Mindfulness is the open-hearted energy of being aware in the present moment. It is the daily cultivation—practice—of touching life deeply.
― Laurie Buchanan, PhD

Artists make themselves vulnerable through sharing with us works that express their visions of the world. In this way, their images touch and transform us. Sharing their visions is an act of courage and strength. A similar vulnerability allows us to live fully and from our hearts. Our daily presence and vitality in living our lives may be our greatest legacy to those we love. We will engage with gallery images using mindfulness practices that support our connection with presence and our heart’s wisdom. We will conclude by discussing how to apply these same principles to our daily lives.

Spend a morning making a magical fairy door. Students will use the slab roller to prepare their clay and then use templates to cut out and attach elements for a fairy door. We will paint our pieces with colorful glazes during class and work will be available for pickup two to three weeks after class. Finished work will be suitable for display inside or outside.

Ages 5 and up 

Build complexity and richness to your work with cold wax and oils. In this workshop we will explore how to use wax and other mediums to build up translucence and texture in your oil paintings.

Explore all things three dimensional while working with a variety of fun materials including papier mache, metal, and wood.

Ages 7 – 12

The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

Loving Kindness Practices increase positive emotions, strengthen health, and enhance the quality of our lives. Moreover, these practices help us to navigate relationships with greater tolerance and appreciation for those we love. These same practices can help us to forge a connection with the artists who help us to envision our worlds in new ways and with the images they create. In this session, we will practice open-heartedness and apply this open-heartedness to our experiences of the artwork. Take homes will include brief skills for bringing an open heart to our daily interactions with others.

Landscape art has been around as long as art itself. This drawing course is a beginner course about drawing outside in nature. It is designed not only for the beginner, but the artist who wants to brush up on their drawing/sketching skills.

Using all of your favorite messy materials, participants will create amazing artworks in mixed media using paint, charcoal, oil pastels and more. Aprons are provided!

Ages 7 – 12

August - Totems - In this class we will use the slab machine and/or the potter’s wheel to make various shapes that will be stacked together on a metal pole/rebar for either garden art or inside your home.  Students will need to source their own rebar and mounting base/block before class and have it ready on the first day of class.   Various hand building techniques will be demonstrated as well as student created templates and studio forms used to construct shapes.  Students need to bring resource materials for inspiration such as pictures, sketches, etc

Class Meets:

August 6^th, 8^th, 13^th, 15^th, 20^th, and 22^nd

Get your hands in clay and try out making pottery on the wheel. Students will practice the basics of learning to center and throwing small bowls, cups and plates. Work will be fired and glazed after the class and be available for pickup in two to three weeks.

Ages 8 and up 

This class will merge the knowledge of the fundamentals of classical landscape painting as a foundation, combined with the understanding of the basic principles and elements of abstraction in order to loosen up in your painting. Pushing one’s landscape artwork with a variety of mediums and tools as a way of loosening up and going beyond the basics, as well as heavy discussion on changing design and composition to push outside the obvious.