Paul Harcharik to Teach Mixed Media Class at BMCA this Fall

The new class artist Paul Harcharik will teach this fall at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts in mixed media is “From Collage to Assemblage with a Master.” It is an opportunity for trained artists and amateurs alike to try their hand at creating visual art with an array of materials. There will be three sessions, each consisting of four weeks. Participants may sign up for the entire twelve weeks for a fee of $180, or for any four-week session at $70 per session. Classes will meet on Mondays from 3:30-5:30, beginning September 20. Registration deadline for the first session is September 17. BMCA is located at 225 W. State Street in the original City Hall. To register, call 828/669-0930.

Harcharik notes, “Collage/mixed media provides an incubator for ideas. Collage can serve the traditional painter and graphic artist with an alternative approach to sketching or studies that precede painting or drawing.” He continues, “The creative process for us 2-D visual artists is always a combination of making and finding . . . drawing and painting are front-loaded with lots of ‘making.’ However, if you wanted to create a collage of a still life, for example, the creative process is front-loaded with lots of ‘finding.’ Imagine perusing through magazines, you come across a picture of an apple; you tear, if you are impatient, or cut it out and continue. You find an ad with a plate of cut fruit and become excited and cut out the page. You think, ‘this is great! I've got a whole plate of fruit; I don't have to worry about it spoiling and attracting fruit flies!’ Now you're hooked. You continue in a feeding frenzy, (no pun intended). In an old magazine, you find a picture of a skateboard and think, ‘Ha! I'll place all the fruit on the skateboard, on a linen-covered table with candles, and picture it in front of this background of the Grand Canyon from a travel magazine, and I'll have this hummingbird hovering around the orchid from a reproduction of a painting by Martin Johnson Heade from his series of paintings of hummingbirds of South America. I LOVE THIS,’ you say with excitement. You pump the air, with pictures in hand and head off to assemble your masterwork with peace of mind, knowing that you've saved gas and wear and tear on the family automobile and didn't spend any money on fruit that isn't intended to be eaten, and you are recycling those accumulated magazines. Get the picture? YOU can make this picture and much more if you let your imagination open up to the possibilities that can be found through this wonderful approach to image making.

A native of Pennsylvania, Harcharik grew up in Charlotte, received a BFA from East Carolina University, and an MFA from Penn State, and spent several years in the Seattle area before returning to his NC roots. Along the way, in addition to being a studio artist working in painting, drawing and printmaking, he was an illustrator for the US Air Force, taught at Penn State, Sacred Heart College, UNC-Asheville, Montreat College, and served as Director of Printmaking at Spirit Square Arts Center in Charlotte. His awards include First Juror’s Award, The Halpert Biennial, a national juried exhibition at Appalachian State University, Fellowship and Grant, Artists Trust/Washington State Arts Commission, both a Western States and a Southern States Art Federation/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowships in Santa Fe, NM, and Atlanta, GA, and a McDowell Colony Fellow, Peterborough, NH. His work can be found in collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Yale University Art Gallery, Mint Museum, State of Washington, Art in Public Places Art Collection, the NC Executive Mansion in Raleigh, and the Institute of Arts & Humanities, UNC- Chapel Hill.

The collage and assemblage first session begins with using cut and torn papers, incorporating textural rubbings and transfers from newspapers, and other dry media. The second session will include mixing wet media with collage on illustration board, making transfers from photocopied images, and adding patina. The final four-week session will be making a low relief sculptural collage from papers and packaging materials painted white where light and shadow will define the image, such as those found at www.josephcornellbox.com/menu.htm. This will incorporate mixed media and found objects in a shadow box configuration. Presentation and storage of collage work will also be covered as well as an emphasis on composition in designing images. Class size is limited, early registration is recommended.