Pre-College Courses

This class will focus primarily on the production of two-dimensional animation, exploring storyboarding, visual development, animation, and post-production. The final assignment will be a group project, where each student adds their unique voice and style to create a single animation reel. You will leave this course with a demo reel and an animated short for your portfolio.

This class is highly recommended for anyone who wants a better understanding of how to create animated films or hopes to enter the animation industry. Students will gain knowledge of industry-standard techniques, terminology, and how to work in a professional production timeline.

This course will explore ceramics as a medium for personal expression with both sculptural and functional forms. Through a series of short lectures and presentations, students will gain a basic understanding of the history of ceramic art, clay and glaze materials and firing methods.

We will explore hand-building and wheel throwing, surface decoration and glazing. Students will apply research and ideation to realize a project working toward their own personal vision and concept development. Students will leave with several pieces for their portfolio and an understanding of the potential for clay as a mode of self-expression and utility.

This class will teach students how to use a visual and strategic thought process to come up with solutions for real world, practical problems. You will get an inside look at the designer’s process from concept to branding to application. There will be a focus on understanding design basics, including the combination of type, image, color and shape in an engaging composition. Students will explore the design principles of typography and visual organization, and the role they play in graphic design. 

This class will allow students to explore the history and classifications of typography, the principles of composition and visual organization, and professional practices.  

This course is designed to help students find their creative voice, execute advanced-level artwork, and discover the diverse field of illustration. You will explore the full creative process of illustration, from brainstorming and concept art to a finished piece ready for display. Students will discover dynamic composition, storyboarding, fundamental rendering techniques, and basic pre-press print production, while also sampling many different avenues of illustration and developing core skills and design principles that will be applied to finished artwork.

Topics that will be explored include composition and value, aesthetic and comprehensive design, brand identity, visual communication of an idea or story, character development, poster and book-jacket design, and storyboarding.

This class combines traditional drawing with digital drawing techniques to illustrate figurative anatomy and other scientific renderings. Students will explore human anatomy fundamentals as they relate to the development of artistic skills in figurative proportion and visual expression. There will be emphasis on how the skeleton and muscles form the figure, what structures enable motion, and specific methods for improving observational figure drawing.

This class will utilize a variety of techniques and materials to visually reveal various anatomical layers of the human form, including colored pencil, charcoal, graphite, and ultimately digital rendering in Photoshop.

This class will cover the fundamental elements of drawing, while focusing on creative problem-solving. The primary goal is to enhance students’ prospects for building a better portfolio by strengthening observational skills and rendering techniques. Throughout the course, students will experiment with a multitude of drawing materials to build their artistic repertoire.

Daily demos and a wide variety of projects will help students gain a greater understanding of the creative process, from initial sketches and layouts to the finishing details. Time will be spent exploring and creating art in areas such as life drawing, landscape studies, and figurative work.

This course focuses on creating work through the exploration of color theory and application of materials using acrylic paints. Students will begin their painting exploration through the practice of building up the surface of a painting while experimenting with layering and composition. As confidence in the use of materials grows, students will draw inspiration from their sketchbooks and the work of professional artists to begin crafting their own unique vision.

Combining materials and imagery, students will investigate how to express their feelings, beliefs, and voice to convey a strong message in their art. We will discuss successes and challenges as a group to build confidence and create a sense of community.

This class teaches students how to use the fundamentals of photography to explore the world around them. Students will gain knowledge through technical training in camera controls, darkroom and inkjet printing, basic studio lighting, digital editing, and gallery installation techniques. In addition, the class will focus on the rules of composition, contemporary concepts, and examples of historical and contemporary photographic works of art. Students will engage in a collaborative studio environment, contribute to and receive constructive critique, establish critical thinking skills, and form a photographic vision while developing personal projects.

No previous photography experience required.

In this class you will create sculptural objects while exploring multiple materials in a contemporary visual arts environment. Push the boundaries of your work in every direction and learn how to produce meaning through the transformation of material.

This class will focus on the ever growing and shifting relationship of objects: the way that an object can communicate visually with another, the space they exist in, and how they relate to us. Learn how to develop your ideas into 3-dimensional form with hands-on exploration of scale, material, technique and display. This introductory course will cover a variety of traditional and nontraditional sculptural processes and materials, including additive and reductive carving, foam and plaster modeling, wire armature construction, felt making, pattern making, hand sewing and surface treatment.