Erin McCluskey Wheeler
Saturday, March 7, 2026 (This class is full)
10:00 am – 2:00 pm (lunch break 12:30 – 1 pm)
$150 non-member/ $135 member
$20 materials fee payable to instructor
Location: 1 Commandant’s Lane, Benicia
Level: All levels
Age minimum: 18
Minimum 6 | Maximum 10
Class Description: Create your own shadow boxes and dioramas inspired by the work of Joseph Cornell and Betye Saar. We will look at the work of Cornell and Saar for inspiration and ideas and use a range of materials to create personal and magical artworks. You will learn assemblage and basic sculptural techniques to create pieces that are dream-like miniature tableaux. We will experiment with scale and use a range of found materials, collage materials, and boxes to create tiny worlds. The boxes will be painted and collaged before we add our objects to them.
Material fee: $20 material fee that includes a box to construct your diorama in, a collection of collage materials, wood pieces, and found objects to select from, plus glues and paints to make your project come to life. Please feel free to bring anything from home that you would like to incorporate (photos, maps, letters, small household items, broken jewelry, old photos, dollhouse furniture, wooden blocks, toys, etc.). Scissors and other cutting tools are available to use in class.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Erin McCluskey Wheeler is a painter, collagist, writer, curator, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Erin has a BA in studio art and art history from Beloit College, and an MFA from California College of the Arts in writing. Erin is a faculty member of the 92NY School of the Arts in New York City. With other nonprofits and art centers, Erin teaches collage and mixed media classes and workshops throughout the Bay Area. Erin’s collage based artwork is licensed and sold through West Elm, Minted, Target, and Samsung. She has won multiple awards for her visual art and poetry including the top prize for poetry from Northwind Arts and in 2022 was the featured cover and poster artist for Kolaj Magazine’s World Collage Day. In 2024, she published a book of her writing and photography, Dandelions, with National Monument Press. Erin has been an Artist in Residence with the City of El Cerrito, the City of Walnut Creek, and was awarded a Gallery-as-Studio Residency and solo exhibition at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She was part of the inaugural group of Bay Area Artists in Residence at Nick’s Cove in Tomales Bay in spring 2024 and her work was included in the 2024 Right Here Right Now Richmond Biennial exhibition. Erin is a co-founder and serves on the leadership team for the Visual Artists of Richmond, an artist led arts advocacy group.
Instructor website: erinmwheeler.com