April 2014 – Hudson River Valley Art Workshops

Interview with Mixed Media Artist – Cathy Taylor

April 27, 2014

Cathy Taylor is an award winning mixed media artist and popular workshop instructor. She is teaching a workshop for us at the end of June and we are so looking forward to sharing her enthusiasm for art!

Her water media artwork is a celebration of the patterns, textures, and color found in the natural environment. Cathy is known for her ability to interpret a subject in a variety of styles, from her whimsical collages to multi-dimensional abstracts.

We were introduced to Cathy through the CitraSolv company, the makers of CitraSolv household cleaners, which also happens to be a fabulous product for creating altered paper, image transfers, and more! We use a number of these fabulous natural cleaning products at our inn.

Here are Cathy’s responses to our interview questions:

How long have you been teaching and what got you started teaching?

I started teaching because I wanted to share my new found love of water media. I was having way too much fun to keep it to myself!I started teaching on a local basis in 1995. The class was called No Mistakes Watermedia and had weekly titles like the fear of white paper, risk a glorious failure and Imagination constipation! The class sold out. I LOVED teaching and knew then I had found my passion.

What is your favorite part about teaching?

The pure joy when a student creates a wonderful piece of artwork. And the HUGS

What would you tell your prospective students are three best reasons for taking a workshop?

The support, encouragement, and sharing that happens in a workshop environment.

The opportunity to do something just for you!

THE HUGS

What are you currently working on in your own art?

I am in LOVE with alcohol inks. I am still discovering new ways to work with them. I also have been working on a series of large collages using circuit boards and old watch and clock parts. One was featured in the current Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. They have also been juried into the National Collage Society shows and the International Society of Experimental Artist shows. 100 2396

Where is your art currently being exhibited?

I am represented by several galleries including the 2103 NICHE award winner KALA gallery in Morganton NC. I also belong to the world’s best co-op The Main Street Gallery in Blowing Rock NC.

Is your work represented in galleries, and if so, what hints would you give to artists looking for gallery representation?

Get together a body of work that represents your style. Seek out cooperative galleries where you will receive the support and advice from other artists. Most galleries have an online application process and will contact you if interested.

Do you sell your work in any online gallery?

FASO is my web support. Their web site is designed specifically for artists and is very user friendly. I have my work featured on my site and have sold several pieces through my site.

What is your favorite art quote?

”Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” Albert Szent 100 2377

Describe your studio.

Controlled chaos. My studio is on the second floor with a view of our surrounding woods. It is full of light with a high ceiling and lots of room. It is filled with my collection of inspiring Stuff including a paper wasp nest (minus wasps), old clock parts, leaf skeletons, sea glass, and old weaving spindles. I also have a mini trampoline to bounce out new ideas, and my two Doodles, Elle and Gracie May who serve as my muses and my squirrel alert team.

Name five of your “can’t” do without tools/products

Alcohol inks

cotton swabs

gel medium

light

Music

assorted junk

100 2389

You can see lots of great videos by Cathy Taylor on her YouTube channel!
********

More Recent Instructor Interviews:

******

Landscapes in Fabric with Kathy McNeil

April 24, 2014

Kathy McNeil, the award-winning art quilter from Washington, recently taught a 5-day workshop on Creating Your Own Landscapes.

Here is a photo tour of the work during the classes. It was great fun to see how each student progressed with their landscapes throughout the five days.

Kathy brought a number of her stunning quilts to share with the class. The detail on her work is amazing, including stitched hidden images and 3-D elements.

While the class was happily creating their landscapes, the landscape outside around the inn was happily transitioning from winter to spring!

Strip Therapy with Rayna Gillman

April 7, 2014

Rayna Gillman asked “Has your creative muse taken a vacation?” and a fun-seek group of women responded! They spent three glorious days slicing, dicing, and combining strips, squares and rectangles in new ways without a plan. I don’t know that these women’s muse had really “taken a vacation” because they seem to have plenty of creativity. I think they just liked the idea of “new ways to create without a plan!”

Mary Beth said, “This was my first quilting experience and I was delighted! Rayna allowed me to experiment, yet offered valuable instruction with many options. She was readily available to assist me in design, composition decisions. I thoroughly enjoyed working in an environment surrounded by superb art, from the quilts on our bed to the dining room area. We were treated to all sort of art treasures.“

These photos show just a glimpse of the wonderful things created in this workshop. The three days seemed to speed by.

Seriously Super Series with Katie Pasquini Masopust

April 6, 2014

Working in a Series was the challenge for the week in this fun class taught by Katie Pasquini Masopust. Everyone was told to bring an existing piece to be the start of their series. Then from that, the goal was to create several other pieces to add to the series. On the first night quite a few people expresses doubts about being able to create a new piece every day, but you’ll see by the photos, that they did!

It was great fun to watch as each person’s series grew to cover their design walls. There was an exciting variety of work in this class.

Below are photos taken over several days when I had the chance to ramble through the studio. Katie also posted daily photos of the series as they developed on her FaceBook page.

When she was not doing presentations, leading discussions on design, or working one-on-one with each of the students, Katie worked on her own series based on an abstract still life of flowers in a vase. These were composed of hand-painted canvases that were cut into pieces and then reassembled into the still life. Katie teaches this technique in her Stitched Paintings class.

The students in this class were so taken with the stitched paintings, that they begged Katie and us to schedule this class in 2015, even though Katie is already scheduled to teach another class. Since we happened to have just one spot left in the 2015 schedule, Katie agreed to do it! Some of the students have already signed up. The Stitched Paintings class will be December 6 – 12, 2015 and the Artful Log Cabin class, that was already scheduled, will be June 7 – 13, 2015. Two opportunities to work with an inspiring artist and teacher!