Time Is On My Side
September 11-13, 2026
Shake Rag Alley, Mineral Point, WI
This is my sixth year teaching at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI. This year my workshop is based on using a clock body as the starting point.
Here is the course description: "Our goal in this workshop is to explore how assemblage relates to time. By connecting the past lives of objects with current stories from our own lives, we can build art with found objects that explores issues like memory, nostalgia, history or the nature of time itself. Gary has come to believe that all found objects have had a story to tell but have lost their way. Now it is time for us to give them a new story in our own creations and save them from being lost to time.
Gary will be providing you with a clock body of some nature, large or small. The fact that this main object was a time keeper will help you tell the story you want to tell. However, all the clock parts have been removed from these objects making them frames for new stories. It is time to think outside the clock. We will also work with layers, combining multiple objects into a complex work of art.
Options for the weekend will include making more than one clock body, mounting the clock on a substrate, adding found objects and all the usual assemblage techniques for creation including hardware, tools, glues and clays.
Participants can bring their own sources of clock bodies/substrates/found objects/supplies from home but many samples will be provided to fill the weekend with opportunities. Gary promises new assemblage artists (and the experienced ones, too) that it is possible to walk into this workshop with nothing and go home with a new work of art.
Gary will be teaching the basics of assemblage construction and mixed media techniques so that you will be able to create a work of art with a clock body as the central subject. Gary will be providing all the tools, mediums and lots of objects to help grow your art project. There will be time to share ideas and learn from fellow participants. Three days, free crap, cool art, and lots of fun."
Much earlier this year Denice and I brought to Shake Rag many clock bodies in advance and stored them in the attic of the Lind Pavilion where we will be teaching.
On Wednesday, September 9th, we arrived with a van full of the rest of the junk, tools and mediums for the participants to use. We spent Wednesday afternoon and most of Thursday setting up the workshop.
These are all the clock bodies we brought to be used by the participants. Before anyone could see them, Denice and I covered them with a sheet. More on that later.
Thursday night I did a presentation for the participants that was also open to the public. The talk was called Assemblage: A History of the Object in Art. After the presentation and a brief break, I was joined by a panel of assemblage artists for a discussion of how the object informs their art.
The artists were Katherine Engen, Beth Hobby, and Christie McNab. I think it went well and the panelists were great representatives of what it takes to be an assemblage artist.
Katherine Engen and her art
Photo by Denice
Beth Hobby's work
Photo by Denice
Christie McNab's work
Photo by Denice
We got started on Friday the 11th at 9:00 a.m. I went over how the workshop was going to work plus spoke to the group about all things assemblage, time and clock bodies. Then it was time to dive into all the goodies that we brought from our basement for the group to use.
Here is where I lost them!
Photo by Denice
By the end of Friday there were not many clock bodies left
Here is the workshop areas where the participants each have a table
Lisa working the Dremel
Beth Hobby and Christie McNab do a consult
Friday, Saturday and Sunday were busy with all kinds of assembling. By 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, it was time to have our show and tell. Below you will find each participants projects, their worktable and the work(s) they produced (not all of which were finished by the time we shared).
ALICE
BARBARA
BETH E.
BETH H.
CHRISTIE
CHRISTINE
CRIS
DARA
DENISE
DIANE
ERIN
GAIL
JEAN
KAREN
KATHERINE
LISA
PAM
RENEE
SARAH
THERESA
VICKI
In the evenings' open workshop times and on the optional Monday open workshop I had a chance to work on my own project. Things were interesting to say the least.
At first I thought I was going to make a big bug
The bug face (my clock) migrated to a violin structure
Two things surprised me. First, this was where I went with my art. Second, someone bought this work as is. So I titled it The Unfinished Violin of the Unfinished Symphony.
Saturday was the opening of my art exhibition at Green Lantern Studios in Mineral Point. The show was ironically called Time Is On My Side.
Photo by Denice
I was thrilled to see Helen and Dan, all the way from Milwaukee
Photo by Denice
My thanks go to Carole and Richard at Green Lantern Studios for the opportunity to exhibit in their fine gallery.
I want to thank all the participants in the workshop who worked so hard, made great art and laughed a lot. Thanks also go to Shake Rag Alley's great staff who helped me bring this workshop to fruition. But the biggest thanks goes to Denice who works as hard on this as I did--I could not do it without her.
