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Painting + Printmaking (In-Person)
with Justine Ditto
Mondays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Justine Ditto
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Note: Due to inclement weather on this course's originally scheduled start date of January 26, the dates for this class have changed to February 2 - March 9 (postponed by one week).
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 26 (pending space)
Materials List (note date change above)
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Painting over the Line (In-Person)
with Kassem Amoudi
Wednesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
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. Instruction is geared toward open painting time supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with students 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.
Image: Kassem Amoudi
Register by: January 28
Materials List
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, 1:30 - 3 p.m. (Zoom meetings supported by interactive asynchronous Canvas content)
Instructor: Kate Samworth
Eight-Week Course (24-Hour Equivalent)
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
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses
Terracotta Figure Sculpture (In-Person)
with Morgan Dummitt
Wednesdays, 6 - 9 p.m.
Instructor: Morgan Dummitt
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Modeling the figure in clay is the foundational skill of traditional sculpture. Working from a model, learn to sculpt in clay from initial gesture to surface finishing techniques. Topics of study will include proportion, composition, structure, and simplified sculptural form. Students will complete two sculptures in the course of the class. All work will be fired after class. Beginners welcome. Note: Tuition includes a $65 models fee.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Gain a basic understanding of the osteology, myology, and anatomy of the figure
- Analyze and organize the various elements of the body into simplified sculptural forms
- Carry out best practices for modeling and maintaining water-based clay sculpture
- Understand best practices for creating ceramic sculpture
Image: Morgan Dummitt, Brittany, terracotta.
Register by: January 28
Materials List
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Oil/Acrylic Painting: Abstracting the Real (In-Person)
with Frederic Kaplan
Fridays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Ten Week Course (30 Hours)
Using oil or acrylic paints, exploit a wide range of techniques and artistic languages to transform everyday reality into expressive, symbolic, or personal statements. Base your paintings on unique studio still-life arrangements or use your own photographs as a starting point. Topics discussed and demonstrated include using color as an emotive element, designing compositions to convey mood and movement, and employing energetic mark-making. For less experienced students, materials, color mixing, and basic techniques are also reviewed.
Course Objectives
Students will learn…
- Selection and use basic materials, including the characteristics of various commonly used colors, solvents, and mediums
- Execution of a variety of direct and indirect painting methods.
- Approaches to interpreting and modifying observed reality to achieve emotive, symbolic, and compositional goals
- Descriptive, emotive, and symbolic use of color, shape, and mark
- Basic color theory and color mixing
Image: Frederic Kaplan
Register by: January 30
Materials List
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Color Woodcut Printmaking (In-Person)
with Rebecca Gilbert
Thursdays, 1 - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Rebecca Gilbert
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Printing from a drawing carved into wood is the oldest and most straightforward form of printmaking. Expand the expressive possibilities of the medium by infusing color into the process! Learn reduction and multiple block relief printmaking techniques to produce vibrant, layered color prints. Instruction will cover all steps from start to finished print: material selection and use, image planning, tool handling for a variety of mark-making tactics, reduction and multiple block processes, color mixing, printing by hand and on an etching press, registration techniques, cleaning, and editioning. All levels welcome. Tuition includes a $30 lab fee for Print Shop use/maintenance (separate from the student-supplied materials list below).
Image: Rebecca Gilbert, Momento Mori/Swans, Reduction and Multiple Block Woodcut.
Register by: February 11
Materials List
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Observational Perspective (Online)
with Frederic Kaplan
Thursdays, 7 - 8:30 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings)
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Ten-Week Course (30-Hour Equivalent)
Perspective is at the heart of good drawing and painting, allowing us to translate the observable world into believable two-dimensional images and create invented spaces. Learn the fundamentals of linear perspective in clear, easy to-understand language, and apply these principles to still life, interiors and cityscape views. This course will utilize the online learning platform, Canvas, and include videos, lectures and assignments with regular instructor feedback, plus weekly live sessions via Zoom. Basic drawing experience recommended.
Learning Objectives:
- Improve observational and interpretive skills, including the ability to gauge proportions, orientations, and relative positions of objects and their parts.
- Achieve understanding of the core principles of linear perspective.
- Develop skill in applying the principles of linear perspective to real-world situations.
Image: Frederic Kaplan
Register by: February 5
Materials List
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses
Ceramic Sculpture (In-Person)
with Matthew Courtney
Tuesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Matthew Courtney
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Unlock your creativity through the art of sculpting with clay. Through hands-on instruction and practice, learn essential techniques such as pinching, slab-building, coil-building, and surface treatments. Explore the principles of form, texture, and composition, as well as the fundamentals of the firing process. Join us to express yourself and develop your sculpting skills in a supportive and inspiring environment -- open to both beginners and experienced artists! Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.
Image: Matthew Courtney, Penguin, 2014.
Register by: February 17
Materials List
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.