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Portrait in Pencil Workshop (In-Person)
with RA Friedman
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: RA Friedman
Weekend Workshop
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
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: January 30
Materials List - Coming Soon
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)
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
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.
Image: Rebecca Gilbert, Momento Mori/Skulls, Reduction and Multiple Block Woodcut.
Register by: February 5
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Watercolor Workshop (In-Person)
with James Toogood
Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Instructor: James Toogood
Weekend Workshop
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
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: February 13
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Ceramic Sculpture (In-Person)
with Matthew Courtney
Tuesdays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Matthew Courtney
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
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, 6 Birds on a Beam, 2016.
Register by: February 17
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Wood Studio (In-Person)
with John Greig
Tuesdays, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Instructor: John Greig
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
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: February 17
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Fast and Unfussed Oil Painting (In-Person)
with Roger Chavez
Tuesdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Instructor: Roger Chavez
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
Cultivate fluid mark-making and bold approaches to subject matter through rapid and loose painting studies. Tight and precise painting, especially in the early stages of an artwork, can sometimes lead to work that appears stiff and over-labored, or to locked-in compositions that are difficult to change or correct. Working from the still life, cityscapes, and the life model, utilize short, small painting exercises to learn new ways of starting paintings, keeping compositions open to adjustment, and both initiating and retaining a sense of freshness in your forms and brushstrokes. Instruction will address color mixing, painting materials and methodologies, and the importance of cultivating viablemethods for growth in your painting practice. Discover the beauty and freedom of loosening up your painting! Note: Tuition includes a $25 models fee.
Image: Roger Chavez
Register by: February 24
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
The American Watercolor Tradition (In-Person)
with Richard Estell
Mondays, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Richard Estell
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
Explore the painting techniques of the masters who pioneered the 19th and 20th century American watercolor movement, including Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, and Charles Demuth. Characterized by bright color and bold handling that includes accents of opaque watercolor and loose washes, work in this tradition captures subject matter with dazzling light-filled effects. Practice these classic methods and learn to incorporate them into your own artwork to achieve a greater freedom of expression as well as adaptability and control in the way that you paint. Demonstrations and art historical discussions will be combined with short and more extensive still life and self-portrait exercises. This course is appropriate for beginning and intermediate levels.
Image: Richard Estell, Watercress, 2011, watercolor, 30 x 22 in.
Register by: March 2
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.
Drawing Fundamentals: Cast and Figure (In-Person)
with Phyllis Laver
Tuesdays, 6 - 9 p.m.
Instructor: Phyllis Laver
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Register by December 15 for a 10% Early Bird Discount! Enter promo code EARLYBIRDSPRING2026 at checkout (and click “+” to add the discount). PAFA members at the Friend level and above receive an additional 10% off. Discount applies to CE regular adult Winter/Spring classes and workshops only. Fall 2025 courses, studio rental programs, Fifteen-Week Extended Studio Courses (special programs), gift certificates, membership purchases, and lockers are ineligible.
For students seeking to expand their beginning drawing skills or those new to working from the figure, this class will focus on applying drawing’s basic elements to the human form. Starting from Antique and Classical sculpture from PAFA’s cast collection and progressing to work from the life model in short and long poses, work in charcoal and graphite to explore figure-based concepts of gesture, proportions, anatomy, and expression. Instruction will cover 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 in any discipline or for more advanced figure-based work. Note: This part 2 course includes the use of nude models. Tuition includes a $35 models fee.
Note: Optional Part 1 Drawing Fundamentals: Line and Form offers preliminary instruction but is not required as a prerequisite to Cast and Figure.
Image: Phyllis Laver
Register by: March 3
Materials List - Coming Soon
Please review CE's Winter/Spring 2026 Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies, prior to registering.