Catalog - Course Descriptions

Seyyed Hossein Nasr belieces "we are as much in need of beauty as of the air that we breathe." What do we find beautiful and why? Learn about the visual elements and the principles of design on how to create an appealing composition, and how to effectively evaluate your work and that of others. This class is completely project-based and you will learn how to use the formal elements mentioned as you start and work through the completion of mostly two-dimensional compositions. No previous experience using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Yes, you can draw....everyone can; it's no different than learning to ride a bike, a global skill. We start with the basic elements of drawing and build using graphite, chalk, charcoal, pen and ink, oil pastels, and any combination of these while also discussing good composition techniques. Learning to use value, contrast, perspective, and various subject matter will give you the confidence to continue with Drawing II, attend drawing workshops, and will spike your curiosity to continue toward personal growth and the formation of your style. No previous experience using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Whether it's a landscape, portrait, or ideas of mystique and curiosity from your mind, watercolors are great to learn for on-the-go paintings; they are easy to start and come back to and create a great sense of freshness on paper. You will learn to use a variety of application techniques: dry brush, wet-on-wet/dry, mixed media, as well as build confidence with using transparent washes and further experimentation with the material alone and in combination with other materials. You will also use watercolors, watercolor pencils, acrylic wash, and gouache in combination with composition skills to create many beginning masterpieces. No previous experiance using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Painting with oils! Sounds like a blast, and you get to be experimental with techniques, ideas, and applications. You will experiment with painting with a brush, pallette knife, impasto, dripping, and a variety of other application techniques. Learn to stretch your canvas and develop compositional strategies to express what's in your mind. Feel confident painting on canvas, wood backgrounds, working with opaque mediums, making frames, and introducing mixed medium into the composition. No previous experience using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Art is important in learning! We will learn about the development of children's art, the importance of creativity in the elementary classroom, and empowering future educators with tools to pursue a thoughful curriculum emphasizing the creativity of the student. This course focuses on incorporating art and creative activities into the regular education classroom to offer a varied learning style for all students. No previous experience using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Therapy for your soul and relaxing for the mind, in this class you will create in clay using hand-built and wheel-thrown techniques. Previous experience is not required and this class is good for all ages. As a student, you will be exposed to all stages of clay creation: idea formation, working the clay, firing, glazing or color addition options, and presentation. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Do you like to work with your hands? Form your ideas with additive and subtractive techniques using clay, wood, various types of plaster, putty, paper, and more; create unique sculptures in the round and relief. No previous experience using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Learn how to create beautiful handwriting in various lettering styles. Experience writing with calligraphy pens, form your alphabet and create relief letters for printing, incorporate beautiful writing in other art forms integrating style and ideas, and more. Previous experience is not required; this class is good for all ages. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Why work with just one material? Explore the combination of many materials to create your ideas. Acrylics, collage, and other combinations of medium will be used in an experimental combination; stretching the limits and use to complete a pleasing composition. Previous experience is not required; this class is good for all ages. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Why make only one; printmaking is the art of multiples. Express your ideas with confidence to create prints carved from linoleum, explore alternative lithograph techniques, engraving, and mono-prints. Also, explore the many ways to use printed materials or materials on which to print, even clay. Previous experience is not required; this class is good for all ages. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Cut glass with confidence and create sturdy stained-glass compositions while learning to grind glass, wrap with copper, and solder. You will also create a hard-covered book using the Coptic bookbinding method, dye a batik composition, build Native American pottery using the coil and paddle method, weave a tapestry, and express your inner wild in the making of a mask. Previous experience is not required; this class is good for all ages. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

CAPTURE THAT AMAZING SHOT!! The first time. Learn how the camera works; all of its functions, film, digital, and how to make all of the adjustments you will need to shoot indoor/outdoor in full light/no light conditions. Then, take those cool shots into the studio and learn to enhance and edit in Lightroom and Photoshop. This class is perfect for beginners, graphic design and visual art students, and anyone wanting to know how to use that fancy camera they got for Christmas or a birthday to capture beautiful moments. Previous experience is not required and this class is good for all ages. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Prerequisite: GR105/Beginning Photography. What's shooting in raw and conceptual art? Take your photography skills to a new level, learn to incorporate meaning into a landscape or a portrait; shoot in raw rather than JPEG for better editing crispness and more control over color and values. Work on your style, build a portfolio, and learn to write constructively about the photos that you take. After editing, you will be printing your work on canvases, cups, or even towels, and will be sending pictures to the local paper for publishing with a description as a photojournalist would. You'll even show your work at area art shows. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

This course is a great "get your feet wet" introduction to the creative side of art, history of art, artists, styles, and why it is so important to acknowledge the importance of art in our daily lives. No prior art experience is necessary for this general education class which is designed to create confidence and promote the uniqueness of every individual through the expression and discussion of art and culture. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Let's go back in history before Hobby Lobby and Michael's existed; where do you get the paint to express the excitement of bringing down a large elephant? We will discuss the first cave paintings and the importance of these images toward the progression of language. Did you know that the corbeled and round arch as well as post and lintel building methods all existed in the Neolithic Period? We will discuss the history of art: architecture, sculpting, painting, and other 2D media, as well as art concepts, terminology, and styles important to the understanding of visual arts from the beginning of written language from the Prehistoric Period through the Middle Ages leading into the Renaissance Period. Previous experience is not required; this class is good for all ages. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and your appreciation of history and how it is captured in art throughout the ages.

This class may be taken independently of AR 176 Art History I. Art History II is a study of the history of art, including architecture, sculpture, painting, and other 2-D media. Students learn art concepts, terminology, and styles necessary to understand the visual arts from the Renaissance Periood through Modern Art.

Prerequisite: AR102 2-D Design. Seyyed Hossein Nasr believes "the modern response is that you just create art for the sake of art; but this was never the answer of traditional civilizations where one created art for both the sake of attainment of inner perfection and for human need in the deepest sense - because the needs of man are not only physical, they are also spiritual. So, what do we find beautiful and why? Learn about the visual elements and the principles of design on how to create an appealing composition and how to effectively evaluate your work and that of others." This class is completely project-based and you will learn how to use the formal elements mentioned as you start and work through the completion of three-dimensional compositions. No previous experience using these materials is necessary. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Prerequisite: AR103/Drawing I. Let's stretch your knowledge and use of materials that you like to use to record with confidence when creating new compositions which express ideas and lots of content. The more you draw the more you develop your style. You will experiment with graphite, charcoal, pastels, pen and ink, oil pastels, and a combination of these materials on a variety of papers. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Prerequisites: AR103, AR104, AR105, and AR118. Build on your style, use all of the painting mediums, work on the expression of thoughts and ideas through the use or combinations of mediums. This class is designed around you and where you want to go in the learning process. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

This course is an advanced oil painting class where student and instructor will sit down and develop a direction for the course based upon student experience and areas that need to be developed. The student will use a combination of these techniques scumbling, alla prima, glazing, chiaroscuro, impasto, grisaille, blocking in and blending using brushes, palette knoves, and other application techniques. Composition, content, and creativity are major considerations in painting. This course enables the student to feel confident with working with opaque mediums, painting surfaces, stretching canvas, making frames, and introducing mixed media into the composition. The student will be expected to frame and complete each painting to the point where it is "show ready".

Prerequisite: AR111/Ceramics I. If you found peace and satisfaction in Ceramics I, you will enjoy the challenge and freedom of experimentation in this advanced clay class. Whether it be hand-building or wheel throwing, you will be encouraged to work toward a self-initiated exploration of artists, techniques, and styles working in the area of clay. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.

Prerequisite: AR111/Ceramics I and AR214/Ceramics II. Take your clay experience to the next level. Join advanced clay students in the creation process; experimenting with various types of clay, concept, and purpose in creation, glaze/color applications, and firing processes. Participate in area shows by taking your works from preparation to presentation stages, share your ideas with the community. Join us and enjoy the experience of learning, sharing your ideas, and creating with confidence.