Marwen

Learn to draw quick portraits of people on the street! You’ll study at Marwen for one week, then travel to busy Chicago locations such as Lincoln Park Zoo, Water Tower Place, and Oak Street Beach during week two. You’ll develop and increase your drawing confidence, concepts, and practices.

Two main ingredients make up a good painting: composition and dynamic colors. In this course you’ll learn how to create a composition that draws the viewer in and won’t let go. You’ll explore how to mix acrylic paints to generate dynamic colors. Then you’ll create collages and clay objects using your favorite colors. For the final project, you’ll make a painting from observation by combining both your collages and objects.

This is an introduction to the world of Motion Graphics and the tool most associated with making Motion Graphic work, Adobe After Effects. You’ll learn how to use modes of image making—text, drawings from Photoshop, images taken from the Internet, and video—and put them together in a time-based piece that will be a self-portrait.

In this course you’ll reinterpret, re-stage, and photograph scenes drawn from narrative paintings in ways that are relevant to your own life and contemporary social, political, and environ-mental issues. You’ll learn a new approach to photography—one that relies on careful planning and collaboration with peers. Along the way, you’ll learn studio lighting techniques, gain experience behind the camera, and get a sense of what it is like to work on the set of a large shoot.

In this course you’ll learn a variety of ways to sculpt animals, from the core fundamentals to the experimental use of clay. Sculpt an animal you love or create a new animal. You’ll be encouraged to explore and have fun!

If you want to bring your ideas and art to life through animation, then this is the class for you! You’ll use people, drawing, and cut paper to create images, and you'll learn how to use software to sequence your images together to create the illusion of movement. It all comes together in a final, collaborative stop motion animation project, which will even include a soundtrack that you’ll record, mix, and edit yourself.

Learn how to build an extraordinary portfolio that stands out above the rest. Develop artwork that demonstrates your strong technical and observational skills, even if drawing is not your strength! Part I will focus on self-portraits and figure drawings. Drawing the human form can be an important component in any portfolio, and this class will help strengthen your drawing skills and cover how to represent the figure through your own artistic style/media.  You can take this course individually or with Portfolio Program II and/or Part III.

You can do it all! Try your hand at pencil, charcoal, India ink, water-soluble paints, and markers. Build exciting compositions while discovering tricks and techniques for drawing, painting, and working with mixed media.

Explore the fast-paced world of photojournalism! Each day you’ll be given a headline, and your aim is to capture images that creatively represent the story headline. You’ll learn camera techniques and Adobe Photoshop, while creating narratives to your photographs.

Here’s your opportunity to get your hands dirty. You’ll explore numerous hand-building techniques then work your way to the potter’s wheel. You’ll learn the process of preparing clay, wedging, centering, and “throwing” functional and non-functional pottery. You’ll create cylinders, vessels, cups, and bowls, and you’ll finish your work by using various glazing methods and surface treatments to decorate your art pieces.

In this course, you’ll open up new ways of thinking about working with image, form, and sound that will lead to interesting art pieces. You’ll learn and work with basic digital audio production skills while experimenting with sound as a physical medium. Invent ways of translating images and sculptures into music and sound, making music based on what an image might mean or what a mood suggests. You’ll create sound pieces and music based on characteristics of an image such as color, composition, and geometry. You can take this course even if you’ve never played an instrument or recorded music.

In this course you’ll create ambitious paintings on a large scale. You’ll learn all aspects of painting production—from large-scale composition; implementation of ideas; and painting from imagination, life, or both—to how to direct the viewer across the picture plane. You’ll use acrylic paints and develop a greater understanding of materials. You’ll view images of art-historical and contemporary large-scale paintings to get a greater understanding of how to paint “big” and to further de-mystify and unlock the potential within the painting medium.

Transform flat white pieces of paper into wild works of art. You’ll experiment with plain paper as a dynamic material for creating structure, form, and surface. You’ll make a piece that communicates a meaning to your viewers by building both independently and in small groups.

Have you ever wanted to tell someone’s story through a photograph? In this course you’ll learn fundamental photography skills and apply your techniques to a series of photos that depict the individual stories of your subject. While visiting the LaSalle Church Senior Center, you’ll be exposed to a rich culture of people. You’ll explore and develop methods of relating to your subjects as photographers and you’ll get to know your assigned senior and tell his or her story through a series of candid portraits.

Using organic, apple-shaped gourds (a container or ornament made from the hollowed and dried skin of fruit) and art glass, you’ll make a mosaic birdhouse for our feathered friends. After drilling an entry hole, you’ll mosaic the outside of the gourd with broken pieces of stained glass in colorful and pleasing designs attractive to both birds and people who see them hanging in the trees. During this process you’ll learn about bird habits, artistic application of mosaics, design options, color/contrast, detail, form, appreciation for craft, and working with tools.

In this course you’ll learn the fundamentals of designing for screen print and printed tees. Through interactive demonstrations, creative time, critique, and hands on experience you’ll develop designs that reflect the richness of Chicago. The last 2 days of this course you’ll spend at Sharprint Industries learning about the printing process and printing your own t-shirt. This course requires an application and interview. Applications are located at the front desk!

This course is a complement to Portfolio Program Part I with a focus on still-life and landscape/space drawing. Strengthen your observational skills by learning rendering and perspective techniques. Learn how to make your drawings unique, interesting, and personal so that they stand out above the rest. We will work in a range of drawing media but also allow you to incorporate your medium of choice into your projects. You can take this course individually or with Portfolio Program I and/or III.

In this course you’ll make a poster celebrating a part of Chicago you value or a social cause you support. You’ll investigate the city you live in and its rich history. Then you’ll visit and learn about a few Chicago landmarks, using cameras to document what you find interesting. Back at the studio, your ideas will be   turned into a bold black and white design. You’ll learn how to use gauges to carve an image into a sheet of linoleum, and operate a printing press to make your own collection of posters.

Learn how to shoot and edit high definition video as a means of artistic expression to create narrative, documentary, and experimental work. You’ll examine the technical and creative qualities of video; learn how other video artists and movie makers have explored the medium; and pursue your own creative development through writing, storyboarding, videography, performing, and editing. Your final project will be your own movie that you can burn to DVD and upload to YouTube.

What is a treasure? Is it real or imagined? Does it have monetary or sentimental value? Is it something you found or something that was given to you? In this darkroom photography course you’ll go on a hunt with your 35mm cameras to photograph everyday treasures that might be overlooked while walking through the city. You’ll learn the fundamentals of darkroom photography while exploring the riches of Chicago.

Make your inner thoughts visible with jewelry!  In this course you’ll create pins and rings using metal clay. First you’ll practice your ideas in terra-cotta, exploring and experimenting. There is no “right” or “wrong,” “good” or “bad.” Each piece will be right because it is right for you. You’ll then transform these pieces into metal, creating bold statements.

There’s something magical about lifting the paper and discovering the print you’ve just made. While printmaking can be complicated, in this course you’ll explore the low-tech side of printmaking, including the fun and messy things you can do at home. You’ll etch with acid, print with fish, silkscreen with contact paper, use printing presses, and much more. Create your own images, explore techniques, and simply have fun!

Learn to paint portraits in watercolor that go beyond a visual likeness. Get beneath the surface by exploring the anatomy of the face. By using your imagination you’ll create dynamic portraits that express the inner character of your image.

How does an artist think and communicate with materials?  This course will give you the opportunity to experiment with 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D methods. You’ll sew, embroider, sculpt, knit, embellish, felt, install, and repurpose materials to create spectacular works of art. No previous fiber experience necessary!

In this course you’ll learn the fundamentals of street photography, focusing on portraits of the people that are a part of the Chicago landscape. You’ll go on a field trip to the Art Institute to view Dawoud Bey's Harlem USA series for inspiration and to see how he captured the essence of that neighborhood. You’ll spend much of the time outside taking photographs in different areas of the city and work primarily in black and white in order to focus on light, value, and tone.

The City of Chicago has a long history of photographers, institutions, galleries, magazines, and commercial studios. This course will investigate different uses of photography, traveling to sites such as Timeout Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, commercial photography studios, and art galleries that exhibit photographic works. Each field trip will have a related photography project that the class session will explore. This course will give students an opportunity to experience several different uses for photography as well as introducing a variety of potential careers and the Chicago photography world!

In this course you’ll learn the basics in clay hand-building techniques, allowing you to construct vessels or sculptural objects. You’ll focus on techniques such as pinching, slab rolling, coiling, and paddle. Using various tools, decorative slips, and underglaze, you’ll create images and designs on your clay forms. Bring your work to life with texture, color, and your imagination!

Learn the fundamentals of traditional animation and produce an animated short based on a haiku (short poem) that you write. First, you’ll participate in a haiku session with a guest artist to generate material for a hand drawn animation with sound. Then you’ll use the computer to photograph and sequence your drawings, record a soundtrack, and edit a fully realized animated short.

The third session in the Portfolio Program series will focus on thematic work. Whichever medium you work in, you’ll be assisted in pursuing individual artistic interests, leaving the program with a body of work that centers on personal themes, concepts, and unique styles. Part III will also focus on how to write a strong artist statement. You should have some experience in your medium of choice. You can take this course individually or with Portfolio Program I and/or II.

Experiment with various techniques of acrylic painting as you explore what it means to paint cartoons. Using pre-existing cartoons or creating your own characters, you’ll animate your canvas with line, color, and layers of pictures while learning how other artists have used cartoons in their work.

Experiment with stickers, stencils, and screen printing to create a socially conscious campaign around a theme you research. You’ll go through the process of designing and printing on sticker paper, fabric, and paper. Working collaboratively and individually you’ll achieve goals addressed by your teaching artists and peers. Your final pieces will leave the viewers inspired and amazed!

Learn to draw quick portraits of people on the street! You’ll study at Marwen for one week, then travel to busy Chicago locations such as Lincoln Park Zoo, Water Tower Place, and Oak Street Beach during week two. You’ll develop and increase your drawing confidence, concepts, and practices.

Two main ingredients make up a good painting: composition and dynamic colors. In this course you’ll learn how to create a composition that draws the viewer in and won’t let go. You’ll explore how to mix acrylic paints to generate dynamic colors. Then you’ll create collages and clay objects using your favorite colors. For the final project, you’ll make a painting from observation by combining both your collages and objects.

This is an introduction to the world of Motion Graphics and the tool most associated with making Motion Graphic work, Adobe After Effects. You’ll learn how to use modes of image making—text, drawings from Photoshop, images taken from the Internet, and video—and put them together in a time-based piece that will be a self-portrait.

In this course you’ll reinterpret, re-stage, and photograph scenes drawn from narrative paintings in ways that are relevant to your own life and contemporary social, political, and environ-mental issues. You’ll learn a new approach to photography—one that relies on careful planning and collaboration with peers. Along the way, you’ll learn studio lighting techniques, gain experience behind the camera, and get a sense of what it is like to work on the set of a large shoot.

In this course you’ll learn a variety of ways to sculpt animals, from the core fundamentals to the experimental use of clay. Sculpt an animal you love or create a new animal. You’ll be encouraged to explore and have fun!

If you want to bring your ideas and art to life through animation, then this is the class for you! You’ll use people, drawing, and cut paper to create images, and you'll learn how to use software to sequence your images together to create the illusion of movement. It all comes together in a final, collaborative stop motion animation project, which will even include a soundtrack that you’ll record, mix, and edit yourself.

In this course you’ll create ambitious paintings on a large scale. You’ll learn all aspects of painting production—from large-scale composition; implementation of ideas; and painting from imagination, life, or both—to how to direct the viewer across the picture plane. You’ll use acrylic paints and develop a greater understanding of materials. You’ll view images of art-historical and contemporary large-scale paintings to get a greater understanding of how to paint “big” and to further de-mystify and unlock the potential within the painting medium.

Transform flat white pieces of paper into wild works of art. You’ll experiment with plain paper as a dynamic material for creating structure, form, and surface. You’ll make a piece that communicates a meaning to your viewers by building both independently and in small groups.

Have you ever wanted to tell someone’s story through a photograph? In this course you’ll learn fundamental photography skills and apply your techniques to a series of photos that depict the individual stories of your subject. While visiting the LaSalle Church Senior Center, you’ll be exposed to a rich culture of people. You’ll explore and develop methods of relating to your subjects as photographers and you’ll get to know your assigned senior and tell his or her story through a series of candid portraits.

Using organic, apple-shaped gourds (a container or ornament made from the hollowed and dried skin of fruit) and art glass, you’ll make a mosaic birdhouse for our feathered friends. After drilling an entry hole, you’ll mosaic the outside of the gourd with broken pieces of stained glass in colorful and pleasing designs attractive to both birds and people who see them hanging in the trees. During this process you’ll learn about bird habits, artistic application of mosaics, design options, color/contrast, detail, form, appreciation for craft, and working with tools.

In this course you’ll learn the fundamentals of designing for screen print and printed tees. Through interactive demonstrations, creative time, critique, and hands on experience you’ll develop designs that reflect the richness of Chicago. The last 2 days of this course you’ll spend at Sharprint Industries learning about the printing process and printing your own t-shirt. This course requires an application and interview. Applications are located at the front desk!

Learn to paint portraits in watercolor that go beyond a visual likeness. Get beneath the surface by exploring the anatomy of the face. By using your imagination you’ll create dynamic portraits that express the inner character of your image.

How does an artist think and communicate with materials?  This course will give you the opportunity to experiment with 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D methods. You’ll sew, embroider, sculpt, knit, embellish, felt, install, and repurpose materials to create spectacular works of art. No previous fiber experience necessary!

In this course you’ll learn the fundamentals of street photography, focusing on portraits of the people that are a part of the Chicago landscape. You’ll go on a field trip to the Art Institute to view Dawoud Bey's Harlem USA series for inspiration and to see how he captured the essence of that neighborhood. You’ll spend much of the time outside taking photographs in different areas of the city and work primarily in black and white in order to focus on light, value, and tone.

The City of Chicago has a long history of photographers, institutions, galleries, magazines, and commercial studios. This course will investigate different uses of photography, traveling to sites such as Timeout Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, commercial photography studios, and art galleries that exhibit photographic works. Each field trip will have a related photography project that the class session will explore. This course will give students an opportunity to experience several different uses for photography as well as introducing a variety of potential careers and the Chicago photography world!

In this course you’ll learn the basics in clay hand-building techniques, allowing you to construct vessels or sculptural objects. You’ll focus on techniques such as pinching, slab rolling, coiling, and paddle. Using various tools, decorative slips, and underglaze, you’ll create images and designs on your clay forms. Bring your work to life with texture, color, and your imagination!

Learn the fundamentals of traditional animation and produce an animated short based on a haiku (short poem) that you write. First, you’ll participate in a haiku session with a guest artist to generate material for a hand drawn animation with sound. Then you’ll use the computer to photograph and sequence your drawings, record a soundtrack, and edit a fully realized animated short.

Learn how to build an extraordinary portfolio that stands out above the rest. Develop artwork that demonstrates your strong technical and observational skills, even if drawing is not your strength! Part I will focus on self-portraits and figure drawings. Drawing the human form can be an important component in any portfolio, and this class will help strengthen your drawing skills and cover how to represent the figure through your own artistic style/media.  You can take this course individually or with Portfolio Program II and/or Part III.

You can do it all! Try your hand at pencil, charcoal, India ink, water-soluble paints, and markers. Build exciting compositions while discovering tricks and techniques for drawing, painting, and working with mixed media.

Explore the fast-paced world of photojournalism! Each day you’ll be given a headline, and your aim is to capture images that creatively represent the story headline. You’ll learn camera techniques and Adobe Photoshop, while creating narratives to your photographs.

Here’s your opportunity to get your hands dirty. You’ll explore numerous hand-building techniques then work your way to the potter’s wheel. You’ll learn the process of preparing clay, wedging, centering, and “throwing” functional and non-functional pottery. You’ll create cylinders, vessels, cups, and bowls, and you’ll finish your work by using various glazing methods and surface treatments to decorate your art pieces.

In this course, you’ll open up new ways of thinking about working with image, form, and sound that will lead to interesting art pieces. You’ll learn and work with basic digital audio production skills while experimenting with sound as a physical medium. Invent ways of translating images and sculptures into music and sound, making music based on what an image might mean or what a mood suggests. You’ll create sound pieces and music based on characteristics of an image such as color, composition, and geometry. You can take this course even if you’ve never played an instrument or recorded music.

This course is a complement to Portfolio Program Part I with a focus on still-life and landscape/space drawing. Strengthen your observational skills by learning rendering and perspective techniques. Learn how to make your drawings unique, interesting, and personal so that they stand out above the rest. We will work in a range of drawing media but also allow you to incorporate your medium of choice into your projects. You can take this course individually or with Portfolio Program I and/or III.

In this course you’ll make a poster celebrating a part of Chicago you value or a social cause you support. You’ll investigate the city you live in and its rich history. Then you’ll visit and learn about a few Chicago landmarks, using cameras to document what you find interesting. Back at the studio, your ideas will be   turned into a bold black and white design. You’ll learn how to use gauges to carve an image into a sheet of linoleum, and operate a printing press to make your own collection of posters.

Learn how to shoot and edit high definition video as a means of artistic expression to create narrative, documentary, and experimental work. You’ll examine the technical and creative qualities of video; learn how other video artists and movie makers have explored the medium; and pursue your own creative development through writing, storyboarding, videography, performing, and editing. Your final project will be your own movie that you can burn to DVD and upload to YouTube.

What is a treasure? Is it real or imagined? Does it have monetary or sentimental value? Is it something you found or something that was given to you? In this darkroom photography course you’ll go on a hunt with your 35mm cameras to photograph everyday treasures that might be overlooked while walking through the city. You’ll learn the fundamentals of darkroom photography while exploring the riches of Chicago.

Make your inner thoughts visible with jewelry!  In this course you’ll create pins and rings using metal clay. First you’ll practice your ideas in terra-cotta, exploring and experimenting. There is no “right” or “wrong,” “good” or “bad.” Each piece will be right because it is right for you. You’ll then transform these pieces into metal, creating bold statements.

There’s something magical about lifting the paper and discovering the print you’ve just made. While printmaking can be complicated, in this course you’ll explore the low-tech side of printmaking, including the fun and messy things you can do at home. You’ll etch with acid, print with fish, silkscreen with contact paper, use printing presses, and much more. Create your own images, explore techniques, and simply have fun!

The third session in the Portfolio Program series will focus on thematic work. Whichever medium you work in, you’ll be assisted in pursuing individual artistic interests, leaving the program with a body of work that centers on personal themes, concepts, and unique styles. Part III will also focus on how to write a strong artist statement. You should have some experience in your medium of choice. You can take this course individually or with Portfolio Program I and/or II.

Experiment with various techniques of acrylic painting as you explore what it means to paint cartoons. Using pre-existing cartoons or creating your own characters, you’ll animate your canvas with line, color, and layers of pictures while learning how other artists have used cartoons in their work.

Experiment with stickers, stencils, and screen printing to create a socially conscious campaign around a theme you research. You’ll go through the process of designing and printing on sticker paper, fabric, and paper. Working collaboratively and individually you’ll achieve goals addressed by your teaching artists and peers. Your final pieces will leave the viewers inspired and amazed!