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Date: August 15th & 16th
Times: Saturday & Sunday 1-4pm
Level: All
Membership Price: $300 (Members use discount code MEMBERS10 at checkout to receive 10% off)
Workshop Description:
Portraits for Remembering: Who We Hold and Carry is a 3-day portraiture workshop where beginner-friendly tracing and facial mapping techniques free students to develop an intermediate understanding of color theory and figurative underpainting. Grounded in journaling, radical care texts, and community critique, students complete two meaningful portraits: one honoring someone they admire and one celebrating themselves. In a social, studio setting, we use paint to navigate the hardest parts of being with others and sitting with ourselves: the acts of bearing witness and acceptance.
About the Instructor:
Marcela Adeze Okeke paints, draws and sculpts those she is committed to. Her paintings, often depicting her family members and herself in repose surrounded by colorful dreamscapes, reflect her personal search for belonging and peace while navigating the disjuncture of diaspora, (inter)generational trauma, personal myth and magic. Her commitment to care and community extends into her collaborative practice with unhoused artists at Red Line Service in Chicago and as an arts educator at Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, where she co-creates works exploring radical care and resilience. Starting as a self-taught acrylic and oil painter, Okeke has since incorporated dyed textiles, block printing, rope-knotting, and cement sculpture into a multidisciplinary practice. The artist has shown at the Chicago Cultural Center, Museum of the African Diaspora, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, Freeport Art Museum, and internationally at Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Her paintings have been featured in New American Paintings and Chicago Reader, and her prints have been distributed internationally by the UN Human Right to Adequate Housing Campaign. Okeke is a previous resident artist at Nafasi Art Space and Vashon Artist Residency.
Required Materials:
There are some materials required for this portrait class. We will have many comparable materials in our onsite art materials/supply shop called The Nook (https://www.instagram.com/thenookmendocino/)
1. Acrylic paint set
https://www.dickblick.com/items/blick-studio-acrylics-set-of-24-colors-21-ml-tubes/
2. Paintbrush set
3. 2 Canvas Panels (11 x 14)
https://www.dickblick.com/items/blick-canvas-panel-11-x-14/
4. Tracing Paper (11 x 14)
https://www.dickblick.com/items/strathmore-300-series-tracing-paper-11-x-14-50-sheets/
5. Sketch Paper
https://www.dickblick.com/products/strathmore-400-series-drawing-paper-pads/
6. Pencil (soft and hard)
A set like this that includes pencils, eraser, and sharpener like this is great => https://www.dickblick.com/items/blick-studio-drawing-pencils-set-of-6/
7. Eraser
8. Pencil Sharpener
Optional Materials: N/A