About the Workshop
OPEN STUDIO 
provides an opportunity to deepen one's studio practice and take risks in a safe environment, with extra eyes for feedback and support. Artists work with the art media of their choice -- painting, mixed-media, drawing, or collage -- as they start new works, start a series, finish old pieces, try different techniques, or some combination of all four. Subject matter, be it representational or non-figurative, is completely up to each artist. Students can expect to complete 3 to 4 artworks by the end of the week. Where the workshop artist is, in their art journey, is where we will start with one-on-one personal guidance interspersed with brief class comments, all toward helping the artist achieve their intended expression through effective execution of the formal aspects of the work (principles and elements of design), and having fun with the creative process. Recognizing and realizing the personal vision is the goal!
About Christopher Shotola-Hardt
Christopher Shotola-Hardt received his MFA from Portland State University and his BA from Lewis & Clark College, with a year of study at Ludwig-Maximillians Universität in Munich, Germany. He has exhibited throughout the Pacific Northwest and in New York. His work is included in local, national, and international private collections and regional public collections, including the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, the Evergreen Air & Space Museum, Center for Research in Environmental Sciences & Technologies (CREST), South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART), and City of Wilsonville. Shotola-Hardt has been one of the artist-owners of Blackfish Gallery in Portland’s Pearl District since 2004. Shotola-Hardt taught in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District for 32 years, and retired in 2020. He was named Oregon Secondary Art Educator of the Year (2005); Oregon Art Educator of the Year (2009); Pacific Region Secondary Art Educator of the Year (2018).
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Learn more at christophershotola-hardt.com
Instructor will provide:
Our daily warm-up piece will be a mixed-media process piece, which will add to each morning across the week, for which I will give open-ended conceptual and/or technical prompts and for which workshop artists will have a timed interval in which to execute. The subject matter of these pieces will be related to the individual subjects the artists are focusing on during the week. I will provide the materials for this progressive piece that will take shape over the week. The purpose of the work will be to loosen up, work without knowing what's coming next/without thinking, and embracing the accidents/the unexpected developments, allowing the piece to have its say and respond to it. NOTE: If this warm-up piece starts to become a work the artist feels invested in, it could be augmented with the studio materials the artist brought for the main focus of the week.
I will provide these materials:
* Mixed-Media paper (400 series)
* tempera paint, brushes, palettes
* assundry drawing materials (pencils, various erasers, eraser pencils, graphite sticks, charcoal, vine charcoal, grayscale soft pastels, drawing pens)
What students should bring:
Your choice of medium and supports:
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gessoed paper, panels &/or canvas
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brushes
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container for solvent/water
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apron
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paint rags
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palette & palette knives
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sketchbook
Suggested minimum palette:
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Titanium White
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Alizarin Crimson
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Cadmium Red Light
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Ultramarine Blue
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Phthalo Blue
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Cadmium Yellow Light
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Indian Yellow
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Phthalo Green
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Black
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Any additional colors you favor!
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Please read the painting studio rules here.