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Home » Creating Freely » Online Classes
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Online Classes

Welcome to CAW’s online classes page. Please continue scrolling to see all our available offerings.


Making Meaning with Abstract Painting

Shilo Ratner

Explore form, color, line, texture, pattern, composition, and process to independently generate and resolve meaningful visual ideas. Students will be exposed to a variety of abstract painting concepts and will broaden their personal painting processes and visual vocabularies in relation to the formal qualities of their work.

Materials: Click here to view

1/23—1/24 | Saturday and Sunday | 10:00 am-1:00 pm

2 Sessions | $90

Register for Making Meaning with Abstract Painting


Fun with Modeling Clay

Nellie Shevelkina

Discover this fun material in a new way. Not only can you sculpt in 3-D with it, but you can also paint with it. Plasticine paintings are a mixture of sculpture and painting as they are made on a flat base with raised up textured elements, (also known as relief) which will teach students to recreate three dimensional spaces on two dimensional surfaces. Students will gain knowledge of lines, colors, hues, color mixtures, and textures. Starting with the simple exercises, students move on to create a still life, a landscape, and a painting of their choice.

Materials: Click here to view

Age: 7+

2/3—2/17 | Wednesdays | 4:00 pm-5:00 pm

3 Sessions | $45

Register for Fun with Modeling Clay


Saturday Sketching

Eva Scopino

Learn, discover, and practice drawing skills through observation, imagination, tips, and techniques. Explore line, shape, form, shading, texture, mark-making, and composition using pencil, colored pencil, pastels, watercolor, charcoal, and pen and ink. Appropriate for beginners who love drawing, as well as students who have studied drawing and/or have drawing experience.

Materials: Click here to view

Age: 8-14

2/6—2/27 | Saturdays | 11:00 am-12:00 pm

4 Sessions | $60

Register for Saturday Sketching


The No Sew Miniature Hardcover Book

Paulette Rosen

Make a miniature hard cover book with no sewing. With a continuous page across the fold, it’s great for drawing or writing. The pages can be blank or made from items like existing prints, watercolors, or marbled paper. Called the Drum Leaf Binding, it is constructed of thick pages glued together at the edges. The structure opens perfectly flat, making it especially suitable for repurposing prints and drawings, or, when made larger, as a journal, photo album or guest book. Open to all levels, no experience required.

Materials: Click here to view

2/9—2/23 | Tuesdays | 3:00 pm-4:30 pm

3 Sessions | $67.50

Register for The No Sew Miniature Hardcover Book


A Guide to Drawing the Human Head

Lisa Hesselgrave

Learn the basics of drawing the head from the comfort of your own home through interactive demonstrations, critiques, and coaching. Students will watch demonstrations, work on their own portrait drawings independently, and then review them with the instructor in group critiques. Students may work from their own image in a mirror, or from a live model—if you have a willing participant in quarantine with you.

Materials: Click here to view

Age: 18+

2/9—2/23 | Tuesdays | 6:30 pm-8:30 pm

3 Sessions | $90

Register for Drawing a Human Head


Modeling Clay Plus

Nellie Shevelkina

Take your plasticine skills on to the next level to create a portrait and a 3-D scenery with characters of your choice that might be used to tell a fun story or become a short animation.

Prerequisite: Fun with Plasticine class or previous experience with Plasticine

Materials: Click here to view

Age: 7+

2/24—3/10 | Wednesdays | 4:00 pm-5:00 pm

3 Sessions | $45

Register for Modeling Clay +


Art + Geometry = Fun

Nellie Shevelkina

Tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, cuboid – these are not the latest dinosaurs discovered, they are the siblings of the cube, cone, prism, cylinder and other members of the geometric form family. Fold these shapes out of paper to use as columns, blocks, arches and roofs to create castles and cities and then learn how to draw them in perspective. Using a ruler, triangle, and compass, draw unique patterns, optical illusions, and abstract compositions. Working with 3-D versions of these shapes will help one understand spatial relations, scale, symmetry, and 3D construction.

Materials: Click here to view

3/25—4/8 | Thursdays | 4:00 pm-5:00 pm

3 Sessions | $45

Register for Art + Geometry = Fun

Previous Classes

Be Smarter Than Your Camera

Melanie Stengel

Cameras are becoming smarter and offering more features. Auto settings work well much of the time but by understanding the other settings, and when to opt for the manual setting, you can become smarter than the camera and unlock a new level of creativity.

Materials: Digital SLR or mirrorless camera that accepts multiple lenses

Age: 18+

1/5—1/19 | Tuesdays | 6:30 pm-8:30 pm

3 Sessions | $90

Register for Be Smarter Than Your Camera


The Accordion Book as a Removable Feast

Paulette Rosen

Create an accordion book with removeable pages. Fold and cut framed page attachments (1- or 2- sided) to display removable content such as prints, photographs, postcards, or text. This kind of page attachment can be applied to a variety of accordion structures, sewn into a codex, used for displaying paper cut outs, layering translucent papers, and can even be fashioned as a paper quilt. Many basic skills of book binding will be introduced including measuring, cutting, and gluing. No experience necessary.

Materials: Click here to view

Age: 18+

1/7—1/28 | Thursdays | 3:00 pm-4:30 pm

4 Sessions | $90

Register for Accordion Book as a Removable Feast


Developing Your Portfolio

Phyllis Crowley

*Back by popular demand!* Advance your photography to a higher level. Critiques of students’ work, assignments, and presentations of master photographers will strengthen the understanding of how and why photos work or may not work. Delve into the composition, depth of field, camera settings, mood, lighting, and contrast to help see the picture before clicking the shutter. A five-image portfolio will be required for the final class. This class will meet every other week.

Materials: DSLR camera

Age: 16+

1/7—2/18 | Thursdays | 6:00 pm-8:00 pm

4 Sessions | $120

Register for Developing Your Portfolio


Introduction to Drawing

Steve DiGiovanni

*Back by popular demand!* Newest installment of Intro to Drawing. Break down the fundamental aspects of drawing to their most essential. Students will follow instructor-led exercises focusing on line, shape, value, and mark making. Students need not have taken the previous Intro to Drawing classes to attend this one. All are welcome.

Materials: Click here to view

Age: 15+

1/11—1/25 | Mondays | 7:00 pm-9:00 pm

3 Sessions | $90

Register for Intro to Drawing


Everything You Wanted To Know About Rep Weave

Lucienne Coifman

Take a simple plain weave draft, crowd the warp ends together, use both a fine and a heavy weft and create a sturdy, durable fabric called a Rep Weave. The alternating color patterns are created entirely through the warp color order. Learn the fundamentals of rep weave, how to set up a rep weave project on the loom, choose your own project, and explore the classic and nontraditional rep weave techniques.

Age: 18+

1/12—2/9 | Tuesdays | 5:00 pm-6:00 pm
No  Class on 1/26/2020

4 Sessions | $60

Register for Rep Weave


Books and Boxes as Holiday Ornaments

Cathy Reeve

Make three different types of ornaments–perfect for the holiday season. On the first night students will create origami boxes which are fun to make, and a great way to present small gifts. Other holiday-inspired origami decorations may also be created if time allows. The second night will focus on a miniature version of a lotus book, an Asian-inspired book structure that opens into a star shape. During the last night’s session, construct a miniature book with blank pages –ideal for recording holiday memories. No bookbinding experience required.

Age: 17+

12/3—12/17 | Thursdays | 7:00 pm-9:00 pm

3 Sessions | $90 plus materials

Register for Holiday Ornaments


Decorative Soldering for Stained Glass

Joanne Paone-Gill

Embellish stained glass with decorative soldering. Learn how to solder a design on a zinc frame, add dot and dash beading on the solder lines, solder a perfectly neat corner every time, replace cracked glass, make your own jump rings, and, for the holidays, make a snowflake or two. For the first class, students should be prepared to have scrap glass soldered together to practice the decorative bead soldering.

Pre-requisite: At least two prior stained glass classes

Age: 18+

12/1—12/15 | Tuesdays | 7:00 pm-8:30 pm

3 Sessions | $67.50 plus materials

Developing Your Portfolio

Phyllis Crowley

Advance your photography to a higher level. Critiques of students’ work, assignments, and presentations of master photographers will strengthen the understanding of how and why photos work or may not work. Delve into the composition, depth of field, camera settings, mood, lighting, and contrast to help see the picture before clicking the shutter. During the class a five-image portfolio will be created. This class will meet every other week.

Age: 16+

Materials: Camera and lenses – DSLR

11/5, 11/19, 12/3 | Thursdays | 6:00 pm-8:00 pm

3 Sessions | $90

Exploring Nature in New Haven Through Photography

Harold Shapiro

Polish your skills on outdoor photography and hone your composition techniques. The best shots can happen anywhere and at any time. The first class will be a discussion and presentation via zoom, the second will be a socially distant photo field trip to a New Haven area park; the last day will be a critique of the photos shot on day two.

Age: 18+

Materials: Camera and lenses – DSLR or smart phone

11/11-11/25 | Wednesdays | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

3 Sessions | $90

Drive-in or Walk-Up Cold Weather Plein Air Landscape Drawing

Eric March

Buckle up for a socially distant (and warm) way of drawing winter landscapes from the comfort of your car. Grab your mask and step out of your car for an in-person demonstration by the instructor as he guides you through the basic steps of choosing a subject and starting a landscape drawing. Students will then either start their own drawings from the warmth of their cars or, for the warmly dressed, in the fresh and frosty air at their field easel. Basic pencil landscape drawing techniques will be taught, and socially distanced one-on-one coaching will be given. Masks are required for the demonstration and critiques. Workshop will meet in the parking lot of the Wilbur Cross High School at the foot of the cliffs of East Rock Park.

Age: 16+

Materials: Pencils, erasers, paper, and a field easel if painting outside

11/14 | Saturday | 10:00 am-12:30 pm  (Rain date, Sunday 11/15)
1 Session | $37.50 plus materials

Introduction to Drawing

Steve DiGiovanni

Break down the fundamental aspects of drawing to their most essential. Students will follow instructor-led exercises focusing on line, shape, value, and mark making.

Age: 16+

Session A (Measuring & Proportions, Negative Space, and Perceptual Drawing):
10/5—10/26 | Mondays | 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
Session B (Light & Shadow and Linear Perspective):
11/2—11/16 | Mondays | 7:00 pm-9:00 pm

Materials: Click here to view

3 Sessions | $90 plus

The Flag Book

Paulette Rosen

Book arts connects with sculpture and sound. Combine an accordion spine with paper “flags” placed in an alternating manner that, when unfolded, intertwine like magic and can make noise. This clever, complex looking but simple book structure was invented by master binder Hedi Kyle in the 1980s. The pages can be examined by turning like a codex, stand for display like a sculpture, or flap like a noisemaker. Students will be guided in folding the accordion spine and creating visual or text content for the flags for this unique structure. The final book will have a decorative hardcover, a title, and maybe even an envelope to store it. Many basic skills of book binding will be introduced including measuring, cutting, and gluing. No experience necessary.

Age: 18+

10/13—10/27 | Tuesdays | 7:00 pm-8:30 pm

3 Sessions | $67.50 plus materials

 


Unlock the Mystery of Weaving Drafts

Lucienne Coifman

Twill circles, blocks, and weaves – these are some of the terms in the language of drafting for weaving. Through a series of exercises, students will learn to understand most drafts from any source as well as learn how to make their own draft. Principles of fabric analysis will also be covered. Prior weaving experience not required but will make this class more useful.

Age: 18+

10/7—10/28 | Wednesdays | 7:00 pm-8:30 pm

4 Sessions | $90

 


Illustration Intensive

Matt Stevens

Illustration is the process of pairing images and text to help tell a story. In this three part workshop, students will be guided through the process of creating an illustration by interpreting text and creating a paired work of art. Students will be encouraged to create work that is vivid, unique, and ambitious. Composition, artist’s voice, methods of interpretation, and artist’s resources will be addressed. Some drawing ability is encouraged. You can take this workshop using digital or traditional media.

Age: 18+

7/27—8/10 | Mondays | 7:00 pm-8:30 pm

3 Sessions | $90 plus materials

 


The Miniature Accordion Book

Paulette Rosen

Learn to fold a 4″ miniature accordion book. Students will learn to fold the accordion, sew in pages, and attach a decorative hard cover. Miniature books can be used as photo albums, sketchbooks and whatever else you can imagine. Many basic skills of book binding will be introduced including: measuring, cutting and gluing. No experience necessary.

07/14—07/21 | Tuesdays | 1-2 pm

2 Sessions | $30 plus materials

 


Painting En Plein Air at Edgerton Park

Diana Brownell

Summer is the time when artists traditionally leave their studios behind and head outdoors in search of the perfect motif and the effects of light and color seen in nature. Join us outside to capture moments on canvas or paper that may only be found while painting en plein air. During three mornings at Edgerton Park, students will receive instruction in basic painting techniques. Learn how to simplify what you are seeing and how to lay down a foundation upon which to build a painting. All levels welcome.

Note: Please bring your own PPE and plan to follow social distancing protocols throughout the class. There are no public restrooms or tables at the park. In addition to the materials needed below, a folding chair or easel is recommended for your comfort.

Age: 15 and up

07/11—07/25 | Saturdays | 9:30 am-11:00 am

3 Sessions | $65 plus materials

 


Introduction to Drawing

Steven DiGiovanni

Break down the fundamental aspects of drawing to their most essential. Students will follow instructor-led exercises focusing on line, shape, value, and mark making.

Age: 15 and up

06/29—07/13 | Mondays | 7:00 pm-9:00 pm

3 Sessions | $90 plus materials

 


Short Story Photography

Harold Shapiro

In this three-week virtual classroom, students will learn to focus on a specific topic, build a body of work, and end up with a small photo essay. Tell a story, through photography.

Session 1: Zoom lecture and slideshow
Session 2: Socially distanced field trip, location TBD
Session 3: Review of student work

Materials: any camera

6/17-7/1 | Wednesdays | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

3 Sessions | $90

 


Sew a Little Book

Paulette Rosen

Learn to sew a softcover single section pamphlet with a 3- or 5-hole stitch with materials you have around the house. Then learn how to easily adapt this into a hardcover book. Students will also be introduced to some of the fundamentals in book binding including what grain of paper is, how to measure without a ruler, how to make your own “awl”, and how to make a cradle for poking holes.

Feeling inspired? Try it on your own using the materials listed below and watching the workshop video on CAW’s YouTube channel. Have questions? Come back and join us again, live, on Monday, 6/15 from 3-4pm where Paulette will help you with any challenges you had while creating this little book.

Age: 15 and up
Materials: 

  • 5 sheets 8.5 x 11” copy paper
  • 1 sheet of solid colored or patterned paper at least 8.5 x 11
  • 1 pair of scissors or a cutting tool (X-Acto or utility knife) and cutting mat
  • 1 sewing needle with an eye that will accommodate your thread
  • 1 pencil with a sharp point and a good eraser on it
  • 1 small pair of needle nose pliers
  • 2 large paper clips or 2 binder clips thread to sew your book
  • embroidery thread, regular sewing thread, or something of similar weight

 

Thursday, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm, 6/11/20

 

Monday, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm, 6/15/20
2 Sessions | $30

 


Albers’ Color Class

Fritz Horstman

In this three-week exploration of Josef Albers’ key color lessons from his book Interaction of Color students will try their hands at making one color look like two, making three colors look like two, afterimage, and the illusion of transparency. All of this will be done with materials that you may already have around your home. Each week the instructor and students will look at and talk about examples, and then find their own solutions to the prompts.

Age: 15 and up
Materials: Please gather these materials before class. The more colors the better.

  • Old magazines, gift wrap and packaging
  • Construction paper (if possible)
  • Colorful napkins, place mats, book covers (flat, single color—these things won’t be cut)
  • Scissors
  • White paper
  • Glue

*Please note start time change from 6:30 pm to 4:00 pm*

5/20-6/3 | Wednesdays | 4:00-5:00 pm

3 Sessions | $45

 


Introduction to Portrait Drawing

Eric March

Learn the basics of drawing the head from a variety of angles from the comfort of your own home in this online class which will include interactive demonstrations and lectures, critiques, and coaching. Students will work on their own portrait drawings independently and then review them with the instructor in group critiques. Students can work from photographs, from their own image in a mirror, or from a live model—if you have a willing participant in quarantine with you!

Age: 16 and up
Materials: Paper, pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener

A: 4/22 – 5/6 | Wednesdays | 7-9 pm
B:
5/13 – 5/27 | Wednesdays | 7-9 pm

3 Sessions | $90

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