Weekend Art Workshops
Last updated: Monday, March 11, 2024 at 2:11 PM
Registration is open for the spring “Weekend Art Workshops” at Bucks County Community College. For the first time, the Arts and Communication Department is offering four workshops taught by experts in woodworking, photography, jewelry, and bookbinding. Each workshop is for two days. Visit Weekend Workshops to register before spots fill!
“Turn a Tripod Stool” will be taught by Janine Wang on April 13 and 14 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Design and make a sweet and simple small tripod stool using a wide variety of traditional woodturning and woodworking techniques. Both faceplate turning and turning between centers will be used to produce its parts on the lathe, and machine and hand skills will be used to construct off the lathe. Design possibilities are endless with this template, and you will leave with a unique, handcrafted, functional piece of furniture, as well as exposure to a whole suite of skills including spindle joinery and fitting, paper joining, sacrificial work holding, layout work, through tenon joinery, and much more. All levels are welcome, including beginners.
Photographer Sandra C. Davis will teach “Cyanotype Printing” on April 13 and 14 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. This workshop will introduce participants to working with photographic images and light resists (anything that blocks light in various tones) on a variety of alternative surfaces. Participants will learn the steps to make digital negatives from digital captures. Coated surfaces can be exposed in the sun or using an ultraviolet light source. There will be an emphasis on making unique prints that convey a personal vision. This workshop does not require any darkroom or Photoshop experience.
On April 20 and 21, metal smith and jeweler Paris Muchanic will guide participants to create a one of a kind “Viking Bracelet.” During day one, participants will learn the basics of wire handling for the weaving process, the Viking weave pattern, and finishing the chain. On day two, attendees will explore soldering and sawing basics, stone setting and finishing touches to complete the sterling silver and stone bracelet.
Dave DiMarchi’s “Hardcover Binding, Zines & Journals” workshop on April 20 and 21 will explore the ins and outs of contemporary bookmaking, towards making participants’ own professionally (and archivally!)-bound journal, sketchbook, or albums. This workshop will introduce participants to bookmaking techniques—the basics of paperfolding, adhesives, stitching and sewing, and handcraft—to begin to integrate bookmaking into the participants’ artistic practice. Participants will work with high-quality archival materials, easy-to-master skills, and step-by-step processes towards creating a suite of handmade books. Along the way, participants will establish basic mark-making techniques in printmaking processes to further personalize their book cloths and end papers.
Instructor biographies
Janine Wang is a woodworker and educator based out of Philadelphia, PA. She teaches woodturning within the Fine Woodworking department at Bucks County Community College and woodworking at the West Philly-based non-profit Tiny WPA. She additionally leads various workshops and demonstrations across the states every year and continues to explore the wide world of furniture from her woodshop. She has a formal educational background in architecture and furniture arts from the Cooper Union and Rhode Island School of Design, has garnered a working education from the wonderful woodworking and production industry in Philadelphia, and done residencies at various craft institutions including the Museum for Art in Wood, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, and Goggleworks Center for the Arts. She believes a hands-on approach is crucial in good design and is excited to share in this as much and often as she can.
Sandra C. Davis is a fine art photographer whose haunting imagery is about capturing remembered moments from the past to cherish in the future. Most of her work is printed in gum bichromate, palladium, cyanotype, and other alternative photographic processes. She teaches alternative photography classes at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and teaches alternative photography workshops throughout the USA. Her works have been published in several books on alternative processes including: The Book of Alternative Processes, Second and Third Editions by Christopher James as well as Gum Printing and Other Amazing Contact Printing Processes and Gum Printing, A Step-by-Step Guide, Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practices by Christina Z. Anderson. Her award-winning images have been exhibited internationally and are in public, corporate and private collections.
Paris Muchanic has always felt the push pull between science and art. The sciences won out until 2004 when she discovered metal smithing. The properties of metal satisfied the science “geek” in her, while creating wearable art fed her creativity. Her first classes were at Bucks County Community College under instructor Cris Martino who allowed her the freedom to explore. She joined the Pennsylvania Society of Goldsmiths in 2005 where she was invited to join the Board of Directors. As Workshop Coordinator, she had the privilege of continuing her journey learning from world-class artisans such as Marne Ryan, Harold O’Connor, and Allen Revere. Paris has shown her work at area craft shows and galleries. She has taught beginning to intermediate metal smithing at the Wayne Art Center.
Dave DiMarchi is a queer, multi-disciplinary artist working in printmaking, papermaking, and sculptural book forms. Nurturing ideas into singular and editioned works, he engages in a relentless material practice. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he has exhibited works on paper, installations, and books in the US and internationally. In addition to teaching printmaking, papermaking and book forms throughout the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania area, he maintains a small collaborative studio and art space in New Hope, Pennsylvania. In autumn of 2022, he was announced as the Arts Council of Princeton’s Anne Reeves Artist-in-Residence, through which he developed a practice of collage-based multimedia and print works. He also serves as the Arts Council’s Printmaking Studios Manager and Master Printer, and as Instructor of Printmaking and Drawing at two New Jersey community colleges. For nearly 15 years, he has created his own work, curated exhibitions, provided print exchange opportunities, and published fine art prints as 9INHANDPRESS, a fine art printmaking and education studio located in New Hope, Pennsylvania.