Stacy Phillips | Disrupting the Image: Mixed Media on Cardboard

Instructor: Stacy Phillips

Workshop: Disrupting the Image: Mixed Media on Cardboard

Dates: March 25-28, 2027

Hours: 9:30am - 4:30pm

Level: Intermediate

Class Size: 1

Tuition: $1850

Includes: Complimentary lunches and drinks served daily in studio

What happens when the surface becomes an active participant in the creative process?

In this four-day immersive workshop, we'll explore the possibilities of mixed media on cardboard—a humble, accessible material that invites experimentation, risk-taking, and discovery. While I often use portraiture as a point of departure in my own work, this workshop is not limited to portraits. Whether your focus is landscape, still life,

Cardboard offers a unique opportunity to rethink how images are built. It welcomes layering, sanding, cutting, tearing, sewing, gluing, painting, drawing, and reconstruction. It can function as both surface and structure, moving fluidly between two-dimensional and sculptural approaches. Rather than treating the support as something passive, we'll explore how the material itself can influence decisions and open unexpected directions in our work.

Working on cardboard often creates a sense of freedom. Because it is inexpensive and readily available, it encourages curiosity over perfection and exploration over outcome. It invites us to take chances, follow questions, and discover new possibilities that we can later bring back into our broader studio practice.

This workshop will take place in the beautiful studio space of Woodward Contemporary in San Diego, where we'll have ample wall space, table space, and time to work together in a supportive, immersive environment. Through demonstrations, individual guidance, group discussions, and studio exploration, we'll investigate how mixed media processes can expand the way we think about image-making.

What We'll Explore

Throughout the workshop, demonstrations and discussions will include:

• Selecting and preparing cardboard surfaces

• Building imagery through drawing, painting, collage, and mixed media

• Layering, obscuring, and revealing imagery

• Cutting, tearing, sanding, sewing, and reconstructing surfaces

• Combining two-dimensional and sculptural approaches

• Developing visual ideas through experimentation

• Using disruption as a creative strategy

• Recognizing when to push a piece further and when to let it rest

Participants will spend significant studio time developing their own work while receiving individual feedback and support. The workshop environment encourages conversation, shared discovery, and learning from one another's processes.

Workshop Goals

My goal is not for participants to leave with a finished masterpiece.

My goal is for you to leave with a wealth of ideas, a deeper understanding of materials, and greater confidence in your ability to experiment and discover. I want you to return to your studio with new approaches, new questions, and practical ways to continue exploring cardboard and mixed media within your own practice.

This workshop values process over product. In my experience, when we release the pressure of creating a successful outcome, we become more open to discovery. The unexpected often becomes the most valuable teacher.

Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Stacy goes in-depth in ways to incorporate cardboard and paper into one's work to go beyond a flat surface. She provides clear, step-by-step demonstrations as well as lots of tips. It helps to see the culmination of someone's extensive experimentation with a medium to get an idea of what can work and not work." — Sue

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"I love the casual/real feeling of your teaching, really wonderful. And your product knowledge is fantastic. Thanks for being so generous, Stacy!" — Teresa

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"This medium feels like a cross between painting and relief sculpture. Thanks again for the Disrupting the Image workshop!" — Dee W.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Stacy is such a grounded, interesting, KIND person... She just gets my mind spinning, growing and doing!" — Mitzie Styles

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"WOW! Amazing class! Thank you Stacy for sharing all of your knowledge... You opened my mind to start experimenting while embracing the journey!" — Tracy

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"What a wonderful class! I feel full of inspiration and ideas. Thank you so much Stacy for sharing your passion in art making with me." — Kevin

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"I was nervous about trying mixed media, but this class gave me the tools and confidence I needed..." — Sarah

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"This workshop was exactly what I needed to loosen up and embrace the unexpected." — Jasmine

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"I now approach layering with more confidence and curiosity, and my work has gained so much depth." — Michael

Who This Workshop Is For

This workshop is designed for curious artists who are interested in expanding their creative process.

You may be a painter, mixed media artist, collage artist, print-maker, or someone working across disciplines. You may be just beginning to explore cardboard, or you may already have an established studio practice and be looking for new ways to challenge yourself.

You do not need to work in portraiture to participate. Any subject matter is welcome.

What matters most is a willingness to experiment, embrace uncertainty, and allow materials to influence the direction of the work.

If you are interested in:

• Working on nontraditional surfaces

• Exploring mixed media processes

• Expanding your visual vocabulary

• Taking creative risks

• Developing new ideas for your studio practice

• Learning in a supportive community of fellow artists

• you'll feel right at home here.

Come prepared to explore, question, experiment, and discover what becomes possible when the image is allowed to change.

Website

stacyphillipsart.com

Stacy Phillips is a Salt Lake City-based artist and the working artist of Utah for Golden Paints. She is known for her journey as an artist, which she describes as "a fantastic, crazy, unpredictable journey."

stacyphillipsart.shop

A unique collection of contemporary mixed media pieces. It all starts with a moment—watching someone, noticing the way they move, the subtle gestures that make them who they are. From there, I experiment with texture, color, and form, letting each painting grow naturally.

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/stacyphillipsart

Supply List