Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

Session dates in this series are:

• Session 1: Friday, January 10 and Friday, January 17
• Session 2: Friday, January 24 and Friday, January 31
• Session 3: Friday, February 7 and Friday, February 14
• Session 4: Friday, February 21 and Friday, February 28

10AM: Gallery Discussion

The conversations around the artworks in MCASD’s collection will offer stimulating input and prompts for participants as they think about creating their own artworks.

10:30AM: Coffee and Mingle

Refreshments and time for social interaction will take place in Museum venues that take full advantage of the beautiful oceanside location and views.

11AM: Art-Making Activity

The hands-on workshop will provide a forum for self-expression and developing new interpersonal connections.

Session 1: Mixed Media Sculpture

Combine a variety of materials to create a mixed-media sculpture!

Inspired by Rina Banerjee’s Contagious Migrations (1999–2023), Iva Gueorguieva’s Vessel and Horse (2014), and King Cobra’s Bulbous Violet (2010), materials include: fingernails and eyelashes, lightbulbs, steel, fabric, synthetic hair, and pins. Participants will transform a combination of these disparate materials into an artistic composition that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Session 2: Recycled and Smashed

Choose between thrifted ceramic pieces, break them, and then remix the pieces in a Kintsugi-inspired remodel.

Kintsugi, the Japanese art of ceramic repairs highlighted with gold, will be a starting point for this unpredictable art project. We will also draw inspiration from Cornelia Parker’s Rorschach (Accidental IV) (2006), which includes smashed and flattened fine silver pieces, and Barbara Bloom’s Broken (Hex Vase) (2001), which includes an example of the Kintsugi technique of ceramic repair. Each of these artworks highlights beauty that survives despite, or because of, a destructive force and questions the notion of perfection.

Session 3: Mobiles and Kinetic Art

In this session, create mobiles using a variety of materials, and factor in color, balance, and form while considering the impact of movement in a sculpture.

We will draw inspiration from Alan Saret’s Colors of Silence (1986)–in which Saret transforms discarded wire into puzzling cloud-like structures–and Sam Gilliam’s Dance Me, Dance You 2, #1, #2, #3 (2009), where Gilliam transforms fabric saturated with bright and contrasting colors into swaying soft sculptures.

Session 4: Clay Sculpture

Form a clay slab sculpture with interesting surface treatment by creating texture through pressing objects into the clay and using metallic pigments and gloss mediums that highlights its unique details.

Drawing inspiration from Liz Larner’s ix (caesura) (2013); Anna Sew Hoy’s Tissue Dispensing (for Stom Sogo) (2012), and Genesis Belanger’s Emerald City (2022), consider the form and surface in these and apply it to our own clay sculptures.