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Continuing Education at PAFA

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Weekday Classes

in CE Courses by Day/Time

Observational Drawing Practices (In-Person)

$310

with John Horn

Calendar Current session started Jul 8, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 6 weeks

Tuesdays, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Instructor: John Horn 
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours) 
Credit: Non-Credit Only

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 $15 models fee.

Register by: July 1
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Ceramic Sculpture (In-Person)

$325

with Marguerita Hagan

Calendar Current session started Jul 8, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 6 weeks

Tuesdays, 1 – 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Marguerita Hagan  
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours)  
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Explore a custom sculpture experience in clay with veteran ceramicist, Marguerita Hagan. Learn various hand-building processes with an emphasis on abstraction. Create work that is either wall-hanging or free-standing, and focused on 3D qualities, surface treatments, or both. Whatever you imagine will be supported with experienced individualized attention and specific hand-building and painting techniques to manifest your intention. Gain exposure not only to hand-building directions but also to many surface treatment methods including airbrush, underglaze paints, pencils, masking, resist, glaze, overglaze lusters, and waterslide and rice paper transfer decals. Instruction will be tailored to serve the individual whether for learning basic hand-building methods or realizing a work or series. Come with no experience or translate your existing practice into the transformative language of clay. Note: Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.

Image: Marguerita Hagan, Swept, hand-built ceramic, 6.5 x 8.25 x 6.5 in.

Register by: July 1
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Comprehensive Portrait Sculpture (In-Person)

$615

with Morgan Dummitt

Calendar Current session started Jul 9, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 6 weeks

Wednesdays, 9 a.m. - 4p.m.
Instructor: Morgan Dummitt
Six-Week Condensed Course (36 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Modeling the portrait in clay is a foundational skill of traditional sculpture. Working from a model, learn to create a portrait from composition to completed sculpture. Instruction for this uniquely comprehensive course will encompass learning to build an armature, modeling the form in clay, and casting in plaster to preserve the finished artwork. Topics of study will include proportion, composition, structure, and simplified sculptural form. 

This class consists of six meetings, which will be divided as follows: 

Week 1: Armature Construction/Demo/Modeling 

Weeks 2 - 4: Clay Modeling 

Weeks 5 - 6: Plaster Casting 

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Gain a basic understanding of the osteology, myology, and morphology of the head
  • Analyze and organize the various forms of the head and neck into simplified sculptural forms
  • Understand various techniques for creating a “likeness” of the sitter
  • Carry out best practices for modeling and maintaining water-based clay sculpture
  • Understand and execute basic plaster casting techniques

Note: Course tuition includes a $50 model fee. 

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $745 (including models fee). Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Register by: July 2
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Art & Ritual: Building a Sustainable Creative Practice (Online)

$265

with Erlin Geffrard

Calendar Current session started Jul 9, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 6 weeks

Wednesdays, 1 - 3 p.m. (Zoom with Posted Canvas Content)
Instructor: Erlin Geffrard
Six-Week Short Course (18-Hour Equivalent)
Credit:
Non-Credit Only

Art isn’t just a practice—it’s a habit. This course encourages students to integrate creativity into their daily lives through structured exercises, prompts, and discussions on process over perfection. By studying artistic practices from different historic periods, we will examine how artists across time have incorporated daily rituals into their work. Students will also explore a range of materials and techniques, allowing them to experiment and develop their own creative routines. Whether you’re returning to art after a long break or looking to establish a new creative habit, this course provides the tools and inspiration to make art a fulfilling and sustainable part of everyday life.

Key Topics:

  • Overcoming creative blocks and self-doubt
  • Examining artistic routines and rituals from different time periods
  • Experimenting with a variety of materials and techniques
  • The role of repetition and improvisation in art-making
  • Developing a personal creative philosophy

Register by: July 2
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide,
including withdrawal/refund policies 
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses

Precision Pencil Drawing (In-Person)

$295

with Frederic Kaplan

Calendar Current session started Jul 9, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 6 weeks

Wednesdays, 1 – 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Frederic Kaplan 
Six-Week Short Course (18 Hours) 
Credit: Non-Credit Only

The simple pencil is an economical medium readily accessible to students at all levels, including beginners. It can produce drawings that range from poetic delicacy to energetic and bold expressiveness. Working from still life arrangements, interiors, window views, and PAFA’s cast collection, students will explore a variety of approaches for using pencil to shade and model form convincingly and with beauty. Instruction will review basic drawing principles and observational skills such as evaluating shape, gauging proportions, and employing perspective effects like foreshortening. Previous drawing experience is recommended but not required.

Register by: July 2
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

The Portrait in Oil (In-Person)

$615

with Roberto Osti

Calendar Current session started Jul 10, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 6 weeks

Thursdays, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Instructor: Roberto Osti
Six-Week Condensed Course (36 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Paint portraits from a variety of models using the direct painting method. Examine the proportions and volumes of the head, as well as the placement, structure, and characteristics of the facial features, through preliminary drawings and demonstrations. Develop color using a limited palette to understand how to use chroma, temperature, value, tint, and tone. Instruction will address materials, composition, paint handling, and color mixing, blending, and theory. Homework assignments working from photos, Masterworks, or oneself/others will encourage students to learn to make personal aesthetic and technical choices and to practice concepts addressed in class. Open to all levels, this course is excellent for beginners as well as experienced students who want to review fundamental techniques or who simply enjoy painting portraits from life. Note: Course tuition includes a $75 model 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: Roberto Osti, Copy from William Paxton - Class Demonstration, oil on canvas.

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

In-Depth Watercolor, Session 2 (In-Person)

$675

with James Toogood

Calendar Current session started Jul 11, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 6 weeks

Fridays, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Instructor: James Toogood
Six-Week Condensed Course (42 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.5 Undergraduate Credits (See Below)

Enrich your knowledge of painting with an in-depth look at watercolor. Thoroughly investigate a wide range of watercolor materials and techniques from your choice of landscape, still life, portrait, and figure subjects. The course is designed to equip each participant with the knowledge and skills necessary to make accomplished, personally rewarding watercolor paintings. Open to watercolorists of all levels and to acrylic/oil painters looking to broaden their skills.

Learning Objectives

  • Students will learn about color theory as applied to watercolor.
  • Students will receive a comprehensive explanation of watercolor materials and tools, with particular focus will be paid to the properties of paint and pigments as they interact with the paintbrushes and paper.
  • Through both discussions and demonstrations, first time participants and beginners will learn a variety of techniques that are fundamental to watercolor, presented in a systematic step by step method. Participants can expect to have regular individual instruction, given at their current skill level.
  • Focus also will be paid on acquiring the skills needed to achieve a richness of color and a feeling of light.
  • Participants will work from direct observations from the still life and model, or from their own source material. Those not taking the class for credit will have the option to work on landscape, still life, portrait and figure or abstraction, as they wish.
  • Participants will be exposed to a variety of watercolor styles and encouraged to discover one’s own personal aesthetic.

Optional: This course is available for 1.5 undergraduate credits for $995. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

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

Monotype Intensive (In-Person)

$480

with Tony Rosati

Calendar Current session started Aug 4, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 1 week

Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. 
Instructor: Tony Rosati
One-Week Intensive Course (30 Hours) 
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.0 Undergraduate Credit (See Below)

Monotypes are an expressive and accessible entry into printmaking: draw or paint an image on a Plexiglas plate or other surface and then print it on paper or fabric to create a one-of-a-kind artwork. Instruction will cover both hand-printing and press techniques, as well as water- and oil-based colors. Tuition includes a $30 lab fee.

Optional: This course is available for 1.0 undergraduate credit for $615, including lab fee. Select credit option with price adjustment when registering.

Registration still open! 
Materials List
Summer 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies