Watercolor is not just two-dimensional to Amanda Allison.

If an artist wants to create craggy rocks, applying plastic wrap over wet paint, letting it dry and peeling it away can make those boulders loom off the paper.

That is one of more than a dozen watercolor mixed media techniques Allison, a TCU assistant professor of art since 2006, showed off yesterday to a collection of K-12 art teachers, art professors and art administrators from around the country. The educators were in town for the 53rd annual conference of The National Art Education Association and spent the day making their own artwork with TCU faculty.

Billed as Artmaking Extravaganza at the TCU School of Art, the event was a preconference workshop for 55 art educators and allowed them to see and experience a top-notch college art program, Allison said. More than 4,000 are expected to attend the conference in downtown Fort Worth.

“It was a chance for these art teachers to expand their own artistic practice through a concentrated day of artmaking,” said Allison, who is also the school’s art education coordinator. “It was a great opportunity for them to get better at their own skills and learn new techniques they can take back to their own classrooms or programs.”

Participants also learned as much from one another as they did their TCU instructors, said Allison, who showed off an array of watercolor techniques through guided demonstration in her afternoon workshop. Participants tried their hand at artmaking with masking tape, Saran Wrap, salt, watercolor pencil and watercolor crayon, among others.

Allison’s class started by creating a sampler sheet of 15 techniques and then participants applied one or more of them to a painting in the second-half of the workshop.

“Everybody learned something new, whether it was one or two techniques we covered or just sharing tips from their own experiences,” she said.

Other TCU faculty-led sessions included ceramics (guided by Chris Powell), printmaking (led by Jonathan Stewart) and new media (organized by Nick Bontrager). TCU art majors also sat in to work with the conference participants.

Earlier in the day, participants listened to Journal Fodder Junkies artists Dave Modler and Eric Scott talk about how their unique daily storytelling started and defines their lives.

TCU faculty are also serving as keynote speakers for the conference’s Texas Artist Series.

“This week is an unparalleled experience for us, in which we can promote the university, the School of Art, our faculty and our students,” Allison said. “It will bring a rich layer of visibility as we offer our resources and expertise to the national art education community.”
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Gallery of photos