FABRIC AND METAL CREATURES WITH MORGAN BRIG

September 11-14, 2023, Port Orchard, WA

Morgan Brig is back with another magical class combining fabric and copper into unique creatures.

This four day class will include learning how to create the body, braising techniques, and assemblage.

The class will be held in Bellissima’s new art studio in Port Orchard, WA. The studio combined with Builder Bob’s collection of tools will provide you with everything you may need to bring your creature alive.

Itinerary

Day 1, Monday September 11

We will meet in the studio at 9:30 for introductions and Morgan will go over the class schedule with samples. Today’s demo will be sewing and making bodies.

Lunch will be served from 12:30-1:30 and then it’s back in the studio to continue work. Class is over around 4:30-5 with dinner provided this evening.

Day 2 - Tuesday, September 12

Class will start at 9:30. Today’s demos will be torching, safety, annealing, fitting metal pieces to fabric bodies. Brazing ears, antlers, connectors, cones and grinder and drill safety.

We will break for lunch and then continue working until 4:30. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Day 3 - Wednesday, September 13

Class starts at 9:30, breaking for lunch and then stopping around 4:30. The demos today will be painting bodies, making and attaching charms. Dinner will be provided this evening.

Day 4 - Thursday, September 14

Class continues to work at 9:30, stopping for lunch and then at 3:00 we will clean up and have our Show ‘N Tell.

This Art Escape Includes:

• Four days instruction from Morgan Brig

• Some supplies

• Four Lunches and Two Dinners

The price for this workshop is $950 and does not include lodging or transportation. 

A $500 non refundable deposit is due at registration with the remaining $450 due Aug 10.

The workshop is limited to 12 

Port Orchard is the site for the workshop. The location is 9 miles north of Gig Harbor, WA which is listed as one of the most desirable cities in the US to visit (or live). It is located south of Seattle, across the Narrows Bridge on Hwy 16.

The Bremerton-Kitsap Airporter stops in Gig Harbor and in Port Orchard.

There are many Arbnbs and B&Bs in the area. A list of accommodations will be provided if requested.

We will provide

• copper kit

• torches

• firing stations

• brazing rod

• acrylic paint

• drills, drill bits

• grinder

• tin snips

• metal and wood forming blocks

• forming hammers

• sewing machines

• elmers glue

Student Supply List

• 3/4 yard medium weight fabric - white cotton is great or printed. Optional is silk or interesting vintage fabrics

• 8-12 oz bag of polyester stuffing

• sewing needle and thread

• scissors

• small and medium paint brushes

• several sheets of paper for pattern cutting

• pencil

• exacto knife with extra blades

• Blue or Black extra fine Sharpie pen

• needle nose pliers

• found objects: anything you love to be used as a body part or decoration. Morgan likes wood forms (old wood net floats), large fishing flashers, dice

• small ruler

• scotch tape

• beads, charms, stringing wire or string

Optional

• matte medium

• round nose pliers

• fur, feathers

• tin snips

• wire cutters

• 3/4” or larger wood base at least 1/2” thick

• colorful interesting string in small quantities

Morgan Brig is a mixed media artist from Vashon Island, WA. She loves to capture emotion in her sculptures using multiple layers of media that bring the subtlety of expression to each character. Her layers include etched metal detail, enamel patinas and found objects that suggest the old and familiar, but ask to be viewed in a new light. She often uses language and occult symbols in her designs to support her belief that there is always guidance to be found from external and internal sources as we go through life. There also is playfulness in her design inspired by her love of old metal and tin toys and her desire to lay humor next to truth or fear in her work.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has over three decades of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.

METAL QUILTS - AMISH MODERN WITH ARUNAS OSLAPAS

July 21-23, Port Orchard, WA

To all our fellow metal lovers, this workshop is for you! Join Bellingham artist Arunas Oslapas of Red Rivet Studios for a weekend of creating metal quilts.

When not schlepping his artwork around the country at various art festivals, Arunas is a Professor of Industrial Design at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.

We are big fans of his work and have been waiting for the opportunity to have him teach a Bellissima Art Escape.

In this workshop you will learn how to cut, paint, distress, and rivet metal to a cradled board. The pieced metal panels can be embellished with found objects, ephemera, and transferred images or text onto metal.

Itinerary

Day One, Friday July 21. We will meet in the studio at 9:30 for introductions and to go over the workshop schedule. Lunch and dinner will be provided.

Day Two, Saturday July 22, It’s a whole day in the studio working on cutting and assembling our metal strips. Arunas will also address how to patina our metal strips. Lunch and dinner will be provided.

Day Three, Sunday July 23, We will meet in the studio at 9:30 a.m. to finish up our pieces. We will stop for lunch, then finish any last minutes details before we clean up and have our Show ‘N Tell. Class will be over at 3:30 p.m.

COVID

You must be vaccinated in order to attend this workshop and you will need to take a rapid test at least two days prior to the workshop. Your card and negative test will need to be shown to Bellissima Art Escapes in order to join the workshop. Thank you for your cooperation and for considering your fellow artists.

This Escape Includes

• three days instruction

• assorted metal scrap pieces

• banding

• spray paints

• paint pens

• rivets

• three lunches, two dinners

• new art tribe

This workshop will be held at Bellissima Art Escapes studio in Port Orchard, WA.

The price for this workshop is $800

A $400 non refundable deposit is due at registration with the remaining $400 due May 21.

The workshop is limited to 12

STUDENT SUPPLY LIST

• Two 12’x12” x 1-5/8” cradled birch panels

• organic vapor respirator

• safety glasses

• gloves (knit garden gloves with vinyl coated palms

Below are some of the beautiful baskets that Arunas creates.

Arunas has taught Industrial Design at Western Washington University since 1991 torturing his loyal students with solving the world’s problems. In order to maintain his academic sanity he weaves metal baskets and metal quilts and schleps his art to festivals throughout the west. When things get too rainy they pack up the family and head south of the border to dry out. Educationally, he got a few degrees from Montana State University and the University of Illinois. Prior to teaching, Arunas worked for Haworth designing office furniture, a Chicago architectural firm, and has consulted on many products from carbon fiber snowshoes to hog feeders.

Kathie Vezzani, who is hosting the workshop, also is an artist who paints, rusts and waxes. She organizes trips for other artists and in a former life was a caterer. She has 30 years of experience organizing trips for foodies and artists.