Skills-based workshops

These hands on workshops offer a “how-to”, as well as a discussion of the history of the media. The facilitator imparts techniques, illustrates with examples, and exposes participants to further resources. Past skills-based workshops have included Janet Carroll’s three-week workshop on book making for artists in May 2010 and Leslie Supnet’s three-session introduction to animation in September 2010.

Egg Tempera: Medieval Illumination Techniques with Bev Pike

Hildegard of Bingen, from Scivias, c. 1165, click to view full image

Tuesdays May 8, 15 and 22, 2012, 7-9 pm at MAWA

$50 for MAWA members; most materials provided

Registration deadline: Friday, April 27, 2012, at 4 pm

A thousand years ago, painters began using egg to bind pigments onto wood panels. This medium allows detailed rendering and tiny translucent strokes. Fine strata of thin glazes add luminosity to the final result. Bev Pike, painter extraordinaire, will teach this age-old technique and its contemporary applications at MAWA, in a three-session workshop. 

Participants will be asked to pick up a watercolour board from MAWA, on which to make a pencil drawing before the first session of the workshop. Then, at the first session, a red wash will be overlaid and white highlights added. At the second session a week later, yellow wash will be applied and the forms refined. At the third and final session, blue wash will be applied and black added. Ta da!

Please bring your own brushes (a few soft, small watercolour brushes including rounds, brights and flats, and a liner). Everything else will be provided.

Bev Pike is an artist centuries behind her time.  She studied egg tempera in art school along with other ancient painting techniques. In the 1980s, Pike used oil-glazed chiaroscuro on canvas for her Boudoir Series. Since 1991, she has been painting large scale gouache works on paper that deal with neo-Baroque landform tableaux. Pike has exhibited across Canada and her artist books are in national and international collections. She also works in video and writes feminist satire.

Event Registration for Egg Tempra Workshop with Bev Pike -