Adult Studio Workshop | “The Altered States of America” with Valerie Hegarty, Jean Holden Eminent Visiting Artist Workshop Fund

Using Valerie Hegarty’s work West Rock with Branches in the NBMAA collection as inspiration, along with other contemporary artists that Hegarty will introduce, participants will create multi-media collages that comment on an urgent social, political, or cultural issue of today.

Color printouts of a range of early American paintings will be provided, or you may bring your own color printout of a work in the NBMAA collection you are interested in working with, as the starting point of your collage.

Using scissors, glue, textured and multi-colored papers, pencils, markers, and found objects, the participants will modify or “update” their chosen work in the collection to create commentary on a contemporary issue of their choosing that speaks to America’s past, present and future. (Contemporary issues may include environmental destruction, the COVID pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the creation and removal of monuments, environmental racism, systemic racism, reproductive rights, political polarization, fake news, immigration, amongst many others).