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Continuing Education at PAFA



All CE Winter/Spring 2026 Regular In-Person and Online Courses

Metal Sculpture (In-Person)

$515

with Steve Nocella

Calendar Next available session starts Jan 31, 2026 at 12:30 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Saturdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Steve Nocella 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 
Note: No class during Spring Break, March 2 - 8.

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

This ten-week course teaches the basic skills needed for making metal sculpture. Learn fundamental methods of cutting, bending and welding metal such as sawing, heating, and MIG welding. Students will be encouraged to explore the medium with directness and spontaneity to gain a knowledge and understanding of its complexion. Open to all levels. Note: Tuition includes a $65 lab fee.

Image: Steve Nocella, Bust with Helmet and Facemask No. 6, 2023, Mixed Media.

Register by: January 16 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Painting over the Line (In-Person)

$450

with Kassem Amoudi

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 4, 2026 at 12:30 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Wednesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

Learn to explore new possibilities and paint more intuitively under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor KassemAmoudi. Work from personal subject matter (objects, images, emotions, or ideas) to find your own visual language, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Examine how to use concepts of color, harmony, focal point, space, and mark-making as powerful tools of personal expression. Instruction is geared toward open painting time supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with students to guide them in their personal style and goals. This course is excellent for students pursuing abstract or nonobjective imagery, seeking knowledgeable feedback and a focused community painting environment. Painting experience recommended.

Image: Kassem Amoudi

Register by: January 28 
Materials List - Coming Soon
 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

The Art of Natural History Illustration (Online)

$350

with Kate Samworth

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 4, 2026 at 1:30 pm, runs for 8 weeks

Wednesdays, 1 - 3:30 p.m. (Zoom meetings supported by interactive asynchronous Canvas content)
Instructor: Kate Samworth 
Eight-Week Course (24-Hour Equivalent) 

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

Examine the social, scientific, religious, political, and economic factors that influenced centuries of cataloging the natural world, from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment. In this course, which combines art history with hands-on studio practice, students will learn to identify and imitate the traditional printmaking techniques that are integral to natural history illustration through a series of demonstrations in mixed media. Weekly hands-on Zoom sessions will be supplemented by recorded presentations on art history. Highlighted topics in science will encompass botany, ornithology, zoology, anatomy, entomology, cabinets of curiosity, marine life, and geometry in nature. Note: For intermediate-level students; prior still life drawing experience required.

Image: Kate Samworth, Ch.7 - Why Fish Don't Exist

Register by: January 28 
Materials List - Coming Soon
 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Terracotta Figure Sculpture (In-Person)

$515

with Morgan Dummitt

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 4, 2026 at 6 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Wednesdays, 6 - 9 p.m. 
Instructor: Morgan Dummitt 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

Modeling the figure in clay is the foundational skill of traditional sculpture. Working from a model, learn to sculpt in clay from initial gesture to surface finishing techniques. Topics of study will include proportion, composition, structure, and simplified sculptural form. Students will complete two sculptures in the course of the class. All work will be fired after class. Beginners welcome. Note: Tuition includes a $65 models fee.

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Gain a basic understanding of the osteology, myology, and anatomy of the figure
  • Analyze and organize the various elements of the body into simplified sculptural forms
  • Carry out best practices for modeling and maintaining water-based clay sculpture
  • Understand best practices for creating ceramic sculpture

Image: Morgan Dummitt, Brittany, terracotta.

Register by: January 28 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Oil/Acrylic Painting: Abstracting the Real (In-Person)

$450

with Frederic Kaplan

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 6, 2026 at 9 am, runs for 10 weeks

Fridays, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan 
Ten Week Course (18 Hours) 

Using oil or acrylic paints, exploit a wide range of techniques and artistic languages to transform everyday reality into expressive, symbolic, or personal statements. Base your paintings on unique studio still-life arrangements or use your own photographs as a starting point, and progress to working from a life model during the final weeks of the course. Topics discussed and demonstrated include using color as an emotive element, designing compositions to convey mood and movement, and employing energetic mark-making. For less experienced students, materials, color mixing, and basic techniques are also reviewed.

Course Objectives

Students will learn…

  • Selection and use basic materials, including the characteristics of various commonly used colors, solvents, and mediums 
  • Execution of a variety of direct and indirect painting methods. 
  • Approaches to interpreting and modifying observed reality to achieve emotive, symbolic, and compositional goals 
  • Descriptive, emotive, and symbolic use of color, shape, and mark 
  • Basic color theory and color mixing  

Image: Frederic Kaplan

Register by: January 30 
Materials List - Coming Soon
 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Portrait in Pencil Workshop (In-Person)

$205

with RA Friedman

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 7, 2026 at 9 am

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: RA Friedman 
Weekend Workshop 

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

Using inexpensive materials, this hands-on workshop will introduce the concepts and methods needed to create a strong sense of dimension and likeness in your portrait drawings. Explore the proportions and planes of the head, neck and shoulders. Learn how to create a structural foundation and how to easily manage anatomy by breaking down forms into simple geometric shapes. Instruction will address different strategies for creating a finished tonal portrait as well as tips and tricks that will help you draw like a pro! Note: Tuition includes a $10 models fee.

For more advanced instruction or an optional follow-up to this course, see Advanced Portrait Drawing Workshop.

Image: RA Friedman

Register by: January 30 
Materials List - Coming Soon 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Color Woodcut Printmaking (In-Person)

$480

with Rebecca Gilbert

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 12, 2026 at 1 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Thursdays, 1 - 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Rebecca Gilbert 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

Printing from a drawing carved into wood is the oldest and most straightforward form of printmaking. Expand the expressive possibilities of the medium by infusing color into the process! Learn reduction and multiple block relief printmaking techniques to produce vibrant, layered color prints. Instruction will cover all steps from start to finished print: material selection and use, image planning, tool handling for a variety of mark-making tactics, reduction and multiple block processes, color mixing, printing by hand and on an etching press, registration techniques, cleaning, and editioning. All levels welcome. Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.

Image: Rebecca Gilbert, Momento Mori/Skulls, Reduction and Multiple Block Woodcut.

Register by: February 5 
Materials List - Coming Soon
 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Observational Perspective (Online)

$415

with Frederic Kaplan

Calendar Next available session starts Feb 12, 2026 at 7 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Thursdays, 7 - 8:30 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings)
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan 
Ten-Week Course (30-Hour Equivalent) 

Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.

Perspective is at the heart of good drawing and painting, allowing us to translate the observable world into believable two-dimensional images and create invented spaces. Learn the fundamentals of linear perspective in clear, easy to-understand language, and apply these principles to still life, interiors and cityscape views.  This course will utilize the online learning platform, Canvas, and include videos, lectures and assignments with regular instructor feedback, plus weekly live sessions via Zoom. Basic drawing experience recommended.    

Learning Objectives: 

  • Improve observational and interpretive skills, including the ability to gauge proportions, orientations, and relative positions of objects and their parts.  
  • Achieve understanding of the core principles of linear perspective.  
  • Develop skill in applying the principles of linear perspective to real-world situations.

Image: Frederic Kaplan

Register by: February 5 
Materials List - Coming Soon
 
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering. 
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses





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