We are having a 2-day
marbling workshop class in Oklahoma City!
Taught by Galen Berry and Luis Barajas
We don't know the exact dates yet, but it should be on a Saturday and a Sunday
near the end of February 2025.
Check here later for more information about the dates and the prices.
This is the first time I have taught a marbling class in 13 years! I thought I was retired from teaching, after doing it for 25 years, traveling to 60 different cities in 30 states with over 4000 students during all that time.
But a wonderful art center here in Oklahoma City (where I live) called the ARTSPACE has talked me into having a class in their impressive facility. I am quite excited about it! It will be fun to teach the joy of marbling once again.
We have space for up to 20 participants.
The first day (5 hours) will be a beginning class, learning the
basics of marbling on paper. I show
the class a selection of typical marbled papers, and teach them the names of the
traditional patterns. Then I give a
full demonstration of the whole marbling process, with the students gathered
around my marbling tank. Next they
learn how to apply alum to the paper, how to mix the carrageenan, how to prepare
the paints, and how to do several standard patterns such as the Feather, French
curl, Peacock, Stone marble, Italian vein, Flowers, Nonpareil, and Spanish wave.
Each person will have an individual small marbling tray, so no sharing of
trays will be necessary. (The
students will work on 9½" x 12½" papers, since it’s much easier to
learn on small sheets than large ones, and they’ll get to do more different
patterns that way too.) Each person
will be able to marble from 10 to 15 papers to take home during this class.
The second day (5 hours) will be a more advanced class. We will learn several more patterns, slightly more complex, such as the Thistle, Moiré, Fantasy wave, Antique spot, and Ripple. We will experiment with Overmarbling and Masking, and will do some marbling on cotton fabric. Each person will also get to do a sheet of paper in a large tray, printing a standard-size 19" x 25" paper. There will be time toward the end of this day for some individual experimentation.
By the time students finish these two days, they will have learned all
important aspects of marbling, and will know enough about it to go home and,
with practice, produce excellent quality work. For those who are mainly
interested in fabric marbling, it is always best to learn on paper first.
The same supplies and techniques used for marbling on paper are also used in
fabric marbling; the few differences will be discussed in class.
Students are not required to bring anything to class except pen and paper to take notes with, and a lunch if desired. I provide all supplies used in the class. A small materials fee will be charged. For those who wish to purchase supplies to take home, after class we will have a table set up with all the basic marbling supplies for sale on it -- paints, paper, carrageenan, alum, gall, combs, rakes, brushes, and booklets. This will save you the trouble of ordering supplies later, plus you will be able to continue marbling as soon as you get home while the things you have learned are fresh in your memory. The prices for supplies that we sell in class will be the same as on our website.
Even though marbling looks complex, it is actually quite easy, and almost
anyone can quickly learn to do it. No
art experience or artistic talent at all is necessary.
It is really fun too, and compared to some other arts, marbling supplies
are not very expensive. Unlike most
artforms, which take months or years of practice, some great-looking works of
marbling can be made the very first day of class.
However, it doesn’t become quickly boring either; marbling has such an
enormous variety to it that it can take a lifetime to explore all its
possibilities.
Please visit my other websites:
Calligraphy, which shows
some of the calligraphic work
that I have done over the past 25 years.
Nature's Arches and
Bridges, which tells all about my hobby of exploring the desert states
for beautiful natural arches and bridges.
Thanks -- Galen Berry
