Painting from Collage Studies with Erin McCluskey Wheeler
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Thursday, January 29, 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT
This is an online workshop held via Zoom.
Tomie Ohtake (1913 - 2005) was a Japanese Brazilian artist who was very interested in abstraction and ways to unsee images in her paintings. She became an important part of the geometric abstraction movement in Brazil and her work was full of color and organic shapes. In the 1960s, she experimented with creating small collage studies of ripped paper and then making a painting from these collages. In the 1970s, she started cutting her collage papers with scissors and moving to brighter, more saturated colors.
In this workshop, we will learn more about Tomie Ohtake’s work and create a series of small collage studies using magazines, catalogs, and printed images. We’ll experiment with translating one of our collages into a watercolor, letting the shapes and colors in our collage inform our painting.
Join Zoom 15 minutes early for an informal meet and greet with the instructor and class participants! Class will begin promptly at 5 minutes past the hour, so everyone has plenty of time to create!
SUGGESTED MATERIALS:
- Paper to make collages on (sketchbook, mixed media weight paper, for example)
- Magazines, catalogs, junk mail, calendars, book pages - ideally collage material with color and images
- Scissors
- Glue stick (GLOO or UHU are both good glue sticks)
- Your favorite Watercolor paints
- Paper to paint on - at least one 6 x 6 or small piece of watercolor paper
- Small brushes
- Cup of Water
- Pencil (optional)
ABOUT INSTRUCTOR
Erin McCluskey Wheeler is a third generation Richmond resident who works in painted paper collage, writing, and found materials. Erin is a faculty member at the 92nd Street Y in New York and teaches at the Richmond Art Center, Ruth’s Table, and other Bay Area art centers. She has designed and filmed two classes with Creativebug — Collage Homage (March 2025) and a Daily Practice Collage class (Release date - January 2026). Her mixed media work has been licensed and sold with West Elm, Samsung, Target, and Minted. Erin has been an Artist in Residence for the City of El Cerrito, the City of Walnut Creek, Nick’s Cove, and Creighton University. Her mosaic work, Still Here — made up of plastic collected from the Richmond shoreline — was included in the 2024 Right Here Right Now Richmond Biennial exhibition. Erin was a co-founder and curator for the first three years of Richmond Open Studios - a highly successful city wide event produced by the Visual Artists of Richmond. In 2025, she was awarded Best Local Maker / Artist by the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce. Erin holds a BA in Art History and Studio Art from Beloit College and an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts.
erinmwheeler.com // IG @erinmwheeler
THINGS TO KNOW
Zoom links are emailed 24 hours prior, and again 15 minutes prior, to the workshop start time. Please check out using the email address to which you’d like the link sent. If you have not received the link within 24 hours of your class, please check your spam folder first, then email friends@caseformaking.com.
Workshop recordings are sent automatically the day after class to everyone who paid for a spot, and are available for 30 days after the date of the workshop.
If you need to cancel, please let us know as soon as possible so we can open up your spot! We are only able to refund if we’re notified at least 48 hours prior to the workshop.
If you are planning to teach in the future using anything you’ve learned from us, we kindly ask that you credit Case for Making + the individual instructor where applicable.
Thank you so much for taking our workshops!!
