Spend two sessions investigating new techniques as you have fun creating papers for collage and other art projects. Take home a glorious collection of one-of-a-kind papers accented by acrylic, inks, stamps, and other printmaking materials.
Explore the materials, tools, and techniques used in collage and assemblage as you create an artwork that’s uniquely yours. The workshop, ideal for both nonartists and those with experience, is a great way to spark your creativity in two forms that offer wide possibilities for inventive expression.
Merge recent findings on visual perception with familiar elements of art to discover how your landscape and still-life paintings can take on new and fresh creative edges.
Inspired by the theme Wonders of Water, the 2018 edition of the world’s largest indoor flower exhibition—all 10 colorful acres of it—celebrates the beauty and life-sustaining interplay of horticulture and water. The legendary show is the perfect place for gardeners and flower enthusiasts to spend a day filled with beauty.
Escape the winter cold and step into a floral oasis in the Kogod Courtyard with Orchids: Amazing Adaptations, featuring hundreds of stunning varieties. Join a Smithsonian Gardens staff member for a private view of the lush blooms before the space opens to the public.
The fictional heroines of Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, Anne Bronte, and Elisabeth Gaskell navigate a world in which their choices, status, and freedom are in the hands of the men who rule it. Join Lisbeth Strimple Fuisz of Georgetown University in spirited commentary and informal discussions about four novels in which women find new ways to define themselves in England during the 18th and 19th centuries.
From the Capitol dome to the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, the work of architect and builder Montgomery Meigs is still part of our region’s landscape—and our daily lives. Spend a day focused on Washington history and architecture to discover the many facets and achievements of the former Civil War officer who helped define and develop an enduring vision of the capital city.
Love mixed media? This workshop offers the perfect way to expand your repertoire by creating an array of one-off prints using acrylic paints and other materials.
Boost your creativity and record your thoughts and visual observations of the world around you—and in the process transform your sketchbook into a powerful expression of your inner self.
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 and painting exercises designed to examine non-traditional ways of handling traditional materials and subject matter.
Described as a national treasure, the 15-mile stretch of the Potomac River from River Bend Park to Roosevelt Island is the focus of shooting assignments in this course. After a classroom orientation session, photographers record spring’s progress from both Maryland and Virginia locations in this beautiful and ecologically significant area.
Discover a variety of methods for making and using image transfers and expanding your creative horizons with photo alteration. Both techniques can offer new dimensions and interest to your artworks.
Beginning students as well as experienced painters explore watercolor techniques and learn new approaches to painting through classroom demonstration, discussion, and experimentation.
Enjoy the beauty of a spring morning on the 90-acre wooded oasis and national memorial in the middle of the tidal Potomac. Author and naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley leads a scenic walk around Roosevelt Island, focusing on its woodlands, wildlife, and history.
Take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian Gardens greenhouse facility in Suitland, Maryland, home of Smithsonian Gardens’ Greenhouse Nursery Operations. Discover what it takes to keep the many gardens and interior plant displays looking their best all year round.
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.
Washington has always been a thirsty town, with a brewing tradition stretching back centuries. Spend a day tracing its past and sampling its present as local historian Garrett Peck leads a bus tour of brew-related sites.
This introductory course teaches the basic skills needed for drawing. Working with a variety of materials and techniques, including charcoal and pencils, students explore the rendering of geometric forms, volume, and perspective, with an emphasis on personal gesture marks.
Develop skills in a range of weaving techniques as you design and create a one-of-a kind miniature tapestry on a small-frame loom.
Students work in clay to create portraits from plaster casts and a live model as they develop a basic understanding of the principles and techniques of sculpture.
Experiment with a variety of painting styles such as cubism, suprematism, and abstract expressionism to learn practical applications of the concepts and techniques of modernism. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
No composer changed the aesthetic landscape of the 19th century as thoroughly as did the influential and controversial Richard Wagner (1813–1883). Popular Smithsonian music lecturer Saul Lilienstein illuminates aspects of Wagner’s life, works, influence, and achievements.
Whether you want work in digital or film, this course offers a solid foundation for new photographers ready to learn the basics. Two on-location shoots offer chances to put your new skills into practice.
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. Critiques of class and home assignments enhance the technical skills you learn. At least two photoshoot excursions outside of the classroom are scheduled.
Students must have a camera with manual controls, and a tripod is needed for the class. Bring your camera and manual to the first session.
Instructor: Andargé Asfaw
Create beautiful 12-by-20-inch mosaic tapestries using glass and ceramic tiles, ball chain, costume jewelry, glass, and beads, and other items that spark the imagination.
In this combination course, students work from still life, architectural interiors, and landscape to translate the world of three dimensions to two through the arts of drawing and painting.
Whether you work digitally or on film, this course is ideal for students who are familiar with their cameras but are interested in expanding their understanding of photography fundamentals.
No other location is as associated with George Washington as Alexandria, a place he considered his hometown. Join author and historian Garrett Peck as he follows Washington’s footsteps through Old Town’s alleyways, rustic taverns, churches, 18th-century houses, and historic waterfront.
If you’ve ever wanted to paint, here’s a class that offers the perfect introduction to the art—and will have you ready to pick up your brush with confidence.
Both beginners and seasoned artists can learn to take advantage of the creative possibilities of this rich pigmented, vibrant, and versatile medium.
See Philadelphia in a new light as museum education consultant Sheila Pinsker opens doors to unsuspected opportunities to view glass in a wide variety of places and forms. She guides participants to three special sites: a museum, a spectacular 19th-century Masonic landmark, and a glass artist’s studio.
Expand your knitting skills and your creativity as you work with the instructor on a project, technique of special interest that intrigues you.
Through lectures and drawing exercises, learn how Renaissance artists used the Golden Ratio, the Rule of Thirds, three-point perspective, and the Fibonacci spiral—as well as how these elements can provide dynamic visual interest to your own compositions, no matter the medium. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
The pianist, vocalist, and humorist extraordinaire pays tribute to the composers whose work defines the Great American Songbook.
The encaustic method of painting combines the luminescence of watercolor, the rich color and thickness of oils, and the quick-drying benefits of acrylic. The medium can be molded, sculpted, combined with collage materials, and reworked at any time. In this workshop, ideal for all experience levels, learn to capture vibrant pigments using heated beeswax and damar resin, as well as fusing and carving in wax.
This three-session workshop examines fundamental concepts of composition and their practical application in studio-art practice, offering participants tools to enrich their own work as well to analyze and appreciate visual art in general. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Students draw from Giambattista Tiepolo’s works to help them grasp the idea of gesture, movement, and the grouping of as well as apply their Tiepolo-inspired skills to contemporary images. All skill levels welcome. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Join painting instructor Adrienne Wyman for a “behind-the-easel” perspective on French and impressionist paintings exhibited at four of Washington’s leading art museums. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Learn the benefits of quiet time spent in touch with nature as Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a certified nature and forest-therapy guide and author of The Joy of Forest Bathing, leads a 2-hour walk in the Smithsonian’s beautiful Enid A. Haupt Garden.
Spend two days investigating new techniques as you have fun creating papers for collage and other art projects. Take home a glorious collection of one-of-a-kind papers accented by acrylic, inks, stamps, and other printmaking materials.
