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Abstract drawing of a flock of birds
Image Credit

Artwork courtesy Tonia Bonnell.

Drawing: Mark-Making as Meditative Practice

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This 1-day drawing-based workshop will focus on exploring repetitive mark-making as a calming, meditative practice. Students will use repetition with a variety of drawing materials to discover the benefits of slowing down, finding focus, and developing rhythm in order to counteract the high stress of our fast-paced society. With emphasis on exploration, this class is open to all levels of creatives while placing value on the practice of being present in the moment rather than thinking too far ahead to a finished piece.

To gather ideas and an understanding of ways in which repeated marks are used by artists, the class will tour the Denver Art Museum galleries to see works by Agnes Martin, Vance Kirkland, Lucy Lewis, and Camille Pissarro (and other Impressionists.) In addition, students will view works by Modern and Contemporary artists beyond the DAM Collections. Students will experiment with mark-making in sketchbooks using a variety of drawing tools including pencils, pens, markers, and other dry media. This experimentation will lead to creating a work or multiple works on small-format fine art paper. Class participants will develop a unique visual language of marks to add to their toolbox for both artistic creation and personal well-being.

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Creative Hub—Martin Building, Level 1
Ticket required, discount for members, Museum Friends, and students.
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Pricing: $95 for Museum Friends, $100 for Members and Students, and $110 for nonmembers.*

*Price includes a $30 studio fee for all materials provided.

Headshot of Tonia Bonnell

About the Educator

Tonia Bonnell is a Denver-based artist whose work is rooted in both attentiveness and subtlety. Growing up surrounded by cornfields in Illinois, she developed a fascination with clouds – an ever-changing subject that continues to inspire her. Tonia earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Illinois State University in 2001 and her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the University of Alberta in 2005. During her time in Canada, she started composing images with simple, repeated marks as snowflakes accumulated outside her studio window. After graduate school, she moved to Denver and taught at the Art Institute of Colorado, Metro State University, and the University of Denver. Her career has included artist residencies at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village, Colorado, and Women’s Studio Workshop in upstate New York. She has shared her work and process through artist talks and on panels, including Printmaking and the Mundane at the College Art Association conference in Chicago. Tonia gave museum-goers a glimpse into her studio practice as a Hamilton Studio Demonstrating Artist at the Denver Art Museum in 2014. Her prints won Best in Show in the 528.0 Regional Printmaking Exhibition (2024) at the Arvada Center. She is represented by Walker Fine Art, and her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Tonia hikes in the mountains to restore her soul and works from her home studio where she explores the complex potential of repeated marks.