and write, and see a friend or two, and go for a walk with a friend or exercise, and plan my next show, and talk to people who are excited by what I'm doing.  I get to think about Women's Body Image and how I can help spread the word that we all deserve to love our bodies.  I try not to think about whether I'm earning money or not - it isn't like when I tutored x number of clients per day and knew exactly what my income would be at the end of the month.  I have no idea right now.  I have several classes planned which I'm excited about and which I hope will happen, but other than that, I don't know how I'll earn money.  I'm absolutely going on faith.  I have a strong conviction that if I am doing what I feel so strongly called to do that God will take care of that silly old stuff and I don't need to worry about it.

Each day new opportunities arise which I could never anticipate.  For example, the wife of a friend from high school, with whom I've reconnected through Facebook, is working to help me come down to Texas to give a couple of lectures (at the university and to friends of hers) and to teach Naked Self Portraiture.  Wow!  That is completely exciting to me. 

Then today a woman called to ask me to paint her portrait.  Perfect.

It's like that every day.  I just never know what to expect, but it seems like it's all good. I feel completely blessed.

A portrait - from embarrassing to not too bad

I went up to DC yesterday to work with Rob Vander Zee.  He's a very good teacher.  He has a school two days a week in which he gives demos and individual instruction.  I feel like I learn a lot from him each time I work with him.

Yesterday I took a piece I'd started on a while back and had given up on because it was so awful.  I had decided to work on an old canvas so I painted over the old painting with a mixture of palette mud and pumice, thinking I might draw with pastels rather than paint.  Then I changed my mind and decided to paint, but my goodness!  The canvas was horrific.  It was like trying to drag a brush through dry sand.  I couldn't get it to work on teh canvas. It was terrible.  Despite that, I was pretty determined so I perservered, but I just couldn't get the painting to work.  It is a gorgous portrait of Valley, the model I've been collaborating with for the upcoming show Artists and Writers at Randolph Macon (opening Feb 20), and I love the image, so I was excited to do the painting.  I started using the method Rob had taught me, loosely, lightly, using Galkyd for glaze.  That stuff REALLY didn't like the surface I'd created!  Also, in choosing to work lightly and loosely, I went at the face with an approximation of how it should look, not being persnickety and exacting, figuring I would go back into it and refine it later.  That is NOT a good way to do a face!

The first part was fine - the bathing suit turned out nicely.  Her hair looks good.  I grided in her face so I would have guidelines to work with.

And now at the risk of embarrassing myself completely, I'll post the first rendition of her face.  It was horrible!  Poor thing, she looks like one of those dessicated faces made out of dried apples.  Sorry, Valley!

Quite discouraged, I painted over her face and put the canvas aside for a couple of months.  My son and husband kept coming out to the studio though and commenting on the piece and saying they really liked her hair and her bathing suit and that I should work on it some more.  NO.  Too discouraged.

Until Monday night when I was trying to figure out what to take to DC the next day.  My printer is totally wrecked so I can't print out any photos right now, so I had to work on something I already had a photo for.  I decided to be bold and brave and to try working on this picture again. 

When I got up there I gridded the face again so I could do it with a lot of accuracy.  Then I began painting.  It was helpful to have Rob there to point out when I was headed off in the wrong direction.  I did all the features with great detail until he suggested I soften all the lines, and blur the ones between her teeth.  That was very helpful.

I managed to make some very good progress on her face and came home feeling like perhaps it wasn't a completely lost cause.

This afternoon I worked on a few things on her face then re-painted her arm and bathing suit so the colors were in harmony with her face which was no longer lavender.  Now it's feeling close to finished, and I'm not so embarrassed to show the darn thing in public!  I think I need to work on her eyes a bit more but otherwise it may be close to done.  I know it doesn't look 100% like Valley, but I think most people who know her would know that's what I had in mind.  I hope so at least!  Portraits are not easy to paint.  It's significantly easier just to paint a body with no hands or feet or face!!

Madelyn Miller's blog post

I was very excited today to find out that Madelyn Miller, the indomitable Travel Lady, mentioned my class, Naked Self Portraiture, in her blog!  The last time she mentioned my artwork was when I did the show 12 Naked Men.  Her blog about that got over 100,000 hits/day!  I'll be curious to see if this one does as well.  If you'd like to see the 12 Naked Men, you can look on my website, susansinger.com to see the ones still available for purchase.

Here's the link if you're curious what she had to say.  It's Monday's post, so you have to scroll down just a little bit.

If you're interested in learning more about the class, here's more information.  I think it's going to be a wonderful class.  We'll take it slow as we explore the idea of being nude in front of others, not to mention ourselves.  The first couple of sessions we'll draw and sculpt body parts we can see with our clothes on.  Gradually, as we build comfort and safety with our fellow classmates, we'll consider other parts.  We'll be using very simple art supplies like Playdoh and finger paint because I want the class to be accessible to artists and non-artists alike.  It is intended to be a playful, joyful exploration of our own incredible beauty.

To sign up, send me an email at susansinger@msn.com, and I'll put you on the list.  We can only take 15 students, so be sure to sign up quickly if you're interested.  We're expecting the class to fill quickly.

As I've mentioned off and on during the last few weeks, I have a lot of stuff brewing these days - classes, workshops, exhibitions, etc.  I thought it might be helpful to have a list of the information in case you're interested in attending any of them (I hope you will!)

Here's the list along with links and info on how to sign up.

Lecture:

Red Tent Meeting, Thursday January 6^th, 7:30 – 8:30 PM, At Illumination, 109 W. 15th St. Richmond, VA, 23224.

A fabulous opportunity to gather with women to talk about women's bodies and other issues near and near to us.  I’ll be talking about my work, and showing images, then we’ll all have a chance to share stories about our bodies and how we feel about them.  Follow the link to sign up, or just show up that night!

Classes:

Beginning Pastels, Tuesdays for 6 weeks beginning January 11, 6:30 – 9:00 PM, Visual Arts Center, Richmond. 

A wonderful opportunity to learn to draw with pastels, a lovely, forgiving, juicy medium, perfect for beginners!  Sign up online or call 353-0094.

Naked Self Portraiture:  Drawing Inward to Draw Outward, Fridays every other week, beginning February 11, 7 – 9:30 PM, Khalima’s Dance Studio (for women only). 

Part exploration of the soul, part exploration of the body, this class will give you time and permission to see yourself as you truly are with loving eyes.  We’ll draw and paint and sculpt with simple materials like Playdoh and finger paint, easy for the inexperienced artist and challenging enough for  the professional artist as well.  We’ll go inward through Authentic Movement and guided meditation to find the essence of who we are outwardly on the inside.  Come prepared to disrobe, to explore, to laugh, and to discover richly, deeply your own gorgeous self, inside and out.

Body Shop: An exploration of the body through image and word.  Friday, February 25, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM, my studio on Southside Richmond.  Co-led by Valley Haggard

What messages do we tell ourselves about our bodies? Are our perceptions accurate? Do the words we use to describe our own bodies - or the bodies of other women - promote our happiness or keep us stuck in judgment and self-recrimination? Through the processes of drawing, writing and sharing, we will explore the impact that our body image has on our inner and outer lives. In this intensive three-and-a-half hour workshop, we will gently but honestly uncover how we really feel about the woman beneath our clothes. 

Intermediate Pastel Drawing, Tuesdays for 6 weeks beginning March 15, 6:30 – 9:00 PM, Visual Arts Center, Richmond. 

Bring your own project to work on in a supportive, instructive atmosphere.  Excellent for those with some experience with pastels already.  Sign up online or call 353-0094.

Exhibits

Celebrate Gay Marriage, Foundry Gallery, Washington, DC, January 5 – 29, 2011, opening reception January 8, 6:00 – 8:00 PM. My piece Susie Kissing Sally will be on display there.

Artists and Writers, Flippo Gallery, Randolph Macon College, Ashland, VA, February 18 – April 1, 2011, Opening Reception, February 20, 3:00 – 5:00 PM.  4 pairs of writers and artists including Valley Haggard and I will be displaying our collaborative efforts at the Flippo Gallery in Ashland.  Valley will have a piece in Belle Magazine in February telling about our combined efforts and how being painted nude has changed her life.

Fruits and Veggies, Bon Air Library, Richmond, VA, March 1 – 30, 2011.  Exhibit of pastel drawings of fruits and vegetables.  No nudity allowed in the publically-funded sphere, so I’ll show my fruits instead!

 Solo Exhibit (as yet unnamed), Petersburg Regional Arts Center, April 6 – May 9, Opening Reception, April 8, 7:00 – 9:00 PM.  A small collection of my female nudes at this lovely art center in the heart of downtown Petersburg.

All Fleshed Out (working title), Crossroads Art Center, September 19 – November 1, 2011, Opening Reception September 23, 6:30 – 9:30.  A gigantic exhibition of my paintings and drawings of Female Nudes, Transgender Nudes, and experiential activities highlighting how we feel about our bodies.


I hope you'll join me for some of these many rich experiences.  I'm excited about all that is happening and look forward to sharing the joy and excitement from each in the months to come!