The Bascom is working towards creating a more integrated and user-friendly experience for our visitors. Please read the following information to familiarize yourself with the process.
How does it work?
Whenever you register for a class or workshop online, you'll be prompted to create a user account during the registration process. The information you provide there can then be used to log in here.
- Register for a Workshop
- Create your username and password during the registration process
- Check your email (Don't see it in your inbox? Check your junk/spam folder and mark it as not junk/spam)
- Click on the activation link in the email and... Voila! You're good to go!
The Language of Layers: Discovering Your Artistic Voice in Oil and Cold Wax with Lisa Boardwine
View the Supply List HERE
This workshop is designed for artists eager to explore the expressive possibilities of abstraction through the versatile medium of oil and cold wax. Together we’ll experiment with mark making, layering, texture and color to build rich, luminous surfaces that tell a story. Through guided exercises and demonstrations, you’ll learn how to combine intuitive gestures with thoughtful composition — allowing your personal artistic voice to emerge naturally. This class invites freedom, play, and discovery. The workshop will encourage you to take risks, embrace process, and trust your intuition as you create compelling, light and texture-filled abstract paintings.
Whether you’re new to cold wax medium or seeking to deepen your practice, you’ll leave with fresh techniques, finished pieces, and renewed inspiration for your art journey. Join me and let's paint together May 20th-22nd!
Transferred Layers
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to edit images, create screens, and print custom underglaze transfers for use on ceramic surfaces. Designed for mid- to high-fire clay, the process expands surface decoration techniques and introduces participants to screen-printed imagery as a versatile tool in ceramic practice.
All students will be provided with:
1 Speed screen screen printing kit which includes:
- 8-inch x 10-inch Speedball Wood Frame, 30W LED Lamp, 4oz Black Fabric Screen Printing Ink, craft stick, Speedball Screen Cord, Red Baron Squeegee, 3-Pack Speed Screens, black paper, (3) Speedball Transparency Sheets
1 newsprint pad
1 Speedball brayer
a wide variety of the available Speedball underglaze colors
1 silicone spatula
1 information and instruction handout
Look-Think-Paint: The key to Creative Breakthroughs and Beautiful Paintings with John Guernsey
View the Supply List HERE
This workshop with award-winning painter and teacher John Guernsey emphasizes careful observation, thoughtful decision-making, and expressive painting. Through demonstrations, group discussion, and guided studio time, participants will refine essential skills while developing work that reflects personal intent. Open to all skill levels, working in oil or acrylic.
Alla Prima Portrait Painting with David Shevlino
View the Supply List HERE
This class is about painting the portrait alla prima (wet into wet) and the techniques used to create a fresh, direct response to our subjects. After a demonstration, the class will work from a live model. Emphasis will be on simplifying and interpreting the face and head as a series of basic shapes/planes described by light and shadow. In addition to discussing value, color and paint application, we’ll also talk about basic proportions of the head and facial features. By learning to simplify what we see, we become better able to paint our subjects with greater clarity and directness. This class will be particularly helpful to students who wish to paint more loosely and to use their brushstrokes with economy.
Perceptual Color: Seeing, Mixing, and Painting with Sensitivity with Ben Hamburger
View the Supply List HERE
This three-day workshop explores color as both a technical and expressive element of painting. Through focused exercises, still life studies, demonstrations, and critique, participants will refine their ability to perceive, mix, and use color with greater intention. Designed for intermediate and advanced painters, the class welcomes returning students as well as new participants working in acrylic or oil.
Painting From Life with Armand Cabrera
View the Supply List HERE
This immersive workshop focuses on painting from life through daily studio and outdoor sessions, including still lifes and landscapes. With daily demonstrations, the class emphasizes clean color mixing, accurate value relationships, and strong composition. Individual guidance supports artists at all experience levels in a focused, engaging, and non-competitive environment.
3-Day Expressive Painting Workshop with Dmitri Wright
View the Supply List HERE
Join Master Impressionist Dmitri Wright for a three-day workshop exploring the expressive evolution of Impressionist painting, from observation to personal vision. Through plein air practice and artist journaling, participants will deepen creative insight and expand their artistic voice. Open to all skill levels.
Sculpting Animal Vessels
Join us for an immersive dive into learning how to transform your pots into sculptural animal vessels! Using techniques of throwing and hand-building, students will form vessels that incorporate animal figures by sculpting, carving, and alteration. Instruction will cover basic sculpting techniques such as the hollowing method and how to give the animals expression and defining characteristics such as eyes, ears, and motion. Katie will work individually with each student to help create a pleasing composition, structural integrity and visual interest in their artworks. Class will also include guidance about different ways to glaze and fire the finished work. A basic ability to throw or hand-build a vessel is necessary, students can be beginners at sculpting.
Painting Flowers in Oil with Vibrant Color and Energy with Pat Fiorello
View the Supply List HERE
This three-day workshop with award-winning artist Pat Fiorello explores a loose, direct alla prima approach to painting flowers in oil. Through demonstrations, guided practice, and individual feedback, participants will learn to simplify floral forms, observe light and shadow, mix color, and use expressive brushwork. Designed for painters with prior experience in oil or acrylic, the workshop balances technical skill with a fresh, intuitive approach to capturing the essence of flowers.
Head Games: Building Bold Sculpted Heads
This workshop explores the creation of expressive, slightly larger-than-life ceramic heads that prioritize gesture, exaggeration, and surface over literal realism. Participants will work solid and with armatures while developing an understanding of structure, proportion, and intentional distortion. The course begins with a low-fire soda kiln experience, allowing participants to explore atmospheric surface effects that will inform their sculptural work. Designed for artists ready to push beyond safe forms, this workshop emphasizes focused making, problem-solving, and guided experimentation.
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Visit: 323 Franklin Road
Highlands, NC 28741 (Map It)
Call: 828-526-4949 (Main)
828-787-2892 (Ceramics Studio)

This project was supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Learn more at NCArts.org

Funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Learn more at SouthArts.org.

Funding is due in part to a Tourism Grant with Visit Highlands, NC. Learn more HighlandsChamber.org