Art Educators Learn Portrait Modeling Skills at UA Little Rock
A dozen art educators from Arkansas learned portrait modeling skills that they will take back to their classrooms during an artWAYS workshop at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Michael Warrick, professor of art, taught the workshop June 6-10 at the UA Little Rock Windgate Center of Art and Design.
“I enjoyed working with the very talented art educators,” Warrick said. “They worked hard and got a lot out of what we were able to do during the week. I hope they took away a good introduction to portrait modeling, mold making, and reproduction possibilities.”
The artWAYS workshops, which are funded by a generous grant from the Windgate Foundation, provides a weeklong immersive visual arts summer program for art educators and high school students. All housing, meals, and art materials are free. At the end of the workshop, educators typically receive 30 hours of professional development and a certificate of completion.
The participants included Amber Cardinale of Bryant High School, Delexious Curtis of Sylvan Hills Junior High, Tammie Dillon of Sylvan Hills High School, Kathryn Emerson of Landmark Elementary, Loni Harshaw of Little Rock Southwest Magnet High School, Camilla Landers of Pine Haven Elementary, Mariah McKinley of Ringgold Elementary, Lindsey McMullin of Mills Middle School, Jessica McSpadden of Episcopal Collegiate Lower School, Brianna Peterson of Bryant High School, Catherine Rodgers of Catherine Rodgers Contemporary Art who also teaches workshops at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, and Jared Wellborn of Little Rock Southwest Magnet High School.
UA Little Rock Professor Michael Warrick, left, removes a plaster face mold from a participant during a demonstration to art educators. The group was part of the summer 2022 artWAYS workshop. Photos by Ben Krain.
During the weeklong workshop, participants learned how to model a portrait from a live model in clay, make a rubber mold and plaster mother mold of the clay portrait, and make a Hydrocal reproduction of that portrait from the mold.
“It was great to connect with these talented teachers and to reconnect to some of our alumni teaching in our communities,” Warrick said. “These teachers are the missionaries of visual art in our communities and expose our youth to a great amount of creative possibilities. They deserve this kind of creative support so that they can continue to be inspired and inspire others.”