Note: May Retreat is 3/4 Full!
Mosaic Retreat: Pennsylvania
What Lies Beneath Our Feet:
Sourcing and Working with Local Stone
with Rachel Sager
May 17 – 20, 2013
August 18 – 23, 2013
Join award-winning and internationally exhibited mosaic artist, Rachel Sager Lynch, in her journey into the magic of sourcing local Southwestern Pennsylvania stone and turning it into elegant tesserae, the building blocks of mosaic. This 5 day intensive will cover building a sturdy substrate, mixing and applying high-quality thin-set mortar, cutting with hammer and hardie, the classic tool of the Italian mosaic maestros, learning the nuances of andamento, the flow and pathways of mosaic. The field trip part of the workshop will include Rachel’s singular process of hunting and gathering for her material. This will be a challenging but also contemplative workshop and students will learn valuable cutting skills along with mosaic philosophy. You will leave with a 12” x 12” mosaic but more importantly you will take home specific knowledge of an ancient medium translated into a contemporary format.
Materials: Students are asked to bring work clothes, good walking shoes for field trips, an apron, safety glasses, and a stone hammer and hardie if possible. If you are serious about learning to work with stone, you are highly encouraged to invest in the hammer for this class. If not, you will have to share with others. Contact Rachel for information on where to purchase hammer and hardie. Logs to set the hardie into will be ready for you when you arrive. Students are also invited to bring some stone from their own native areas for identification and experimenting.
Details:
Extended Weekend Workshop: May 17-20, 2013
Friday: 7:00 – 9:00 PM, Orientation
Saturday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming
Sunday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming
Monday: 9:00 – 2:00, Programming
Weeklong Workshop: August 18-23, 2013
Sunday: 7:00 – 9:00 PM, Orientation
Monday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming
Tuesday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming
Wednesday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming
Thursday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming
Friday: 9:00 – 5:00, Programming and Clean-Up
Saturday: 10:00 AM Check-Out
More About Rachel: Rachel Sager Lynch, a Fayette County native, works on the cutting edge of the contemporary mosaic fine art movement. Her work has been represented in cities throughout the U.S. and internationally and has been awarded multiple Bests of Show in juried exhibitions. Her Marcellus Shale Series stands as a true Pittsburgh success story and her work is collected with passion by private clients and corporations all over the world. Her time spent studying with Italian maestros has shaped her mosaic philosophy and she brings these classical techniques home to her native Southwestern PA with its sandstone, limestone, slate and coal seams.
Registration or More Information here.
Rachel Sager’s Website is here.
Touchstone Center’s website is here.
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