Olive Rush wrote, “After all this study from nature, little reliance on sketches or on natural objects seems necessary. My painting is now done intuitively and thru sympathy with the spirit of nature, its miracle and mystery. I try to reveal through form, line, color, what I see and feel. It is a searching for relations and harmonies to bring all together into one whole, an overall pattern, what the Chinese call ‘Rhythmic vitality’. I have made many experiments, made many failures, but always in the search to find myself.”

Combining moments of meditation with playful mark-making, this class explores how we remember and relate to the environment around us. We will practice technical skills, focusing on watercolors as medium, to create landscapes and cartographies of places we have visited or fantastical versions of invented locales.

Without need for reference, we get to sit with ourselves and our medium, being fully present in the creation process with a framework to guide us through our art-making. We learn to respond to and be in conversation with perceived mistakes and spontaneous marks, developing whimsical realities while honing masterly skills.

TEACHER: Mia Mae Calsi spent her formative years getting lost in the forest around her family’s home in the Catskill Mountains of New York. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 with a BFA in Illustration. She has exhibited her paintings throughout New England, and since moving to Santa Fe has participated in group shows at Hecho Gallery, Sun and Dust, and El Zaguan. Her work resides in private collections both domestic and abroad, including a number of murals across Croatia, Italy, France, the Northeastern United States and most recently, Truth or Consequences and Hillsboro, New Mexico.

Calsi balances her creative practice with a dabbling of arts administration, curation, and project management. She currently lives in Santa Fe with her partner, her toddler, and her dog, and spends time collecting stories and stones. She is working to develop more art programming in Santa Fe, and centers her inspiration around making creative marks and playing outside.

COST: $90 plus a materials fee of $20 to be paid at the time of class. (Material fee waived if using all your own supplies)

MATERIALS: Basic supplies will be provided, but participants may also bring:

• watercolor paint colors you love or want to experiment with (student grade or craft paints are fine)

• paintbrushes you love or are used to

• watercolor paper/ pads