How to go
What: Valentines & Vino
Where: Gallery 510, 510 E. Fifth St., Dayton
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12
Cost: $25 per person. Reservations are required.
More info: (937) 672-6717 or www.lorettapuncer.com/gallery.html
Anyone who has ever doodled on paper to pass the time can “Zentangle.”
Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts of Whitinsville, Mass., came up with the name one day as Thomas remarked on how relaxed she felt while drawing background patterns on a manuscript. It’s a meditative artform with no rules and no erasers.
Gallery 510 is having a special Zentangle workshop conducted by longtime Dayton artist Carole Ohl.
Valentines & Vino invites participants to create Zentangle valentine cards for the sweeties in their life. Students can either embellish premade Zentangle cards with ink or color, or create their own designs.
“Everyone is familiar with basic doodling, but this is a deliberate form of that,” said Ohl, a graphic designer and jewelry artist. “It doesn’t require artistic talent or vision, but it’s structured enough that people are comfortable doing it.”
According to gallery owner Loretta Puncer, Ohl had a two-hour Zentangle workshop with a small group at Gallery 510 in early January. Attendees had so much fun with the new artform that they asked for another workshop.
“It’s a right brain, restorative type of activity. Your worries float away as you’re concentrating on the repeating patterns,” said Puncer. “Ohl makes up these nice little kits with a booklet of suggested patterns, cards and an archival pen.”
Enough materials to make two valentines will be provided at the workshop. Wine and light snacks will be served.
“A friend of mine told me about Zentangle about three months ago, and it really captured my attention,” said Ohl, who also teaches beaded jewelry design at the Bead Cage in Kettering. “I started doing them and I haven’t been able to stop.”
Contact contributing arts writer Pamela Dillon at pamdillon@woh.rr.com.
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