Catalog of Classes
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Knitting for Beginners - Part 1 (2 hours)
Beginners of all ages are discovering the joy of knitting! We'll learn and practice the basics . . . reading labels, casting on, the knit stitch, and the purl stitch. The materials you'll receive for this class will cover you for Knitting for Beginners - Parts 2 and 3, should you choose to continue your introduction to this relaxing and practical art form. All materials included, no experience required! Instructor: Cindi Spillman Class size limited to 6. $30 per student |
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Knitting for Beginners - Part 2 (2 hours)
Build upon what you have learned so far, combining knit and purl stitches to make fun designs! We'll learn to follow some basic pattern notations, and then bind off and block our "sampler." The materials you received for Knitting for Beginners - Part 1 will cover you for Part 2 as well. If you didn't join us for Part 1, or would like additional yarn or needles, materials will be available for purchase. Instructor: Cindi Spillman Class size limited to 6. $30 per student |
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MARY CROW
Oil Painting, Pastels Mary Crow has a B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from West Virginia University and foundation year studies at Columbus College of Art and Design. After moving to the Charlotte area from Wilmington, NC with her family, she discovered the PAPNC and Plein Air Buds groups. Working in oil and pastel onsite has been the inspiration for her colorful and energetic landscape paintings. She has studied portraiture with leading portrait artists such as Wendy Corporale, Tom Edgerton, and Lisa Ober. Mary has also learned from pastel landscape painters such as Stan Sperlak and Marsha Savage. She is a member of Piedmont Pastel Society. For examples of Mary's paintings and commissions, visit her website. |
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Intro to SoulCollage® (3 Hours)
SoulCollage® is a creative way to tap into your own wisdom and intuition. As you create a personal deck of cards (using images you cut from magazines, a glue stick, and your imagination), you can take a break from our increasingly electronics driven world, reconnect with your heart and soul, and maybe even even discover some hidden insights. Don’t think of yourself as creative? Don’t like scissors or glue? You’ll be surprised by what you’re able to create through this intuitive process, and what you’ll learn along the way. (Including how much fun you can have even by tearing and taping!) SoulCollage® is a great way to give yourself the gift of self-care and relaxation, and have fun at the same time! All materials included. No experience necessary! Facilitator: Cindi Spillman Class size limited to 6. $ 45 per artist |
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Building Your SoulCollage® Deck (3 Hours)
Note: Before taking this class, it is helpful to have completed Intro to SoulCollage® (at ArtLab or elsewhere), or to be familiar with the card making process and the "I Am One Who" journal exercise. In this session, we'll start by creating cards that represent and honor people, pets, and places that have impacted our lives and helped shape our stories. (You may choose to include personal photos, drawings, etc., in addition to magazine images, so bring some along!) We'll then touch on other themes you may find useful as you build your deck. For those interested, there will be time to try out various ways to use the cards you've created so far. SoulCollage® is a great way to give yourself the gift of self-care and relaxation, and have fun at the same time! Bring personal photos, etc., and/or images you've collected from magazines. All other materials (including additional magazine images) provided. Facilitator: Cindi Spillman Class size limited to 6. $ 45 per artist |
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SoulCollage® Open Studio (3 Hours)
EDIT THIS TEXT For those interested, there will be time to try out various ways to use the cards you've created so far. SoulCollage® is a great way to give yourself the gift of self-care and relaxation, and have fun at the same time! Bring personal photos, etc., and/or images you've collected from magazines. All other materials (including additional magazine images) provided. Facilitator: Cindi Spillman Class size limited to 6. $ 45 per artist |
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LILLIE MARSHALL
Desire Map and Daring Way workshops, retreats and individual sessions Lillie Marshall spent 30 years in corporate leadership, climbing the ladder, earning great money—and not being nearly as fulfilled as possible. At 55 years old, she gathered up all her courage and left her corporate job. She now seeks to work with other women to help them break through fear and other challenges to live creative and fulfilling lives, to “have a purpose they can be proud of.” Inspired by Danielle LaPorte’s books, The Fire Starter Sessions and The Desire Map, Lillie became a licensed facilitator of Desire Map workshops. Later, after exploring the work of Brené Brown, she became a Certified Daring Way Facilitator (CDWF), enabling others to Show Up - Be Seen - Live Brave™. Lillie enjoys spending time with family (especially her grandchildren!), cooking, gardening, and traveling. For more of her story and life work, visit Lillie's website. Quote that inspires Lillie’s creative practice: "Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are." —Brené Brown |
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DAWN NANTZ
Yoga, Mixed Media Workshops Dawn Nantz, Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 500), is seeking to live her best life and express her truth through art and yoga. While living in Charlotte, NC working as a Real Estate Paralegal, she has had to find ways to combat stress. Finding yoga was transformative. When the market tanked and slowed to a trickle, she found herself unemployed and terrified about what that insecurity meant. She also found herself in a position she had only dreamed of before . . . free and with time to complete yoga teacher training. Learning more about yoga philosophy, and how to take that off the mat and into the world, really changed the way she approaches everything in her life. And while returning to the world of real estate became a necessity, the love of teaching yoga remains. Dawn is an artist at heart. Never feeling confident in her abilities and talent as a young person in school, she shied away from expressing herself in the area of artistic expression. Until the day in her twenties when she used a 50% off coupon to by a Bob Ross kit, the most painting or drawing Dawn had done was in a middle school art class. However, as awesome as Bob Ross is, using oils and the wet on wet method didn’t really work for her. (The paint smelled horrible, and it was an awful mess to clean up.) But the desire to paint and create continued to grow stronger. After painting with acrylics for a couple of years, she started taking classes in different mediums at a local community college and never looked back. Today, art and creativity is such a huge part of Dawn’s life, it’s hard to imagine that she was ever so discouraged and felt “completely talentless.” Most recently, she has been enjoying painting with watercolors and creating pieces in stained glass. Now, Dawn’s primary goal is to encourage finding the quietude needed to listen to one’s heart and soul for guidance. She wants to help others let go of negativity and limiting self-limiting conceptions through teaching yoga and art workshops. Sometimes all it takes is someone to remind you that you are enough. Quote that inspires Dawn's creative practice: “Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.” --Swami Sivananda |
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DARLEEN O'DELL
Creative Writing Darleen O'Dell taught at the College of William and Mary and Clemson University. She has published The Story of the Philadelphia Eleven, Sites of Southern Memory: The Autobiographies of Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin, Lillian Smith, and Pauli Murray, I Followed Close Behind Her, and multiple articles and essays. She is currently a writer for the Family Narrative Project and recently released Dr. Dar's Freewriting Prompts with FNP. In 2014, she founded Freewrite Fridays in Brevard, NC. Visit her website at darleneodell.com. |
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JOY POE
Mixed Media, Drawing, and Fiber Artist Joy is a multi-dimensional artist, always curious about new techniques, tools, and materials. Her creative work and inspiration for teaching extend from a love of people, shape, color, and ideas. She received her B.A. in Art from Brevard College and went on to study classical drawing at The Fine Arts League of Asheville and The Art Atelier. After her artistic studies, Joy became a massage therapist, deepening her knowledge of the shape of the human form. She can often be found teaching drawing, painting, and mixed media collage techniques throughout the Brevard community. She has a part-time business, Heartfelt Flowers, in which makes and sells felt flowers for special occasions. Look for her classes in mixed media techniques, figure drawing, post card art, and felt flower making! Quotes that inspire Joy’s creative practice: “Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.” --Rainer Maria Rilke “Joy is not meant to be a crumb.” --Mary Oliver “Just Flow.” --Anonymous “Create your own sunshine.” --Anonymous |
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JACKIE RADFORD
Paper Arts, Bookbinding Jackie Radford is a paper artist and bookbinder from Charlotte, N.C. Her work explores the tactile nature of paper, eliminating any tools between the artist’s hand and the medium. Educated at Penland School of Craft, Jackie is an artist who is comfortable with innovation and outside-of-the-box thinking. Her work reflects the influences of her studies at Penland. Jackie’s work has been exhibited throughout the Southeast and Washington state. Highlights of her career include a show with the American Craft Council and a residency at Penland School of Craft. Additionally, private collectors in the United States and Ireland have acquired Jackie’s work. ArtLab’s philosophy of fearlessly pursuing art practices resonates with Jackie’s approach: A friend said to her, “You ain’t afraid of nothin’.” Quotes that inspire Jackie’s creative practice: "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." —Maya Angelou "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way—things I had no words for." —Georgia O'Keeffe "I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." —Georgia O’Keeffe |
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NANCY E RICHARDS
Painting, Monoprinting, Mixed Media, Retreats Nancy E Richards has been living and working in Brevard since 2004. Primarily a painter, Nancy has created with a variety of media since she began making art in the 1970s. She loves to experiment with color, texture and form. Inspired by the natural world, Nancy creates both abstract and representational work. Themes of connection, abundance, and the beauty found in everyday life are predominant in her work. She creates primarily with Alcohol Ink, Acrylics, Watercolor, Enhanced Monoprinting and Mixed Media. Nancy is a graduate of Oberlin College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Episcopal Divinity School. She has studied art in New Hampshire, Ohio, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Italy, and many places in North Carolina, and has taught art classes locally at Brevard College, MudDabbers Pottery, and ArtLab. Art-making is a process of experimentation and growth, and Nancy loves sharing that process either as a learner or a teacher. Nancy is a member of the Number 7 Arts Cooperative Gallery and her work can also be seen at Firefly Craft Gallery in Flat Rock. Nancy works locally as a landlord/property manager, a community volunteer, and a minister. Her artwork can be viewed at nancyerichards-artist.com or on Facebook at Nancy E Richards – Artist. You can email her at [email protected] |
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CINDI SPILLMAN
Photography, Mixed Media, Visual Journaling, Art Camps, SoulCollage® Photography has long been Cindi’s primary art form. She has studied with renowned documentary photographers (including Mary Ellen Mark, Bruce Davidson, Sam Abel, and Antonin Kratochvil), photojournalist Peter Turnley, and National Geographic editor Leah Bendavid-Val and is working on publishing her first book of photographic images, D is for Dog. She'll tell you that ArtLab has three rules: 1. Tell your inner critic to take a hike. 2. Try it—even if someone once told you that you weren’t good at it. 3. Have fun! For more information about Cindi and her work, click here. Quotes that inspire Cindi’s creative practice: "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." —Confucius "The fun for me in collaboration is . . . that working with other people just makes you smarter; that’s proven." —Lin-Manuel Miranda |
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PATRICIA SWEET
Painting: Oil, Watercolor, and Acrylic Patricia's passion to paint began at the early age of 5 while growing up in Florida. Her first solo exhibition came at age 9! Years later, after moving to New England, Patrica joined a small artist cooperative built around the work of Frank Vincent Dumond, one of mid-twentieth century America's most influential teachers and painters. Traveling throughout New England, painting en plein air utilizing the Dumond "Prismatic Palette" were her most formative years as an artist. Now a resident of Western North Carolina, Patricia has a strong desire to share what she has learned in a way that resonates with her students. We're excited about the way she uses color as the theme for the many private party events she'll be offering at ArtLab! For more information about Patricia and her work, click here. |
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LINDA VOLTZ
Fiber Artist Linda Voltz earned an Art degree in textile and design and a master’s degree in Gifted education at Notre Dame College. She taught art for thirty years from elementary through high school and at Kid’s College for Gifted students. She has taught paper piecing exclusively since 2006. A love of fabric has made her a devoted fabri-holic with a brag worthy stash! Although she has been sewing since she was five, her first quilt was made in anticipation of the birth of her eldest son, 40 years ago. After finding a treadle machine, piecework became easier but not accurate enough. When She discovered Foundation Piecing (also called paper piecing) in 1983, and realized she could match points and corners with greater precision, make many of the lovely traditional patterns more easily and venture into new patterns - including her own- She fell in love. For the last ten years she has been teaching her own patterns. “I love to see how all of the spaces can be filled with different fabrics and completely change how the pattern appears, as well as the surprises that occur at the corners where the blocks create a whole new design”. Free motion quilting is a major focus for Linda, enabling her to complete all of the work on a quilted piece herself. Although the bulk of my work is done on a machine she still hasn’t found a substitute for a nice hand blind-stitched binding! Linda lives in Brevard with her husband and two cats. Quote that inspires Linda's creative practice: “Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet." —Paul Klee |