Summer Workshop Program 2024

Peter Hocking The Infinity of Nature June 16 to June 21, 2024 Time 9 am - 12 pm Discipline: Painting Open To All On-site Housing NOT Available - Off-site Housing Options

David Hockney once said his subject is the infinite variety of nature. While speaking of the landscape, Hockney was speaking beyond it, too—to include the figure as well as human ecology. In my experience, strong painting grows from one’s engagement with the world through fieldwork research, active memory, a full range of sensory experience, and great note taking. Direct, spontaneous, picture making allows a painter to capture something ephemeral and unexpected, and slower work in the studio—often developed from reference material—provides space for considered composition. We’ll consider both strategies in this workshop. Participants are invited to work with still life, self-portraiture, landscape, or abstraction with the goal of discovering ineffable qualities in their paintings. Participants are encouraged to bring source material and experiences of interest. This workshop is designed to meet the needs of learners at all levels. Participants working with any painting media—including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, and pastel—are welcome. Group sessions will focus on broad questions and looking at artwork, and the instructor will work one-to-one with workshop participants everyday.

Biography

Pete Hocking is a painter, curator, and writer who lives on Cape Cod. From 1997-2022 he taught at Rhode Island School of Design. From 2003-2021 he taught in Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program. He was director of RISD’s Office of Public Engagement (2007-2011), and Associate Dean of the College & Director of the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University (1988-2005). Hocking is a founding board member of Provincetown Commons, an economic development center for the creative economy.