I
wanted to let everyone know about an upcoming workshop at The Campbell Center
for Historic Preservation Studies in Mount Carroll, Illinois, in the northwest
corner of the state. "Illustration for Education and Programming" will be taught
by Peggy Macnamara and Dan Brinkmeier from Chicago's Field Museum and will be
held August 5-7, 2013. I have attended
programs at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies in the past.
It is located in the previous location of Shimer College. The setting is
fabulous! Gorgeous old college buildings and park-like campus. Housing is in the
dorms. Classes are small and personal, everyone gets to know each other very
well, and there is usually a group of people from your class or others joining
together to go out to dinner at one of the unique restaurants in town and
nearby. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are held in the "cafeteria," which is much
more cozy than the name suggests. I felt it was more like having a personal
chef, and found myself, after the class was over, looking for my fresh-baked
cookie around 3:00. The atmosphere is friendly, comfortable, and casual, and for
me, it was a great get-a-way! Their website is http://campbellcenter.org/.
Here is the announcement:
Illustration
for Education and Programming
Instructors:
Peggy McNamara and Dan
Brinkmeier
Date:
August 5-7, 2013
Cost:
Tuition and Materials Fee: $715
Team-taught
by Peggy MacNamara and Dan Brinkmeier, scientific illustrators and studio
artists with a long professional association with Chicago’s Field Museum. This
four-day course combines conceptual and thematic instruction, art history, and
skill development through technical drawing and visualization of natural science
concepts. Participants will be able to enhance their skills to better design and
develop graphic materials and other visual elements used in exhibits, school
outreach programs and areas of museum public programming such as environmental
conservation. The course structure will include lecture, group discussion, and
practice in drawing, illustration concepts, and studio art.
Other
key aspects of this class include: This
course is suitable for participants with all levels of drawing skills or art; as
participants may choose to concentrate on simple visualization techniques
(planning and design) leading to conceptual development of exhibit elements,
educational activities or materials, or illustrations used in publications or
electronic media. For example, the entire course may be spent visualizing and
developing a museum exhibit diorama or large mural that is to be completed by
another artist. Finished artwork may not be an outcome in this case, but there
will be an emphasis on development of concept visualizations and content
organization using simple sketches or rough drawings. Participants are also
encouraged to bring their own projects to the course. For those desiring
more art instruction and skill development in drawing techniques, there will be
two main areas to be covered: (1.), scientific (technical) illustration or
rendering, and the visual representation of artifacts, biological specimens, and
other objects common to natural history museums; and (2.), an introduction
to other forms of illustration and visual representation used in public media
and education, such as the use of comics in natural science programs. To the
greatest degree possible, the course will also make use of the local environment
as subject matter, depicting locally obtained cultural objects, biological
specimens, and working from the local landscape through drawing and painting.
Although some basic drawing materials are provided, participants are also
encouraged to bring their own preferred art materials if they plan to work
in a medium in which they are already familiar (such as watercolor or
acrylic).
Because
of the open-ended structure of this course, instruction will be provided at all
levels of artistic skill, from the beginning stage to more advanced levels in
drawing and painting. There will also be the opportunity for course participants
to work together on a group project, so that participants with less developed
art skills may concentrate on thematic content and design/development, while
collaborating with more advanced participant/artists to do the actual
production, much in the way that a museum exhibit team would function to produce
a diorama, mural, or exhibit.