Tuesdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Instructor: John Horn 
Twelve-Week Course (36 Hours) 
Note: No class during Spring Break, March 2 - 8.

Strengthen and hone your foundational drawing skills through a series of one- and two-day projects. Topics of concern will be design, structure of space, perspective, and light and shade. Subjects will include interior space, single objects and still life arrangements, and the life model. All levels from beginner to advanced are welcome. Tuition includes a $25 models fee.

Image: John Horn

Register by: January 13 
Materials List  
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Tuesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. 
Instructor: Phyllis Laver 
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours) 

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  
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Tuesdays, 6 - 9 p.m. 
Instructor: Phyllis Laver 
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours) 

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
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Thursdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Instructor: Carolyn Pyfrom   
Twelve-Week Course (36 Hours) 
Note: No class during Spring Break, March 2 - 8.

This class will offer useful strategies for representational life drawing to artists at any level of practice. Instruction will address gesture, rhythm, continuity, volume, and what artists most often refer to as “accuracy.” An important theme will be the ways in which gestural and analytical tactics are used together to make expressive and compelling drawings. The class will utilize both short and long poses to strengthen observational skills and to deepen understanding of how the figure moves and occupies space. By way of demonstration, the instructor will work alongside students in every class in addition to giving individual critiques.

This course is excellent paired with Comprehensive Figure Painting for students seeking intensive full-day figure study.

Image: Carolyn Pyfrom

Register by: January 15 
Materials List  
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Thursdays, 1 - 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Peter Van Dyck 
Twelve-Week Course (36 Hours) 
Note: No class during Spring Break, March 2 - 8.

This course will focus on creating paintings of the human figure from poses ranging from one to five days. It will provide an opportunity to explore the development of a figure painting over multiple sessions, emphasizing the accurate drawing of large forms and gestures, the translation of those forms into structured color relationships, and the depiction of the color of light that defines the environment. Through the extended duration of the poses, students will have the time to refine their observations, deepen their understanding of structure, and build more nuanced and cohesive paintings. Technical topics such as oil paint handling, surface preparation, and color organization will also be addressed. Students will leave the class with an enhanced ability to construct complex figure paintings that are both formally sound and personally expressive.

This course is excellent paired with Figure Drawing: Intuition and Analysis for students seeking intensive full-day figure study.

Image: Peter Van Dyck

Register by: January 15 
Materials List  
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 
Instructor: David Wilson 
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours) 

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  
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.

Sundays, 3 - 4 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings) 
Instructor: Al Gury 
Six-Week Condensed Course (30-Hour Equivalent) 

Please note: The dates for this course have changed.  New Zoom meeting dates are February 1 - March 8.

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 31  
Materials List  
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering. 
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

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.