Mike Elsass Painting Workshop
This Painting workshop has been postponed until the fall. Please email or call for more details.
Artist Intensive Workshop with Mike Elsass
There’s nothing quite like the experience of painting with Mike Elsass. You may enter the studio, thinking you are taking a class, but you’ll very quickly realize you have crossed through a barrier into the beautiful mind of Mike. You’ll learn how to let go of inhibitions and create without thinking. You’ll leave with both artwork and a new outlook on life.
Immerse yourself in the world of painter, Mike Elsass. Mike’s artwork is about giving up control, embracing improvisation and invoking memories to create a sense of space using color and texture. Students will receive individual attention on paint application and color theory and how to relax and enjoy your artistic experience. All skill levels are welcomed. Classes will be offered in the K Newby Gallery Sculpture Garden. You will receive 6 pieces to paint and in addition, will receive a Mike Elsass original.
All supplies are provided along with light refreshments.
Please register early, seating is limited.
Monday:
Afternoon Meet-Up and Gallery Talk
Tuesday:
Painting Sessions in the Morning, Afternoon and Evening
Wednesday:
Painting Sessions in the Morning and Afternoon with an Evening Resin Session and Bonfire in the Sculpture Garden (weather permitting)
Thursday:
Tour of Tubac, Gallery Presentation of Works with Reception
Learn Mike's techniques for painting on weathered steel. You will leave this workshop with several finished mixed media pieces on steel and all the magnetic hardware for a professional installation of said pieces. If you sign up for this workshop before December 31, 2022, you can request the size of steel you would like to create.
$2500 for 4 day workshop at K Newby Gallery. You will paint outside in a picturesque mesquite bosque.
Mike Elsass is a nationally recognized artist with work in over 2,000 private collections. Mike has his studios in Dayton, OH and specializes in painting color field inspired work on weathered steel. “I paint abstract art on reused/recycled sheets of steel. My art is spiritual, meditative, and is based on emotion, appreciation of opportunity, and the energy of people and places. I am mindful of the moment when paint, color, texture, and discovery meet. My work involves painting, sponging and sanding. Many pieces have over 40 coats of paint and glazing. The work evolves until the final coating. My steel art represents strength, life’s trials, aging, imperfection and beauty.” – Mike Elsass
"Mike’s artwork is about openness and spontaneity, a freedom to create in the moment without fear or apprehension. His artwork is acrylic on rusted steel creating a surface that encourages our own interpretations. The painter works on many different pieces at the same time which seems to satisfy the element of spontaneity and his impulse to create without hesitation, relying on each mark, each color to inform the next. The artwork derives its essence from different places like the swamps of Louisiana or the deserts of Arizona with the use of many different materials such as twine, silicate sand or crushed walnut. They are in a sense, an introduction to the diverse regions and the connections he’s made with the people, places, and their culture.
It's not about the usual, it's about the unusual. A unique medium, a chemistry on metal, a vibrant and explosive combination of passion, energy, light, color and moments a process set to the music of imagination. Elsass explores the medium by sanding and rusting sheets of metal in search of new and different textures, then applies multiple layers of paint, shiny or opaque finishes. In the aging of the metals and its imperfections, Mike sees a mirror of the human condition. The fast drying quality of the acrylics allows Mike to work with motivation.