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Experience a personalized learning journey
Dive into a medium of your choice, no experience required. Everything from ceramics and beginning painting to puppet making and stone carving! Continuing Education classes are available for youth and adults, starting at grade 5.
2025 Adult Fall classes start September 8 and run for 8 weeks.
2025 Young Artist Grades 5-12 Fall classes start September 13 and run for 8 weeks.
2025 Young Artist Grades K-4 Fall classes start September 13 and run for 4 weeks.
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Have questions or need help registering? Contact the Continuing Education office at 216.421.7460.
Discounts
CIA is proud to offer discounts to veterans, alumni, seniors 55+, CMSD students, and educators—email ce@cia.edu to learn more! Any tuition discount must be entered at the time of purchase.
Interested in more than one class? Use code MULTI0122 when registering for 2 or more classes to receive a 10% discount!
Fall Young Artist Classes
Saturday, 9–11am | $250
Students will read contemporary poetry, fiction, comics, and other works by authors from a wide range of backgrounds and identities. In class, we’ll write both freely and following specific prompts. Students will share their work and celebrate the shared work of their classmates. By creating community with each other and through the work of the writers we’ll study, we’ll ignite our imaginations and catch the resulting splendor on the page.
Saturday, 9–11am | $250
Looking to develop your digital illustration and cartooning skills in a fun, supportive, and collaborative environment? Digital Cartooning is an engaging course introducing aspiring cartoonists and illustrators to digital art tools, like Photoshop and Wacom drawing tablets. This unique class develops character design, sequential art, and narrative visual storytelling skills, in addition to establishing a foundational understanding of Photoshop’s tools, menus, and shortcuts. No digital art experience is needed, but a solid foundation of drawing skills is highly recommended, as this will not be the focus of this course.
Saturday, 2–4pm | $250
This course focuses on drawing plants and animals using traditional drawing techniques, such as watercolor, pastel, and ink. Students will engage in research and observational drawing to enhance their understanding of form and detail. Projects include students selecting their favorite plant to draw, finding a bird or insect, aquatic animals, and then a final landscape project.
Saturday, 11:30am–1:30pm | $125
Calling all crafty goblins, ghosts, and witches! Have you ever wanted to make your own Halloween costume? Join us and learn how to transform a hoodie into the cool costume of your dreams. We’ll start with life-sized drawings of our costume ideas, then cutting out pieces and making parts before combining it all into your own totally unique Halloween outfit!
Saturday, 9–11am | $250
This course offers students an in depth introduction to figure drawing. Students will learn how to draw anatomy, hands, portraits, props, composition and background, and designing characters. Throughout the course, students will engage in observational drawing, drawing from a clothed figure drawing model to better understand how to depict the human form in their art.
Saturday, 9–11am | $250
This is a great class for any student who is interested in delving into the world of painting. Students will learn the fundamentals of creating a painting, including composition, color, and paint application. As a class we will learn how to prep a canvas, sketch ideas, mix colors, and explore multiple painting tools and techniques. Paintings will be representational, so each student will choose their own subject matter — ranging from human and animal portraits, still lives, and landscapes.
Saturday, 11:30am–1:30pm | $250
Interested in transitioning from drawing on paper to digital art with Photoshop? In this new course, we will make the transition more fun by taking our favorite artwork from paper to pixels using Adobe Photoshop. Learn how to draw and paint with Photoshop using your favorite original artwork. This course is a great introduction to digital art for aspiring illustrators, designers, and digital artists, but is recommended for students with a solid foundation of drawing skills as this will not be the focus of the course.
Saturday, 9–11am | $125
Through this course students will be guided in their processes through demonstration and experimentation, to foster the foundational knowledge to problem solve their future projects in a ceramics medium. Students will be allowed to dig out their creative interests in clay and to challenge their tactility and immerse themselves in a new material.
Saturday, 2–4pm | $250
This course introduces students to digital art tools like Adobe Photoshop and Wacom tablets with projects designed to help build a strong portfolio for college admission and scholarship consideration. Students who have successfully completed the course will have several new digital illustrations to add to their portfolio, and the skills to continue making more. This course is a great introduction to digital art and illustration, but this course is recommended for students with a solid foundation of drawing skills as this will not be the focus of the course.
Saturday, 11:30am–1:30pm | $250
This course is designed to help students develop the fundamental artistic skills needed to prepare them for a higher education and career in the arts. In this class, students will create high-quality art pieces for their portfolio, each piece building off of the seven principles of drawing!
Saturday, 9–11am | $250
Returning for a new season, the Prop Design course will push your imagination and crafting skills to new levels. Learn to design your own sci-fi/fantasy worlds, understand style in futuristic environments, and build real props that are out of this world! We’ll discuss worldbuilding and storytelling through art and design as we sculpt, sew, mold, shape and prototype our final designs, culminating in a realistic looking full-sized prop to take home.
This course may include some minor at-home sketching work to prepare for class so that we can really dig into the making and building aspect during the session.
Fall Adult Classes
Tuesday, 6–9pm | $495
In this introductory painting course, students will learn the fundamental techniques and processes of painting with acrylic paint. Class projects will target basic painting principles and guide students to develop a better understanding of tools and materials, acrylic paint and mediums, basic color theory, and two-dimensional design concepts. Discussions, demonstrations, and handouts will provide students with valuable resources to facilitate good painting practices and artistic growth.
Tuesday, 6–9pm | $595
The goal of this course is to explore the endless possibilities in working with clay both on and off the pottery wheel. Together we will go over basic to advanced techniques to achieve your artistic goals. By the end of the course students will have a complex understanding of how to manipulate clay on and off the wheel at all different stages of the making process. We will glaze and fire our work using multiple firing methods.
Wednesday, 6–8pm | $350
Make your artistic visions a reality and explore new ways of thinking about art and your creative work. Through the lens of self-expression, you will freely create artwork that holds personal significance in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. Discover how to artistically express yourself in a non-representational way while appreciating the styles and techniques of modern artists. You will learn and apply basic concepts such as composition, negative space, shading, color, and more to increase your visual vocabulary and range of creative expression. Works of current and past masters will serve as a resource and springboard for your own art.
Wednesday, 6-9pm | $495
In this class focused on glass fusing techniques, students will get a chance to make their own glass artwork. With projects ranging from glass jewelry, bowls and plates, glass drawings, and suncatchers, students will get hands on experience working with a challenging material! The heating cycle of kilns, how a kiln works and how to use it, and production techniques will all be a part of this course. Students will make multiple projects based on their interests.
Tuesday, 6–9pm | $495
Sculptural forms in hot glass will consist of various techniques to make both blown and solid works out of hot glass. Beginners, starting with the bubble or simply a gather of solid glass, will learn ways to develop sculptural forms out of glass, while intermediate/advanced students explore more techniques and more challenging functional forms. Each class will add a different skill to the making process. Students are encouraged to lean into the abstract, and fluid nature of glass. Natural fiber clothing is mandatory, nothing synthetic may be worn (Jeans and cotton T-shirts are recommended). Protective eyewear (safety glasses) and closed toe shoes are mandatory.
Monday, 6–9pm | $495
In this jewelry & metals course we will focus on the art of enameling. Students will learn two primary enameling techniques including sifting, where dry enamel powder is sprinkled on the surface, and wet packing, where the enamel is layered and packed with moisture. We will also learn champleve techniques using a press and peel transfer film to apply your image to metal, then ferric chloride to etch the surface of the copper. Students will be able to create jewelry or 3d forms in this class!
Wednesday, 6–9pm | $495
In this hands-on Jewelry & Metals course, adult learners will explore the fundamentals of metalsmithing, from basic techniques like sawing, soldering, and shaping to creating simple jewelry pieces. Using non-ferrous metals, students will gain an understanding of tools, materials, and design principles while developing their own unique creations. Whether you’re looking to start a new hobby or begin building a jewelry portfolio, this course offers a supportive environment for creativity and skill-building. All levels welcome.
Saturday, 9:30am–12:30pm | $495
Would you like to refine your portrait painting skills? Have you always wanted to get into portraiture in oil and just don’t know where to start? This portrait painting class will teach the ins and outs of portraiture as well as the basics of using oil paint. Students will spend eight weeks practicing color, form, anatomy, style, and materiality. Dive into learning what it takes to paint a portrait while seeing how portraits have changed throughout history. Beginner and intermediate skill levels welcome!
Thursday, 6–9pm | $495
Designed for artists of all levels, this course introduces the fundamentals of soft pastel through direct observation of the human figure. We’ll begin with an overview of pastel types and their unique properties, followed by techniques for application and layering. Students will explore basic color theory in relation to light and atmosphere. Emphasis is placed on gesture drawing and massing forms to build a solid foundation. As the course progresses, students will advance to more refined rendering techniques. This hands-on class explores the expressive potential of this vibrant medium.
Thursday, 6–9pm | $595
Have you ever wanted to try the art of Printmaking? In this course, you will be introduced to various traditional techniques that will allow you to explore your artistic skills in a brand new way. From highly technical to DIY, this course has something for everyone.
Monday, 6–9pm | $495
Inspired by Jim Henson’s Muppet Universe, whose detailed and imaginative characters monumentally changed the shape of storytelling, students will explore puppets and dolls from the perspective of cozy companions to cultural icons (like Barbie) — learning to design and draw figures, creating physical forms using armatures, fabrics, and found parts, and developing narratives for these 3-D creations. The class will be led by sustainable artist Linda Zolten Wood, who has 20 years of experience creating art dolls, costumes, masks, and puppets for CMA’s yearly Parade the Circle event.
Monday, 6–9pm | $595
Learn to create a sculpture out of a colorful alabaster stone. Experience the form emerging from the center of your stone using the reductive method. This class will teach you the step-by-step process of designing, carving, and polishing your stone. You will learn to use special tools and techniques that will result in a beautiful finished and polished stone. All supplies for this class are included with the tuition fee.