Filter by Subcategory
Courses by Medium/Discipline
The Complete Terracotta Portrait
with Morgan Dummitt
Tuesdays, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Morgan Dummitt
Six-Week Condensed Course (36 Hours)
Modeling the portrait in clay is a foundational skill of traditional sculpture. Working from a model, learn to create a portrait from composition to completed sculpture. Focus will include simple structural forms, proportion, anatomy, and technical best practices for clay sculpture. Work will be fired at the end of class. All levels welcome. Tuition includes a $75 models fee.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Gain a basic understanding of the osteology, myology, and morphology of the head
- Analyze and organize the various forms of the head and neck into simplified sculptural forms
- Understand various techniques for creating a “likeness” of the sitter
- Carry out best practices for modeling and maintaining water-based clay sculpture.
Image: Morgan Dummitt
Register by: May 19
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Landscape Revisited (INDOOR)
with Shushana Rucker
Tuesdays, 6 - 9 p.m.
Instructor: Shushana Rucker
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
No class on July 7
This extended course explores landscape drawing and painting in the studio using reference photos and sketches. Students will learn how to create effective reference materials through photography, sketching, and observation, and how to translate these references into compelling compositions. Instruction will focus on principles of design, including balance, value structure, and spatial organization, alongside an in-depth exploration of color relationships, atmosphere, and light. Through a series of projects and critiques, students will develop technical skills and a personal approach to interpreting the landscape.
Image: Shushana Rucker, The Schuylkill, oil on panel, 10 x 20 in.
Register by: May 19
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Sketch on the Go (OUTDOOR)
with Frederic Kaplan
Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Weekend Workshop (One-Day, 7 Hours)
Rain Date: June 6*
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.
*Please reserve the rain date in your schedule when registering – no refunds for withdrawals less than one week prior to the original workshop date, including for students unable to attend the postponed date. See policy guide, below.
Register by: May 22
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Stone Carving
with Steve Nocella
Saturdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Instructor: Steve Nocella
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
No class on July 4
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.
Register by: May 22
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Metal Sculpture
with Steve Nocella
Saturdays, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Steve Nocella
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
No class on July 4
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.
Register by: May 22
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Wood Studio
with John Greig
Wednesdays, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Instructor: John Greig
Eight-Week Short Course
This class will explore wood as a primary art-making medium, looking at its many types, techniques and uses. Students will develop a well-rounded foundation of wood-working skills including cutting, milling, laminating, joinery and safe use of wood-working tools. Contemporary, traditional and ancient art works made of wood will be presented for historical and contextual understanding. Students will be encouraged to find their own unique voice within the material while building skills. Tuition includes $30 materials fee.
Image: John Greig
Register by: May 27
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Watercolor Workshop
with James Toogood
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Instructor: James Toogood
Weekend Workshop (14 Hours)
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 subjects and/or their own source material. All levels welcome.
Image: James Toogood
Register by: May 29
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Assemblage and Mixed Media Art (ONLINE)
with Colleen O'Donnell
Tuesdays, 3 - 5 p.m. (Zoom with supplemental Canvas content) Instructor: Colleen O'Donnell
Six-Week Short Course (18-Hour Equivalent)
From the poetic artworks of Joseph Cornell to politically charged assemblages of Betye Saar, assemblage is a powerful means of artistic expression, engaging the unconscious while drawing on elements of design, whimsy, and chance to reflect a point of view and a moment in time. In this class, learn to transform everyday items, found objects, elements of nature, or memorabilia into three-dimensional sculpture and collage. Be guided through a different topic each week, delving into your own responses and ideas to create dramatic, humorous, emotional, and satirical works of art.
Register by: June 2
Materials List
Please review CE's Summer 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses