The Plant as Subject with Melissa Oresky

Concept

In this two-day workshop, create artworks that experiment with various traditions of representing and exploring plants primarily using drawing, watercolor, and collage processes.

Experience

Moving indoors and out, look together at plants; considering their ways of life and interrelationships with other life forms, while making artwork that speaks to and about them. A naturalist-guided walk introduces you to the surrounding landscape and plant life, while presentations examine how plants have been represented in art and scientific imagery throughout history and present day. Melissa provides prompts, individualized feedback, and technical instruction throughout the workshop. Leave with experimental, in-progress, and finished works.

Skill Level

Beginning to intermediate students welcome.

Instructor

Melissa Oresky's practice is rooted in painting and collage; primarily creating mixed media works on canvas and paper. She is interested in the landscape and considers it a bridge between painting, lived experience, environmental consciousness, and imagination. Melissa's goal in the classroom is to offer students practical knowledge paired with critical concepts and strategies to help them innovate and expand. When not making work, she is reading sci-fi novels, knitting, and spending time outdoors with her family. Melissa earned her MFA from UI-Chicago and is a Professor at Illinois State University.