“Trooper,” an example of Donna Van Hooser’s illustrative and colorful mosaic pet portraits

We’re thrilled to welcome the exceptional Donna Van Hooser as our visiting artist instructor in February. Her pet portraits bring our beloved dogs and cats to life in vivid color. Bring a photograph of your favorite pet and learn how to create a lasting work of mosaic art. See more of Donna’s work here.

In this class we will use greyscale values rather than traditional colors to create form and expression in creating a mosaic pet portrait. Precision cutting techniques will be covered, as well as andamento, glass selection and shading.

You’ll learn to map color contrast and plan andamento from your color photo.

This workshop is intended for intermediate or advanced mosaic artists, and should not be used as an introduction to making mosaics.

You may either work on a black and white photo provided by the instructor, or you can provide a photo prior to the class. Your photo should be high resolution showing good detail (not out of focus) and have fairly strong contrast between values. Drawn/painted images are not suitable.

Fee: $450 USD Materials Included.

A workshop work in progress.

If you’re supplying a photo to Donna (rather than using one of hers), you’ll email your selection directly to her, and she will map out the design before the class.

A phone with a camera is recommended, as we will be using this as a tool in class to see grayscale values.

During the workshop, while there is a bit of instruction addressed to the entire class (cutting, andamento, and discussion of values/tones), Donna spends 90% of the class giving one-on-one instruction and assistance with andamento and glass selection. Since this technique is more time consuming, a finished portrait is not expected at the end of the three day workshop. However, the eyes and a good portion of the face can be completed, depending on your level of experience.. While the portraits won’t be finished in the three days, the goal is to have you leave with the confidence to complete your project on your own.

Donna will email you about a month or so prior to the class requesting the photos to be prepared and providing guidelines for the photographs. A follow up email is sent closer to the time of the workshop with a tools you should bring. Donna will have a limited number of tools available for you to use as well.

The class starts promptly at 10:00 am each day and finishes at 5:00 pm, with a one hour break for lunch. You can bring a lunch, or select one of many restaurants that are just a short walk from the studio. Coffee, tea and water are provided.

Materials provided by the instructor for each student include, but are not limited to the following:

• Stained glass sufficient to complete portrait

• Primed MDF substrate, either 12x12 inches or 10.25 x 14 inches

• To-size printout of source photograph and printed drawing to transfer onto substrate • Glue

• Class handouts

• Container for bringing glass home and other organizational materials

Students at our 2018 workshop with visiting artist Luca Barberini. What a blast!