May 1-2
Unleashing Your Designer’s Eye
with George Walker
Experience Level: All
Class Details
Ever see a great design and wonder what sets it apart? Conversely, you might sense when a design is a bit off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Our tradition often spoke about the need to awaked the eye to see with clarity. The good new is you can unleash your inner designer’s eye and unlock your creative potential.
This workshop will take you through some time tested exercises that will open your eyes. You’ll begin to see the things that make a design stand out as well as those pitfalls that make it fall flat. You’ll recognize when underlying proportions and simple shapes work together to create a pleasing composition. We’ll spark that knowledge in you and take a couple of design walks in the historic streets of Covington. There, we’ll explore designs woven into the architecture. Design lessons written in brick and stone like you’ve never seen before.
You’ll see with new eyes and find inspiration to feed your own creative ideas. We’ll work through a series of design challenges to help you bring your ideas to life. You will learn how to take a spark of an idea and turn it into a solid composition. Design is not something you can learn overnight. Truth is, it’s something you never stop learning. But you’ll leave this workshop with a set of skills that you can build on. The workshop concludes with a hands-on challenge designing a simple shadow box to put your newfound skills to work.
Key Learning Points (or “From this class you will:”)
- Understand how your eye reads a design
- Recognize when proportions tell a visual story
- Learn to organize and see a design vertically
- Understand patterns that create movement and impart life
- Learn to unpack masterful work and unveil its underlying secrets
- Learn simple skills to flesh out a composition
- Learn to play with simple forms and proportions to explore ideas
The price includes all materials (wood, glue, etc.) Each class also includes a light breakfast and lunch every day.
Tool List
Class Tool List
Required For the Class
- Sketch pad – prefer something large format 18” x 24” (Link) [https://www.dickblick.com/products/strathmore-400-series-drawing-paper-pads/?Item=10316-1009]
- Small sketch pad – 9” x 10”
- Mechanical pencil and eraser
- Compass and extra pencils or pencil leads
- Two pairs of dividers – one that has eight or nine inch long legs
- Straight edge. A drafting ruler or wooden yardstick will suffice
- Plastic drafting triangles & small T square
- Combination square
- Backsaw
- Comfortable shoes for design walks around Covington
George R. Walker has been building things for over fifty years. First as a journeyman machinist in his day job and then back home as a self taught woodworker. For the first twenty years he made things using plans drawn by others. Then he got the itch to break free and explore design.
He spent years poring through historic books on design and studying examples of traditional furniture and architecture. That quest took him on a journey that began with early furniture in America and wound its way back to antiquity in ancient Greece, Egypt, and the far east. He began writing about these foundations of design and penned a column titled “Design Matters” for Popular Woodworking magazine for over eight years. He also teamed up with Jim Toplin and wrote “By Hand & Eye” published by Lost Art Press. That book has become a go-to design reference for woodworkers as well as a wide variety of crafts Jim and George went on to write a series of design books covering both the history and practical aspects of design, bringing traditional knowledge to the contemporary woodworker. George is married to his lovely wife Barb who is an accomplished artist in her own right
Website – https://www.byhandandeye.com/
Instagram: georgewalker.design
Register for the Class
information here about Registration; how it is over email and see the page for details
See here to register for the class
Cancellations will be accepted until eight weeks before the class for a full refund. If a cancellation occurs within eight weeks prior to the class date, a refund will be issued only if the spot can be filled.