Class Content: Smartphones have become the camera of choice for most people. But, as smartphones have become more powerful photographic tools, they have also become more complex. We will get you through the complexity barrier.

In the 2 half-day sessions on “Smartphone Photography”, we will provide a comparison of Android and iPhone photography features, an explanation of the types and use of lenses available in smartphones, an explanation of the difference and significance of optical zoom vs digital zoom, how to effectively use different photographic settings (portrait, landscape, panorama, video, etc), image composition and photo editing tools.

You will learn professional techniques for taking significantly better portrait, landscape, travel, close-up and panoramic photos!

Supply List: Bring the cellphone you use for photography

Biography: Jack Retterer is a photographer, poet, digital artist and teacher in East Tennessee. He has over 50 years of photography and teaching experience.

Before moving to Tennessee, Jack taught photography at Benedictine University in Naperville, Illinois. He says his greatest learning experience came when he accepted the challenge to create and teach basic and advanced photography classes at Benedictine University.

Jack currently teaches “Fine Art Photography” at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is also active as a teacher and speaker for art and photography groups throughout Tennessee.

Instructor Website: https://www.jackrettererphotography.com/

Class Content: This class focuses on artistically painting wildflowers. Participants will explore different approaches to represent the beauty and delicacy of wildflowers. Using real flowers and multiple photos as primary references, the instructor will provide demonstrations of realistically, impressionistically and abstractly painted wildflowers. Loads of individual guidance and tips will be given as participants complete wildflower paintings of their own.

Supply List:

• Paint: Watercolor or acrylic – Bring your favorite colors for flowers.
• Ink: Bring ink pens or markers or a liner brush for fine lines
• Paper, panel or canvas: at least 2. Lil will use Arches 140 lb. watercolor paper.
• Brushes: 1- or 2-inch hake or mop brush for washes, #8 flat, #10 round and a fine liner brush.
• Palette or tray, pencil and notepad, water container, and paper towels or rags
• Bring any of your materials you enjoy using.
• Bring flowers and/or photo references if you have them…we can all share.

Biography: Lil Clinard has over 20 years’ experience painting with watermedia, primarily watercolor and acrylic. Her work focuses on landscapes and waterscapes, and she enjoys exploring a variety of techniques and materials. As an instructor she emphasizes experimentation and encourages artists to develop confidence and joy in their creative process. Her artwork has been exhibited in art shows and galleries and is included in both private and public collections.

Instructor Website: watercolorsbylil@charter.net

Class Content: Celebrate the 250th with me! This class will be on a wooden panel so you can put it on your porch or on your bookcase! YOU CHOOSE which image you want to paint. I will have outlines for all 3 options. You will paint ONE of these three images and go home with a completed decorative project to celebrate the 4th of July. (If you have payment issues, contact me to pay directly at the Contact Information link above.)
I will guide beginners step-by-step through the following, and of course more experience painters might add more detail:

YOU CHOOSE: American Pride (eagle), Old Glory Barn, Patriotic Delivery (mailbox)

We’ll focus on:

• Simplified shapes (no overwhelming detail)
• Loose, painterly brushwork
• Creating depth with soft drybrush stroke layers
• Building confidence with acrylic techniques

This class is designed to help you finish a painting even if you’re a newby. No drawing required, outline is provided. The style is very loose but allows for you to put your own touches on it if you like more detail.

All supplies included – just come ready to paint and have fun.

By painting on wood panels instead of canvas, this allows for indoor outdoor display. Simply spray it down after it dries with a sealer for outdoor display.

Supply List: ALL SUPPLIES INCLUDED, just wear an apron or shirt that can get paint on it just in case 🙂

Biography: I’m Carol Robin King, an artist and teacher with a lifelong love of art. My journey began raised as the daughter of missionaries in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where as early as the age of 3 my mom said art was the only thing that could get me to sit still!

In Argentina, art is heavily interwoven into school curriculum, so it was the perfect place to fuel my creative spark. After three years at a professional art school there, I moved to the U.S. for college and continued to find ways to make art a part of my world including painting portraits for a little extra cash.

Teaching has always been close to my heart. I’ve been sharing my passion for painting for over 20 years, starting out teaching kids in homeschool co-ops. Now I’m lucky enough to teach in-person classes at seven different locations, including a gallery, local art store and a College Lifelong Learning program.

My teaching philosophy is simple: I believe that art should be fun and stress-free. I’m a patient and encouraging teacher who wants everyone to feel confident and relaxed in their art journey. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to explore new techniques, My mission is to guide you step by step in a friendly, supportive environment.

No matter your experience level, you’re welcome in my classes—and I can’t wait to help you discover your Inner Artist!

Instructor Website:

• http://www.CarolRobinKing.com/
• http://www.PaintingTogether.com
• https://www.facebook.com/CarolRobinKing
• https://www.instagram.com/carolrobinking

Class Content: This class will introduce you to the foundational and expressive techniques of creating texture using brushes, palette knives, and piping bags. You’ll explore how to build dimensional surfaces with both professional-grade texture mediums and simple, effective homemade mixtures, learning how each material contributes its own character to sculptural artwork.

In the first half of class, we’ll study a range of texture types and practice controlled, guided exercises designed to build confidence and skill. During the second half, you’ll begin developing your own sculpted and textured piece, applying the techniques that resonate with your artistic vision.

By the end of class, you’ll leave with a partially completed artwork ready for finishing at home, a solid understanding of how to translate the textures in your source image onto canvas, and the confidence to continue experimenting with these versatile, tactile mediums.

Supply List: All supplies included.

Biography: Patricia Pasbrig is a contemporary realism artist celebrated for her richly textured mixed media paintings and sculptural gourds. Her artistic journey began in silence: after losing her hearing for twenty years, painting became her voice — a way to express emotions and stories that words could not convey.

Following her cochlear implant, Patricia regained her hearing and confidence, immersing herself in art classes, collaborations, and volunteer work at the Milan Art Institute. A pivotal encounter with a deaf and blind man, who recognized the subject of her painting through touch alone, inspired her lifelong passion for texture. Since then, she has developed a distinctive style she calls Contemporary Impressionism Realism, blending impressionistic light, realist detail, and abstract elements into tactile, multidimensional works.

Patricia’s career spans exhibitions at the Palm Room Gallery in Stuart, Florida, leadership as Treasurer of the Martin Artisans Guild, and the creation of a large-scale mural at Barbeque Beer Company. She has hosted Paint & Sip events, taught drawing and mixed media at the Hobe Sound Art League and earned awards for both her paintings and gourds.

Now based in Tennessee, Patricia continues to share her knowledge through commissioned works, teaching, and community engagement. Her art invites viewers not only to see, but to feel — bridging visual and tactile experience to evoke memory, nature, and human connection.

Instructor Website: https://www.texturedstrokes.com/

Class Content:  Students will be provided with a prepared gourd that they will decorate with alcohol inks like in example (D). Once dry it will be coated with several coats of UV varnish then a coat of wax. If you wish to draw on your gourd instead, like example (A), she’ll have a few felt tip pens. 

After an early lunch, students will start weaving southern long leaf pine needles onto the gourd using the simple or spiral stitch. Students will learn how to start a basket, how to wrap a coil to add color, how to add a bead, and how to add thread when it runs out. Ways to add texture to your basket will be taught as well.

The gourds are prepped ahead of time by the instructor. Prepared gourds have been cut, the guts cleaned out, sanded, holes drilled with proper spacing, wood petrifier added to the inside, formula 49 applied to the outside, and the interior sprayed black. Pine needles will be preconditioned using a turkey roaster and glycerin. 

BRING YOUR OWN LUNCH.  Dessert provided. (Email Kathy ahead of time if you are gluten free or have a nut allergy. 865-660-6400 or info@GracehillArt.com)  

Supply List: All alcohol inks, varnish, and wax to decorate the gourd are provided, along with prepared Southern Longleaf pine needles, choices of artificial sinew, jewelry twine, or waxed linen and beads. How many beads depend on what you pick out. These are your supplies to make the basket.

IF YOU WISH TO BRING A SMALL DEER ANTLER OR PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD OR OTHER NATURAL WHAT NOT WE’LL SEE IF YOU CAN WEAVE IT ONTO YOUR BASKET. Certainly if you are in love with your own beads bring them. 

If you wish to have a gourd with cut outs on the sides like example (B) and (C) Bring an extra $10 with you and contact the instructor ahead of time so she can bring one. If you wish to use some Palm Inflorescence like example (B) and (F) (the squiggly stuff) you can buy that for $1.50 a strand. If you have a piece of driftwood or other wood that you would like to mount a “gourd top” on like example (E) and (F) contact Kathy ahead of time. There is not an extra charge but she needs a photo of your hunk of wood so she can pick out an appropriate gourd top. 

She will also provide different-sized sewing needles, clips, and gauges that stay with the instructor. She’ll bring a couple of spare scissors, needle nose and regular pliers and awls with her but if you have them bring them, it will save you some time.  She’ll have an assortment of prepared gourds in different shapes, but mostly round, cut with a wave in the gourd rim rather than straight across. (Adds interest.) The rim you sew on can take many forms. No two baskets are ever the same. You will have plenty of time to finish this basket.  If you want to see examples of what students have created in the past she has a link on the home page of her website with student work. 

Biography: Kathy works in several mediums, primarily alcohol inks and pine needle basketry. She currently sells her art in her newly opened art gallery, Gracehill Fine Art and Basketry, in Townsend, TN. She is the recipient of the State of Tennessee Art Commision’s 2024 Fellowship in Craft.

Instructor Website: https://www.GracehillArt.com