Adult art classes currently enrolling for:
Don't have time for an eight week class? Try one of our short workshops. We offer a variety of unique experiences for all audiences, available on the weekends! This is an excellent way to practice some creativity in a relaxed, inspiring environment.
One and two day workshops, and short mini-classes with exhibiting artists and educators, as well as 2 hour evening options and a new Lunchtime Lecture via Zoom.
All artwork on these pages created by our students or faculty.
We offer a 10% discount for members, as well as gift certificates. These workshops make the perfect gift for the creative person in your life.
View the digital Spring Catalog Here.
To learn more about our class offerings and to register, please click on the button to the right.
In the first session of this fun workshop we will make beautiful monoprints without a printing press. Using a slab of gelatin, colorful inks, brayers, and tons of everyday textured tools, we will create interesting images on paper. The process is fun and super easy.
In the second session we will cut, arrange and adhere the Gelli printed papers into colorful collages, perfect for framing. Supplies included.
Register For ClassesJoin us this January for a mixed-media collage workshop! Students will create a multi-layered dynamic piece, working with numerous art materials and tools. Practicing printmaking techniques, students will make their own collage papers for their first collage layer, followed by drawing and painting for the second and third layers of detail. Each student will choose an abstract or representational theme for their piece. All levels of art-making experience are welcome.
Register For ClassesBy popular demand- we have added a second workshop! Come spend a day learning how to hand carve wooden cooking spoons! Whether you’re totally new to woodworking or just looking to slow down and make something with your hands, this one-day class is a great way to dive in. You’ll learn how to safely use carving tools, work with green wood, and carve your very own spoon from start to finish. We’ll focus on knife and gouge skills but will talk about axe work as well! The day is designed to be hands-on, relaxed, and beginner-friendly—no experience needed and all tools and materials are provided. Limited to 6 participants.
Register For ClassesDo you enjoy being creative but sometimes have a hard time knowing where to start? Join educator and artist Julie Bernson for a fun workshop inspired by her artistic practice utilizing carefully curated and collected consumer packaging. She will lead you through a series of prompts designed to help you expand perceptions and possibilities through exploring relationships between colors, textures, patterns and materials. Participants will create and explore, going home with an original, meaningful collage suitable for framing. All are welcome and all supplies are included.
Register For ClassesWork with juried show award recipient Elizabeth Cohen, as you design a beautiful collage inspired by natural forms. In a process-orientated free flowing approach, students will focus on compositions using torn color-saturated papers, discovering new color relationships and taking creative risks. This workshop is perfect for those working in other materials such as paint, pastels and fiber as a compliment to their art practice. Some art experience is suggested but not required. All supplies provided.
Register For Classes
New medium workshop! Spend the day with mosaic artist Suzanne Owayda of Mosaic Oasis Studio creating your own 8×10 mosaic inspired by the vibrant art of Charley Harper. Participants will learn about various tile materials including millefiori and murrini, and how they are made. Through demonstrations and discussion, you will learn to cut and arrange tiles after choosing a design inspired by Charley Harper’s bird and fish illustrations. After gluing tile pieces, students will go home with grout to finish the mosaic after the glue has cured. This class is open to anyone who would like to experiment in a new medium. No mosaic experience needed! Includes $15 materials fee.
Register For ClassesSpend a few hours learning how to hand carve a wooden butter spreader! Whether you’re totally new to woodworking or just looking to slow down and make something with your hands, this one-day workshop is a great way to dive in. You’ll learn how to safely use carving tools, work with green wood, and carve your very own butter spreader from start to finish. We’ll focus on knife skills but will talk about axe work as well! The day is designed to be hands-on, relaxed, and beginner-friendly—no experience needed, and all tools and materials are provided. Limited to 6 participants.
Register For ClassesDon’t miss this opportunity to work with artist Michelle Lougee! In this intensive workshop, we explore the concept that memory is a verb -an active, fluid process of construction and erosion. Drawing inspiration from the Danforth’s spring exhibitions, participants will delve into the fluidity of memory through the tactile medium of collage, utilizing both found objects and personal ephemera to explore the passage of time. We will investigate the uncanny nature of the everyday, looking for the traces and ghosts left behind by lived experience. How do we visualize loss without falling into sentimentality? How does our perception of the past shift when layered with the synthetic materials of the present? Through a series of guided prompts, students will create “memory-shrouds” and layered compositions that grapple with mortality and the legacy of the objects we leave behind. Participants are encouraged to bring “souvenirs of the mundane” like old letters, discarded packaging, translucent papers, or photographs. Please look for materials that feel uncanny—objects that are familiar but, when isolated, feel strange or storied. Avoid the ‘precious’; look for the discarded. We are looking for the beauty in the loss and the strength in the legacy.
Register For Classes
Learn how to transform everyday snapshots into dynamic digital collages using your phone and the iPad. This class will use the Procreate program to explore what makes a compelling image, how to build a library of photos and backgrounds, and the fundamentals of layering and composition. You’ll get hands-on experience with editing apps to seamlessly blend images and create unique, artistic composites, and learn techniques for future painting into your images. Finally, we’ll cover output options, from printing on canvas and art paper to aluminum and other creative surfaces.
Join local herbalist Colleen Colvin and explore the ways herbs can be our allies for emotional, holistic and aesthetic tranquility. Learn about the benefits of these medicinal plants and how they can help us improve our lives. This workshop for adults offers a healing space for herbal monograph journaling, followed by hands-on blending of herbs to create personalized healing salves to take home.
Register For ClassesTake advantage of the chance to learn from Susan Bauer, who will be retiring after this Spring. Tree branches will our be our inspiration in this workshop, students will create dynamic compositions utilizing the linear and twisting nature of the branches. We will discuss the elements of design; line, value, texture, color, shape and principles of design: harmony, variety, balance, proportion, dominance, movement and economy. Composition will play a large part of our exploration, examining how to arrange tree branches within the picture plane. Students will consider how to utilize the elements and principles of design, either using a singular approach or a combination. The formal practice of drawing will also be explored through demonstrations by the instructor.
Register For Classes
Anna has a gentle, encouraging approach. I felt safe to express myself as I learned how to use materials in a new way. student in Meditation & Mark Making —Read more about Anna Ryan here
Donate to the Danforth — Your support helps fund exhibitions, programs and scholarships.
