Exploring Constraints: Mixed Media Collage w/ Denby Dale Because limitation is in fact the stepping stone to discovery! This workshop considers how constraints and the element of surprise can simultaneously inform the creative process - for the better! We will work with a curated selection of provided materials - some you may not have considered before - to explore how we can adapt and alter seemingly mundane materials into a piece of art. The Limitation: All materials will be provided, and will include items from each of the following categories: various papers, thread/fiber, wood, metal. This collection will be more or less the same for each attendee, with possible variations in color. The Surprise: Each ‘bag’ of materials will also include a unique outlier material - some kind of ephemera, something unexpected. This item will be different for each attendee. The Discovery:  While we each consider what to do with the materials provided, we will discuss and play with different ways to treat them as building blocks of our composition - altering, cutting, wrapping, punching, attaching, layering etc. By exploring both the plasticity and rigidity of the provided materials - how can we make these materials work for our own individual approach to art making? All levels welcome! Materials provided:
9” x 12” cradled wood panel as a substrate
Curated bag of raw materials: papers, fibers, wood and metal.

Tools supplied:
Various glues, adhesives and applicators
Paper punches, cutters, x-acto knives, cutting mats
Drawing media to use if desired, including pencils, artist crayons, inks.
Small drills, hardware, other ‘building’ tools Students are also welcome/encouraged to bring any of their own tools including cutting tools/blades, cutting mats, scissors etc. Workshop fee: $85
Materials Fee: $20 When: Saturday, May 9 Time: 1pm - 5pm Where: Community Make Space (studio 101) at Marshall High Studios on the island in the heart of downtown Marshall Please register through link in bio, or reach out via email: communitymakespace@gmail.com

Friday, MAY 1 11am-1pm (First day of Marshall Magic Days!) Making Marshall Magic: The Wearable Cyanotype with Sarah Jones Decker This hands-on cyanotype workshop explores the magic of the 19th-century camera-less photographic process. We will create together using sunlight, UV lights, iron-salt chemicals, and pressed botanical items. Suitable for all levels, it covers coating paper/fabric, exposing, and developing prints. Class provides chemicals, paper and pressed plants to cover an 8x10 space of fabric. Students must provide a 100% cotton item to decorate such as a t-shirt, faded or light jeans, apron, canvas bag etc. Students are also encouraged to bring their own solid and transparent objects and/or pressed botanical items. Sarah Jones Decker is a visual storyteller based in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. She is an award-winning photographer, published author, farmer and occasional tintype alchemist in studio 105 at Marshall High Studios. https://www.sarahjonesdecker.com Workshop fee: $35
Materials Fee: $5 Register through the link in our bio Where: Community Make Space (studio 101) at Marshall High Studios on the island in the heart of downtown Marshall Website: communitymakespace.com Email: communitymakespace@gmail.com Instagram: @community.make.space #cyanotype #marshallmagic #communityartclass

Hello, spring! Experience a contemporary interpretation of Oshibana, the Japanese tradition of creating art with pressed plant material. In this hands-on class, Susan will teach us the techniques and tricks of working with flowers: pressing and unpressing, layering, sealing, and storing. Students will leave with their own original 5”x7” 2D collage, sealed with lamination, then matted and sleeved for safe keeping. Additional take-home materials include a pressing packet and storage sleeve, as well as resources and information for continued exploration—hello blooming season! All materials included.
Beginners encouraged. Details: Date: Saturday, April 25 Cost: $67, plus $8 materials fee Time: 1pm-4pm with an option to stay in the studio until 5pm for additional work time Where: Community Make Space (studio 101) at Marshall High Studios on the island in the heart of downtown Marshall Register through the link in our bio, or email us: communitymakespace@gmail.com Website: communitymakespace.com 
About the instructor: Susan McChesney is a pressed flower artist living, making art and teaching her techniques in western NC. A longtime educator, she worked for 24 years at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Using pressed petals like strokes of paint, she creates landscape images reminiscent of WNC. Producing originals, prints, notecards and jigsaw puzzles, her work is available in a variety of WNC galleries and shops in addition to her website Shop. She also presses Special Occasion Bouquets on commission. www.McChesneyArt.com #pressedflowerart #oshibana #marshallmagic #artclass

Some highlights from Saturday’s workshop and a warm thank you to Dannie, Laura, Joshua, Lauren, Carson, Erin, Linda, Katie, Paula Ruth, and most of all, Kerstin! By the end of the afternoon, the tables were full of finished books, and not one looked like another. Even working from the same structure, each book reflected the hands that made it — different papers, different proportions and colors, different stitching choices, some with pockets, some not, some signatures with neatly trimmed edges, others with a torn edge, and some with a combination of both. Thank you all for a delicious day of making and community! #communitycrafting #copticstitch #marshallmagic

Our next workshop: Exploring Constraints: Mixed Media Collage with Denby Dale, meets on March 14 from 1-5pm. We’re also delighted to host the PAGE Learning Quilt every Thursday from | lam-pm. Our Monday community class schedule now extends into the evenings! (Monday classes are a love offering to the community—always free or by donation.) Here’s the current schedule: Every Monday: Community Craft |0am-12pm PROMPTED (prompted writing session) 12:30-1:30 Español para todos / Spanish for All* 2-3:30pm (donation based)* Ist Mondays: Collage Night 6:30-8 2nd Mondays: Creative Journaling 6:30-8 3rd Mondays: Mending Party 6:30-8 4th & last Mondays: Write Night 6:30-8 ❤️Hope to see you in the studio soon!

Exploring Constraints: Mixed Media Collage with Denby Dale When: Saturday March 14th, 1 - 5 pm Because limitation is in fact the stepping stone to discovery!  This workshop considers how constraints and the element of surprise can simultaneously inform the creative process - for the better! We will work with a curated selection of provided materials - some you may not have considered before - to explore how we can adapt and alter seemingly mundane materials into a piece of art. The Limitation: All materials will be provided, and will include items from each of the following categories: various papers, thread/fiber, wood, metal. This collection will be more or less the same for each attendee, with possible variations in color. The Surprise: Each ‘bag’ of materials will also include a unique outlier material - some kind of ephemera, something unexpected. This item will be different for each attendee.  The Discovery: While we each consider what to do with the materials provided, we will discuss and play with different ways to treat them as building blocks of our composition - altering, cutting, wrapping, punching, attaching, layering etc. By exploring both the plasticity and rigidity of the provided materials - how can we make these materials work for our own individual approach to art making?  Each of us will surely come up with different approaches to the same bag of materials, and in so doing activate new ideas and avenues of invention with one another. We will also consider elements of design and composition along the way as well as practical technique demos for anchoring, gluing, attaching and altering materials.  All levels welcome! Materials provided: 9” x 12” cradled wood panel as a substrate Curated bag of raw materials: papers, fibers, wood and metal. Tools supplied:  Various glues, adhesives and applicators Paper punches, cutters, x-acto knives, cutting mats Drawing media to use if desired, including pencils, artist crayons, inks. Small drills, hardware, other ‘building’ tools Students are also welcome/encouraged to bring any of their own tools including cutting tools/blades, cutting mats, scissors etc.  Workshop fee: $85 Materials Fee:  $20

Hello everyone! We’re excited about our upcoming workshop —our first!—on February 28th: Handmade Books with Kerstin Davis (register through the link in our bio) as well as our collaboration with @page_programs : Community Learning Quilt (11-1 every Thursday, starting 2/19). We’re also extending our Monday programming into the evenings this month —many thanks to Connie Molland & @flowmarshallnc for the extra track lighting— it has made a world of difference! Warm and grateful shout out to @maritime_em for climbing ladders and installing the the lights. And gratitude always to Rachel Bennett and everyone @marshallreliefalliance!❤️❤️❤️

WRITE NIGHT: January 26, 6-8pm Join us for Write Night, a monthly community writing session built around connection rather than critique. This is a generative space for fast drafts, fragments, and half-formed thoughts. We’ll begin with a shared prompt and write together in a stream-of-consciousness flow. Afterward, there’s an optional, popcorn-style reading for anyone who’d like to share a few lines aloud. 🖊 Stream-of-consciousness writing
📖 Optional reading (always okay to pass)
🤍 All levels welcome—writers, journalers and diarists, note-takers, word-wanderers 🗓 Last Monday of the month
🕕 6–8pm
📍 Community Make Space, Studio 101 @marshallhighstudios #WriteNight #CommunityWriting #WriteTogether #freewriting #marshallmagic