Grades 3-5: Using children's literature and picture books as rich sources of imagery and storylines, students weave their own stories individually and in collaboration with peers. Students draw upon their natural tendency to tell colorful and elaborate stories and examine the work of artists/author-illustrators such as Ezra Jack Keats, Mitsumasa Anno, Vashti Harrison, Maurice Sendak, Andrea Beaty, and Eric Carle. Large-scale drawings, booklets, varied paper surfaces/techniques, and story performances are just a few of the creative ways stories will be recorded and passed on.

ONLINE Grades 6-8: This fun yet intensive course is designed for super-motivated students who want to learn creative video making. Students are idea-generators, scriptwriters, prop creators and actors in this exciting production. Fundamentals of video making are learned through exercises in writing, shooting, and editing. In addition, students learn how to plan a complex project, research a subject, create a storyboard and work as a member of a production team. Reviewing and discussing the work is an ongoing part of the program. Students work in small groups to produce their final projects.

Grade 6-8: In this course, students will use acrylic paint to explore expressive uses of color, color mixing, and color theory. Using a variety of painting surfaces, students will paint in both traditional and unconventional ways, with brushes of various sizes and unconventional tools such as spatulas, squeegees, and combs. Through critique and peer feedback, this course offers opportunities for students to think deeply about their work and the meaning behind their paintings.

Grades 6-8: This course is designed to help students refine their skills in observational drawing and painting, making purposeful choices about lines, form, and color. Students will experiment with materials as they learn to make decisive lines and cohesive color palettes and apply both realistic and expressive colors to their pieces. Art exemplars will be used to emphasize the incredible diversity of styles and expressiveness that can be achieved with color, line, and texture.

Grades 6-8: Using a variety of dry and wet color media, students explore the powerful role of color on an artwork’s mood, atmosphere, and overall visual impact. To make informed decisions about color, students first learn color relationships and color theory as they create a series of related compositions that reflect specific color schemes. Throughout the course, students view the works of exemplar painters as inspiration for the infinite ways color can be utilized for stylistic and expressive purposes.

Grades: 4-6. One of the most exciting ways of making art is working with sculptural media to create three-dimensional art forms. In this course, students use sculptural media including wire, plaster, wood, clays and other natural materials to create sculptures, assemblages and installations. In the process, students gain experience with many sculptural forms and media, discover a variety of artists and heighten spatial and kinesthetic awareness. Using sketches and working from observation, memory and imagination, students make personally meaningful work that is inspired by their interests and objects of our everyday world.

Grades K-2. This environment-inspired course encourages students to look more carefully at the neighborhood around them, not only to see the buildings and structures it contains, but also to think about the people who live there and the natural living things that make the place beautiful. Students use structures in the area as the basis for collaged pieces. Inspired by artists who have used community and surroundings as the basis for their art, including Tom Miller (local Baltimore artist) and Red Grooms, students create both 2-D and 3-D works of art that define the neighborhood. Students use patterns and textures found in nature, in trees, the sky and ground, and in buildings as inspiration for their art.

(Grades K-2) Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel to faraway places across the seas? Let’s visit elephants in Thailand, journey across the Pacific, travel by camel across the desert, and fly up to the moon! In this unpredictable and adventurous course, students open their eyes to the colors, textures and styles of the peoples and places around the world (and beyond). From the most remote mountains to bustling cities, students explore the contrasts and similarities of cultures and places around the globe. Working with their ‘travel companions’, students collaborate with classmates to select the places to which they will journey, creating art along the way.

Grades 6-8 .Throughout the centuries, hand-built clay objects have served numerous purposes, allowing people to transport materials, store grains, protect treasures, and hold liquids. Students to pinch clay forms, use slip and score techniques to join pieces of clay, make even coils, and roll even slabs. Using a rich array of clay techniques using only hand-held tools and processes, students experiment with drape-molds, hand-built vessels, functional items, and decorative sculpture. Under-glazing and glazing techniques are used to embellish clay surfaces.

Grades 9-12: Enter the World of Visual Storytelling! In this course, students will breathe life into their imaginative tales using captivating imagery while refining their narrative skills. They will uncover the art of crafting compelling storylines and characters, nurturing their observation skills to master drawing figures in motion. Students will experiment with animation techniques and showcase their abilities by creating multi-frame comic strips and multi-page comic books.

Grade K-2: Art serves as a means to connect individuals within the community. In this course, students will examine artworks by contemporary artists and designers, employing drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage techniques to delve into the intricate relationship between people and the places they call home. Participants will craft pieces depicting people in their community, illustrate their fondest memories, and employ imaginative thinking to envision new spaces within their community for communal enjoyment.

Grades 6-8 Beginning with an understanding of compositional principles and the basic camera functions, features, and possibilities, students learn to create digital photographs. From a variety of prompts intended to tap into students' interpretation and experience of the visual world around them, students collect imagery in their daily lives, at home, and outdoors. As the course progresses, the class explores the Adobe Photoshop program as a tool to refine images and explore options in manipulating imagery for expressive purposes. Note: Students must have their own digital camera (phone or tablet camera or DSLR). Access to the Adobe Creative Suite is included for the duration of this course.

Using a variety of created and found images, students then learn how to make complex compositional and design decisions digitally through the use of filters, color effects, and artful use of text. With Adobe Creative Suite provided to all students, the class will work with industry standard software and develop design strategies to communicate clearly through design and digital imagery.

Grades 6-8: This intense studio class begins with a review of students’ current art portfolios, with discussion about what a well-rounded high school portfolio might look like. Students keep a reflective journal and sketchbook as they identify areas to strengthen in their artwork. Working independently with the instructor, students then develop a plan for tailored art problems intended to highlight skills and flesh out their portfolios for presentation. This course is especially designed for students who need a portfolio for entrance into high school but is also open to those who wish to employ a more independent course of study.

Grades K-2: Nowhere is there a medium more malleable and versatile than clay. Intended for our youngest artists and framed within an energetic context of play, tactile experiences, exploration and discovery, this course is intended to get students immersed in working creatively to create forms, apply textures, and consider the varieties of surface effects with glaze. Students will extrude, roll, press, mold, shape, squeeze, pinch, and drape clay in unusual ways to create beautiful, artful clay objects within the themes of community, nature and play. Once familiar with the basic characteristics, possibilities and limitations of clay, students will find that the options are virtually endless!