Student & Teacher Experience: Jenna Jerman
Jenna Jerman joined us for Lisa Pressman's Exploring Visual Language in 2019. We touched base with Jenna and looked back at her pleasant surprise and new found love of material.
"My first experience taking a workshop with Lisa was actually an accident - not because I wasn't trying to take a class with Lisa, but because I had accidentally signed up for her Pigment Stick class when I thought I was signing up for an encaustic class! Luckily, it turned out to be quite the happy accident, because not only did I learn a brand new medium (I had only ever painted with encaustic before, so I was a true beginner to Pigment Sticks, oil paint, and cold wax), but I walked away with a much richer understanding of color, design, painting and wax mediums in general, to inform my home practice.
In addition to a deeper conceptual understanding of the medium, I also learned a great deal about technique, including best practices for building up surfaces, creating interest and tension, and how to keep pushing through, even when I think I hate what I've created so far.
Lisa's live demonstrations were informative and approachable. She was happy to answer all questions and tailor her demonstrations to the needs of the individuals in the group. Even better, however, was Lisa's one-on-one feedback. During the course of the three-day workshop, Lisa made an off-the-cuff remark that perhaps encaustic was not the primary medium for me. I laughed and said absolutely not. But, several months later, I found Pigment Sticks and cold wax had become the only medium I was working with, and that I still had many of Lisa's prompts and suggestions floating around in my head.
Lisa helped me to expand the way I approached color, line, form, contrast, and ideas in my paintings, and I really admired the way she cut right to the heart of an issue for each individual student in the class, regardless of how different their styles and backgrounds were. I think this speaks to what a skilled and thoughtful teacher she is, and I cannot wait for the day when the studio opens back up for in-person classes so I can take another workshop with her. This time, maybe I will successfully sign up for her encaustic class."