The New Nouveau

Andrea Matus deMeng
Three Day Workshop

I remember being absolutely mesmerized the first time I saw a print of “Lady with a Fan” by Gustav Klimt. It was stunning and I was captivated by the way all of the different patterns co-existed strangely harmonious and providing such a feast for the eyes. In fact, if I had to name one of my most significant art influences that would be it. Sinuous and organic forms, inspired by gorgeous curvilinear botanicals and the sea, harnessed in Japanese wood blocks prints all provide a wealth of design inspiration for artists practicing Art Nouveau.

In our new approach to this now classic art form we are going to spend three glorious days collaging and winding botanicals and whiplash curves around a central figure. We’ll focus on creating rich layered backgrounds, color mixing, transparent glazes, mesmerizing collage constructs, and adding the perfect accents with an assortment of mixed media materials. We’ll honour the old traditions and pay homage to Klimt with our use of gold leaf, but we’ll bring this art form into the the 21st century marrying strong geometrics and modern motifs with graceful curves and transform the entire canvas with our use of paint.

Supply List:

  • Paper, ephemera and collage items, think about faces, shapes, patterns, textures and symbols and bring your favorites (Flowers, butterflies, wings, numbers, words, cool geometric patterns…anything you love, tissue paper, old sewing patterns, lace, handmade papers, old letters, text from an old book….you get the idea) Sections of beautiful gift wrap or wallpapers make great additions. Make sure you have a good variety of scale…some small images, some oversized (use the photocopier’s enlarge feature) **NO inkjet prints please unless you are positive your printer uses waterproof ink, photocopy or laser only.
  • Paint – Golden Acrylics fluid or heavy body (white, black, and any blue, red, and yellow, plus a couple more of your favourites) Some of my paint favorites: Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, and Quinacridone Crimson, Pthalo Blue, Van Dyke Brown, Green Gold, Pyrrole Red, Pthalo Turquoise
  • Paintbrushes– bring just a few in different sizes (make sure you have at least one larger (about 2” – like a brush from hardware store) and one better quality detail brush) plus a few more.
  • Palette & Water Container
  • Paper towel & baby wipes
  • Golden Matte medium –16 oz. (when you shake the bottle it should sound like it has the consistency of syrup, not mayonnaise)
  • Scissors
  • Your usual marking making tools (pencils, markers, etc.)
  • Teacher will bring:
  • Miscellaneous Collage items
  • Portfolio Brand Pastels
  • Other mark making tools
  • Caran d’Ache Water soluble crayons
  • Stabilo Marks all

Kit ($35):

  • Canvas cloth substrate
  • Gold leaf
  • Use of stencils and texture mediums
  • Package of collage material