Thursdays, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Dan Miller
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)*
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)  

Printing from a drawing carved into wood or a linoleum block is the oldest and most straightforward form of printmaking. The direct nature of this process makes it an ideal introduction to printmaking for beginners, while artists of all levels enjoy its potential for intricate detail and graphic impact. All aspects of the process will be covered, including drawing on the block, carving your design, ink brayer use and press operation, and printing in black-and white and color. All levels welcome. Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.   

*Note: No class on March 6. 

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $625 (including lab fee). Select credit option with price adjustment when registering. 

Image: Dan Miller, Leaning from the Sea, color woodcut.

Register by: January 31
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Thursdays, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)*
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Drawing from the portrait and life model is one of the most time-honored methods of art training at PAFA. Improve your observation-based drawing skills as you work in charcoal and graphite directly from life models in short and long poses, exploring gesture, proportions, anatomy and expression. All levels welcome. Note: Tuition includes a $65 models fee. 

Learning Objectives 

• Students will stretch the traditional definitions of portrait and life drawing to merge the two into personal statements. 

• Students will work with clothed and unclothed/life models who are diverse individuals. 

• Students will acquire a working knowledge of varied drawing materials, including charcoal, graphite and ink. 

• Students will acquire a working knowledge of form and structure in the body. 

• Students will develop the ability to better see the model rather than rely on schema. 

• Students will acquire knowledge of diverse artists and their ways of working. 

*Note: No class on March 6.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $660, including models fee. Select credit option when registering.

Image: Phyllis Laver.

Register by: January 30
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

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

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 the instructor's Advanced Portrait Drawing Workshop.

Register by: January 31
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Saturdays, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Michelle Oosterbaan
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Learn the fundamentals of drawing with the vibrancy colored pencil! Work from still life objects and arrangements, natural and urban landscape window views, and clothed portrait/figure models to explore descriptive and expressive line quality, light/shadow, composition, color relationships, cross-hatching and layering methods, as ways to render scenic form and space. Instruction will guide students through observational sighting and measuring techniques and color theory essentials to achieve a sense of realism and to serve as a solid foundation for future study. Tuition includes a $25 models fee.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $620, including models fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Register by: January 31
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Colleen O'Donnell
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Learn how to translate ideas of nature and abstraction into three-dimensions through the medium of clay. Combine your observations of the forms and textures of the natural world with your imagination to create sculptures that capture the graceful lines, fluid forms, and intricate patterns of leaves, bark and branches, flowers, animal matter, and geological features. Students are encouraged to explore traditional and contemporary treatment of subject matter, with abstract expression encouraged to capture the essence and beauty of organic objects. Open to all levels; no experience necessary. 

Register by: February 7
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Saturdays, 1 – 3:30 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Susan Sullivan
Ten-Week Course (30-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Abstraction in art can look like a variety of different things, from the painterly glow of a Turner seascape to the flattened patterns of a Matisse interior to Pollock’s nonobjective drip technique. But how does one get from painting realistically what one can see in the real world to translating it into invented color and shape or to abandoning form altogether? Learn from master artists throughout modern art history by trying on their techniques to find your own personal style! Explore different paint application methods, color interactions, and compositional tactics as you take on a variety of subjects, including still life, interiors, landscape, and the figure or self-portrait…using the examples of Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Mickalene Thomas, and other master artists to guide you. Each session will open with lecture/critique with artist examples and then lead into open painting time with one-on-one feedback from the instructor. Whether you are seeking to drive your current work to a new direction or simply experiment with different ways of generating imagery, this is a great steppingstone to making abstraction – in whatever form it may take – personal, expressive, and satisfying. Open to all media and levels but drawing experience recommended.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $595. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Register by: February 7
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Instructor: James Toogood
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only  

Interested in learning or improving your watercolor skills? All materials and techniques will be discussed, including the selection of papers, brushes, and pigments, as well as transparent and opaque painting methods. Students will work from still-life subjects and/or their own source material.  All levels welcome. 

Register by: February 14
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies 

Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Many artists can feel frustrated in front of a blank canvas, unsure of how to start and what to paint. Paint with confidence by learning techniques to tap into your intuitive process and find inspiration more easily! Experienced instruction and advice will push students to take chances and explore unexpected directions and accidental marks to achieve artistic discoveries. Students will use line, color and space, and editing possibilities to create busy/calm areas and focal points in their paintings as they work from personal imagery, expression, and imagination. Instruction will take the form of PowerPoint presentation/examples, formal direction from modern and contemporary artists, and one-on-on critiques in Zoom sessions that are geared toward open painting time in a classroom-like setting.  Painting experience recommended.  

Register by: February 21
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses