Ellington

Whether you're an artist, art student, art teacher or just someone that loves to learn about art, Tougaloo College's weeklong retreat, the Tougaloo Art Colony, may be just the thing to refresh your creativity and expand your skills. This year's retreat takes place July 11 through July 16, and will offer workshops in relief printmaking, oil painting, mural painting for teens, web design, pottery and digital multimedia projects.

The Tougaloo Art Colony, founded in 1997, consists of weeklong studio classes led by professional artists teaching in their field of expertise. The workshops allow the participants to discuss their own work, while also learning about new techniques.

Mississippian Pat Walker-Fields is one artist who will participate in this year's retreat. Walker-Fields, who grew up in Rolling Fork, uses the technique of chiaroscuro, which creates a dimensional aspect to flat artwork, to create portraits, landscapes and still lifes. Some of her accolades include recognition from the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Public Broadcasting System and the Visual Arts Contemporary Center.

Walker-Fields will teach a workshop on oil painting, and will focus on problem solving through painting from life.

Another artist teaching at the art colony is Rick Freeman, an Athens, Ga., native, who has painted life-size murals at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., and the Arlington Courthouse in Arlington, Va. His murals typically depict African American bluesmen. He has received fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and a nomination for an Outstanding Emerging Artist Award from the commission. His workshop will show the creative process and steps of a mural.

Tuition for the week is $350. More information, the brochure and registration form are available online at http://www.tougaloo.edu/artcolony, or call 601-977-7839 or 601-977-7743.