June Director's Journal

“I just love it here,” Julianna shares on the first morning of workshop season, taking in and releasing a deep breath of coastal air. “I try to take at least one workshop each year.”

As other workshop participants begin arriving, it feels as though the forest is part of the welcoming committee. The sun is out, the ocean is audible and the birds are especially conversational. We greet familiar faces and help those who have found their way to Sitka for the first time feel at home.

Inside the studios, supplies are unpacked and coffee mugs are topped off in anticipation. There is a white-canvas quality to the day.

“Don’t be picky,” longtime Sitka printmaking instructor and Art Invitational artist Yuji Hiratsuka cautions as participants in his Mokuhanga Japanese Waterbed Woodblock Printing workshop consider their first images. “Don’t even think about trying to create a masterpiece right now.

“It’s advice that resonates across campus. In Shannon Carlson’s New Approaches to Encaustic Painting workshop, a whiteboard at the front of the studio offers this invitation: You as risk takers – original and wondrous.

The first day of Sitka’s workshop season comes with a certain energy: the excitement of possibility mixed with uncertainty about where to begin.

By day two, the fog lifts.

Tentative introductions and first marks give way to experimentation, conversation and focused work. The studios are alive with creative energy.

“There is so much diversity,” Kate observes as she looks around the encaustic studio. “We’re all learning the same thing, but our work is so different. We all have different styles. It’s inspiring.”

“This technique takes patience, but it’s rewarding,” Yuji encourages as woodblock images startedthe day before take shape, one shaving at a time.

“I had imposter syndrome at first,” Jan, a first-time Sitka workshop participant, confesses. “I’ve been looking forward to coming here for so long.

“Tomorrow will bring another day of discoveries, breakthroughs and conversations. New friendships will be formed. Projects will evolve in unexpected directions.

Some participants will take home finished pieces while others will leave with new ideas about where their creative practice might lead next.

As Maria and Nancy close campus for the evening, a deer grazing outside the office door looks up, watches them pass and returns to its dinner.

Tomorrow morning, the coffee pots will be filled again. Carving tools and brushes will come back out. Participants will pick up where they left off, ready to begin.