Once again, I had the good fortune of teaching a three-day class at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Perched on a hillside near the Oregon Coast, Sitka is surrounded by beautiful vegetation, wandering wildlife, and the Pacific Ocean just a stone’s throw away.
Another lovely perk is that visiting artists are provided with a wonderful cabin to call home during the workshop. It makes the whole experience feel a little like an art retreat as well as a teaching adventure.
Mike says he feels like a “kept man” while we're here—I work while he takes his rowing dory out into the estuary where the little Salmon River meets the Pacific Ocean.
And, as you can see from this collage, no fish were harmed—or even caught—in the making of these photos!
Now, on to the best part—my class! I had such a lovely group of artists, and it was a pleasure to watch their ideas take shape over our three days together. Here they are, with some of their wonderful artwork displayed behind them.
The title of the workshop was Patterns in the Woods, so much of our work involved black-and-white pen drawings as each artist explored her own unique way of creating patterns.
We started with a simple warm-up exercise: making an abstract design by looking at the shape of an ordinary coffee mug and using it as inspiration. It was a fun way to loosen up, stop worrying about making something “look right,” and begin seeing familiar shapes in a whole new way.
Over the next two days, everyone began adding animals and bits of color to their work, and it was fun to see each piece take on more personality.
On the final day, I gave them a still life to play with—hydrangeas in a vase surrounded by evergreens. It gave them one more chance to combine observation, pattern, and their own individual style.
.png)
There are so many wonderful parts to a Sitka workshop: stepping away from everyday life for a few days, giving yourself permission to be creative, learning new things, trying new ways of working, and sharing it all with a group of people who are doing the same.
For me, that combination of creativity, camaraderie, and the beautiful setting is what makes teaching at Sitka such a special experience. And while I was happily immersed in art, Mike was just as happily out in his dory, enjoying the estuary where the Salmon River meets the Pacific.
So I suppose we both got exactly what we wanted from our few days at Sitka—and that makes for a pretty good getaway.
