Instructor: Joerg Dressler
Monday - Wednesday & Friday
July 1 - 5
9am - 1pm
4 sessions
Our workshop will begin with a basic exercise to identify prompts for personal themes. With those in place the development of visual ideas can begin. Via exploratory and experimental collages1 we will create a pool of source materials. While reviewing the individual outcomes, each student is asked to identify common themes within their work such as subject matter, composition, color, etc. We will cross reference our personal inventory of prompts developed on day one, making adjustments and/or creating additional collages. This will help to identify personal narratives/themes that will inform the painting practice. It will also allow each student to think ahead and ultimately develop a unique and coherent set of collages that will serve for a series of paintings throughout the week, as well as beyond the workshop. While we will touch on many topics regarding painting, we will also talk about the ins and outs of acrylic paint—especially of interest for those who have become allergic to oil paint.
One-on-one feedback will be provided throughout the week discussing individual strengths and challenges. Simultaneously a supportive exchange amongst students is encouraged.
*(1) Students who are proficient in Photoshop can bring their laptops and create collages digitally if they prefer that method over analog collaging.
Joerg Dressler was born in Hanau, Germany. He received his MFA from the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach, Germany, in 1994. Additionally, he studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France. Joerg moved to the United States in 1996. His work is driven by nature and how we perceive it. He is presenting his experiences of reality filtered through his perception. As a result, disjointed experiences of the seen and unseen are reassembled, creating in the work a reality of its own. Joerg’s evocative, sensual paintings derive from a sincere dialogue between the representational and the abstract. vocabulary for his work is drawn from a cross-section of art history: Romanticism, Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, graphic design, and photography. “Joerg evokes sublime depictions of our confrontation with nature, especially the contrary effects of nature on the human psyche,” writes Christopher Busa in Provincetown Arts. “He places tranquility side by side with violence, light clashing with the dark, fragility beside boldness—surprising forces seemingly summoned on a whim, with involuntary energy.” Recurring themes in Joerg’s work include the passage of time, impermanence, frailty, and perception. He is a recipient of the Romanos Rizk Scholarship and was awarded a Mass Cultural Council 2020 Artist Fellowship. Joerg’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York and the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, NY. Joerg is represented by Alden Gallery, Provincetown, MA and Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY.