Rosamond Casey has long been dedicated to developing curriculum in the study of art. As Founding Director of Treehouse Book Arts she has championed a revival in creative bookmaking, papermaking and calligraphy. In addition she teaches drawing and mixed media art courses founded on the principle of matching formal structures with a conceptual purpose. Her seminar called Mapping the Dark, A Course in Conceiving Art, has helped both beginners and career artists discover a novel approach to making art.

Mapping the Dark is an eight-week seminar that encourages participants to develop an original work of art by examining the starting point of an idea and seeking out the right organizing principle and materials to express it. It is a mixed media class for artists, writers, photographers, and curious beginners. In-class art experiments suggest a variety of tools for engaging an authentic process of discovery, but the most significant progress results from the guided class discussion that helps draw out emerging perceptions, observations, physical sensations and remembered fragments that become pivotal to the art works. Although a personal story is frequently the point of departure, the focus is to identify its core meaning, match it with the right materials and challenge the student to make something authentic and convincing.

For two weeks in June, Casey offers a summer camp for children to introduce them to the aesthetic foundations of language. In a two-acre wooded garden, children learn bookbinding, calligraphy, papermaking out of the garden, drawing, painting and poetry writing. The natural outdoor setting provides material and inspiration for these activities.

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Please contact Rosamond Casey or call 434-293-8733 for further information.

Adult seminar registration form (PDF)
Treehouse summer camp registration form (PDF)