13th Annual Shakerag Workshops Begin on June 12

Nearly 150 artists from around the United States will be at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee next week for the 13th annual Shakerag Workshops.
For two weeks every June, the adult studio art workshop program is open to artists wishing to enrich and develop their creative skills.
By day, the workshop instructors offer sessions in songwriting, quilting, photography, painting, tie dying and sculpting. In the evenings, nightly lectures and slideshows will be led by instructors of the Shakerag Workshops. All lectures and slideshows are in McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts and are open to the public.
Shakerag began in 2004 with only six classes. Since 2004 the workshops have more than doubled to the 15 that are planned for this summer. Sessions for this summer are focused on songwriting, quilting, photography, painting, tie dying and sculpting.
Pat Bergeson, a Nashville-based guitarist and harmonica player, has played on many Grammy Award-winning albums. He has worked in studio with Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Peter Frampton, Toby Keith and Wynonna Judd. Bergeson will present “The Joys of Guitar, Harmonica, and Song Writing for Music Lovers” on Monday, June 13 at 7:15 p.m.
Elizabeth Busch, an internationally renowned artist who has been painting quilts for more than 30 years, will present a lecture titled “Creating a Painted Quilt.” Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization (HERObike), a company that works for community development to end rural poverty, will also present a session on Monday, June 13, showing participants how to build a custom bamboo bike frame.
On Tuesday, June 14, Diane Hall will present a lecture titled “Sewing: The Art of Making” about how to create garments from commercial patterns and individual ideas. Hall’s presentation will begin at 7:15 p.m.
Mary Hettmansperger, author and owner of cooking and creative art studio Gallery 64, will present to Shakerag participants the process of making jewelry. Hettmansperger’s “Jewelry: Alternative Surfaces, Expressions, and Designs” will be followed by Matt Kelleher’s presentation on throwing and hand building clay pitchers. Kelleher is a member of the ceramic faculty at Alfred University.
Self-trained chef and food writer, educator and activist Nancy Vienneau is a member of the Community Food Advocates and columnist for The Tennessean. Vienneau works as a chef and teacher at Second Harvest Food Bank’s Culinary Arts Center and at Magdalene House in Nashville. Vienneau will lecture on Wednesday, June 15 at 7:30 p.m.
On Thursday, June 16, large-format landscape photographer Kenneth Parker will give a lecture titled “Finding Your Voice in Color Landscape Photography.” Parker is drawn outdoors, with most of his photographs requiring several day-long treks to places like waterfalls in Myanmar, bayous in Cambodia and rice terraces in Bali. Danielle Roney works with sculpting and time-based medias such as film, video and computer technologies, to create her works. Her project Global Portals was featured at TEDGlobal in 2005. Roney will present “Time-Based Space: Experimentations in Spatial Media Design.”
Maggie Steber is a documentary photographer and has worked in 66 different countries, with 30 years experience working in Haiti. Steber’s presentation “Photography: Daring to See the World in a New Way” will be Monday, June 20 at 7:15 p.m.
Shoko Teruyama grew up in Mishima, Japan and works as a sculptor of earthenware. Teruyama will present “Clay: Build It, Slip It, Scratch It” on Monday, June 20 at 7:15 p.m.
For those interested in participating in the Shakerag Workshops, visit <sha​kerag.org> to register and view supply lists for each session.

Shakerag Workshops Celebrate 10th Year

Shakerag Workshops will celebrate its 10th anniversary in June, with classes taught by returning and new faculty members. Held at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, Shakerag Workshops, an adult arts workshop program, began in 2004 with six one-week-long classes in clay and digital arts during the middle weeks of June. Ten years later, Shakerag will offer 16 classes in a wide variety of media over two different sessions, June 9–15 and June 16–22, with about 150 participants coming from all over the country. 

 “It has been exciting to watch Shakerag Workshops grow from such a small program ten years ago,” said director Claire Reishman. Founding staff members Merissa Tobler, Rachel Malde and Christi Teasley, along with Reishman, have expanded the program to include book arts, weaving, dyeing, felting, quilting, painting, photography, embroidery and paper-making. Teachers through the years have come from Australia, Scotland and France, in addition to all areas of the United States. Participants in 2013 include many local and returning students, as well as new students from throughout the United States. 

 Shakerag Workshops attracts a diverse group of participants who enjoy the social gatherings surrounding the classes and gourmet meals almost as much as they enjoy the workshops themselves. Most classes are open to a wide range of participants, and beginners and professionals take classes together. The inclusive atmosphere of Shakerag is one of the hallmarks of the program, and teachers over the years have commented on the vitality of classes which include participants with a variety of experiences. 

“Though the program has grown,” Reishman said, “we have worked to retain the sense of closeness among faculty and students that we had as a smaller program, and our participants say that they leave Shakerag feeling refreshed and energized to continue developing their artistic interests.”

 Workshop participants and the general public are invited to attend artists’ talks each evening and the Shakerag Lecture Series on Wednesday evening. Sewanee biologist and author David Haskell will speak during the first session on Wednesday, June 12; on Wednesday, June 19, Susan Knowles, an expert in Tennessee marble, will be the second Shakerag Lecturer. 

 The Shakerag Workshops website <www.shakerag.org> has more information about Shakerag classes and a more detailed description of the program. Reishman is still accepting applications for classes this summer, and local applicants receive a 35 percent discount in tuition and meals. 

For more information, contact Reishman at 598-5651, ext. 3165, or email <info@shakerag.org>.