Visual and ceramic artist Nancy Chiasson made her home and business in Cape Breton after attending Dundas Valley School of the Arts in the early 90’s. From her rural studio she has taught classes and created work both commercial and artistic for 20 years.

Nancy is currently working on a Transitions Project through the Shubenacadie Canal Commission conducting research and developing visual imagery in clay based on the lives of the Acadians along the waterway. Her working title is Acadian Surfaces.

In 2014 Nancy was awarded the Grand Pre Prize from Arts Nova Scotia for her artist in residency work at the Fortress of Louisbourg. Creating collaged landscapes inspired by the rugged coastline around the fortress she worked in a small format with space, color and perspective. She also created hand built pottery vessels inspired by eroding coastline and lost historical buildings both real and imagined, in part, by allowing her mind to wander through time at this historic site.

Nancy has worked with local artist collectives, represented Cape Breton Artists as board member with Visual Arts Nova Scotia (www.visual.ns.ca), as well as the national organization - CARFAC (www.carfac.ca) and she is a professional teaching member of PAINTs (www.paintsns.ca).

The Elements of Art - using Printmaking with a Gelli Press to create beautiful papers and Collaging compositions.

In the first part of this workshop we will discuss the Elements of Art. Next, we will learn about Gelli Press and using inexpensive inks to create prints. The prints we create will follow The Elements of Visual Art. There will be time for individual exploration within the theme.

The second part of the workshop will include a slideshow on Modern Art and how collage developed. Next we will look at some of the artist’s award winning work with a discussion on her collage process and how this fits into the Elements of Art.

Finally, using our prints from the morning and some papers supplied by the artist we will create our own collages.