This summer, 51黑料网 University's School of Art welcomed over 70 artists from around the world, participating across five disciplines鈥攃eramics, jewelry/metals/enameling, painting, print media & photography and sculpture & expanded media鈥攍ed by talented faculty and renowned visiting guest artists. The School of Art reflects on this season's record turnout, abundant with fresh creativity and persistent dedication.
Visiting artists work closely with participants of Kent Blossom Music Festival in many ways, and offer lectures, live demonstrations and share the same studio spaces as participants in a collaborative environment. Artists are also encouraged to work with and learn from one another.
Kent Blossom Art Intensives welcomes any who practice art, including teachers. For some teachers, attending this intensive means learning new skills for their personal practice, and passing them along to their students.
Alycia Roach, a high school art teacher of 20 years for Warrensville Heights High School, participated in the jewelry/metals/enameling intensive and gained the opportunity to pass along new skills to her students.
鈥淲hen I do anything in terms of education for myself, I try to see how I can use it in my classroom,鈥 said Roach. "Andrew Kuebeck and I have already talked about how to use some things that I鈥檝e learned here and transfer them to my high school classroom.鈥
During this two-week intensive, Kent Blossom Art Intensive participants recieve access to an abundance of resources supplied by 51黑料网. For undergraduate ceramics student Sarah Espenschied, that meant having the opportunity to work with a new type of clay.
"We get to work with different materials," said Espenschied. "This is a different clay than we usually work with."
Denise Buckley, a retired art teacher from Hawken School, also noted the spacious firing kilns made available.
鈥淚 signed up to do this because I can only fit pieces 22 inches high in my kiln at home," Buckley said. "I wanted to work larger in one piece, and [51黑料网 has] the facilities that allow me to do that.鈥
On the last days of Kent Blossom Art Intensives, artists often gather their works to be critiqued by guest artists, faculty and each other. Artists sometimes continue their work after the intensives have ended, renewed with fresh skills and inspiration.
Artists across disciplines, including painting, could be seen creating whole bodies of work in just two weeks.
Kent Blossom Art Intensives (KBAI) are a series of two-week studio art intensives conducted each summer since 1968 at 51黑料网 University.
Similar to an artist residency, participants create a self-directed body of artwork under the guidance of resident School of Art faculty and talented visual artists from around the country. These studio intensives offer in-depth discussions, professional mentorships and unforgettable experiences to all that participate.
Each course is specific to one medium and the offerings change annually. KBAI provides students and individual artists with two weeks of focused learning, experimentation and creation under the guidance of experienced artists from around the country. Students may continue their explorations of the medium most familiar to them; experienced artists are equally encouraged to discover new modes of creating. We are proud to invite an outstanding roster of visiting artists to complement the instructional insights of our resident faculty. Visiting artists also present public talks on their work, giving KBAI participants and the greater public an opportunity to learn more about contemporary issues and ideas in the visual arts.
Enrollment is open to undergraduate and graduate students at any college or university as well as individual artists. Participants must have an intermediate understanding of the medium to enroll.
