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Continuing Education at PAFA

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Weekday Classes

in CE Courses by Day/Time

Oil Painting: The Realistic Still Life (In-Person)

$450

with Frederic Kaplan

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 1, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 10 weeks

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

Execute richly-hued paintings compelling in their realism using the unique arrangements in PAFA’s dedicated still-life studio as subject. Learn the fundamental vocabulary and techniques of representational oil painting: create a tonal underpainting, model form with opaque paint applications, generate depth and luminosity with transparent glazes and velaturas, and suggest texture with semi-drybrush scumbling. Content will address materials, color, effects of light, illusionistic space, and painterly treatments. This course is appropriate forbeginners, and is excellent for experienced painters seeking to develop pictures with a more believable sense of realism. Drawing experience strongly recommended. 

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

Image: Fred Kaplan

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

Painting over the Line (In-Person)

$450

with Kassem Amoudi

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 1, 2025 at 12:30 pm, runs for 10 weeks

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

Learn to explore new possibilities and paint more intuitively under the guidance of artist/critic/mentor KassemAmoudi. Work from personal subject matter (objects, images, emotions, or ideas) to find your own visual language, informed by examples from contemporary and modern art. Examine how to use concepts of color, harmony, focal point, space, and mark-making as powerful tools of personal expression. Instruction is geared toward open painting time supported by critiques and advice from the instructor as he works one-on-one with students to guide them in their personal style and goals. This course is excellent for students pursuing abstract or nonobjective imagery, seeking knowledgeable feedback and a focused community painting environment. Painting experience recommended.

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

Image: Kassem Amoudi

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

Textures in Print: Intro to Collagraph (In-Person)

$395

with Kandice Fields Portalatin

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 3, 2025 at 10 am, runs for 8 weeks

Fridays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Instructor: Kandice Fields Portalatin
Eight-Week Short Course (24 Hours)
Credit: Non-Credit Only

This accessible course introduces students to collagraph printmaking, a wonderfully inventive technique in which different materialsare adhered to a rigid surface to create a textured, printable collage.Instruction will cover how to construct low-relief printing plates using recycled and found materials, means of textural experimentation, and inking and press-printing for both intaglio and relief techniques.Students will learn to:

  • See the texture as an image-making tool
  • Develop intuitive and experimental print methods
  • Build confidence in printmaking processesusing low-cost, sustainable materials
  • Create prints that emphasize touch, mood, and surface

Tuition includes a $20 lab fee.

Image: Kandice Fields Portalatin

Register by: September 26 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Drawing Fundamentals (In-Person)

$475

with Phyllis Laver

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 7, 2025 at 9 am, runs for 10 weeks

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

Portrait Drawing: Cast and Life (In-Person)

$500

with Phyllis Laver

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 7, 2025 at 12:30 pm, runs for 10 weeks

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

Practical Perspective (Online)

$265

with Kate Samworth

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 15, 2025 at 1 pm, runs for 6 weeks

Wednesdays, 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. Limited class size will allow time for one-on-one assistance. Great for illustrators and artists of any media requiring a strong drawing framework. 

Image: Kate Samworth

Register by: October 8

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

Nature in Autumn: Leaves, Flowers, and Fruits in Watercolor (In-Person)

$195

with Linda Gist

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 18, 2025 at 9:30 am

Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Instructor: Linda Gist 
Weekend Workshop
Credit: Non-Credit Only

Watercolor is the perfect medium for capturing the jewel-like tones and gradients of color in autumn’s changing leaves and abundant harvests. Learn to preserve the season’s rich textures and tapestries of color by exploring a variety of paint mixing and application techniques while working from natural forms. This workshop will include demonstrations of wet-into-wet and dry-brush techniques and one-on-one instruction. All experience levels welcome. 

Image: Linda Gist

Register by: October 10 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies

Mixed Media Explorations: Collage, Combines, and Assemblage Art (Online)

$265

with Colleen O'Donnell

Calendar Next available session starts Oct 31, 2025 at 10 am, runs for 6 weeks

Fridays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Zoom) with Posted Canvas Content
Instructor: Colleen O’Donnell 
Six-Week Course (18-Hour Equivalent)
Credit: Non-Credit Only
Note: No class on November 28

Explore alternative ways of conceptualizing and creating mixed-media art. 2D and 3D techniques have been an essential part of modern art history, as evinced in the poetic artworks of Joseph Cornell, politically charged assemblages of Betye Saar, revealing works of Eileen Agaar, and whimsy of Robert Rauschenberg. Push your art-making process to a new level by combining 2D and 3D art into a contemporary expression of your own. Intrinsically engage awareness while drawing on design elements to reflect a point of view and a moment in time. Each week discover your unique expression while bringing new work into existence.

Image: CE Student.

Register by: October 24 
Materials List 
Fall 2025 CE Policy Guide, including withdrawal/refund policies  
Information for PAFA CE Online Courses





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