Paste Painting with Elaine Barker

Paste Painting with Elaine Baker
Saturday October 17, 2026 from 10am-1pm
LOCATION: Guild Gallery & Art Center, 24353 Redwood Hwy. Kerby, OR 97531
Class Fee: $40-$60 sliding scale (all ages), open to ages 12+

Looking for a playful, hands-on way to create unique patterned papers? Join Elaine Barker on Saturday October 17 from 10am-1pm at the Guild for a 3-hour hands-on workshop all about Paste Painting! As a longtime local art teacher from an early age, EM Barker, began using paste painting as a process in her classroom for students' making their own 'text books' for the class. This intuitive and expressive 2D surface decorating process uses a mixture of paint and thick paste applied thickly to white or colored paper. Endless patterns and textures can be created in the wet paint/paste mixture with tools such as stencils, toothpicks, combs, brushes, plastic forks, or channel your inner child and use your finger tips!

Learn how this traditional book arts technique can be used as a foundation for abstract landscapes, greeting cards, floral motifs, portraits, geometric shapes, collages, journals, and more! Even better? Texture paste is generally waterproof once it has dried, after which the surface of can be treated with a suitable sealant, including spray and brush-on options. With Elaine's assistance, you will learn to use the paste provided and make a personal pattern tool to experiment with application and pattern making suggestions. Enjoy the process, explore the possibilities, and remain open to results! You will come away from class with 3 finished "paste paintings" that can be used in Elaine's follow-up Bookbinding Workshop on Saturday October 24.

This workshop is for ages 12+ and all skill levels are welcome--no experience is required other than the ability to hold a paintbrush! All minors should ideally be accompanied by an adult. Elaine will provide all materials such as papers, paints, and tools. Please wear clothing you are comfortable GETTING MESSY in-an apron or old work shirt is suggested! Class fees are sliding scale $40-$60 per person, all ages. When you register, please honestly self-select your contribution. Choose a tier that supports you to commit. By paying at the highest level you help subsidize others and offer scholarships to support a wider range of people. If the sliding scale would be a hardship and you’d like to request a scholarship, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us at (541)-592-5019.

ABOUT ELAINE BARKER-CORTRECHT: A Midwest child transplanted by choice (or cosmic intervention) to the Illinois Valley of Southern Oregon nearly 50 years ago, Barker is a divergent thinker, educator, creator, idealist, observer. From kindergarten, Barker knew she wanted to work in the arts. A practical, yet quietly adventurous spirit led her to various opportunities that fed and broadened her chosen field. From Indiana to NYC, South America to Paris, Barker pursued a larger experience of the world. Through varied media such as painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and papermaking, she has played with the possibilities. On the west coast she found the natural wonder that her spirit needed. As artist, instructor, mentor, mother and now ‘Nana’ she has continued to provide meaningful experiences for herself and many others through the arts. Her experience includes 30+ years of arts teaching experience at Illinois Valley High School, Dome School, Rogue Community College, and creating Art Share, an inter-grade arts learning program in the Illinois Valley. Elaine currently serves as Interim Treasurer on the Guild Board of Directors and a selection of her work can be found on display year round in the Guild Gallery & Art Center. “The power of transformative processes possible in the arts have led me ‘to look, to make, to wonder and to look again.’ This ‘change’ process can be tangible and/or intangible. Can take place in the artist and in the viewer. Art is all about the heart and the spirit. Under the guise of manipulating the crudely physical we are presented with the possibility of transforming a baser substance into the ethereal: making changes on the outside…and the inside, sometimes turning things inside out or working a bit of alchemy, looking for a ‘window.’” - Elaine M. Barker