1-Day Visiting Artist Workshop

Date: Saturday, July 30

Time: 10am-5pm

Description: The making of a yarn painting is much more than drawing a design and filling it in. The process of pressing colorful yarn into wax under the warm glow of a lamp accompanied by the sweet smell of honey is as much meditative as it is exhilarating. Preparatory work will include discussions about composition, optical color mixing, symbolism and content.

In this all day workshop, you will learn about traditional yarn paintings of the Huichol Indians and then make a yarn painting of your own design. Working on a wood panel, you will transfer this design, prepare the surface using a melted wax medium, and adhere the yarn to the wax by pressing with a stick. A wide variety of yarns will be available to choose from.

Tuition: $125 + $10 materials fee

Materials: Students should bring a desk lamp that can aim downward. All other materials will be provided but students are encouraged to bring any odds and ends ordinary weight yarn that you might like to use.

Location: Contemporary Craft (5645 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201)

COVID-19: In accordance with current CDC guidance – we are recommending all visitors wear a mask. Please note that the recommendation applies to teaching artists, resident artists, students and guests attending events taking place at CC.

Visiting Artist Cancellations and Refunds: Workshop cancellations are decided one week before the start date. If workshops must be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment, the entire class fee will be refunded through Eventbrite, or you may leave your workshop fee in your Contemporary Craft account for future workshops.

Visiting Artist Refund Policy: Student refund requests must be made at 2 weeks before a class begins. There will be a $50 cancellation fee. No refunds will be given without 2 weeks notice.

If you require accessibility accommodations, please let us know by calling 412.261.7003 and we are happy to assist you.

About the Artist

Robin L Bernstein was trained as a painter but has worked with string and wax as her primary medium for the past 15 years. Her work focuses on both historical and urgent contemporary content and is created by obsessively cutting tiny pieces of colored string and then pressing them into wax. Bernstein believes that art has the power to shift human behavior and therefore chooses subject matter, materials, and processes that support this idea.

Bernstein, born in St. Louis, MO received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and currently splits her time between a small town in the California Bay Area and a studio on the north coast. She has been a teacher for over 30 years and incorporated yarn painting into her studio practice after preparing art students for a visit to Mexico. She has regularly exhibited her work and spoken about her current project, Beauty and Terror, an 18 piece series about the Holocaust. Bernstein’s subject matter combined with her artistic technique is her way of shouting from the rooftops that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

You can find Robin’s website here.