Art of Relief and Sculpture Composition

Fri Oct 31 , 9 am – 9 pm

No occurrences found for this timeframe (next 6 months from today).

Hosted by St. Edmund's Sacred Art Institute
Details This workshop will cover techniques for creating low, middle, or high relief of a sacred subject based on a painting of the student’s choice.
Techniques for reproducing, transferring, and executing will be demonstrated to enable the student to sculpt a pictorial relief in clay.
The work will be done on a wood panel using non-hardening plasticine clay with basic tools. Finished work can later be molded and cast in a
permanent material such as plaster if desired. Students should come with a reproduction of a painting they would like to translate to relief.
This week-long workshop’s studio time lasts five consecutive days and begins Sunday night at 5:30 pm with a dinner for students and instructors. Dinner is followed by a workshop introduction and conference which ends at 9:00 pm. Hands-on instruction begins early Monday morning. The entire workshop ends Friday at 1 PM.
About the instructor:
George Nista is a sculptor, designer, and teacher who maintained a studio in Philadelphia for about twenty-five years. He moved his studio to Wallingford CT in 2022. His company is called Nista Design. He taught in the Industrial Design Technology department of the Art Institute of Philadelphia for over twenty years, though over the years he has also taught at Drexel University, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, the Graduate School New York Academy of Figurative Art, the Wayne Art Center, and the Germantown Academy.
He enjoys teaching and finds it rewarding and instructive. He has always been involved in art, though not always the same medium! At one point or another, he has been painter, photographer, theatrical set designer, cinematographer, and model maker, but always sculptor. Nista Design allows him to pursue commissions in sculpture and design. He occasionally shows in galleries or through other means.
He has been represented by the Artists’ House in Philadelphia and by Riverbank Arts in Stockton, NJ. He received a B.A. from Catholic University of America. That was followed by an apprenticeship with an Austrian woodcarver, Berthold Schmutzhart. He traveled quite a bit after that, primarily in Europe.
Pratt Institute awarded the M.F.A., Southern Connecticut State College teaching credentials, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art their Certificate. It’s all auto-didactic from here on out.
For more info:
Website for the St. Edmund’s Sacred Art Institute: https://endersisland.org/sacred-art
Email: info@endersisland.org
Phone: (860) 536‑0565
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/St-Edmunds-Sacred-Art-Institute/61555944520588/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacredartinstitute/
Admission $1010, $1335, or $1485
Location St. Edmund's Retreat Center
Where
More Info info link
When Daily, starting from Oct 26, 2025, until Oct 31, 2025