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Composition Through Color in Drawing and Painting (Online)
with Al Gury

Sundays, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings)
Instructor: Al Gury
Six-Week Condensed Course (30-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
Register by August 22 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDFALL2025 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 Fall classes and workshops only. Studio rental programs, Open Academy (BFA) courses, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
Explore how to use color as an organizing force in your drawings and paintings with Al Gury, Professor of Painting and Drawing at PAFA, and noted author of Alla Prima, Color for Painters, and Foundations of Drawing. This class presents practical skills and strategies for making strong compositions using color in the selection of hues, arrangement of marks/shapes, range values, and use of temperature to establish visual balance, space, and visual focus within the pictorial frame of an artwork. Projects will utilizelandscape, portrait, still life, and abstraction to examine color’s impact on design. Classes will contain explanations of the visual compositional strategies in both historic and contemporary art, instructor demonstrations, and tactics for problem-solving, as well as weekly assignments and critiques of personal work.Content will address techniques in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel, with a focus on color applications. Class meetings will be held on Zoom, and assignments and asynchronous class content will be posted on Canvas, PAFA’s online learning platform.Beginning and advanced studentswelcome.
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $595. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.
Image: Al Gury
Register by: September 26
Materials List
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses
Drawing Fundamentals (In-Person)
with Phyllis Laver

Tuesdays, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
Register by August 22 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDFALL2025 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 Fall classes and workshops only. Studio rental programs, Open Academy (BFA) courses, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
If you’ve never drawn before, or your skills are a little rusty, then this class is for you. Learn to draw what you see with confidence. Work from still life arrangements, selections from PAFA’s casts and statuary, interior spaces, and the human figure to master the drawing elements: shape, contour line, composition, light and shadow, texture and perspective. Instruction will guide students through sight-drawing and measuring techniques, use of materials, shading methods, and ways of defining form and space. This course is also excellent as a foundation for future study, including for painting and other disciplines. Note: Tuition includes a $25 models fee.
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $620, including lab fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.
Image: Phyllis Laver
Register by: September 30
Materials List
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Portrait Drawing: Cast and Life (In-Person)
with Phyllis Laver

Tuesdays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
Register by August 22 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDFALL2025 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 Fall classes and workshops only. Studio rental programs, Open Academy (BFA) courses, gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
Develop your ability to render the portrait through the time-honored methods of drawing from both the cast and life. Learn techniques of observational drawing such as measuring, recognizing proportions and anatomical landmarks, and establishing the effects of light and shadowwhile working in a variety of dry drawing media. Part of the portrait study will be devoted to working from selections from PAFA’s historic cast collection of Antique and Renaissance sculpture to master sighting techniques and tonal gradations. The rest of the class will focus on drawing from the model, both clothed and unclothed, to capture the subtleties and vitality of the head and figure, for both traditional and extended portrait representations.Throughout the semester, the work of varied artists will be introduced and discussed. Note: This portrait course includes the use of nude models. Course tuition includes a $50 model fee.
Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $645, including lab fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.
Image: Phyllis Laver
Register by: September 30
Materials List
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies