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In-Depth Watercolor Extension Section 2/Wednesdays (In-Person)
with James Toogood
Wednesdays, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Instructor: James Toogood
Three-Week Extension Course
Enrich your knowledge of painting with an in-depth look at watercolor! This newly-added bonus/extension class both offers students who completed the ten-week In-Depth Watercolor course the option of continuing their studies with James Toogood and provides new students the opportunity to try out this engaging, all-levels watercolor class in a short three-week format. Group and one-on-one instruction is designed to equip each participant with the knowledge and skills necessary to make accomplished, personally rewarding watercolor paintings. Note: This course does not include use of models. Students need not have completed the full-length In-Depth Watercolor class to participate in this extension.
Image: James Toogood
Register by: November 19
Materials List
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Drawing from PAFA's Historic Casts (In-Person)
with Phyllis Laver
Tuesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver
Six-Week Short Course (18 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.
PAFA’s breathtaking Cast Hall is back for Spring 2026! Following renovations to PAFA's Historic Landmark Building, this unique resource is again available to offer enrolled students opportunities to work from copies of Greco-Roman and Renaissance sculpture, including the Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo, and the staggering life-size Michelangelo’s David, among other notable works. Students may also work from select casts on display in additional PAFA exhibition areas. Cast Drawing was one of the first courses established in the founding of the Academy and has remained a core part of PAFA’s fine arts curriculum for over 200 years. Become a part of this long and rich artistic tradition as you learn to draw accurately from observation, explore line and shape, describe form through light and shadow, and gain an appreciation for some of history’s most beautiful sculptural artworks. This course is an excellent introduction to drawing techniques and materials and is appropriate to all levels.
Read a History of PAFA’s Cast Hall by Faculty Member Al Gury here.
Image: Daniel Garber, [Cast drawing: female torso (4th century, Greece)] (detail), ca. 1899-1905, charcoal on cream paper, 24 1/4 x 18 3/4 in. Collection of the PAFA Museum. Accession # 1945.14.4. Gift of the artist.
Register by: January 13
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Drawing Fundamentals: Line and Form (In-Person)
with Phyllis Laver
Tuesdays, 6 - 9 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver
Six-Week Short Course (18 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.
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 simple forms, still life arrangements, and interior and exterior spaces to master the drawing elements: shape, contour line, composition, light and dark, texture and perspective. Instruction will guide students through sight-drawing and measuring techniques, use of materials, gauging value, and ways of defining form and space. This course is excellent as a foundation for future study, as a precursor to more advanced drawing study or to painting and other disciplines. Note: This part 1 course does not include work from models.
This class is part 1 of an optional 2-part course! See also Drawing Fundamentals: Cast and Figure for continued instruction. Students are welcome to enroll in either or both parts; Line and Form is not required as a prerequisite to Cast and Figure but is recommended for students with little or no drawing experience.
Image: Ellen R. Warren, Begonia, ca. 1880, pen and black ink on white wove paper, 2 x 3 1-4 in. Collection of PAFA.
Register by: January 13
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Figure Painting: Alla Prima and the Limited Palette (In-Person)
with David Wilson
Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Instructor: David Wilson
Six-Week Short Course (18 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.
Painting the human form from observation is one of the cornerstones of PAFA's long tradition of rigorous instruction. Working from the nude model in poses of varying lengths, investigate color mixing, proportion, and composition using oil paint as a medium. Focusing on alla prima painting techniques and a limited flesh-tone palette, learn to model the human form through gesture, shape, volume, and temperature – excellent for painted sketches and preparatory studies, foundations for extended work, or an introduction/refresher to figure painting. Intended for all skill levels, this course also offers the valuable opportunity for more advanced students to continue to hone their skills to deepen their understanding of the language of painting. Instruction will be geared toward oil, but students may draw-only, or use other appropriate media, if they wish. Note: Tuition includes a $35 models fee.
Image: David Wilson
Register by: January 16
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Methods of the Masters: Great Women Painters (Online)
with Al Gury
Sundays, 3 - 4 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings)
Instructor: Al Gury
Six-Week Condensed 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.
Explore the methods of some of the greatest painters in recent art history with Al Gury, noted professor and author of Alla Prima, Color for Painters, and Foundations of Drawing. Notable women artists Alice Neel, Mary Cassatt, Gabriel Munter, and Cecilia Beux, among others, will provide the basis for weekly painting projects. Learn from, and gain an increased appreciation for, these masters through an examination of their materials, color palettes, working methods, and histories through visual examples, discussions, video demonstrations, and tailored painting projects that will be critiqued by the instructor for helpful feedback. Class meetings will be held on Zoom, and assignments and asynchronous class content will be posted on Canvas, PAFA’s online learning platform. Open to all levels of experience and all media: oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel.
Image: Mary Cassatt, Young Thomas and his Mother (detail), 1893, pastel on wove paper, 23 5/8 x 19 3/4 in. Collection of the PAFA Museum, Accession # 1904.10. Pennsylvania Academy purchase.
Register by: January 16
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
Painting + Printmaking (In-Person)
with Justine Ditto
Mondays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Justine Ditto
Six-Week Short Course (18 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.
Painting and printmaking go hand-in-hand, not only as adjacent mediums but in combination. This freeing and instructive course presents printmaking techniques as jumping off points to making mixed media work in spirit of experimentation and personal expression. Learn how to make monotypes, drypoints, and screenprints as a foundation for incorporating your choice of graphite, colored pencil, acrylic, watercolor, oil paint, and/or collage. Content includes technical advice from an artist-instructor ideally skilled in a variety of media as well as critiques to expand your creative boundaries. This class is perfect for painters/draftspeople seeking to expand their processes, printmakers seeking to employ painterly and mixed media techniques, and anyone with love of color and experimentation. Open to all levels – no prior printmaking or painting experience required. Tuition includes a $20 materials fee.
Image: Justine Ditto
Register by: January 20
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)
with Kate Samworth
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
The American Watercolor Tradition (In-Person)
with Richard Estell
Mondays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Richard Estell
Six-Week Short Course (18 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.
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, Watercress, 2011, watercolor, 30 x 22 in.
Register by: March 2
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.