In light of increased risk factors related to COVID-19 and out of an abundance of care for
ESSA’s staff, students, instructors and volunteers, in-person workshop activity is currently on hold until further notice.
EUREKA SPRINGS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
In the belief that art is vital to the human spirit, the Eureka Springs School of the Arts commits itself to cultivating, promoting, and encouraging artistic expression by providing art and fine craft education opportunities for students of all levels in a unique environment of beauty and creativity
When ESSA began in 1998, we were a school without walls, with passionate local artists offering up their studios to support workshops. A few years later, ESSA moved into a small campus with one building and an acre of land. Today, ESSA has grown into a 55-acre campus with seven teaching studios located in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Mary Lou Christie
Small Metals
Mary (Tahlequah, OK) took a basic silver-smithing class in 2005 and has been hooked ever since! She retired from teaching elementary students in 2014. She now spends her time honing her skills and teaching jewelry making classes in her studio. Her creations are featured in several galleries, and Mary shows her work at Fine Art Festivals in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas and has won numerous fine art awards.
Dawn Ward
Dawn (Holiday Island, AR) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work combines photography, printmaking, painting, encaustic, sculpture and found objects. She received her Ph.D. in Arts Education and a MA in Printmaking from New York University and has been a university art professor for the past 20 years teaching art history, design and studio courses. Dawn has been the recipient of several grants for advanced study including a recent workshop on Digital Printmaking in Santa Fe, NM.
Bert Jones
Iron
Bert (Bentonville, AR) started his interest in blacksmithing while attending the grand opening of ESSA’s blacksmithing studio in 2014. He now has his own forging shop, The Smithin’ Jones Backyard Blacksmith Company, and is an active member of The Blacksmithing Organization of Arkansas. Bert joined ESSA’s Board of Directors in 2016. He also owns Gaskin’s Cabin Steakhouse in the Eureka Springs area.
Donna Doss
Ceramics
Donna (Eureka Springs, AR) is a self-taught sculptor in a variety of mediums – sand and snow, sugar and clay. She has taught art at Clear Spring School in Eureka Springs and is a popular and accomplished instructor at ESSA. Donna has helped others express their creativity through many mediums, clay being a favorite.
Sally Heston
2 D
Sally (Broadview Heights, OH) is a retired secondary and college art instructor. She currently teaches painting and drawing at a regional art center in Ohio. She is a signature member of numerous art organizations including the Ohio Watercolor Society, the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, and the Whiskey Painters of America, among others, and has had several solo exhibitions and won many awards for her paintings.
Preston Carson
Iron
Preston (Eureka Springs, AR) has many years of experience in all types of welding, having set up and run his own welding business, as well as a welding shop in Kansas City area for a large manufacturing facility.
Kathryn Osgood
Small Metals
Kathryn (Wanchese, NC) is a jeweler residing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She is an Associate Professor and head of the Jewelry program at College of The Albemarle. She received her MFA in jewelry design from East Carolina University.
Tonya Lee
Painting & Drawing
Tonya (Ocean Grove, NJ) is a painter focused on methods that stifle impulse, embrace boredom, and forces self-awareness. Lee has exhibited her work throughout the U.S. and has an extensive background in higher and adult education at Penland School of Crafts and other institutions. A native of Florida, she was raised on the salt of the Atlantic foam by a shark’s tooth hunter and a mythmaker.