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The Figure as a Point of Departure (Online)
with Kassem Amoudi
Friday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Instructor: Kassem Amoudi
Credit: Non-Credit Only
This workshop is not about the traditional way of painting the figure. If you are tired of getting lost in the details and traditional modes of representational painting, and you want to take a risk by exploring new ways of expressing the human form, this class is for you. Paint and draw the human figure in a looser and more expressionistic contemporary manner. Refine your painting skills to create a lively surface which will be considered a playground for intuitive creativity, technique, and skill. Expert instruction and advice from the instructor will push students to explore new possibilities and work more intuitively, allowing unplanned marks and passages to become artistic breakthroughs. Establish pictorial unity through visual metaphor and focal points and explore the power of using “active” and “quiet” areas. PowerPoint presentations and examples of contemporary ways of using the figure will enhance your understanding of the abstract qualities of space, line and color. Sessions will include live painting time, with critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with each student. Open to all levels: You do not have to have extensive experience with painting the figure to make successful paintings. Note: Due to the emphasis on live instructor feedback and in-class painting, this Zoom class is not recorded.
Image: Kassem Amoudi.
Register by: December 1
Fall 2023 CE Policy Guide, including updated Withdrawal/Refund Policies
Open Academy: Drawing Studio, DR 311 (In-Person)
with Bruce Samuelson
Tuesdays, 8:30 - 11:20 a.m.
Instructor: Bruce Samuelson
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.5 Undergraduate Credits (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
The purpose of this course is to promote an individual way of seeing and working from the human figure and develop personal vision. This includes approaching the figure either as an end in itself or as a point of departure, and exploring an individual use of materials and techniques. Instruction for this course will be directed to the individual along with some group criticism and group discussion.
Optional: This course is available for 1.5 undergraduate credits for $1,400. Select credit option with price adjustment during registration.
Image: Bruce Samuelson.
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Open Academy: Life Drawing, DR 200 (In-Person)
with Al Gury
Tuesdays, 8:30 a.m. - 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Al Gury
Credit: Non-credit or 3.0 undergraduate credits (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
Life Drawing will focus on developing skills and exploring the use of the figure with the following concepts: (1) structural and anatomical delineation of human form with line and tone. (2) The figure as an expressive end in itself. (3) Simple group compositions in interior as well as invented space. The class is open to various media & techniques.
Optional: This course is available for 3.0 undergraduate credits for $2,800. Select credit choice with tuition adjustment during checkout.
Image: Al Gury.
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Open Academy: Portrait Painting, Section 1, PT 220 (In-Person)
with Renee Foulks
Tuesdays, 1:00 - 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Renee Foulks
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.5 Undergraduate Credit (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
Students will learn the structure of the portrait, the history of historic and contemporary portraiture, methods and materials of portraiture and will be encouraged to develop a personal point of view in portrait painting. Issues of form, spatial concepts, color, visual and critical thinking will be addressed. Individual and group critiques will be conducted.
Optional: This course is available for 1.5 undergraduate credits for $1,400. Select credit option with price adjustment during registration.
Image: Renee Foulks.
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Open Academy: Landscape and Painting from the Collection, PT 218 (In-Person)
with Douglas Martenson
Wednesdays, 8:30 - 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Doug Martenson
Credit: Non-Credit or 3.0 Undergraduate Credits (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
For the first part of this class, students will work in PAFA's museum to paint master copies of landscapes in the collection. When the weather warms in March, the class will move to outside locations to put into practice the lessons learned from their master studies. Students may work in a variety of drawing and painting media from various locations in and around the city. Individualized instruction and group critiques will be given throughout the session. Van transportation available for outdoor locations.
Optional: This course is available for 3.0 undergraduate credits for $2,800. Select credit option with tuition adjustment during registration.
Image: Doug Martenson, Pines in a Field, oil on linen, 32 x 52.
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Open Academy: Portrait Painting, Section 2, PT 220 (In-Person)
with Al Gury
Wednesdays, 8:30 - 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Al Gury
Credit: Non-Credit or 3.0 Undergraduate Credits (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
Students will learn the structure of the portrait, the history of historic and contemporary portraiture, methods and materials of portraiture and will be encouraged to develop a personal point of view in portrait painting. Issues of form, spatial concepts, color, visual and critical thinking will be addressed. Individual and group critiques will be conducted.
Optional: This course is available for 3.0 undergraduate credits for $2,800. Select credit option with price adjustment during registration.
Image: Al Gury.
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Open Academy: Figurative Open Studio, SC 270 (In-Person)
with John Horn
Thursdays, 8:30 - 11:20 a.m. (includes option to add afternoons, 1 - 3:50 p.m., for full-day attendance -- see description)
Instructor: John Horn
Credit: Non-credit or 1.5/3.0 undergraduate credits (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
Students taking Open Studio this semester will have several choices of studio work to make as they see fit. The course is designed for half-day/morning-only or full-day attendance. The morning session will be dedicated to making an écorché.* However, students not interested in making an écorché may sculpt in clay directly from the model. The afternoon session will be dedicated to applying the lessons from the écorché to the model.
For students opting to make an écorché, the semester will consist of making one flayed figure on a 24” wire armature in plasteline. The class will begin by making the axial skeleton and then adding on the appendicular components. To the finished skeleton structure, the student will begin by first placing the deep muscles and continue for the rest of the semester building up muscular form to the surface. The model the class will use was made by the French sculptor A. Houdon (1741-1828) as a study for his sculpture of St. John preaching (1766) now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, Italy. It is considered one of the finest anatomical models in the history of sculpture.
* Écorché - (Fr.)flayed figure. Écorché is the three dimensional study of human form. For contemporary artists this study has its roots in the Italian Renaissance. Artists in conjunction with the medical college in Bologna began to study anatomy in depth in order to further understand human proportions that Italian art theory demanded as essential to the creation of art.
Optional: This course is available for half-day for 1.5 undergraduate credits for $1,400. For full-day (morning, 8:30 - 11:20 a.m. and afternoon, 1 - 3:50 p.m.), this course is available for $2,300 non-credit or $2,800 for 3.0 undergraduate credits. Select length and credit choice with tuition adjustment during checkout.
Image: John Horn
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies
Open Academy: Observational Practices, DR 206 (In-Person)
with John Horn
Thursdays, 1 - 3:50 p.m.
Instructor: John Horn
Credit: Non-Credit or 1.5 Undergraduate Credits (see description)
NOTE: This is an Open Academy (PAFA BFA) course. The full schedule of regular Continuing Education courses will be posted shortly.
PAFA’s Open Academy provides the opportunity for Continuing Education (CE) and non-matriculated students to enroll in select BFA courses for credit or non-credit. Open Academy students enrolled in PAFA’s renowned studio arts courses learn technical skills, creative expression, and critical thinking from master artist-teachers while working amongst dedicated full-time students in PAFA's classrooms.
The goal of this course is to strengthen and hone a student’s foundational skills of drawing through a series of one and two-day drawing projects. The major topics of concern will be gesture, design, perspective, structure and space. Students will be encouraged to experiment with different media and to develop a personalized drawing practice. Subjects for this exploration will be the life model, anatomical models, the city and the observable environment in general. The course includes field trips to the Wagner Free Institute of Science, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Reading Terminal and the Observation Deck at Liberty One.
Optional: This course is available for 1.5 undergraduate credits for $1,400. Select credit choice with tuition adjustment during checkout.
Image: Larry Day, [Nude in Armchair] (detail), 1975, graphite on cream wove paper, 21 x 17 1/2 in. Collection of PAFA, Accession #1987.13. Gift of Christopher K. and Barbara A. Bullard. Copyright © artist or artist's estate.
Register by: January 11
Materials List
Open Academy Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies