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Fast and Unfussed: Painting Loosely in Oils (In-Person)
with Roger Chavez
Mondays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Roger Chavez
Credit: Non-credit only
Cultivate fluid mark-making and bold approaches to subject matter through rapid and loose painting studies. Tight and precise painting, especially in the early stages of an artwork, can sometimes lead to work that appears stiff and over-labored, or to locked-in compositions that are difficult to change or correct. Working from the still life, cityscapes, and the life model, utilize short, small painting exercises to learn new ways of starting paintings, keeping compositions open to adjustment, and both initiating and retaining a sense of freshness in your forms and brushstrokes. Instruction will address color mixing, making a practical setting for painting, and investigating new methodologies to apply to your paintings. Discover the beauty and freedom of loosening up your painting!
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to effectively make use of short, fast, and small painting exercises
- Learn the importance and the effectiveness of setting a viable learning environment for painting
- Learn effective color mixing along with use of materials and techniques
Image: Roger Chavez
Register by: October 20
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
The American Watercolor Tradition (In-Person)
with Richard Estell
Mondays, 12:30 – 3: 30 p.m.
Instructor: Richard Estell
Credit: Non-credit only
Explore the painting techniques of the masters who pioneered the 19th and 20th century American watercolor movement, including Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, and Charles Demuth. Characterized by bright color and bold handling that includes accents of opaque watercolor and loose washes, work in this tradition captures subject matter with dazzling light-filled effects. Practice these classic methods and learn to incorporate them into your own artwork to achieve a greater freedom of expression as well as adaptability and control in the way that you paint. Demonstrations and art historical discussions will be combined with short and more extensive still life and self-portrait exercises. This course is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels.
Image: Richard Estell, River Rocks and Fog, watercolor, 22 x 30 in.
Register by: October 20
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
Classical Design for Contemporary Artists (Online)
with Charles Muldowney
Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Zoom, with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Charles Muldowney
Credit: Non-credit only
Design is the application of the formal elements of aesthetics to an artwork to enhance its strengths. Explore composition, space, value, light, color, line, texture and pattern so that you can employ these powerful elements in your own work. Demonstrations and discussions of artists past and present will exemplify each principle. Learn to apply these concepts through experimentation and targeted projects. Course topics will address composition, space, perspective, value and light, color, line, and texture and pattern.
Learning Objectives:
- Students will recognize and apply the seven basic elements of classical design.
- Students will become familiar with several important art historical figures, and their influence on design.
- Students will experiment with a variety of techniques and materials to gain an understanding of how mark making influences design.
- Students will develop and discuss concepts and image development in the form of structured critique.
- Students will gain confidence in their ability to create interesting design within their own artwork.
Register by: October 20
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
Creative Drawing with Graphite, Charcoal, and Pastel Pencils (Online)
with Alicia Mino
Tuesdays, 6 – 8 p.m. (Zoom, with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Alicia Mino
Credit: Non-credit only
Gain or expand your drawing skills in graphite, charcoal, and pastel for a variety of monochromatic or color applications. Utilizing modern and unusual subjects, learn how to exploit the different qualities of these materials to suggest a range realistic and expressive effects. Instruction will address line quality and shading for each medium; how to create implied texture, light, and contrast; and addition and subtraction methods with brushes and kneaded erasers. Explore innovative techniques for combining materials and methods to best express your interior vision and external world. This course is excellent for beginning students or those building on previous study.
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn about graphite pencil, charcoal, and pastel pencil techniques
- Students will learn how these materials can be mixed for more interesting effects
- Students will learn how to render realism though the study of texture, light and contrast
- Students will learn how to utilize the addition and subtraction technique with brushes and kneaded eraser
Image: Alicia Mino.
Register by: October 20
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
All About Acrylics (In-Person)
with Frederic Kaplan
Wednesdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Credit: Non-credit only
This complete acrylic painting course covers basics to advanced methods. Learn to use quick-drying acrylics expertly in thin, transparent layers as well as thicker, more opaque applications that produce textural and impasto effects. Materials like fluid mediums, gels, and pastes will be demonstrated, along with both brush and palette knife techniques. Several different color palettes will be introduced as students paint a variety of still life arrangements. This course is ideal for students looking for a non-toxic, flexible painting medium, as well as anyone seeking to explore acrylics’ excellent potential for representational and abstract work. Drawing experience is recommended.
Image: Fred Kaplan, Despina, 2019, acrylic panel, 12 X 12 in.
Register by: October 20
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
Alternative Media for Illustrators (Online)
with James Heimer
Wednesdays, 6 – 9 p.m. (Zoom, with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: James Heimer
Credit: Non-credit only
Refine your visual communications skills and experiment with personal style through unconventional media. In other words, this is creative playtime for adults.
This course is designed for creative professionals who are eager to expand their personal mark-making language, strengthen their capacity for visual problem solving, and develop unique strategies for managing creative block. Students will be challenged with creating illustrative two- and three-dimensional work using found materials in addition to experimenting with DIY printmaking methods. Through a variety of group exercises and individual assignments, this class will encourage artistic growth through critical thinking and process related risk.
This course will utilize the online learning platform Canvas, and includes video demonstrations, lectures, and assignments. Weekly group exercises and individual critiques will be conducted via Zoom.
Image: James Heimer.
Register by: October 27
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
Digital Photography: Telling Stories and Creating a Sense of Place (Online)
with RA Friedman
Thursdays, 7 – 8 p.m.
Instructor: RA Friedman
Credit: Non-credit only
Explore the essential tools and techniques of digital photography with an emphasis on using the camera as an expressive tool for capturing meaningful narratives and environments. Through engaging weekly assignments and critiques, work with the vast and varied language of photography and create images in new and thought-provoking ways that will bring your own vision forward. Become better acquainted with your camera’s capabilities and with which modes and techniques work best for various conditions. Mirrorless or DSLR camera that can shoot in RAW format and in fully manual mode (speed, aperture, focus) and PC or Mac with image processing software, preferably Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, required.
This course does not meet during Thanksgiving Break, November 23 - 26.
Register by: October 20
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
Cut Paper Still Life Painting Workshop (In-Person)
with Meghan Cox
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Meghan Cox
Credit: Non-Credit Only
Abstraction meets representation in this creative take on still life painting. Students will assemble their own still-life set-ups from folded and cut colored paper and then translate these arrangements through observational oil painting on paper. Working from colored planar structures allows the opportunity to explore all the essential aspects of representational still life painting – form, space, value, color relationships, and composition – while experiencing the inherent abstraction of simple shapes and planes of color. Printed papers may additionally allow the introduction of compositional concepts of harmony, pattern, and repetition. Discover the unexpectedly beautiful results of working from the most unassuming of subjects. This class serves both as an engaging exercise in color and abstraction to inspire one’s painting practice and as an excellent introduction to painting concepts through humble, easy-to-draw subject matter.
Image: Meghan Cox, That Early Evening and Orange (detail), Oil on paper over birch panel, 14 x 12 in.
Register by: November 3
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies