Classes at Grand Center!

Our classes are filling up quickly! Below is a sample of classes offered at our Grand Center location! Sign up online or call our registrar at 314-534-7528

http://www.craftalliance.org/education/studiosgc.htm

Metals:

BEGINNING METAL DESIGN
Instructor: Gina Rosienski, Metals Artist in Residence! (6 weeks)
Wednesdays, Oct 27-Dec 8, 6:00 – 9:00P
(No class Nov 24)
This class is designed for students with NO prior metal working experience. Sample the fundamentals of metalsmithing: turning simple silver, copper and brass sheet into unique jewelry objects and constructions. Learn how to cut, pierce, join and finish elements with soldering techniques and cold connections. Tools, some metal, and basic supplies are provided.


BASIC STONE SETTING
Instructor: Gina Rosienski, Metals Artist in Residence! (6 weeks)
Mondays, Oct 25-Dec 6, 6:00 – 9:00P
(No class Nov 22)
Learn how to set stones such as cabochons to enhance your jewelry pieces in this 6-week class. Students will learn to create traditional and modified bezel settings and prong settings, flush settings, and tube setting. Pre-requisite: Beginning Metal Design class or other metalsmithing and soldering experience.

FELT & METAL JEWELRY
Instructor: Andrea Pennington (5 weeks)
Thursdays, Oct 28-Dec 2, 6:00 – 9:00P
(No class Nov 25)
Learn to use basic feltmaking techniques combined with simple metalsmithing techniques to create fun and functional jewelry. Using both wet felting processes and dry needle felting techniques, learn to create three-dimensional components out of wool to combine with silver, copper and brass for your own one-of-a-kind jewelry. The class is appropriate for beginners and intermediate students.

Ceramics:

INTRO TO CLAY
Instructor: Sarah Rebholz (4 weeks)
Saturdays, Oct 30-Nov 20, 10:00A - 12:30P
This class surveys ways of working with clay both with and without the potter’s wheel. Students will learn coil and slab construction methods as well as how to “throw” cylinders and small bowls on the wheel. Various surface design and glazing techniques will also be covered. No previous experience is necessary.


BEGINNING WHEEL FOR AGES 12-ADULT
Instructor: Rachel Akin, Clay Artist in Residence! (6 weeks)
Tuesdays, Oct 26-Nov 30, 6:00 - 8:00P
This beginning wheel class will introduce participants to the basic techniques of throwing forms on the potter’s wheel. Fundamental techniques of throwing cylinder forms and bowls will be demonstrated and taught, as well as an introduction to glazing. Ages 12 to Adult will enjoy learning to make clay forms on the wheel.

Woodturning in our brand new studio:

BEGINNING WOOD TURNING FOR KIDS: AGES 12-18
Instructor: Bernhard Voss (4 weeks)
Saturdays, Oct 30-Nov 20, 11:30-1:00P
Want to try something new? Learn to make simple wooden utensils, toy tops, a small bowl and other wood designs on a lathe with Master Woodturner, Bernhard Voss. This is a small class with lots of individual attention and all tools and wood materials are provided. (Maximum 6 students)

Grand Center Interview!

Nancy Kranzberg interviewed Rachel Akin, artist in residence & Susan Donahue Yates, Program Director of Craft Alliance in Grand Center as part of the KDHX Arts Interview. They discuss both of Craft Alliance’s locations, our galleries, exhibitions, classes, and the artist in residence program.
Click here to listen to the interview!

Artist in Residence Rachel Akin

Our Clay Artist-in-Residence, Rachel Akin will be with us at Craft Alliance for a whole year!
Rachel received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1999 and MFA from Ohio University in 2006. Recently, she was a resident artist at Red Star Studios Ceramic Center in Kansas City where she was also a gallery assistant.

How many years have you been a ceramic artist?
I have been working in clay for 16 years. I am drawn to the seductive qualities of the smooth, creamy texture of the clay. I create soft, curvaceous forms on the potter’s wheel or by hand. The silhouettes of these forms are accentuated through surface decoration and soothing colored glazes.

Describe the work you are making or hope to make during your time at Craft Alliance:
During my residency, I hope to continue working on my functional porcelain vessels. I see this as a opportunity to fine tune my work as well as having the time to develop new forms that I haven't attempted before.

What inspires your work?
My work is inspired from a variety of sources. I enjoy investigating historical ceramics, especially Chinese Sung dynasty vessels. I am also drawn to Venetian and Depression glass forms and surfaces. Fashion and the female form also inspire me. My work has a distinct feminine silhouette and I embellish my forms with beads of porcelain and ruffled edges to emulate a strand of pearls or decorative fabric.

Be sure to stop by our Grand Center location and check out the Artist-in-Residence studios!

Artist in Residence Mindy Sue Wittock

Our new Fibers Artist in Residence, Mindy Sue Wittock, received a BFA from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay in 2004 and an MFA at Arizona State University in 2008. Walk into her studio at Grand Center and you'll find it coated in candy-like goodness!

"Treats like cupcakes, candies, and pastries are naturally related to human emotion. They are brought to birthdays, weddings, and to close friends who just went through a trying time; they are tied to celebrations and comfort. A delicious confection can make us feel elated, if only for a minute, it’s a minutes of pure sweetness."

How many years have you been a fibers artist?
I started working in fibers as an undergraduate student in 2002 and have continued my research and exploration with the medium into the present day. I really enjoy creating objects with stitching and stuffing and embellishing.

Describe the work you are making or hope to make during your time at CA:
I am working on an installation that Hello Kitty would want to hang out in. A space that is reminiscent of a cross between Munchkin Land and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Sweet and edible looking, with large bush like structures and hanging smelling good pieces!

What inspires your work?
My inspiration comes from vintage cookbooks and Martha Stewart, as well as from fictitious icons such as Willy Wonka, Mary Poppins and Hello Kitty. I think a lot about what made me happy as a child when I make my artwork, and the imaginary games I played with my best friend and brother and sister.

Artist in Residence Gwen Oulman-Brennan

We recently ushered in three new Artists in Residence at our Grand Center location! Ceramicist Rachel Akin, Fibers Artist Mindy Sue Wittock and Metals Artist Gwen Oulman-Brennan.

Gwen Oulman-Brennan earned a BFA at the University of Iowa in painting in 1998. After moving to St. Louis she studied Painting at Fontbonne University where she earned an MFA in 2006. As the subject of Gwen’s work became less about the imagery and increasingly more about the materials she was using in her paintings she began to explore small metalwork. Her painting materials ranged from concrete and metal to silk and glycerin. Her instructors at Craft Alliance opened the door to working with metal which inspired her to apply to graduate school to further study Jewelry + Metalsmithing. Gwen completed her masters degree at the Rhode Island School of Design in the spring of 2009.

Some of her recent work explores the act of breathing. Some of her pieces inflate by breathing into them, others explore the aesthetics of the air-flow in and out of our bodies. We recently did a quick interview with her!

How many years have you been a metals artist?
I can't remember a time that I wasn't a maker. I have moved and continue to move between 2D and 3D mediums. It was more than fifteen years ago that I took my first jewelry and metals class, a lost wax casting course. Over the years I came to think of myself primarily as a painter. It was five years ago as I was finishing my MFA in Painting that I noticed my interests shifting away from the imagery and towards the materials. It was around this time that I began taking classes at Craft Alliance. These classes would eventually lead to me to return to school to study jewelry and metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design. A metal artist , maybe only for the last three years but my work is informed by a lifetime of making and material exploration.

Describe the work you are making or hope to make during your time at Craft Alliance:
While in Rhode Island my work focused on breath. I focused on making visual the intimate and communal act of taking air into our bodies and releasing it. The concept I start with is really just that - a starting place - a way to ground my work- parameters in which to create around.

In these first few weeks at Craft Alliance I have begun a new exploration - one of a kind knots and tangles. The pieces I have begun are carvings of shoes strings in bone. I plan to spend these next few months exploring knots through materials like stone, metal, and bone.

I am also continuing a small production line of jewelry that I designed highlighting the facets of a gemstone. By making wax impressions of gemstones I've created "settings" of the absent stone.

What inspires your work?
I am inspired by the everyday and familiar. By exploring an idea over time and through a variety of materials I discover unexpected and new connections that continue to fuel my work. It is these material discoveries and synthesizing of ideas that continue to inspire me.