Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
RAIN DATE: May 4* 
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan 
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Capture the active life of the city and its rich architecture. This is an excellent workshop for anyone who wants to learn to sketch on the bus or train, in cafés and public parks, or while traveling abroad. Topics include perspective, gauging proportions by eye, gesture figure drawing, and methods for simplifying form. All levels welcome.  

* Rain Date: May 4. Please plan on the rain date when registering – regular withdrawal policies apply, dated by the original workshop date, for students unable to attend the rescheduled date. See policy guide, below.  

Learning Objectives  

• Gesture figure drawing methods  
• Basic perspective as applied to architecture  
• Simplification of complex subjects 

Image:  Sybille Zeldin, Turkey Mart. Courtesy of the student. 

Register by: April 19 
Materials List  
Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies 

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  
Instructor: James Toogood 
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, and/or their own source material.  All levels welcome.

Image: James Toogood.

Register by: April 26 
Materials List  
Winter/Spring 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies 

Friday – Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Live Zoom Only)
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

If you are tired of getting lost in the details and traditional modes of representational painting and want to take a risk by exploring new ways of expressing the human form, this class is for you. Learn to paint and draw the human figure in a looser, more expressionistic contemporary manner. Expert instruction and advice from the instructor will push students to work more intuitively, allowing unplanned marks and passages to become artistic breakthroughs. PowerPoint presentations and examples of contemporary ways of using the figure will be provided to enhance your understanding of the abstract qualities of space, line and color. Sessions will include live painting time in the style of a traditional classroom environment, with critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student. Open to all levels of figure drawing/painting experience, but students should have experience with using their materials of choice. Note: Due to the emphasis on live instructor feedback and in-class painting, this Zoom class is not recorded.

Image: Kassem Amoudi, Shadow 3 (detail), acrylic on canvas.

Register by: May 31

Materials List

Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Perspective is at the heart of good drawing. It allows us to transform the 3D world into a believable 2D image, and it need not be difficult to understand. With still life and interiors as subject matter, learn basic principles and simple methods presented in clear language and without the need for special tools or complex geometry. This workshop serves as a good foundation for further study in drawing. A modest amount of previous drawing experience is recommended. 

Image: Fred Kaplan.

Register by: June 14
Materials List
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

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, and/or their own source material. All levels welcome.

Images: James Toogood.

Register by: June 21

Materials List

Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Saturday Zoom Intro, 1 – 3 p.m. and Sunday Outdoors/On-Location, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (See below for rain date.)
Instructor: Colleen O’Donnell
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Nature can stimulate creativity and mindfulness, and likewise mindful creativity can amplify one’s appreciation of nature. Improve your ability to be conscious in and with nature by creating a temporary artwork in a natural setting using the materials found there. Making an artwork onsite not only amplifies attention to the beautiful details of one’s surroundings, but also the ephemeral, or impermanent, nature of land work releases the artist from preconceived ideas or pressures of making a lasting "product" so that they can be concerned only with living and creating in the moment. The class will meet first via Zoom to discuss ideas of land art, view examples, and plan for their activity.  Students will then gather and create their works in Montgomery County's peaceful Fort Washington State Park, and afterward photograph it or make a short video to preserve the memory. This workshop is a great way to use art-makingas a way to relax and connect with nature.No prior experience necessary. Students are responsible for their own transportation.

Note: Please reserve rain dates of July 20 – 21. Regular refund policies apply to original dates only; no refunds available for students unable to attend rain dates. See CE policy guide below for withdrawal policies.

Image: Colleen O'Donnell, Oceanscape, driftwood, shells and plastic straw, 6 x 18 x 6 in.

Register by: July 26
Materials List
Summer 2024 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.

Image: RA Friedman. 

Register by: July 12
Materials List 
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Saturday and Sunday, 1 – 4 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Susan Sullivan 
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Collage has the incredible capacity to combine disparate materials, text, and imagery into a single, coherent composition that is textural, colorful, and visually interesting or even surprising.  It also can serve as a great means of personal expression, story-telling, or self-exploration, combining objects from the artist’s life or surroundings. Explore the many ways you can create your own imagery through mixed media collage by examining composition, communication, and assembling techniques. Experiment with found objects, images, photo transfer, paint, ink, and dry media on various surfaces. Examine the collage and mixed media work by master artists such as Pablo Picasso, Hannah Hoch, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Richard Hamilton, Miriam Schapiro and Anselm Kiefer. This course is open to all levels, with no prior experience necessary. 

Image: Susan Sullivan, This is the only way I could think of contacting you, Mix Media, 7.25 x 6.75 in.

Register by: July 19
Materials List  
Summer 2024 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses