JUNE

Jewelry Fabrication for Teens (ages 12+)

June 23-27

Session I: 8:30-11:30am

Session II: 12:30-3:30pm

Instructor: Margaret Langdell

Please see description week of July 14-18. $160

Fun on the Potters Wheel

June 30-July 3 & July 12

Instructor: Michelle Santangelo
Do you love to create things out of clay? Have you always wanted to take it one step further by learning on a potter’s wheel? Or do you already know how and want to improve your skills? Well this is your chance! Come make pots, plates, bowls, cups and have fun doing it. Please bring a snack and wear appropriate clothing for getting messy. June 30-July 3 will be spent throwing and trimming. Students will then return Saturday July 12 to glaze their pieces. $150

Drawn to Nature (ages 7-11)

June 30-July 3, noon-4pm

Instructor: Lahri Bond
Begin the summer with a week of lovely afternoons spent in the woods and parks around Amherst, observing and drawing the natural world. In this relaxing and fun filled class we will study the shapes ad patterns found in nature and learn how to draw them using charcoal, pastel and watercolor. Along the way, students will be introduced to the use of light, shade, tone and color, as well as a variety of techniques designed to sharpen both their observation and drawing skills. Weather permitting, we will spend most of the afternoons outside and also learn some non-competitive, nature based games. Please bring lunch and a snack $150

JULY

Discovering Art Through Nature (ages 5-9)

July 7-11, 8:30-11:30am

Instructor: Tina Clark
This class will focus on creating from our imaginations, with the world outside as our inspiration and art supply source. From materials we have foraged from our walks in local area parks and wood we will construct picture frames, walking sticks, mobiles and other creations. Students will also examine the materials and brainstorm ideas on other things that can be created from them. Please bring a snack and appropriate shoes for walking. $130

From Bugs to Batman (ages 6-10)

July 7-11, 8:30-11:30am

Instructor: Lahri Bond
When you combine words and pictures to tell stories something magic happens. Sometimes these tales are funny, sometimes heroic, but always they are great fun to make. Students will start by learning to draw some of their most favorite cartoon and comic characters before moving on to inventing their own characters and stories. Emphasis will be placed on developing basic art skills such as rendering from geometric shapes, using color and working with line and form, as well as approaching the best ways to take the stories in your head and make them into exciting pictures on a page. Please bring a snack. $130

Manga and Graphic Novel Illustration (ages 11+)

July 7-11, 12:30-3:30pm

Instructor: Lahri Bond
We will draw inspiration from the rich traditions of Graphic Novels and Manga comics to begin to create exciting original illustrated stories. Beginning with thumbnail outlines, students will begin to draw their stories using a variety of techniques and materials, including pencil, marker, pen & ink, colored pencils and paint. Special emphasis will be placed on character development, improving anatomy and general drawing skills. Please bring a snack. $130

Paint Me a Summer Day (ages 8-12)

July 7-11, 12:30-3:30pm

Instructor: Tina Clark
You do not have to be Van Gough to enjoy this class! Join us to discover new ways to explore color, hues, style and the fun of painting. We will try watercolors and acrylics, and learn some of the secrets to creating a masterpiece. This class will include two fieldtrips into downtown Amherst: one will be to observe the fantastic mural work around town; the other will be to discover how the environment we live in is full of texture, color and fascinating scenery. This is a great class for everyone, including those who enjoy the feel of a paintbrush in their hand but do not know what to do with it. Please bring a snack. $130 

Do the Locomotion (ages 6-10)

July 14-18, 8:30am-3:30pm

Instructor: Lahri Bond
All aboard for a terrific trip into the exciting world of trains! Gathering all junior engineers, conductors, brakemen, boiler headers, boomers, furnace stokers, gandy dancers, red caps and train drivers, for a week of Locomotive fun. We will draw, paint and make three dimensional, paper maché trains, tracks, boxcars, sleepers and engines that produce real steam. Along the way we’ll learn some of the history behind the great American railroads, and hear stories about Casey Jones, John Henry, Screaming Jenny and the mysterious ghost trains. Mid-week we’ll take an actual train ride from Brattleboro, Vermont back down to Amherst, and sing songs of the rails. So get off your caboose and join us for a week chockfull of cho-choos. $300 (includes train ticket).

Let Art Tell the Story (ages 4-6)

Session I: July 14-18, 8:30-11:30am

Session II: July 21-25, 8:30-11:30am

Instructor: Dara Herman-Zierlein
This is a free-flowing art class where we let the nature of the art materials lead the way. Coloring, painting, or working with 3 dimensional materials such as wood and clay can often bring out the most amazing stories. Let your young children express themselves and slip right into their own make believe lands with some gentle guidance in having a positive and successful art experience. There will be story telling during break. Please bring a snack. $130

Fun on the Potter’s Wheel Session III (ages 8-12)
July 14-18
Instructor: Jana Silver
Please see description in week of June 30. $150

Jewelry Fabrication for Teens (ages 12+)

July 14-18

Instructor: Margaret Langdell
This is a great class for young artists to explore the wonderful world of jewelry making through copper and sterling silver jewelry design and fabrication. Techniques will include, but are not limited to: cutting, shaping, soldering, stone setting, and bead work. Individual attention will encourage both beginning students and those who already have some of the basic skills. Students will make a copper cuff, a copper bangle, a silver ring and some earrings or a pendant. $160

Dino Days (ages 5-10)

July 21-25, 8:30am-3:30pm

Instructor: Lahri Bond
Once again dinosaurs rule the Earth (in Amherst). By popular demand we’ll spend another summer week learning about terrific T-Rexes, beautiful Brontosaurs, sensational Stegosaurus, and wild Wooly Mammoths. Brontosaurus in downtown Amherst? We’ll also make them all by combining paper, glue, paint and ingenuity to create real and imagined dinosaurs on paper and colossal three-dimensional sculptures.  We’ll also take a trip to the Amherst College Museum of Natural History and draw the bones of real dinosaurs that once roamed the Pioneer Valley. So come sing the Allosaurus Chorus and generally have a beastly good time. Please bring a bag lunch, a snack and your imagination. $285

Teen Wheel Intensive (ages 13+)

July 21-25 & July 28-August 1, 12:30-3:30pm

Instructor: Lucy Fagella
This is a beginner to intermediate wheel throwing class for those wonderful teenagers out there who want to expand their artistic endeavors. We will develop skills on the potter’s wheel and learn how to glaze pots that we have made. By the end of this 2-week course students will bring home functional or decorative microwave/dishwasher-safe earthenware pottery. The instructor will give individual attention but will also offer those with more experience a chance to work independently. Please bring a snack and wear appropriate clothing for getting messy. $300

Ready Set Draw! (ages 10+)

July 28-August 1, 8:30-11:30am

Instructor: David Costello
This class will introduce the basic principles of drawing including 2-point perspective, light and shading, and composition. Drawing is a wonderful tool because it allows us to create a picture of what we invent in our minds or from what we see in the real world. We’ll explore a variety of materials and play drawing games in this fun & informal class. Come join us to explore and celebrate each young artist own personal way of drawing. Please bring a snack.$130 

Painting for Young Artists (ages 7-10)

July 28-August 1, 8:30-11:30am

Instructor: Annie Zirin
Let your young artist explore the joy of painting!  This course begins with an introduction to color mixing and basic painting techniques. Students will move on to explore abstract art, mixed media, self-portraiture, painting from nature, and other genres. Thoughout the course we will draw inspiration for our projects from the work of such artists as Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and Jacob Lawrence and others. Adventures in paint await your young artist! No previous painting or drawing experience is necessary. Please bring a snack. $130

Photo I

July 28-August 1

Session I 8:30-11:30am ages 8-11  Session II 12:30-3:30pm ages 12+

Instructor: Margaret Langdell
Students will make a pinhole camera out of a coffee can and a soda can. This will be a real camera that takes real pictures. Students will spend the first 2 days making their cameras. Then we will load our cameras with photo paper, take pictures and process the “film” in the darkroom. Contact prints will be made with the “negatives.” Students should bring a clean round coffee box and a clean empty soda can with them to the first class, as well as a 5x7 photo album to store their “negatives.” Please bring a snack. $150

The Art of Puppetry (ages 10 & up)

July 28-August 1, 12:30-3:30pm

Instructor: David Costello
From the Bunraku puppets of Japan to the shadow puppets of Bali to the heavy, armored knight puppets of Italy to the USA’s Muppets, puppetry is nearly a universal mode of expression. Puppetry is a combination of artistry and engineering. In this class we’ll look at constructing and using 3 kinds of puppets: hand puppets, rod puppets and shadow puppets. The emphasis will be on the designing and building, but of course we’ll also spend some time looking at how to use our puppets effectively. Please bring a snack. $130