Diane Williams
Friday, August 7, 14, 21, and 28
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
$325 non-members | $300 members
$25 one-time materials fee payable to instructor
Location: Arts Benicia, 1 Commandant’s Lane, Benicia
Levels: All levels
Age: 18+
Minimum 4 | Maximum 10
Class Description: The language of paper is unique. Each piece carries its own texture, history, color, and voice. When layered, torn, cut, and assembled, these individual elements come together to create powerful visual poetry. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to create their own collage papers using Gelli printing and hand-carved wooden textile blocks. We will explore composition, layering, texture, and intuitive mark-making while discovering how disparate fragments can form a cohesive and expressive whole. Suitable for all experience levels, this workshop invites creativity, experimentation, and the joy of transforming paper into art.
SPECIAL NOTES: A variety of papers will be provided, but the most personal collages often emerge from materials that hold meaning for you. Students are encouraged to bring papers such as letters, postcards, travel tickets, maps, photocopies, poster fragments, book pages, or other ephemera that carry memories and personal significance. Participants will also have the opportunity to exchange papers with one another, creating unexpected connections and shared memories that become part of the artwork itself.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Diane Williams is a California-based abstract painter, educator, curator, and workshop instructor whose work explores the intersection of nature, consciousness, and the expressive power of mark-making. She holds an MFA in Arts and Consciousness Studies from John F. Kennedy University, an MA in Studio Art from California State University, Sacramento, and a BA in Studio Art from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Additional studies in Chinese painting and calligraphy at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, China, continue to inform her East-West aesthetic sensibility.
Williams has taught workshops and mentoring programs throughout California and nationally, sharing her expertise in abstraction, mixed media, collage, and oil and cold wax techniques. Her work has been exhibited extensively in galleries and museums throughout the United States and is represented by Bryant Street Gallery in Palo Alto and Epperson Gallery in Crockett. She is an active juror, curator, and mentor dedicated to fostering artistic growth and creative exploration.
Instructor website: Dianewilliams.net