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Working with watercolor, employ beautiful and minimal brush strokes to depict the wonders of the natural world in the style of Sumi-e, meant to convey the Ch’i or vital energy of what it depicts.

Learn clay techniques and gain an understanding of the human body, gestures, and expressions as you sculpt a portrait, torso, or full-figure piece by working from life.

Whether you want to work in digital or film, this course offers a solid foundation for new photographers ready to learn the basics. Topics include camera functions, exposure, metering, working with natural and artificial light, and composition.

Using watercolor and oil pastels, learn the strategies Delacroix, Turner, Monet, and Cézanne employed to harness light in their images. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Inspired by images of the desert landscape immortalized by painter Georgia O'Keeffe, students capture the colors and shapes of this magical place in their own watercolor painting.

Megan E. O’Neil, assistant professor of art history and museum curator at Emory University, delves into ancient Maya art and architecture, primarily from the Late Classic period (600–900). She also explores how people from the 16th century to the present have perceived, portrayed, and exploited Maya art and culture.

Rarely absent from the opera stages of the world, La bohème, Madame Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot are treasured for their powerfully expressive music and poignant depictions of human emotions. Musicologist Daniel E. Freeman surveys Puccini’s four most popular operas with an emphasis on the ways in which they reflect the composer’s approach to musical setting and character development.

Consumers flocked to modern shopping malls when they were introduced soon after World War II and this new way of shopping came to quickly dominate the retail scene. In later years, though, the mall’s demise was equally as rapid and dramatic. In a two-part series, Bill Keene, a lecturer on architecture and urban studies, looks at the social and economic reasons that drew us to the mall, why we left, and what its future might hold.

Join the Smithsonian Chamber Players in an open rehearsal of two about-to-be-recorded works: Antonin Dvorák’s delightful Bagatelles, Op. 47 for two violins, cello, and harmonium, and Artistic Director Kenneth Slowik’s new reconstruction of the now-lost original nonet version of the bucolic Serenade in D Major, Op. 11 by Johannes Brahms.

Art historian Joseph Cassar examines important masterworks within selected genres and offers a new way to understand and appreciate the cultural norms that influenced artists’ choices. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)