Michael Sturlin Studio - In Depth Retreats

                                                                                                              Scheduled January through April at my private studio in                                                                                                                  Scottsdale Arizona, these annual retreats are a unique                                                                                                                      opportunity for personal and artistic development                                                                                                                            through an intimate group experience in a creative                                                                                                                          professional environment. 

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                                                                                                              The In Depth Retreat experience focuses on continuing                                                                                                                  skill development for  goldsmiths,  jewelry makers, and                                                                                                                    jewelry designers.

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                                                                                                              This creative session is a self guided laboratory for                                                                                                                            individual exploration and refinement of design,                                                                                                                              technique and aesthetic development. I serve as                                                                                                                              technical adviser, team leader, personal coach, guide

                                                                                                              and mentor.

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Students have an opportunity to work in 18 karat gold under my technical supervision accompanied by my insight and advice on their individual projects and design concepts. This is an opportunity to develop confidence, proper technique and  material fluency under the watchful eye of a master goldsmith.

Emphasis is placed on the traditional approach to our craft; alloying metals, melting and amalgamating gold, pouring ingots, forming sheet, wire, and tube, and focusing on hand fabrication and construction with noble metals.

I also teach a process of design origination and refinement that will enable you to create jewelry with identifiable cohesive content that will lead you to realizing your own personal aesthetic.

My goal is that retreat participants depart my studio with well-developed original design concepts accompanied by solid plans for executable series of jewelry, assuring the momentum of the experience here can carry forward on a solid foundation.

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