Fridays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Ten-Week Course (30 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Beginning with Caravaggio’s 1599 Basket of Fruit, still-life has a long history as a vehicle for transforming the commonplace into powerful statements. Take part in this intriguing tradition by exploring the symbolic and narrative potential of the unique object arrangements in PAFA’s dedicated still-life studio.  This course is also ideal for gaining or advancing essential painting skills as you expand your understanding of color, composition, application and layering techniques, and painting materials.  Instruction will focus on oil and acrylic paints, but gouache is also permitted. Previous drawing experience strongly recommended. Painting experience helpful but not required.  

Learning Objectives: 

The student will learn how to…  

• Select and use basic materials, including the characteristics of various commonly used colors, solvents, and mediums  

• Execute a variety of direct and indirect painting methods.  

• Employ approaches to interpreting and modifying observed reality to achieve emotive, symbolic, and compositional goals  

• Engage in the descriptive, emotive, and symbolic use of color, shape, and mark  

• Apply basic color theory and color mixing skills   

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

Register by: January 24
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Saturdays, 1 – 3:30 p.m. (Zoom with posted Canvas content)
Instructor: Susan Sullivan
Ten-Week Course (30-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Abstraction in art can look like a variety of different things, from the painterly glow of a Turner seascape to the flattened patterns of a Matisse interior to Pollock’s nonobjective drip technique. But how does one get from painting realistically what one can see in the real world to translating it into invented color and shape or to abandoning form altogether? Learn from master artists throughout modern art history by trying on their techniques to find your own personal style! Explore different paint application methods, color interactions, and compositional tactics as you take on a variety of subjects, including still life, interiors, landscape, and the figure or self-portrait…using the examples of Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Mickalene Thomas, and other master artists to guide you. Each session will open with lecture/critique with artist examples and then lead into open painting time with one-on-one feedback from the instructor. Whether you are seeking to drive your current work to a new direction or simply experiment with different ways of generating imagery, this is a great steppingstone to making abstraction – in whatever form it may take – personal, expressive, and satisfying. Open to all media and levels but drawing experience recommended.

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

Register by: February 7
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Many artists can feel frustrated in front of a blank canvas, unsure of how to start and what to paint. Paint with confidence by learning techniques to tap into your intuitive process and find inspiration more easily! Experienced instruction and advice will push students to take chances and explore unexpected directions and accidental marks to achieve artistic discoveries. Students will use line, color and space, and editing possibilities to create busy/calm areas and focal points in their paintings as they work from personal imagery, expression, and imagination. Instruction will take the form of PowerPoint presentation/examples, formal direction from modern and contemporary artists, and one-on-on critiques in Zoom sessions that are geared toward open painting time in a classroom-like setting.  Painting experience recommended.  

Register by: February 21
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses 

Mondays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Roger Chavez
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only

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 setting a viable learning environment for your painting practice. Discover the beauty and freedom of loosening up your painting! Note: Tuition includes a $15 models fee.

Register by: March 3
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Tuesdays, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Instructor: Anthony Ciambella
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

If you believe that painting can be more than applying brush to canvas, this course is for you.  Explore the fluid, sculptural, assembled possibilities of acrylics!  This hands-on, one-of-a-kind journey will take you places that you never thought you would go in acrylic painting:  pour paint to make layers of color that can be peeled up, sculpted into three-dimensional forms, or collaged and layered into other paintings or mixed-media works. Create flexible tiles of acrylic color that can be snipped, shaped, and assembled into mosaics or applied to a variety of surfaces for artistic or decorative effects.  Discover a myriad of alternative supports, brushes, and methods of paint application to incorporate abstract effects into your current body of work.  Push the boundaries of what it means to paint with acrylics in this exciting exploration into experimental techniques. 

Register by: March 3
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Wednesdays, 6 - 9 p.m.
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only

If you’ve never painted before, or your skills are a little rusty, this class is for you. Exploit the resources of PAFA’s dedicated still-life studio and its many thoughtfully composed arrangements. You will acquire grounding in the basics so you can paint what you see with confidence. Materials and painting methods will be discussed and demonstrated, including color mixing and theory. Examples of Master paintings, coupled with individual and group critiques, will help direct and inform your efforts.

Register by: March 5
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Live Zoom Only)
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only 

Elevate the role of color and learn how to incorporate it both strategically and intuitively into your paintings under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor Kassem Amoudi.  Examine concepts of temperature, value, saturation, and harmony/contrast through color relationships.  Explore color’s role in creating focal points, suggesting space, influencing mark, and promoting personal expression. Work from personal subject matter (objects, images, emotions, or ideas) to develop your personal style, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Zoom sessions feature open painting time, supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student to guide them toward their goals. This course is excellent for students seeking to promote their use of color in abstract/nonobjective imagery and anyone seeking knowledgeable feedback within a focused community painting environment.  Painting experience recommended.  

Register by: March 7
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses 

Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Instructor: David Wilson
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only (see below for combined 1.0 credit option)* 

Paint from a life model in a multi-week-pose format to develop and refine your figure painting compositions. Extended poses will allow students to adjust and resolve issues of surface, color, and composition. Instruction will cover a variety of topics including glazing, broken color, surface texture, composition and design, the relationship of the figure to the environment, the creation of atmosphere and color harmony, disrupted realism, and open- versus closed-form painting. All levels welcome. Instruction will be geared toward oil, but students are welcome to draw-only, or use other appropriate media, if they wish. Note: Tuition includes a $35 models fee. 

*Optional combined-course 1.0-credit offering:  Students wishing to earn 1.0 undergraduate credit may combine this class with the earlier Alla Prima and the Limited Palette course, for a 12-week credit-bearing course by registering here.  See academic credit policies in the CE Policy Guide, below. Note: Because changes in academic status must occur prior to the third class for 12-week courses, credit registration is only available through February 7. See credit course description.

Register by: March 7
Materials List
Winter/Spring 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies