Instructor: Laura Raborn
Monday - Thursday
June 15 - 18
9am - 1pm
4 sessions

The focus of this four-day workshop is to use the human face as the subject for multiple playful, dynamic, and provocative projects. While we will practice anatomical exercises, we will only focus on traditional drawing lessons for part of this workshop. One day we will have a model and the other three days we will use each other, our own faces, photographs, and drawings from our time with the model to create paintings and drawings. Throughout, we will discover the joy of drawing loosely (and even wildly!) to create multiple alluring and joyful pieces of art. We will warm up with crowd favorites such as blind contour drawings that quiet our inner critic and liven up the room. Then we will practice drawing techniques (and some tricks!). We will create loose portraits using various materials - such as drawing the face full of wild loose lines on top of an ethereal layer of paint washes. Remember, our drawing does not need to be perfectly realistic to be satisfying and provocative.

This class is for all levels…from those who say “I can’t draw a stick figure” to the seasoned artist.

materials list

Laura Raborn is a visual artist whose work has been exhibited in private and public collections across the United States, the Bahamas, and Spain. Her paintings have earned numerous accolades and have been featured in notable publications, including Women Make Arkansas: Conversations with 50 Creatives by Erin Wood (Et Alia Press). Raborn holds a B.A. from Rollins College and a Master of Arts from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she served as a graduate assistant. Her artistic practice, which currently focuses on language and women’s bodies, has been enriched by participation in prestigious artist residencies, including the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, VA, BreckCreate in Breckenridge, CO, and Very Private Gallery in Madrid, Spain. In addition to her studio work, Raborn is an active educator, offering workshops at renowned institutions such as the Ah Haa School in Telluride, CO, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR, Kingsbrae Residency for the Arts in New Brunswick, Canada, Bemis School of Art at Colorado College, and Schola Artis Pro Vobis in Assisi, Italy. Raborn’s paintings, workshop offerings, and gallery representation can be explored on her website: www.laurarabornart.com.