Ellington

Billed as "Hot Art 2004: A Week-Long Indulgence in the Visual Arts for Artists, Art Educators, Art Students" on the Tougaloo College Web site, the 8th annual Tougaloo Art Colony runs July 23-30.

Founder Jean Harmon describes the Colony as an "intimate working environment" for artists. Six world-class artists offer graduate-level studio workshops in their specialty. About 100 students sign up and commit to one course for the entire week. Evening sessions give students the chance to discuss their day's work with each other and their teachers.

This year's workshops offered are:
• "The Humble Bowl" with David R. Mac Donald: an "intensive exploration of the ubiquitous wheel-thrown bowl form."
• Akemi Nakano Cohn teaches Nassen: Color Rice Paste Resist Painting on Silk.
• Nanette Acker Clark's class on defying gravity is called "Form Exploration Using Positive and Negative Space" and involves 3-D creations of paper and paint.
• Moe Brooker: Painting and Mixed Media with Emphasis on Encaustic" probes the ancient Egyptian technique that is "the fusion of hot wax with color."
• Intuition drives expression through paint in John McDaniel's class "Interpreting the Familiar."
• "The Creative Potentials of Polymer Clay" with Sarajane Helm demonstrates the countless ways this medium may be used.

The workshop is about more than learning artistic techniques, though; it's about connections between creative minds. "The conversation outside of class is just as important as what happens during class," Harmon says. Networking among the artists themselves as well as galleries, museums, and graduate schools all occur at the Colony. Harmon credits Tougaloo College, the Mississippi Arts Commission, The ArtsAlliance of Jackson and Hinds County and The Mississippi Humanities Council for the Colony's continued life and success.

This year the colony culminates in a free public performance Thursday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m. by The Kuumba House Dance Theater. The Houston-based group performs traditional dances from South and East Africa. Founded by South African native, Lindi Yeni, the group incorporates stories and narration into the performance so audiences will appreciate the richness and depth of African culture through the dances and music. A dance workshop, open to the public with an admission fee of $10, will also be held Thursday, July 29, at 2 p.m. at the Owens Health and Wellness Center at Tougaloo.

For more information, contact Tougaloo College at 977-7839 or http://www.tougaloo.edu/artcolony .