“I don’t believe in art. I believe in artists.” Marcel Duchamp
I’ve come to find myself in the midst of a creative burst of changes, exciting challenges, and new beginnings. This is when I truly feel blessed to be where I’m at in life. On July 1st, I began to move into a new art studio that I’ll be sharing with a couple of amazing local artists, and it’s located in the downtown Bellingham art walk! Since getting yourself moved into a new space takes time to organize, set-up, and be ready, we’ll probably have a grand opening with reception for the September’s art walk, and have a soft opening for Friday, August 3rd. Be on the look out for our Imagine Studio announcement via email and online by August 1st , for details of where to find us within the Bay Street Building, at the upcoming first Friday of the month, in the downtown Bellingham art walk! It’s always great fun to go on the art walk, & check out the local galleries, studios, museums, and art events for adults and the whole family.
Just to let you know, you can find out more on my Instagram/Facebook pages Rachel’s Whimsical Art.
Just to let you know, you can find out more on my Instagram/Facebook pages Rachel’s Whimsical Art.
Handbuilding & Sculpting Ceramics Classes for Teens/Adults at Baker Creek Studio in Bellingham!
Introduction to Clay, Wednesdays 6:00pm - 8:30pm, or Thursdays 9:30am - 12:00pm, in August, September, & October - Each Class Session is 5 Weeks
Join local ceramic artist, Rachel Simpson, and learn to create your own cake platters and serving dishes in this 5 week class! Class sessions typically begin with a 30 minute demonstration of techniques followed by free time for students to work on their projects. Class will meet from 6:00pm to 8:30pm or from 9:30am - 12:00pm for five weeks (Select which class is best for you). The last gathering will be to pick up your final work. In this class, you will learn to work with slabs and coiling methods. Students will create their own cake plate using any of these methods. Class session is for $165 and the material fee for clay is $30 per bag. Please bring clay tools, a small hand towel and plastic to cover your work in progress. Dress for mess and come ready to have some fun! This is a beginning level class, meant for people new to clay or who only had a few classes, ages 12 and up. Register with Baker Creek!
Join local ceramic artist, Rachel Simpson, and learn to create your own cake platters and serving dishes in this 5 week class! Class sessions typically begin with a 30 minute demonstration of techniques followed by free time for students to work on their projects. Class will meet from 6:00pm to 8:30pm or from 9:30am - 12:00pm for five weeks (Select which class is best for you). The last gathering will be to pick up your final work. In this class, you will learn to work with slabs and coiling methods. Students will create their own cake plate using any of these methods. Class session is for $165 and the material fee for clay is $30 per bag. Please bring clay tools, a small hand towel and plastic to cover your work in progress. Dress for mess and come ready to have some fun! This is a beginning level class, meant for people new to clay or who only had a few classes, ages 12 and up. Register with Baker Creek!
Ceramic Garden Masks workshop at Tri-Dee Arts!
Last week’s class was such a big hit, that we will be doing it again in August. Check out the new class details below and join me in a fun 1-day art workshop.
Art Teacher: Rachel Simpson
Tri-Dee Arts in Mount Vernon
215 S. 1st Street, Mount Vernon, WA 98273,
August 11th, Saturday, 10:00AM - 2:00PM
Join local ceramic artist Rachel Simpson at Tri-Dee Arts, and create a hanging garden mask, or a nautical mask! Choose to make a classic Green Man mask, Sun/Moon face, or a Nautical themed face with starfish, fish scales, and shapes of shells. Rachel will guide you in sculpting facial features in the right proportions for a realistic mask, or get creative and make it whimsical. Dress for mess and be ready to have some fun with clay! All levels, including teens ages 12 and up with a parent, are welcome. All materials included in class fee. Finished masks will be ready for pickup in 2 weeks. Register with Tri-Dee Arts via phone or in person!
Art Teacher: Rachel Simpson
Tri-Dee Arts in Mount Vernon
215 S. 1st Street, Mount Vernon, WA 98273,
August 11th, Saturday, 10:00AM - 2:00PM
Join local ceramic artist Rachel Simpson at Tri-Dee Arts, and create a hanging garden mask, or a nautical mask! Choose to make a classic Green Man mask, Sun/Moon face, or a Nautical themed face with starfish, fish scales, and shapes of shells. Rachel will guide you in sculpting facial features in the right proportions for a realistic mask, or get creative and make it whimsical. Dress for mess and be ready to have some fun with clay! All levels, including teens ages 12 and up with a parent, are welcome. All materials included in class fee. Finished masks will be ready for pickup in 2 weeks. Register with Tri-Dee Arts via phone or in person!
There’s still time to register for Summer Art Camps at BAAY!
Check out the exciting Summer Art Camps for kids of all ages at BAAY: Drawing & Painting, Preschool & Kinders Art, and the Upcycled Art & Sculpture, for several age groups with BAAY (Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth - Summer Art Camps) in Bellingham, WA.
Drawing & Painting. Ages 6-12 years. Art Teacher: Rachel Simpson, July 9th - 13th & July 16th - 20th, 2:00pm - 6:00pm (Register for 1 or 2 weeks). In this exciting summer art camp, we’ll gain the confidence & ability to work in any medium. We’ll take the first week to learn to accurately draw what you see, self-portraits, & learning the beginning of perspective and shading, through the use of charcoal, graphite, oil pastels and chalk pastels. The second week will be about painting, using watercolors/acrylic paints onto canvas with different techniques to change the look and texture, with inspiration of Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe, Van Gogh & the contemporary artists Amy Sherald & Kehine Wiley, who were the first black artists to create official, Smithsonian-commissioned portraits of former President Obama and First Lady in 2018. Students will explore the arts, creating fun & educational drawings/paintings taken from observation, photographs, & illustrations. The class will also have a 1-day field trip to visit a local gallery or museum downtown. By making art of the world around us, we learn to see it in all of its beauty. Register with BAAY: http://www.baay.org/
Preschool & Kinders Art. Ages 5-6 years. Art Teacher: Rachel Simpson, July 9th – 13th, 8:30am - 9:30am. In this fun preschool summer art camp, we’ll explore a variety of different art mediums, experience choice based art, hands-on tactile sensations such as air dry clay, charcoal and soft pastel drawing, shaving cream painting, create sun-catchers with glass beads, paper craft flowers, use balls marbles and balloons to make art, use movement and music to express themselves in art, use of children’s books as inspiration, as well as explore painting onto various types of surfaces. Your child will be able to take home many pieces of art as well as wonderful experiences and stories to share with their family. Register with BAAY: http://www.baay.org/
Upcycled Art & Sculpture with Art Walk at BAAY. Ages 9-16 years.
Teacher: Rachel Simpson July 23rd - 27th & July 30th - August 3rd, 11:30 - 3:00pm, Finishes with Kids Art Show at BAAY for the Downtown Art Walk at 6pm! (Register for 1 or 2 weeks.) In this amazing art course, we’ll start the first week to develop skills and techniques to create a miniature shadow box in mixed-media with use of recycled tins, metallic’s, lace, buttons, glitter, gears, moss, gems, keys, photos, felt, collage and our unlimited imagination. We’ll also explore how to do Paint-Cup-Pour acrylics in fluid art of an abstract painting of swirls of color onto canvas into our very own works of art.
During the second week, we’ll explore Sculpture & Papier-Mâché and Paper Clay; we’ll discuss styles of sculpture, a variety of artists such as Leonardo DaVinci, Picasso, & contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Claes Oldenburg, and Romero Britto…. We’ll also select an animal of their choice to build into sculpture, by learning the use of building armatures, sculpting, using paper mache, paper clay, and painting to finish their pieces. The class will also have a 1-day field trip to visit a local gallery or museum downtown.
Register with BAAY: http://www.baay.org/
Drawing & Painting. Ages 6-12 years. Art Teacher: Rachel Simpson, July 9th - 13th & July 16th - 20th, 2:00pm - 6:00pm (Register for 1 or 2 weeks). In this exciting summer art camp, we’ll gain the confidence & ability to work in any medium. We’ll take the first week to learn to accurately draw what you see, self-portraits, & learning the beginning of perspective and shading, through the use of charcoal, graphite, oil pastels and chalk pastels. The second week will be about painting, using watercolors/acrylic paints onto canvas with different techniques to change the look and texture, with inspiration of Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe, Van Gogh & the contemporary artists Amy Sherald & Kehine Wiley, who were the first black artists to create official, Smithsonian-commissioned portraits of former President Obama and First Lady in 2018. Students will explore the arts, creating fun & educational drawings/paintings taken from observation, photographs, & illustrations. The class will also have a 1-day field trip to visit a local gallery or museum downtown. By making art of the world around us, we learn to see it in all of its beauty. Register with BAAY: http://www.baay.org/
Preschool & Kinders Art. Ages 5-6 years. Art Teacher: Rachel Simpson, July 9th – 13th, 8:30am - 9:30am. In this fun preschool summer art camp, we’ll explore a variety of different art mediums, experience choice based art, hands-on tactile sensations such as air dry clay, charcoal and soft pastel drawing, shaving cream painting, create sun-catchers with glass beads, paper craft flowers, use balls marbles and balloons to make art, use movement and music to express themselves in art, use of children’s books as inspiration, as well as explore painting onto various types of surfaces. Your child will be able to take home many pieces of art as well as wonderful experiences and stories to share with their family. Register with BAAY: http://www.baay.org/
Upcycled Art & Sculpture with Art Walk at BAAY. Ages 9-16 years.
Teacher: Rachel Simpson July 23rd - 27th & July 30th - August 3rd, 11:30 - 3:00pm, Finishes with Kids Art Show at BAAY for the Downtown Art Walk at 6pm! (Register for 1 or 2 weeks.) In this amazing art course, we’ll start the first week to develop skills and techniques to create a miniature shadow box in mixed-media with use of recycled tins, metallic’s, lace, buttons, glitter, gears, moss, gems, keys, photos, felt, collage and our unlimited imagination. We’ll also explore how to do Paint-Cup-Pour acrylics in fluid art of an abstract painting of swirls of color onto canvas into our very own works of art.
During the second week, we’ll explore Sculpture & Papier-Mâché and Paper Clay; we’ll discuss styles of sculpture, a variety of artists such as Leonardo DaVinci, Picasso, & contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Claes Oldenburg, and Romero Britto…. We’ll also select an animal of their choice to build into sculpture, by learning the use of building armatures, sculpting, using paper mache, paper clay, and painting to finish their pieces. The class will also have a 1-day field trip to visit a local gallery or museum downtown.
Register with BAAY: http://www.baay.org/
School Arts Enrichment Programs
Just so you know, I teach at a few different elementary schools in the Bellingham School District with BAAY EduArts, and as a Teaching Artist with Allied Arts of Whatcom County. Both of these amazing non-profits bring the arts to many kids throughout the schools, and I’m so thankful I can be a part of it.
Thank you for all your enthusiasm for The Arts and keeping it alive within our community!
~ Rachel Simpson
~ Artist, Art Teacher, (K-12)
~ http://rachelsimpsonart.weebly.com/
Thank you for all your enthusiasm for The Arts and keeping it alive within our community!
~ Rachel Simpson
~ Artist, Art Teacher, (K-12)
~ http://rachelsimpsonart.weebly.com/
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