Youth & Continuing Studies Courses

This course examines the fundamentals of two-dimensional design in the digital age. Students will explore principle elements of design including composition, color, and typography through a series of projects that introduce Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop as primary graphic design tools. The importance of effective visual communication in both commercial and experimental design is stressed as students gain an understanding of the professional design process from the client brief to the finished digital project. Students will leave this course with a solid foundation in strategies for solving design problems, a basic design vocabulary, and an understanding of the specific role that Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop play in creating professional work. Before starting this course, students should be comfortable creating, deleting, renaming, and moving files and directories without assistance.

This course emphasizes the development of observational drawing skills and hand-eye coordination. The learning sequence progresses from simple forms and skill levels toward more complex compositions. Basic drawing elements such as line, proportion, perspective, composition, texture, and the study of light and shade are investigated through various perceptual and conceptual approaches. Open to beginning students as well as those who want to refresh their skills before moving on to more advanced studio courses.

Gain a competitive edge as a designer, artist, or maker by advancing your understanding of color theory. Learn about the variety of ways that color is considered and used as a design element. Working with current color theory principles and models, develop color plans and concepts in relationship to individual and group projects. This research is compiled in sketchbook/notebook format and is used as reference for independent projects. Studies and hands-on studio work reveal the multiple ways that color can transform concepts with cohesive and expressive results.

Joining fabrics to cover the body and create shelter has been a prized skill in the progress of civilization. Students will build on that tradition by learning fundamental seams and finishes used in modern day garment construction. Industry standards of sewing are emphasized and all techniques are taught and practiced. In addition to creating a personal library of seam samples, students will apply the techniques in two basic projects. The class will also discuss fabric characteristics and the proper copying and cutting of patterns. Once mastered, these techniques can be used to sew together garments from patterns, create original designs, or explore fabric as a medium for soft sculpture. No previous sewing experience is necessary. Note: A sewing machine is required if taking this course online.

Joining fabrics to cover the body and create shelter has been a prized skill in the progress of civilization. Students will build on that tradition by learning fundamental seams and finishes used in modern day garment construction. Industry standards of sewing are emphasized and all techniques are taught and practiced. In addition to creating a personal library of seam samples, students will apply the techniques in two basic projects. The class will also discuss fabric characteristics and the proper copying and cutting of patterns. Once mastered, these techniques can be used to sew together garments from patterns, create original designs, or explore fabric as a medium for soft sculpture. No previous sewing experience is necessary. Note: A sewing machine is required if taking this course online.

This course will introduce students to acrylic painting through the exploration of traditional and contemporary approaches to the medium. Through demonstrations, individual dialogue, class discussions, and critiques, students will learn how to work with the acrylic paints. Artists including Mark Bradford, Helen Frankenthaler, and Mark Rothko will provide inspiration as participants complete a series of paintings on paper, canvas, and wood.

This course will introduce students to acrylic painting through the exploration of traditional and contemporary approaches to the medium. Through demonstrations, individual dialogue, class discussions, and critiques, students will learn how to work with the acrylic paints. Artists including Mark Bradford, Helen Frankenthaler, and Mark Rothko will provide inspiration as participants complete a series of paintings on paper, canvas, and wood.

This course for beginning to advanced students includes extensive experimentation with materials and techniques through individual painting problems. Students pursue various interests in figure, landscape, abstract, imaginary, and still-life painting and drawing. Students may choose to work with oil-based media with odorless solvents, or water-based media. Demonstrations and critiques are included.

In this course, we examine a range of traditional and contemporary approaches to surface designing and mark making on fabric, using materials both pure and crude, to generate images. This course introduces unique approaches to image-making and process-based work framed with specific conceptual and historical readings on how artists and craftspeople have used dye, print and drawing to create complex surfaces. Drawing will be used as a device to access ideas and will encourage accidental discovery. We will focus on the physical relationship between drawing and printing and will use silkscreen to translate images quickly onto cloth. Direct printing techniques, such as mono printing, will be employed to transfer drawings onto unique surfaces, as well as photo-silkscreen, hand painting, and fabric reactive dyes. In this class, fabric will become thick, thin, ridged, brittle, opaque, and transparent extensions of paper. Instruction will be supplemented by lectures on fiber and print artists including Tomashi Jackson, Sam Vernon, and Ellen Gallagher and readings such as Prints Now Directions And Definitions, by Gill Saunders and Rosie Miles, Amanda Williams’ Color Theory, Hive Mind Out of Control by Kevin Kelly, The Tiling Patterns of Sebastien Truchet and The Topology of Structural Hierarchy by Cyril Stanley Smith and Pauline Boucher, Handbook of Regular Patterns: An Introduction to Symmetry in Two Dimensions by Peter Stevens, and Randomness Rules and Compositional Structure in Design by Michael Eckersley. Students will engage in sampling and experimentation, and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to independent studio practice and projects. This class will include in-depth discussions about students' projects, concepts, material, technical choices, and thematic interests. Students are expected to work independently on works of their choosing.

In this intensive course, we will push the limits of sculptural and functional ceramics through large-scale form building. With a focus on the coil and pinch building methods, students will equip themselves with strategies, techniques, and practices which are helpful to hand build complex shapes, construct at a large scale, as well as make dynamic surfaces. To maximize our building time, we will be using slip, wash, stains, and underglaze to develop surfaces, with the majority of work being once-fired to cone 6. In the final days of class, we will commemorate our hard work with a communal pit firing. We will examine and discuss the work of contemporary and historical ceramic artists such as: Raven Halfmoon, George Rodriguez, Amia Yokoyama, Viola Frey, Matt Wedel, Isamu Noguchi, Woody De Othello among many others. We will read excerpts from the books “Finding One’s Way With Clay” by Paulus Berensohn and “A Potter’s Workbook” by Clary Illian. We will also watch a short documentary on the ceramic artist Lee Kang-Hyo. While the bulk of our studio work will revolve around hand-building a large scale, complex object whose foundation starts from many parts, we will also have a daily practice considering various aspects of complexity as well as idea generation.

This survey course provides students of all levels with the opportunity to work on their own projects and expand their painting skills. Students will have dedicated access to the painting studio and will be encouraged to experiment with various materials and techniques. Demonstrations may present techniques in acrylic or oil, sketching and planning processes, preparation of painting surfaces, and information on studio safety. The faculty will host presentations and lectures on relevant historical artists as well as contemporary painters, and students will engage in discussions, readings, screenings, and critiques with the group which illuminate painterly concerns and emphasize active decision making. Assignments are designed to build understanding of new methods, and students will conceive projects that reflect their interests. Instructors will be available to help facilitate individual, collaborative, and interdisciplinary projects and this course will culminate in a group critique.