Throughout the summer, the department will host four all-day workshop sessions, including: bookbinding from July 10-11, stained glass from July 16-17 and July 18-19, encaustic from Aug. 1-2 and acrylic landscape from Aug. 8-9. All sessions will be held in the art studio of the Connor’s Family Fine Arts Center.

Registration closes three days before each workshop’s start date. No experience or equipment is necessary, as the workshop series is designed for both beginner and experienced artists.

Participants can learn a new skill while connecting with other creators, coordinator April Beiswenger said, rather than learning about the craft through a book or video.

“And that’s the big dream of Saint Francis University,” she said. “We come together to do something together.”

Campbell uses a torch while working on a piece of artwork using the encaustic technique. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow.

Bookbinding

Participants can use recycled materials and learn to create their own journals when taking the bookbinding class July 10-11, taught by assistant English professor Lisa Beiswenger.

Everyone can learn how to make their own books, she said.

Throughout the two-day session, attendees will make a pamphlet-style book, a punch-and-sew book, and a flat-spine notebook. Blank or lined paper will be provided, depending on whether they want to use it as a journal or sketchbook.

Participants can also improve their hand-eye coordination, measuring skills and basic sewing techniques if they don’t already know how, Beiswenger said.

Local artist and educator Jess Campbell uses a torch gun while creating a landscape photo using the encaustic technique. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Ultimately, she hopes students take away the idea that people don’t have to buy new things, but rather learn that they can create gifts themselves.

“I’m hoping that they’ll take away this idea that we can do more than we think we can do,” she said.

Stained glass

Two stained-glass workshop sessions will be held in the art studio — July 16-17 and July 18-19.

Taught by North Carolina artist Gina Williams, participants will be provided an 18 x 36-inch piece of glass, to which they’ll learn how to cut, grind, oil and solder the material before taking it home at the end of day two.

Other than leaving with a piece of stained glass artwork, Williams said that students will take away a basic understanding of the craft and know if they want to pursue the medium further.

“It gives you an idea to invest the money in the future, or if it was a nice project to take home and put in your window,” she said.

Either way, she said that participants can work together and see how others contribute to their projects.

“There’s a wonderful sense of community that comes with group crafting,” she said.

Encaustic

An encaustic class from Aug. 1-2 will not only introduce interested students to the art form, but also teach them an artistic trick or two using hot wax.

Using a hot palette, students will dip their paintbrushes into melted, colored wax made from beeswax and apply it to their blank wooden canvases, said local artist and educator Jess Campbell, who is teaching the session.

From there, they can keep adding layers to the piece while using equipment such as a torch, a heat gun, a pencil and stencils.

“It’s very versatile,” she said. “You can add lots of different media to it. It’s just a really fun thing to do,” she said.

Encaustic artwork is an underground medium around central Pennsylvania, she said, noting that it’s an expensive technique when getting started.

“So this (session) could allow participants to come and experience the medium and see what it’s all about. And everything is included, so you don’t have to invest in it, but you could still come and try it.”

Acrylic landscape

Also taught by Campbell, the acrylic landscape workshop from Aug. 8-9 will teach students how to paint their own landscape, starting with simple shapes and adding color mixing to the canvas.

She’ll demonstrate how to paint water, trees and mountains, for example, depending on what features the artists will paint.

Students will also be able to paint whatever image they prefer, working from phones, computers or tangible photographs.

“I like students to be able to paint something that they’re passionate about,” she said.

Like the rest of the sessions, the acrylic landscape workshop is open to beginners, she said, and no painting experience or skill is necessary.

“I think everyone can be a painter,” she said. “Everyone has different styles, different abilities. So if it’s just something you feel like speaks to you and you want to try it out, I want people to be able to take it,” she said.

To this day, Campbell — as an experienced artist — still takes workshops because she believes she can learn a new skill or technique.

If you go

Bookbinding workshop

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 10- 11

Where: The Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University

Stained glass workshop

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 16-17,

July 18-19

Where: The Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University

Encaustic workshop

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 1-2

Where: The Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University

Acrylic landscape workshop

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 8-9

Where: The Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University

How to register

Workshop admission is $250 for each individual session, email abeiswenger@francis.edu for a reservation. Registration closes three days before the first day of each workshop.