MCC 2013: DISS THE CREATIVE FUNK – $40 DISCOUNT STILL AVAILABLE

That’s right…time to diss that funk.  If you are in a creative slump and have some spare time available in July, come join the Master instructors in Laurel, MD and give that funk the bunk!

I feel like I have been in a creative funk for over three years – could have something to do with my almost three-year-old son, but my mind has been focused on toys and books and not on what I can create next.  However, a few weeks ago I attended the Baltimore Bead Society meeting to see a presentation by Jeffrey Lloyd Dever.  Jeff  modified the presentation he had given in Atlanta about using everyday and found objects to make art.  His work was incredibly intriguing and seductive.  I hoped that I could get just a fraction of his creative spark.  Then a few days ago, I picked up some interesting children’s books and started looking at the construction of my son’s toy trucks and BAMMM! the light bulb went on.  I jotted my ideas down on paper – now to find the time to actually sit down and work them through is another story.

The gist is – if you look all around you and keep an open mind the ideas will come.  The MCC has classes for everyone — sculpting, caning, construction, and a unique class on heat forming bamboo.  Let the Masters help you and GROW those ideas into something exceptional.

Spaces still available in all classes (except Jeffrey Lloyd Dever.)  Check out class info and registration form HERE.

MCC 2013: SPOTLIGHT ON INSTRUCTOR CAROL SIMMONS

Carol Simmons has fast become one of the experts in the community for conceptualizing and developing beautiful kaleidoscope canes.  We are fortunate to have her join us to teach at the Master Class Camp in Laurel, Maryland July 28-29, 2013.  She will present an intensive 2-day version of: Covering Uncovered: Exploring Kaleidoscope Cane Veneers.  

According to Carol, her fascination with polymer clay began in 1995 when she purchased a Fimo Clay assortment gift for a niece and Carol herself couldn’t stop playing with it. It’s no surprise that she love’s color and the process of mixing colors. She challenges herself  to develop new color combinations outside her comfort zone.  These self-induced challenges have lead her to create some undeniably beautiful canes and win her some awards.

She is passionate about bringing the versatility of polymer to others and enjoys teaching as much as creating – even as a young girl she organized a neighborhood Arts and Crafts club so she could teach.  Her teaching has taken her across the country and all over the world.  She is coming to the Washington, DC area for the first time…don’t miss this opportunity. 

To register for Carol’s workshop, Covering Uncovered: Exploring Kaleidoscope Cane Veneers,  download the workshop info and registration form here.

MCC 2013: SPOTLIGHT ON INSTRUCTOR LINDLY HAUNANI

Lindly Haunani Color Collage

Are you color challenged when it comes to your polymer work?  Well, we’ve got something just for you.  If you’ve never taken a color class from Lindly, this is your chance.  She has modified and updated her traditional color workshop and put a different spin on it just for MCC 2013.

But, did you know that Lindly’s roots go way back in the polymer clay world?   Lindly is a founding member of the Potomac Polymer Clay Guild as well as the National Polymer Clay Guild.  She began teaching workshops way back in 1990 and continues to enjoy traveling around the world to lecture and inspire other artists.

Her passion for food and cooking  provide a basis for her inspiration and is often expressed via color, construction techniques and form.  Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Racine Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Newark Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Meinge International Museum in San Diego. She has a BFA in Printmaking from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Lindly Haunani

She is co-author of two books, the first with Pierrette Ashcroft,  Artist’s at Work: Polymer Clay Comes of Age and her latest book  Color Inspirations with Maggie Maggio.   Color Inspirations has quickly become the color reference manual for the polymer community and artists working in other mediums. She has starred in several video workshops and has been featured in numerous polymer and arts magazines, including Bead and Button Magazine.  Her work has appeared in more than fifty invitational and juried shows and was awarded the prestigious Niche Award in 2009. She also received the Creative Pioneer and Innovator Award at CFCF’s February 2013 Conference in Laurel, MD.

To register for Lindly’s workshop, Inspired Color: Collaging for Clarity,  download the workshop info and registration form here.

MCC 2013: $40 DISCOUNT EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 15th!

Lindly Haunani – Inspired Color “Quilt Block”

MASTER CLASS CAMP DISCOUNT EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 15! If you are like me, you are a procrastinator.  I most often have the best of intentions, but continually say to myself, oh, I’ll get to that tomorrow.  NOT!  It’s incredible how many times I’ve done this over the course of my lifetime, and I’ve missed out on some great opportunities because of it.  Usually can’t go back, so I’ve spent the last year trying more diligently to get things done as they need to be done.

If this reminds you of yourself, don’t fret…we are going to help you take care of that.  Have you registered for the Master Class Camp(MCC)yet? If you have been on the fence, we appreciate that and want to give you another opportunity to register at the discounted rate, so we’ve extended the $40 discount per class til June 15th! But hurry, we have limited space available in each workshop and they are filling fast.

Robert Liu 
Maureen Carlson
Sandra Mccaw
Ellen Marshall
Jeff Dever – 2 spaces available
Lindly Haunani 
Carol Simmons -

Download the workshop info and registration form here.

MCC 2013: SPOTLIGHT ON INSTRUCTOR MAUREEN CARLSON

Maureen Carlson – “RAIN” Story Box

Maureen Carlson, a talented polymer, fiber, and mixed media artist, will be joining us at the Master Class Camp, teaching Story Boxes, July 26-27 in Laurel, Maryland.

She credits her career in clay to a rainy weekend, an empty art show and a chance encounter with a woman who loved gnomes.  In the 35 years since then she has been telling stories, writing how-to books, designing, teaching and creating mixed-media artwork in clay and cloth.

Her first polymer clay how-to book, FIMO FOLK, was published in 1991, and was followed by 15 more with publishers Hot Off The Press, Design Originals and North Light Books.  Her first North Light Book, How to Make Clay Characters, has sold more than 100,000 copies.

She and her husband, Dan, design and create the What A Character line of push molds. Other licensed products have included the Pippsywoggins, Sister Folk, Friar Folk and the Wishing You and Winged Messenger Fairies. It is amazing to see her hands work magic as she creates each unique piece, each telling a story, every facial expression and every wrinkle in her characters’ faces have a purpose.

Since 1999 her focus has been Maureen Carlson’s Center for Creative Arts, a retreat and teaching facility located in Jordan, MN.  More info is available at 
http://www.MaureenCarlson.com

MAUREEN CARLSON

To register for Maureen’s workshop, Story Boxes,  download the workshop info and registration form here.

MCC 2013: SPOTLIGHT ON INSTRUCTOR ELLEN MARSHALL

Ellen Marshall – Elements Heart Necklace

Ellen Marshall will be teaching her newly developed 2-day workshop, Elements and Construction, on July 26-27, 2013 at the Premiere Master Class Camp in Laurel, Maryland.  For those not familiar with Ellen, her experience with polymer goes way back.  She creates one-of-a-kind and limited-edition contemporary art jewelry featuring polymer clay.  Her inspiration has come from art quilts, ceramics, graphic arts, and color in general.  Ceramic influences led her to explore surface design on polymer clay which again led her to writing a book,  Polymer Clay Surface Design Recipes, published by Quarry.  This comprehensive book presents many of the surface techniques she has developed and if you don’t own it, try to find one and add it to your library.  The book is out of print, but well worth the effort to locate on eBay, Half.com, or other used book sites.  She’s also been published in other books and magazines including Step By Step Beads and PolymerCafe. Ellen is the founder and former chair of the Philadelphia Area Polymer Clay Guild and a  past president of the National Polymer Clay Guild, now International Polymer Clay Guild. In addition to her love of polymer, she is also proficient in several beadweaving stitches such as peyote, herringbone, and right-angle weave and is now working on designing jewelry that incorporates both polymer and seed bead weaving.   She teaches polymer clay and beading crafts with the goal of inspiring others to discover and explore new directions in their art.

Ellen Marshall

To register for Ellen’s workshop, Elements and Construction,  download the workshop info and registration form here.

MCC 2013: SPOTLIGHT ON INSTRUCTOR SANDRA MCCAW

” Sandra Mccaw – Balancing Act

Sandra will be teaching her Balancing Act workshop on July 26-27, 2013 at the Master Class Camp.  She has lived an interesting life, with lots of twists and turns, as her story is told on her website.

“Sandra strives to lead a quiet, simple life, is fairly good at minding her own business and can’t remember a time when she wasn’t driven to work with her hands.

As a child, growing up in a family that frequently relocated around southern New England, she could most often be found racing wildly through the streets, woods and meadows surrounding her various homes. Her first creations were made from sticks, leaves, stones and whatever else she discovered while belly down on the forest floor, or hanging from the uppermost branches of a tree.

As an adult her hands have worked as a graphic designer, commercial photographer, milkmaid, chocolatier, landscape gardener and, finally, a maker of beautiful objects to wear.

Sandra is an accomplished seamstress and enjoys working with fibers when time allows. She has bicycled across the United States and traveled extensively throughout Europe from north of the Arctic Circle to the Greek Islands. Sandra spends part of each day enjoying the outdoors and can still be spotted belly down peering through black ice, racing across the local pond on skates, skis or in her kayak, and even still-occasionally-up a tree. These experiences and activities meld to inform her work which has been compared to woven fibers and Turkish tiles.

Sandra Mccaw

Acknowledged internationally as an innovator and leading polymer clay artist, the hallmarks of Sandra’s creative style are precision and exactness. Attention to detail, masterful use of color and intricacy of pattern distinguish Sandra’s work.”

To register for Sandra’s workshop, Balancing Act,  download the workshop info and registration form here.