Thursdays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: John Horn 
Twelve-Week Course (36 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

This course will be dedicated to full- and multi-session poses focusing on the structural and aesthetic characteristics of drawing from the model. Classes will begin with brief lectures covering spatial organization, volume, proportional relationships, and anatomy. The rest of each session will focus on drawingthe life model in a variety of standing, seated, and reclining poses, with attention to measuring techniques and rendering the figure through light and shade. Examples of drawings from the Old Masters,and discussions about their approaches, will supplement instruction.Students of all levels are welcome; those with less experience can make several studies during a long pose while experienced students can develop a single drawing. Note: Tuition includes a $75 models fee.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $770, including models fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Image: John Horn

Register by: September 4 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Sundays, 3 – 4 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings)
Instructor: Al Gury 
Ten-Week Course (30-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)
Note: No class on November 30

Al Gury, Professor of Painting and Drawing at PAFA, and noted author of Alla Prima, Color for Painters, and Foundations of Drawing, presents the foundational basics of art making. This course is designed for individuals who are new to or just beginning to study art, or for those desiring a refresher in the basic elements, with a goal of imparting a solid and practical understanding of essential topics and practices. As a survey course, each week will focus on a specific topic and a project assignment. Topics will include the materials of drawing and painting, drawing shapes, measuring, forms, perspective, depth, use of line, understanding light and shade, and composition. Exercises will include the basics of charcoal and pencil drawing, use of pastel, color concepts, and how oil paints work. Subjects will include still lifes, interior spaces, portraits, and life drawing through the use of masterworks. Course content and assignments will be posted on Canvas, PAFA’s online learning platform. Weekly Zoom meetings will provide opportunities for Q&A, art history discussion and references, illustrations of key concepts, and explanations of the weekly project by the instructor.

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

Image: Al Gury

Register by: September 26

Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies  
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Sundays, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. (Interactive asynchronous Canvas content supported by weekly Zoom meetings)
Instructor: Al Gury
Six-Week Condensed Course (30-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below) 

Explore how to use color as an organizing force in your drawings and paintings with Al Gury, Professor of Painting and Drawing at PAFA, and noted author of Alla Prima, Color for Painters, and Foundations of Drawing. This class presents practical skills and strategies for making strong compositions using color in the selection of hues, arrangement of marks/shapes, range values, and use of temperature to establish visual balance, space, and visual focus within the pictorial frame of an artwork. Projects will utilizelandscape, portrait, still life, and abstraction to examine color’s impact on design. Classes will contain explanations of the visual compositional strategies in both historic and contemporary art, instructor demonstrations, and tactics for problem-solving, as well as weekly assignments and critiques of personal work.Content will address techniques in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastel, with a focus on color applications. Class meetings will be held on Zoom, and assignments and asynchronous class content will be posted on Canvas, PAFA’s online learning platform.Beginning and advanced studentswelcome.

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

Image: Al Gury

Register by: September 26 
Materials List
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies  
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Tuesdays, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

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 still life arrangements, selections from PAFA’s casts and statuary, interior spaces, and the human figure to master the drawing elements: shape, contour line, composition, light and shadow, texture and perspective. Instruction will guide students through sight-drawing and measuring techniques, use of materials, shading methods, and ways of defining form and space. This course is also excellent as a foundation for future study, including for painting and other disciplines.  Note: Tuition includes a $25 models fee. 

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $620, including lab fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Image: Phyllis Laver

Register by: September 30 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Tuesdays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver 
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Develop your ability to render the portrait through the time-honored methods of drawing from both the cast and life. Learn techniques of observational drawing such as measuring, recognizing proportions and anatomical landmarks, and establishing the effects of light and shadowwhile working in a variety of dry drawing media. Part of the portrait study will be devoted to working from selections from PAFA’s historic cast collection of Antique and Renaissance sculpture to master sighting techniques and tonal gradations. The rest of the class will focus on drawing from the model, both clothed and unclothed, to capture the subtleties and vitality of the head and figure, for both traditional and extended portrait representations.Throughout the semester, the work of varied artists will be introduced and discussed.  Note: This portrait course includes the use of nude models. Course tuition includes a $50 model fee.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $645, including lab fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Image: Phyllis Laver

Register by: September 30 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 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.

For more advanced instruction or an optional follow-up to this course, see Advanced Portrait Drawing Workshop.

Image: RA Friedman

Register by: October 3 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Tuesdays, 1 – 2 p.m. (Zoom) with Asynchronous Canvas Content 
Instructor: Kate Samworth
Six-Week Course (18-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Understanding the principles of one- and two-point perspective is essential to drawing and painting convincing forms in space. Master the fundamentals of this geometric system that was developed during the Renaissance and is used to this day. Instruction will break down sometimes-intimidating principles into basic concepts to provide practical methods for creating interior spaces, landscapes, and cityscapes, including elements of repeated patterns, arches, stairways, and more. Great for illustrators and artists of any media requiring a strong drawing framework. 

Image: Kate Samworth

Register by: October 7

Materials List

Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies  
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Fridays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Instructor: Steve Nocella 
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only 
Note: No class on November 28

Explore new ways of working from the human form that are alternatives to simulating volume in space with linear perspective and light and shadow. Draw and sculpt from the model with unconventional media and implements, such as acrylic applied with plastic knives, sticks, and sponges, and assemblages of wood, branches, and other natural or found objects. Experience how purposely cumbersome tools and fast poses combine to impede traditional rendering and thus generate a variety of shapes, patterns, textures, and lines that are rooted in, but independent of, the model. This immersive and playful process is an excellent introduction to working with abstract elements and learning how to form them into unified, compelling images. Open to all levels; an excellent alternative to, or expansion of, traditional 2- and 3-D figurative work. Note: Tuition includes a $35 models fee.

Image: Mary Frank, Untitled #9, 1975, Inks (watercolor) on ivory wove paper, 20 5/8 x 26 3/16 in. Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Gift of Jalane and Richard Daivdson, 1986.25

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