Smithsonian Associates Online Programs

It can take years to learn to draw the figure, but this inventive course speeds up the process by getting to the heart of what you really need to know to feel confident sketching people whether working from life, a photograph, or your imagination.

Beginning students explore watercolor techniques and learn new approaches to painting through demonstration, discussion, and experimentation.

Take your paintings to the next level with simple secrets that every watercolor artist should know. Techniques demonstrated in the class are particularly useful for painting captivating landscapes.

Work on your own quilt project(s) in a focused way over 4 weeks with expert guidance. Topics include material selection, design, work planning, construction techniques, and finishing advice.

Say goodbye to flat and boring painting as you learn to create patterns of light and dark in watercolor through demonstrations and hands-on exercises.

Acquire the basic skills to work with the versatile and portable rigid heddle loom—a great entryway into weaving beautiful scarves, wall-hangings, placemats, and more.

Galileo, Leonardo, Newton, and Tesla revered Archimedes of Syracuse—an engineer who defied the world’s most powerful army and a mathematician who knew more in 212 B.C.E. than all Europe would for the next 17 centuries. Novelist and science writer Nicholas Nicastro shines a new light on Archimedes’ life and work to reveal an ambitious, combative, and fiercely competitive man who is far from the aloof, physically inept figure of historical myth.

Across time and culture, knitting is not only beautiful and a practical art but also a commentary on the society it comes from. Explore attitudes toward gender through knitted objects in the Smithsonian collection.

Capture the magic of your travels in a whole new way. Learn how to transform your favorite vacation photos of places into beautiful, expressive, and easy paintings in watercolor and ink.

For absolute beginners, this new class introduces the art of hand embroidery. Learn the basics of supplies and practice different stitches before starting on a design you create.