Ricky Frank's
Creative Cloisonne´ Program

Class 2 : Design
Combine & Organize your Cloisonne´ Vocabulary

Your enamel "picture" is a collection of the different types of marks that you make.
It's the "stuff" that you use to make your picture.

You will explore old and new ways to make and use "enamel stuff"

You will learn to find the line and shapes that inspire us, and translate them into enamel.

You will become fluent in a new and personal enamel vocabulary that will make your
enamel imagery "yours".

Week 2 will explore the many ways that you can put your new vocabulary together...

Principles

• Contrast
  
• Variety
  
• Repetition
  
• Balance
  
• Harmony
  
• Movement

Combinations

• Lines & Shapes
  
• Icons, Silhouettes, & Symbols
  
• Different types of cloisonne´ wires
  
• Color Layers
  
• Bridges to Connect color areas
  

Formats

• Strata
• Grid
• Horizontal
• Vertical
• Radial
• Cruciform
• Border & Focal

Why I designed this Class.

Many of my students enter the class hoping to learn more about the cloisonne´ enamel technique and improve their skills.
They hope to make something that they like, maybe even love.

It's easy for me to design a project that you can make and will like. I've done this before and the students were happy. But they didn't learn how to "create cloisonne´ enamels". They learned how to follow instructions. When you return to your studio and attempt to make something that "comes from your heart", there are no instructions. Remembering how your teacher did it may not be enough.

How does a cloisonne´ artist create their enamel artwork?
We start at the beginning. We immerse ourselves in ideas and images.
Instead of merely "looking", we see the world around them as Design Elements.
Lines, shapes, colors, values, and patterns.
We simplify these elements and get to know them. Well enough that we can imagine with them.
Then we learn to translate them into enamel elements.
The cloisonne´ artist uses wires, enamel, and in my case, metal foils to create new design elements..
We do this "enough" so that it becomes a new vocabulary.
We learn to speak in "cloisonne´ and become fluent in this enamel language.
This is what we begin to lean in Class 1: We learn how to create our personal cloisonne´ vocabulary so that we can USE it to share our unique point of view using the magical medium of enamel.



Design elements are the building blocks of our enamel images.
Here is what I've learned as I've taught myself to become an artist...I take visual images and translate them into enamel images.

To create my enamel images, I start with the smallest chunks: design elements.
These are the lines, shapes, colors, values, and patterns that I see.
Instead of "looking" at things, the artist must see the design elements.

• These create the images that one sees and will be the foundation for the image that one creates.

About Class 1
Create YOUR Cloisonne´ Vocabulary

Class Description

 Three separate classes that build upon each other.
WHAT you will learn and HOW you will transform yourself...

• Learn new Techniques and Improve your existing Skills
• Build your Creativity muscles
• Explore your Design & Self-expression Questions
• Feel Confident & Empowered; Believe that "Yes, I can do it!"
• Let Go of self-limiting beliefs that leave you stuck and frustrated
• Learn in small chunks and set self-imposed limitations to help you Focus

Learn about the Self-paced class

---

What you will need

Firing
Enamels
Wire
Foils
Finishing

Learn about the Coaching Class

This is not a "project" course.
You will have the opportunity to create your own projects throughout the class.
You will improve your ability to see.
You will practice simplifying what you see into design elements.
You will learn many ways to translate your design elements into enamel design elements.
You will practice so that you can "think in enamel" and become fluent with your new enamel vocabulary.

 Group Mentoring
Makes your learning come alive.
(Six week courses include "group mentoring".)

Combining  Zoom classroom discussions and a vibrant Group Forum (without the distractions of Facebook) enables us to talk with each other and not at each other.

• We learn to connect with not only ourselves, but with each other.
  
• We see new perspectives as students share their "point of view".
  
• We learn  WHY we care about what we are making as we also care about our fellow students.
• We connect with ourselves and with each other.

This becomes a magical group learning experience where transformation can occur.
This is different than any live 5-day workshop that I have seen.

• You have TIME to listen: to ourselves and others. The six-week program takes removes some of the urgency that you often feel in a workshop.
• You feel INSPIRED as you see other students make changes.
• You become part of a culture of LEARNING. There is no pressure that you "need to like everything that you make".
  
• We work together and share our strengths so that we can improve our weaknesses.
  

• It's not Me giving YOU the answers.
  
• It's you becoming aware and open. Challenging yourself. Looking within instead of to me.
• It's the other students who support you and share their struggles and journey.
• And it's our Group that joins together to create a safe place for you to escape the pressures of needing to be right, and good, and successful.
  

...the more I thought about why those characteristics were appealing, I was able to reach an emotional response and connect with memories from my childhood. All that to say I am now starting page 4 of brainstorming and understanding what my story is!! Now to brainstorm how to tell that story. This is exactly what I was hoping to get from this class - my story and how to tell it! 
-Mary D.

I am your guide and coach.
Here is how I do it.

Let my experience
be your guide...

• 44 years making/selling my enamel jewelry
• Workshops/presentations at The Enamelist  Society Conferences
• Workshops at craft schools across the USA
• Exhibitor at top craft shows: Smithsonian, Phil. Museum of Art, ACC
• Rio Grande and Youtube instructor
• Creator of the enamelchannel.com

read more about Ricky

Here is what I will do as your coach...

• explain/demonstrate the enamel science and skill relationships.
• help you ask more and different questions
• point out what you are not seeing
• celebrate your small successes
• nurture your creative mindset
• embrace your personal narratives
• challenge you to set more challenging goals while focusing on your mini-goals
• support you as you make the mistakes necessary to change and grow
• become your biggest cheerleader and help you become your biggest cheerleader.

"What I really appreciate about this online class is having time in between the lesson drops to actually let ideas marinate, contemplate the steps I want/need to make, and then proceeding. I’m learning to let go of the need to have a “finished” piece, even as I advance towards that goal. I am experimenting with ideas that I never would have thought about. I am deep down the rabbit hole now, in an immersion sense, that is penetrating the information deep into my psyche, this is stuff I will not forget."
-Melissa V

Student Samples & Testimonials