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Continuing Education at PAFA

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CE Summer Session 1: May 15 - June 30 (Includes Ten-Week Courses Starting in Session 1)

in All CE Summer 2025 In-Person and Online Courses

Foundry: An Introduction/All Levels (In-Person)

$615

with Pavel Efremoff

Calendar Next available session starts May 22, 2025 at 12:30 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Thursdays, 12:30 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Pavel Efremoff
Ten-Week Condensed Course (35 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credits (See Below)
No class on June 19 (Juneteenth)

This course will cover all aspects of the foundry process. Demonstrations and hands-on instruction will be given in wax modeling and casting, ceramic shell techniques, bronze pouring, metal chasing, TIG welding and patination. All levels welcome. Note: Tuition includes a $75 lab fee.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credits for $770 (including lab fee). Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Image: Pavel Efremoff.

Register by: May 15
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Urban Landscape Drawing (Outdoor)

$295

with Frederic Kaplan

Calendar Next available session starts May 23, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 6 weeks

Fridays, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Capture Philadelphia’s picturesque historic and commercial architecture, using fundamental observational drawing techniques. Learn simple methods for applying the principles of linear and atmospheric perspective to your drawings, giving them dimension and depth. Students at all experience levels are welcome, with instruction designed to appeal both to those who enjoy portraying landscape subjects in the open air and to students seeking to hone their basic drawing skills. This course takes place in easy-to-access Central Philadelphia and University City locations. Restrooms are available near all sites. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation to drawing locations.

Image: Student Work courtesy of Frederic Kaplan - Christie Taylor, Love Park.

Register by: May 16
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide,
including withdrawal/refund policies

Drawing Fundamentals (Online)

$265

with David Wilson

Calendar Next available session starts May 23, 2025 at 10 am, runs for 6 weeks

Fridays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas Content)
Instructor: David Wilson
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Drawing is not only the starting point for artistic study in any medium, but also a unique and personal way of portraying people and places, expressing ideas, and recording experiences – accessible to anyone! Whether you are seeking to launch your artistic career or to capture the world with pencil on paper, this course is for you. Explore drawing’s fundamental materials, techniques, and principles through live Zoom demonstrations and posted instructional content. Learn to translate the three-dimensional world to the flat surface of your paper by working from still-life objects, interiors, and portraits in your choice of pencil, charcoal, or other media. This course is appropriate for all levels, from beginners to more experienced artists seeking to hone their core skills.

Learning Objectives:

  • Strong designs and compositions
  • Accurate shapes and proportions
  • Believable depiction of light and space
  • Dynamic use of tones, marks, and textures

Image: David Wilson.

Register by: May 16
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide,
including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Painting over the Line (In-Person)

$450

with Kassem Amoudi

Calendar Next available session starts May 28, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 10 weeks

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

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. Open painting is heavily supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student 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. 

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

Image: Kassem Amoudi

Register by: May 21
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Stone Carving (In-Person)

$480

with Steve Nocella

Calendar Next available session starts May 31, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 10 weeks

Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Instructor: Steve Nocella
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
No class on July 5 (Independence Day Weekend)

Explore the possibilities of stone carving by using traditional and nontraditional methods. All processes from rough carving to polishing will be covered, and various tools and techniques will be demonstrated. Open to all levels. Note: Tuition includes $30 lab fee.

Learning Objectives

  • Develop proficiency in basic tool use including manual carving, pneumatic carving, sawing, grinding, and sanding.
  • Learn the methods of stone carving beginning with "roughing out" a form and finishing with sanding and polishing.
  • Develop a perceptual ability for spatial relationships of the elements that constitute a sculpture or a three-dimensional image.
  • Learn to use creative and critical thinking in the process of carving sculpture.
  • Gain an appreciation for the influence and informing effect that medium and process have on image making.
  • Acquire an introductory understanding of the history of stone carving and the capacity to conceptualize context for the student's sculpture.

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

Register by: May 24
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Metal Sculpture (In-Person)

$515

with Steve Nocella

Calendar Next available session starts May 31, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Saturdays, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Steve Nocella
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
No class on July 5 (Independence Day Weekend)

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.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $660 (including lab fee). Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Register by: May 24
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Watercolor in the Park (Outdoor)

$250

with Keith Leitner

Calendar Next available session starts Jun 1, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 5 weeks

Sundays, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Instructor: Keith Leitner
Five-Week Short Course (15 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
Includes Rain Date: July 13

Capture the colors of summer enplein air through vibrant watercolor! Become comfortable and confident with the practice of working outdoors at picturesque Lemon Hill, Laurel Hill, and other select locations around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Fairmount Park. Instruction will cover means of accurately and expressively depicting outdoor sites, watercolor painting techniques, color mixing, and the history and capabilities of water media. All levels welcome. Note: Students are responsible for their own transportation to painting locations.   

Learning Objectives:   

  • Learn to observe and depict landscape and cityscape enplein air with attendant materials and set up
  • Learn color mixing and watercolor application techniques 
  • Study of pigment history and development 
  • Learn about watercolor history via short discussions of painters and their motifs

See work from instructor Keith Leitner's solo exhibition at Cerulean Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, April 9 - May 4, 2025!

Register by: May 23
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide,
including withdrawal/refund policies 

Ceramic Sculpture (In-Person)

$480

with Marguerita Hagan

Calendar Next available session starts Jun 3, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 10 weeks

Tuesdays, 1 – 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Marguerita Hagan 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours) 
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
No class on June 17

Explore a custom sculpture experience in clay with veteran ceramicist, Marguerita Hagan. Learn various hand-building processes with an emphasis on abstraction. Create work that is either wall-hanging or free-standing, focused on 3D qualities or surface treatments, or both. Whatever you imagine will be supported with experienced individualized attention and specific hand-building and painting techniques to manifest your intention. Gain exposure not only to hand-building directions but also to many surface treatment methods including airbrush, underglaze paints, pencils, masking, resist, glaze, overglaze lusters, and waterslide and rice paper transfer decals. Instruction will be tailored to serve the individual whether for learning basic hand-building methods or realizing a work or series. Come with no experience or translate your existing practice into the transformative language of clay. Note: Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.

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

Register by: May 27
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies





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