Master Artist Workshops
Inclement Weather Policy for Workshops:
Note: Master Artist Workshops’ cancellation policy varies with each workshop. Please refer to your email workshop confirmation PDF attachment letter. The Huntsville Museum of Art assumes no liability for non-refundable airline tickets or other expenses that cannot be used due to any classes or workshops being cancelled or schedule changes.
The closest airport is the Huntsville International Airport. The airport code is HSV.
Below are suggested hotels near the Huntsville Museum of Art
Art Journaling: Visual Storytelling with Leslie Wood
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced
Friday, January 24 & Saturday, January 25, 2025; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$350 members/$400 non-members
In this two-day workshop, we will explore the many different sides of art journals from getting past the blank pages to tips and techniques in capturing your words and imagery. An art journal is a combination of visual and written imagery that captures thoughts, ideas and images in a visual way. They can be travel logs, dream diaries, art techniques, therapy logs, or storybooks. Anything goes in an art journal from using mixed media and collage, to paint, to pen and charcoal.
This workshop will show you some fun techniques to get past the blank white pages staring at you. It will introduce you to the different types of books and products that are commonly used for journaling. You will learn some techniques for working in journals that will aid in the creation of the pages in your own journal to start of your journey into this medium.
Wood has been creating art ever since she can remember. She has a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, but after working for a few years, decided to go back to college and take art classes. She enrolled with the University of Alabama in Huntsville and studied photography, sculpture and painting. Over the years she expanded her creative skills with numerous master-led classes. Her work varies from mixed media and art journaling to sculpture and jewelry making. Her recent solo exhibitions include Dreams and Reality: The Artwork of Leslie Wood at Carnegie Visual Arts Center and Evelyn Burrows Museum, Visiting Artist Exhibition at the Huntsville Art League and an exhibition at Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment in Huntsville Alabama. An avid art journaler, her journal work has been published numerous times in Somerset Studio’s ART Journaling magazine including a feature in the 2016 Winter and 2017 Spring editions. You can find her work at local shows such as Monte Sano Art Festival and Panoply Arts Festival. For more information, visit lesliewoodarts.com.
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Photo Courtesy of Artist: Leslie Wood, Living a Dream, mixed media © 2024
Spontaneity in Your Painting in Acrylic or Oil
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced
Friday & Saturday, February 7 & 8, 2025
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$400 members/$450 non-members
Join Linda Ellen Price for a fun workshop to take your art to the next level. Learn about color theory and mixing colors. Instruction will include still life, figurative and purely imaginative work. Discover ways to loosen up your brushwork through impressionistic techniques. Demos and individual assistance at each easel provided throughout the two-day workshop.
Price, featured artist at the Museum Gala in 2003, is both a portrait painter and a painter of creative works. She is a registered nurse who found art to be her true calling. A student of Russian artist Max Heldman, her travels to Russia and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg were inspirational to her painting. Her works range from sepia tones to vibrant colors. She has a home and studio on a 60-acre retreat in Northeast Alabama. She is a member of several art organizations including Oil Painters of America and Portrait Society of America. She has been featured in art publications such as American Art Collector, Art and Antiques, Southern Accents and Veranda. Her works are part of both private and public collections throughout the United States, Canada, South America and Europe. Price is represented by Beverly McNeil Gallery in Birmingham and Portraits Inc. For more information, visit lindaellenprice.com.
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Photo Courtesy of Artist: Linda Ellen Price, Happy Girl, Happy Dog, oil on canvas © 2024
Suggest Rather than Render with Dan Graziano
Skill Level: Beginning to advanced painters in both oil and acrylic mediums. Proficiency in basic drawing is required.
Thursday – Saturday, August 7 – 9, 2025; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$200 deposit/$650 members/$700 non-members
This three-day workshop will focus on painting “alla prima” (all at once) as well as developing greater skills of observation, simplification and quickly painting “wet on wet”. Most importantly, we will discuss how thoughtfully and purposely “suggesting” and editing the elements of a composition – rather than simply “rendering” every detail of your reference – will create a stronger, more compelling and “painterly” painting.
The first morning of the workshop begins with a brief discussion of oil painting basics (from materials to paint handling) and will also address the fundamentals of color, value, edges, perspective and other “practical” elements related to successful painting. Participants will then work on a series of timed painting exercises incorporating the techniques discussed and developing their skills of observation, simplification, “suggestion” and quickly working in an “alla prima” manner.
Each day of the workshop will include a short painting demo by Dan with explanation of his process including plenty of question/answer and one-on-one individual instruction throughout the day. Participants are encouraged to bring their own photos to paint from or may choose from photo resources brought by the instructor.
Graziano is an award winning, nationally exhibited artist whose paintings capture the hidden beauty found in the ordinary and unexpected fleeting moments of everyday life. Incorporating dramatic light, shadow, color and perspective, his compositions feature a diversity of subjects – from a simple still life to rugged coastlines, active urban life, lively cafes and bars, small rural towns and forgotten roadside relics. His work has been featured in numerous publications and is in the collections of private and corporate collectors throughout the world.
His artistic vision began taking shape in the 60’s, during America’s explosive political, cultural and artistic awakening. His first formal training focused on advertising and illustration, but a career opportunity in architecture and urban planning altered his original direction. For more information, visit dangrazianofineart.com.
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Photo Courtesy of Artist: Dan Graziano, We’ll Have Another Round, oil on panel © 2024
CHARCOAL: Expressive Mark Making, A Painter’s Approach to Drawing with Gary Chapman
Skill Level: All levels are welcome.
Thursday-Sunday, August 21-24,2025
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$200 deposit/$525 members/$575 non-members
Students will explore charcoal as the perfect drawing medium for expressive mark making. Students will develop a personal approach to loose, aggressive mark making with a combination of additive and subtractive techniques using charcoal and erasers for mark making and developing grounds. While charcoal will be the primary medium, eventually students will be encouraged to combine other media such as conte crayon and spray paint. The class will focus upon mark making as it relates to abstraction and later students may opt to explore the different ways these same techniques can be applied to observational drawing for a provocative and beautiful fusion of abstraction and realism.
Gary Chapman is a Professor of Art – Drawing and Painting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and has had over 60 solo exhibitions with institutions such as The Arts Center of St. Petersburg, Florida and the Indianapolis Art Center. He has participated in national and international exhibitions, and his paintings have been purchased for numerous museums, corporate and private collections. He has a MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and BA and BS, Berea College.
In 2013, Chapman was awarded and named a CALL Legacy Artist by the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Chapman’s work has received recognition and awards from such notable figures as Ned Rifkin, Dennis Barrie, John Ravenal, Annette Carlozzi and Jack Cowart. In 2008 his work was selected and published in the book Alabama Masters: Artists and Their Work. He has received numerous grants and fellowships including a 1996 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Painting from the Southern Arts Federation and 2001 and 1994, Individual Artist Fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. His work has been reviewed extensively and is published in over 20 catalogs and books including the 3rd, 16th and 52nd editions of New American Paintings.
Paintings by Chapman have been purchased for the permanent collections of 10 museums throughout the Southeastern region. These include the Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery and Ogden Museums of Art. His work is also included in many corporate and private collections throughout the country. For more information, visit garychapmanart.com.
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Photo Courtesy of Artist: Gary Chapman, Landscape, charcoal © 2024
Capturing Radiant Light in Your Paintings in Oil or Acrylic with Michael Story
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced
Thursday – Saturday, September 11 – 13, 2025; 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$200 deposit/$575 members/$625 non-members
Master your ability to capture radiance in your paintings and join South Carolina artist Michael Story for this four-day landscape painting workshop. Michael will explain and demonstrate the fundamentals of building radiant color by applying complementary and analogous color combinations. Color charts and simple exercises will be made easy and can be kept for future color reference after the class is completed. We will use effective underpainting and layering of color in trees, grasses, sky, and water to create interest and authenticity in our subject matter. The workshop begins with an I-Pad step-by-step presentation showing a progression of Michael’s painting techniques from start to finish. Students begin their paintings with an initial charcoal drawing, followed by a color wash applied over the image. Starting with rich shadow colors, you’ll begin blocking in your painting, then progressing dark to light to completion. Building final layers of color and avoiding muddy mixtures, you’ll achieve fresh, bright, radiant color while capturing depth and drama to your work. For more information, visit michaelstory.com.
Michael Story earned a BFA in Fine Art from the University of South Carolina in 1975. He later traveled to New York, studying pastel and oil painting under internationally renowned artist, Daniel Greene. Today, Story is an award-winning artist and member of Oil Painters of America and the Southeastern Pastel Society. He conducts lectures, juries art shows and regularly teaches oil, acrylic and pastel painting throughout the United States. He has conducted workshops at such prestigious art centers as Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, AL, Hudson River Valley Workshops in Greenville, NY, John C Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, Winslow Art Center in Bainbridge Island, WA, Art of the Carolina’s in Raleigh, NC, Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek, WI, and Crealde School of Art in Winter Park, FL. Students also travel from around the country to attend his two-day painting classes in his Lexington, SC studio. Story has work showcased in the Bush Presidential Library in Houston, Texas, and his paintings have been reproduced by major publishers such as Canadian Art Prints of British Columbia and distributed worldwide.
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Photo Courtesy of Artist: Michael Story, Waterlilies at Brookgreen, oil on panel © 2024
