Drawing as a Means of Self Discovery Masterclass with Chuck Ceraso

Join us for a two-hour workshop on the process of seeing and drawing and how it can open us to a deeper experience of self as well as of the object that is being drawn.

Ticket price includes art materials.

Artists throughout history have described the experience of losing the sense of a boundary between themselves and the object of their gaze. They have described an experience of joy, wellbeing and even love that rose up within themselves as they drew or painted their subject.

In this workshop you will learn how to go beyond ideas of right and wrong, good and bad in the act of making lines on paper and in the process of observation. You will learn how to have a deeper sense of awareness in the moment and how to stay with that awareness and not slip into mind and concepts. You will learn how to sense the presence of something as simple as a mug as you explore its shape and form.

The point is not about making a picture of a mug, but rather about entering a different state of consciousness and discovering modes of perception beyond our five senses. It's about a kind of communing with the experience of “mug” and allowing that communing to make marks on paper.

Whether you’ve been drawing all your life or have never even tried, this workshop may prove valuable to you. Drawing can be so much more than just making a picture. It can open you to experiences you never imagined were possible. If the thought of drawing scares you, this workshop is for you!

Chuck Ceraso :

Chuck Ceraso studied art at the University of Notre Dame and painting with Henry Hensche, at the Cape School in Province Town, MA.

Chuck has been a sought-after instructor at the Denver Art Museum, the Art Students League of Denver and the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities for many years. He also holds ongoing classes in his gallery and studio in Lafayette, CO. His work can be found in public and private collections throughout the U.S. and Europe.

"I learned that visual perception is much more complex than I had ever imagined. I learned that what we think we see and what’s actually in front of us can be quite divergent. We’re taught from childhood that our job with seeing is to know the names of things, cat, house, ball, tree, etc. and with that we actually lose our visual curiosity. We see a tree and because we “know” what a tree is we don’t see the rhythmical patterns in the limbs and leaves, we don’t see the patterns of light and shadow, we don’t see the colors that the light produces. This conceptual focus actually teaches us to not see."

Hensche would encourage us to discover more of what the world really looks like by letting go of what we think we know about it. I learned to look at the world as if I had never seen it before and have been mesmerized and inspired by the color and beauty that surrounds us.

I’ve also been discovering the more kinesthetic aspect of taking in the world. In letting go of my concepts I’m discovering that there is a way I can be permeated by the world. That the beauty of a tree exists inside me, as well as the tree itself. This has been the biggest surprise of looking outwardly, that it all exists within my field of awareness. There is no real distinction between me and the things I see.

All of this I attempt to capture in my painting. It seems to be most successful when I paint spontaneously and quickly, without letting my mind get into the process.”

From a student, “Chuck has such an expansive, curious and loving nature that it changes the way I view my world. This nature comes through in his painting as well as his teaching.”