TRUSTING YOUR INTUITION WITH DEBRA FRITTS

Join artist Debra Fritts in Puebla City in trusting your intuition to create a sculptural piece that holds the energy of self and inspiration from the beauty of Puebla.

Puebla is the capitol of the State of Puebla, Mexico. It’s a tile laden city with an historic story. It is believed that the nuns of Santa Rosa Convent created mole poblano for the King of Spain. He was so thankful for this very special mole, that he sent tiles from Spain as a gift of appreciation and those tiles still line the ex-convent’s kitchen walls. For over 200 hundred years, Talavera Uriarte hand painted tiles and pottery have been created with only five colors, blue, black, yellow, green and a reddish pink. Today, Talavera de la Reyna is the more modern painted pieces that are sold world wide.

Puebla is also known for Calle de Los Dulces, or the Sweets Street lined with shops selling a wide variety of sugary treats. Lucky for us, Ana Elena Martinez, a pastry chef and owner of Margú, a bakery with four locations in Puebla, will be our guide. This is her home so she knows where to take us.

The Workshop

Using a chunk of clay we will work solid and manipulate the clay until a personal visual appears.

This can be human, animal, plant…there is no limitation on subject.

Once the clay is strong, we will carve out the interior of the form. Surface treatment will be added by using slips, oxides and dry clay.

Let this beautiful city in Mexico give you new information for your art.

Schedule

Day 1, February 16. Everyone arrives in Puebla at Hotel Boutique Casareyna. We will meet at 7:00 for botanas and a margarita.

Day 2, February 17. Breakfast at the hotel and then we depart for the studio. We will be in the studio all day, breaking for a walking tour with lunch. Dinner this evening will be at Tacos Arabes.

Day 3. February 18. Breakfast at the hotel then in the studio all day breaking for lunch. Dinner will be provided.

Day 4. February 19. Breakfast at the hotel and then it’s a half day at the studio. We will have cemitas for lunch and then head to Uriarte for the Talavera Tour. Dinner will be provided.

Day 5. February 20. Today is a travel day. Breakfast at the hotel then off to the nearby colonial city of Cholula. We will visit the Cholula market with our friend Monica Mastretta who will also teach a cooking class in her beautiful home. If we have time and the energy, we will also visit the Zona Arqueológica de Cholula, an ancient Mesoamerican site known for its huge pyramid & tunnels.

Day 6. February 21. Today will start with breakfast at the hotel and then, depending on whether our pieces have cooled from the firing, we will go to the studio or walk to the Amparo Museum.

We will add cold finishes to our pieces either this afternoon or the next morning. Free time and dinner will be at Ana Elena’s home - we are in for a special treat.

Day 8, February 22. Breakfast at the hotel then off to the studio to finish painting. We will have our show “n tell before going to lunch. Free time this afternoon before our final dinner at Salon Mezcali.

Day 9, February 23. Art Escape is over and you can leave anytime today.

This Art Escape has been cancelled

This Art Escape Includes:

• Four days of class with Debra

• Seven nights accommodation at Hotel Boutique Casareyna

• Walking Tour

• Uriarte (Talavera) Tour

• Visit to Cholula Market and Pyramids

• Private cooking class

• A special dinner at Chef Ana Elena’s home

• Private Facebook Group

• A new art tribe

Hotel Boutique Casareyna

Privada 2 Ote. 1007, Centro, 72000 Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Pue., Mexico

Price for this workshop is $4,100 and includes lodging (based on double occupancy, there are a limited number of single rooms available for $900) and all but one meal. A $1,000 non-refundable deposit is due now with the remaining due Dec. 3, 2024. The workshop is limited to 12.

Please do not make your plane reservations until notified.

AIRPORT: Puebla International Airport otherwise known as Hermanos Serdán International Airport. Km 91.5 Carr Fed Mexico/Pueblo Municipio, de Huejotzingo,

Airport Code: PBC. United has a direct flight to Puebla. Taxis are available 24/7. Uber is around $600 pesos.

We will Provide

• clay

• slips

• oxides

• boards to work on

• spray bottles

• Dowels - 7/16 inch diameter, 12” long

Artists Supply List

• Sketchbook with resources and ideas

• Apron

• Photos of animals, flowers, etc.

• Tools for working in clay - a wire cutter, needle tool and loop tools for carving (see below)

• Brushes (see below) - cheap utility brush, soft watercolor brushes and one detail brush

Ana Elena’s bakery - Margu. Check out the artwork that she had made for the shop!

Debra Fritts is a studio artist working in Abiquiu, New Mexico. She received her undergraduate degree in Art Education from the University of Tennessee and continued graduate studies in ceramic sculpture, painting, and printmaking.  Debra currently conducts figurative sculpture workshops at her studio, and master classes nationally and internationally.

Debra enjoys national recognition for her work in ceramic sculpture through invitational exhibitions and awards, museum exhibitions and collections, gallery representation, private collections and publications.  Her one of a kind sculptures are hand-built and multiple fired with a painterly glazed surface. The work is a continuous story of awareness and the celebration of daily living.

OUT OF CONTEXT - OBJECTS REDEFINED WITH GARY AND MARY ANN CARLSON

July 10-13, 2025

Port Orchard, WA

Four days of creating mixed media sculptures with Gary and Mary Ann Carlson was such a special time that we have asked them to return. If you are a mixed media artist, this needs to be on your bucket list. Gary and Mary Ann share their experiences and solutions to every type of attachment challenge and Mary Ann is a master of balancing your piece to hang. And then there is the magic sauce……you will need to join us to discover what this is. It’s life changing for a mixed media artist.

Using found objects, students will learn how to create and construct a non-objective or highly abstracted relief sculpture to hang on the wall.

You will learn:

• Compositional methods and critique skills to unify your composition

• The appropriate products and methods of attaching a wide variety of materials

• Material techniques using Apoxie Sculpt, Sculpt Noveau Metal Coatings paint and patinas

• Appropriate tools for specific materials, rivets, saw, cutof saws, grinders, etc.

• Appropriate display hardware for asymmetric physical weight balance of artwork

From the chaos of an overabundance of materials, our artists swapped supplies, helped each other and created amazing pieces.

Itinerary

We will meet each day at 9:30 am, stopping for lunch provided by our host, Kathie Vezzani, and ending the day around 4:30 pm. Dinner will be provided one evening.

On the last day, we will work until we break for lunch, then we will finish any last minute details before cleaning up and sharing our work in a Show ‘N tell.

We Will Provide

• 12” edge glued wood round

• 16”x 16” x 1/4” plywood

• Primer paint, water-based

• Metal Coatings brass and iron paint

• Metal coatings patinas, tiffany green and tan

• Clear acrylic Matt spray

• Jig saw (metal and wood blades), small pull saw, coping saw

• Drill and bits

• Hammers

• Safety goggles

• Metal shears

• Metal files

• Wood rasps

• Brad nailer

• Escutcheon pins

• Nail set

• Center punch

• Wood scraps

• Wire and wire cutters

• Metal cutoff saw

• Clamps

• Nails and screws

• Bits of wood and tin that you may want to use

• Acrylic paint

• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

• Sponge brushes

• Paint brushes

• Wood glue

• Plastic gloves

• Sandpaper, emery paper, steel wool various textures

• Rivet gun and aluminum rivets

This workshop is full. Join the waitlist.

This Art Escape includes

• Four days instruction by Gary and Mary Ann Carlson

• Four lunches, one dinner

• Lots of materials

The cost of this workshop is $900. A non-refundable $500 deposit is due upon registering. The remaining $400 is due April 11, 2025.

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.

Student Supply List

• Apron

• Pencils, sharpies

• Scissors,

• E-6000 glue,

• JB weld kwik glue

• Bring ideas and found object materials that have similar elements such as color, shape, line for your wall sculpture.

These are just ideas. You do not need to collect all of this:

• vintage wood typesetter’s letters or typewriter keys or metal letter stencils

• wood blocks, letters

• vintage clock insides, watch parts

• various sized wood balls, pool balls, beads, ¼”- 1½”

• croquet balls, mallets or sticks

• small decorative brass horns

• vintage embroidery hoops or circles, old tin lids

• vintage wood hangers or any wood or metal arc

• interesting sticks or wood shapes - objects

• small hollow, plastic bird forms

• small rusted metal sheet material that has some color left,

• small metal lamp parts, metal leaves, brass or chrome metal bits

• old rulers, wood metal or cloth

• old paintbrushes,

• small vintage tools

• small antlers or horns

• copper or aluminum tape

Minnesota artist Gary Carlson is a sculptor and retired art teacher. He has worked as an art educator, a graphic artist, a portrait photographer, and painter. Since retiring from teaching, his worked has been primarily creating found object assemblage sculptures.

Throughout his career, he has exhibited in galleries, art centers, art competitions and art fairs in and around the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, as well as the Midwest. Gary’s work is in the collection of the East Central Regional Arts Council and he has received numerous awards.

MaryAnn Carlson also is a former art educator. She has worked as a jeweler, a picture framer, a gallery director, an art administrator, a small business owner, a graphic artist, a digital photo editor, a painter and a sculptor. She has exhibited in galleries, art centers, art competitions in and around the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. Her work is in the collection of The East Central Regional Arts Council and she has received numerous awards for her unique sculptures. She is a master at hanging artwork!

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. She is ably assisted by her husband, affectionately known as Builder Bob whose contribution to the assemblage workshops is invaluable.