Saturday, March 7, 2026
11 AM–2 PM
This three-hour workshop with Jonathan Paul Parker centers on drawing and painting as a process of discovery rather than technical mastery. Participants are guided through a progression of exercises that move from collaborative play toward individual exploration, encouraging openness, intuition, and responsiveness to materials.
Working with drawing tools, ink, and acrylic paint, the session emphasizes physical engagement with mark making—the rhythm of the hand, the weight of the brush, and the way marks accumulate and transform. By shifting between shared and individual approaches, participants are invited to loosen their attachment to outcome and explore how meaning can emerge through process.
Throughout the workshop, Parker draws from his practice of active imagination, creating space for instinctive gestures, reflection, and experimentation. The focus remains on sensation and experience rather than finished results, allowing each participant to arrive at their own visual language.
The workshop concludes with a quiet viewing and group reflection, centering on how the process felt rather than how the work looks. Open to all levels, this session is ideal for anyone interested in slowing down, reconnecting with intuition, and exploring drawing as a way of thinking and feeling through materials.
Jonathan Paul Parker is currently exhibiting All Shall Be Well, his first solo exhibition, featuring paintings that explore the boundary between what is seen and what is sensed. Working through color, gesture, and rhythm, Parker approaches painting as an improvisational and attentive practice. Drawing on Carl Jung’s concept of “active imagination,” he allows inner images and impulses to emerge during the act of making, treating each painting as a direct extension of consciousness.
Parker’s early training in drawing established a strong command of line and spatial rhythm, sensibilities that continue to shape his work. His background in experimental film and improvisational music has further informed his sensitivity to pacing, texture, and spontaneity. Over the past two decades, he has developed a body of work that balances openness with intention, immediacy with reflection.
Jonathan Paul Parker lives and works in San Diego. He studied film at the California State Summer School of the Arts (CSSSA) and completed formal training in live action film and video at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). His interdisciplinary background continues to influence his approach to painting, resulting in immersive works that invite viewers to slow down and engage with subtle shifts of form and color.
The workshop will be in person at the Athenaeum Art Center in Logan Heights. There are no physical tickets for this talk. Your name will be on the attendee list at the front door. Doors open at 11:00 a.m.
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