28 Apr 2013

2013 International Neon Workshops

Keep Neon and Carry On | 25th – 28th July 2013 | £650

2013 has only just got started, yet Neon Workshops have been busy and can now proudly confirm not one but two extraordinary 4-day neon courses organised. The first: Keep Neon and Carry On; to be held at the end of July, sees special guest artist Angus Powers (USA) pushing experimentation in furnace glass and neon to the limits! The four-day workshop, with support from Wheater & Bickerstaff, will be all about experimenting and expanding perceptions of what one can do with neon and hot glass. Evening events and presentations from tutors will argue why we should hold onto neon and bring it into the 21st Century. The course will include neon making and glass blowing. Experience is preferable but not necessary.
Angus MacDiarmid Powers is the assistant professor of Glass in the department of Sculpture at Alfred University, New York, USA. As a celebrated artist, he has exhibited and taught throughout the USA, Europe and Scandinavia.


Moving Neon | 12th – 15th September 2013 | £565

Our second major neon workshop: Moving Neon will be held in September 2013, focusing on animation of and kinetic movement with neon light. To accompany his UK exhibition here this year, Los Angeles based neon artist Michael Flechtner will be flying over to share the rare and often forgotten skills of making neon move. Through an intense schedule of demonstrations, hands-on practical exercises, discussions and presentations, participants will be guided and inspired into making their own sequencing neon art. Experience in working with neon and electronics is not essential.
Michael Flechtner is a widely published and exhibited artist, whom has won numerous awards including the J.Paul Getty Trust Fund Fellowship in 1999. He is a board member for The Museum of Neon Art and will be showing his first UK solo exhibition here at Neon Workshops 25.09 - 25.11.2013.
A schedule will be forwarded to participants ahead of the workshops. Class will start at 10am and finish at 5pm, with a one hour break for lunch. On the glass blowing day (Friday) during the workshop Keep neon and Carry On, we will depart Neon Workshops at 7:30am in order to be ready to start at 10am. There will be 3 evenings of presentations/events relating to the theme of each workshop.

There are only 8 places available on each of the two above mentioned workshops, and we are accepting participants as of now on a first come first served basis. You can buy your workshop online with Paypal or contact Neon Workshops for further info. Our online shop is fully up and running, where you can find workshop gift vouchers, limited edition prints, books and more.
The Workshops fee includes materials but not a neon power supply/transformer. High frequency neon transformers are available from Neon Workshops at £65 each. Food is not included in this workshop fee. Neon Workshops is located in Wakefield city center, there is a wide choice of food outlets. We can forward a recommended accommodation list on request.


Beyond 2013…
Northern Lights

A landmark mobile neon workshop: Reykjavik, Iceland | February 2014 | £980

A four-day Mobile Neon Workshop taught by several artists of international repute, working in neon and light, plus evening events that will take place in Reykjavik, Iceland during February next near. Please get in touch if you are interested in being part of this ultimate hands-on neon light experience.

Neon Workshops was set up in 2008 with an aim to expose, explore and teach neon as a method of expression and cultural production, as well as hoping to challenge common expectations of the material. Ideally located between Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Henry Moore Institute and the newly opened Hepworth Wakefield Gallery, Neon Workshops is the only arts organisation in Europe and Scandinavia to offer the general public a neon education, and exhibition programme as well as facility hire.

Offering access to a high spec neon facility and dedicated gallery space, Neon Workshops attracts makers, professors, artists and participants from all over the world, offering a regular programme of workshops, exhibitions and events, as well as the option to continue exploring neon by hiring our facility afterwards. Neon Workshops continues to help revive neon both inside and outside of the gallery environment; considering it a relevant material to illuminate the 21st century.