It takes a village! In this workshop, students construct their own tiny houses, which they personalize working in paper-mache, acrylics, and mixed media.
Delightful and detailed prints on paper can be made using real fish. Using direct printing and water-based printing inks, create realistic looking schools of fish or a single artistic print simply by inking a whole fish and pressing it to paper.
Learn the rules of bookmaking…then get creative and break them! Each week, make different kinds of books, including an accordion book, Japanese stab bound journal, and a travel journal with sewn in pages.
This class plumbs the depths of creative inspiration, focusing on harnessing ideas and starting points for making art. It incorporates discussion, visual aids, and exercises to engage the senses in the act of design. Writing, drawing, painting, collage and other techniques will be used to create pieces of art to express individual creative ideas.
In this course, students are introduced to the materials, tools, and technologies used in collage and assemblage. They find inspiration in artists who worked in collage including Joseph Cornell, Romare Bearden, and Gertrude Green, whose works are held in Smithsonian collections. Students express their observations by developing their own collage, mixed-media, or assemblage projects.
With an emphasis on imagery from the natural world, explore the possibilities of collage: a highly versatile and accessible art technique that results in the playful combination of various and sometimes-unlikely materials. Learn to sketch animals and objects found in nature, then combine your drawings with painting and additional elements and textures to create whimsical or serious mixed-media art.
Try new techniques as you have fun creating papers for collage and other art projects. Create a glorious collection of one-of-a-kind papers accented by acrylic, inks, stamps, and other printmaking materials.
Explore the basis of abstraction by studying color, line and shape as they relate to composition. Learn to create exciting and innovative works of art using a series of drawing, painting, and collage exercises designed to examine nontraditional ways of handling traditional materials and subject matter.
Explore creating unique mixed-media artworks by using food- and plant-based items, recycled materials, and household tools and implements to fashion colors, make stencils, and add textures.
Artists throughout the world and the centuries have developed practices that allow them to center themselves, find calm, and prepare for making art. The same techniques can be helpful in everyday life as well, offering both a quiet escape and a spark for your imagination.
The nearly 2,000-year-old art of Coptic stitch binding is still used in contemporary book binding. Create a Coptic-bound journal and learn about Coptic language, literature, and book culture in a class that is perfect for beginners interested in art, history, and bookbinding.
Some book forms also make whimsical toys. Learn to construct a Halloween Jacob’s Ladder (with box), smash books that become stars or caterpillars, miniature button books, and more in this enjoyable workshop.
This year, send friends and family bespoke holiday cards. From the decorated envelope to the personalized sentiment, paper crafter Karen Cadogan shares tips and demonstrates techniques for creating simply elegant, unique cards that will become a keepsake long after the season ends.
