Creative Classes

In this 1-day workshop, students will use clay sculpting as a mode of (re)connection with the earth. Emphasis will be placed on the Mexican holiday of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), with time for exploring one’s own ancestral relationship to cultural holidays. Students will bring their imagination and voice to the medium of clay while learning sculptural techniques.

*Price includes a $30 Studio Fee for all materials provided.

In this 1-day workshop, students will explore the art of collage while taking direct inspiration from the Denver Art Museum’s Modern & Contemporary Art Collection. Using provided collage making materials, students will be challenged to create an original collage or mixed media piece incorporating a photocopied image from the collection. This class welcomes artists of all abilities and experience levels.

Drawing: The Meandering Line is an exciting 1-day workshop all about using line in drawing. Students will learn how artists throughout history have used line to create and express. During the workshop students will practice contour line drawing of various subjects and use a variety of techniques and media to allow creativity to flourish all while developing foundational skills for their continued growth as artists.

Students will be given demonstrations in ink, marker, and graphite. The techniques and exercises in class will allow students to continue to practice independently using a variety of media and surfaces. The Arts of Asia and Arts of Oceania Galleries in the Denver Art Museum collections will be used to broaden student vision and explore possibilities with contour line.

Discover the art of living floral jewelry in this unique workshop inspired by the Denver Art Museum’s vibrant collections. This 1-day workshop takes a creative, out-of-the-box approach: students will deconstruct artworks into shapes and colors, then reimagine them as wearable, living jewelry pieces using fresh flowers and natural materials. Participants will learn the essentials of flower care and handling, as well as the mechanics and design philosophies behind creating stunning floral accessories. This class welcomes both beginners and experienced floral designers.

In this 1-day workshop, students will experiment with different watercolor techniques to make a set of 10 postcards. Students will learn wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques to create miniature paintings. Subjects for these paintings include works in the Denver Art Museum’s collections, landscapes, flowers, and abstract designs. The instructor will demonstrate and have examples of each of these styles.

In this 1-day workshop, students will explore printmaking using accessible and non-toxic materials. Invented by artist Émilie Aizier in 2011, kitchen lithography, also referred to as tin foil lithography, utilizes the reaction between oil and water, similar to stone and plate litho printing methods. Students will learn how to create reproductions of drawings in ink without a press, using common household supplies like Coca-Cola, aluminum foil, vegetable oil, and a wooden spoon. No harsh chemicals! While kitchen lithography does require the use of an oil-based ink, students will wear protective latex gloves, and cleanup requires a mixture of dish soap and vegetable oil – nothing caustic. Students will be provided with items and images in class for drawing inspiration and will briefly discuss and practice various mark-making techniques. This workshop focuses on smaller prints as a straight-forward entry point, no prior experience is necessary.

This 1-day workshop will focus on sound as a healing force through cross-cultural perspectives. Students will learn about meditation and sound bathing with the use of various musical instruments. Breathing techniques and body movements for healing will also be explored. Students will investigate how sound can be used in everyday life to release stress and to calm the body and mind.

This 1-day workshop will focus on sound as a healing force through cross-cultural perspectives. Students will learn about meditation and sound bathing with the use of various musical instruments. Breathing techniques and body movements for healing will also be explored. Students will investigate how sound can be used in everyday life to release stress and to calm the body and mind.

In this 1-day workshop, students will explore the relationship between text and art using Nari Ward's artwork Angelic Troublemakers as an inspirational starting point. Students will learn and use basic patterning and sewing techniques to create and activate a tangible version of their chosen text through the making of a soft sculpture of the word/s.

From show posters and fashion to the connection between jazz and abstract expressionism, from Kandinsky and Joan Mitchell’s synesthesia to the imagery evoked by song lyrics, music and visual art are deeply interconnected forms of creative expression that continually influence and inspire one another. In this 2-week class, students will explore works from the Denver Art Museum collections and the DIVA exhibition, examining the many ways artists have drawn inspiration from music through a curated tour of selected pieces. Students will also reflect on the music that resonates with them personally, considering both the poetry of lyrics and the emotions conveyed through sound. Students will be guided, encouraged, and mentored through the process of creating their own mixed-media artworks connected to music.

In this 2-week class, students will learn how to integrate Coptic stitch and magnetic closures into the creation of a miniature book. The focus of this course will lie in learning and practicing stitching techniques, the construction of covers that elegantly hide the stitch knots, and in creating the book closure mechanism. This non adhesive book structure requires few tools and is ideal for sketchbooks making it the perfect project for beginners.

In this 2-week workshop, students will learn how to wet felt a surface using techniques of agitating wool with soap and water. Each student will create an image on their wet-felted surface, using wet felting and needle felting techniques. This imagery can range from abstract colors to a landscape, or an imaginary world. With the help of the instructor, students will make an original felted piece with the option of working with a large range of colors.

In this 4-week class, students will explore how patterns function within two-dimensional artworks and how they can be combined to form cohesive compositions. The class is grounded in direct observation and study of pattern-rich and compositionally compelling works from the Denver Art Museum’s collections and exhibitions.

Students will learn analytical methods for examining repetitions, structural organization, compositional movement, combination of patterns, and deliberate color relationships. Through focused gallery-based sketch studies using colored pencils and notebooks, students will practice schematizing and simplifying complex artworks into clear visual systems. Through this process, they will develop a technical approach to seeing, enabling students to abstract compositions, identify dominant shapes and rhythmic structures, and better understand visual decision-making of the artist.

Studio work extends this analytical inquiry into practice. Students will create painted pattern papers that are cut, reorganized, and assembled into new compositions. This class emphasizes composition as both a perceptual and generative tool, fostering visual literacy, structural clarity, and experimental exploration through painting, drawing, and pattern-making techniques.

This 4-week class combines art history and experimentation to explore the emerging movement of Bio Art. Rooted in environmental concerns and science; Bio Art can range from working with natural materials to manipulating DNA. Students will be introduced to “Agar Art” which involves cultivating bacteria, work with foraged and harvested materials from nature, and will be encouraged to explore mediums through a conceptual and research-based lens. Students will discover new ways to look at art and will study Bio Artworks represented in the Denver Art Museum’s collection by artists Ernesto Neto, Karen Kitchel, and others.

Whether using paper or fabric, collage has long been practiced by women, people of color, and those without access to a formal art education. In this 4-week class students will examine the history of collage as an outsider art – how women and people of color used material at hand (paper and fabric scraps, for example) to create visual expressions that resonate powerfully today. Students will be asked to channel the spirit of these artists (many of whom remain unidentified) in creating their own works of art from the materials of daily life. The instructor will bring her expertise in history and collage to aid students in their exploration of this vibrant and accessible art form.

This 4-week class will introduce students to the fundamentals of color theory through acrylic painting techniques. Over the course of the four sessions, students will explore how to build compelling color relationships such as complementary and analogous colors and gain hands-on experience mixing paints to create dynamic compositions.

Ideal for beginners and intermediate artists, this class provides both technical knowledge and creative freedom to experiment with color in a supportive environment.

This 4-week class will explore how complex color relationships can be utilized as a meaningful communicative and emotional tool. Building on foundational color theory concepts, the class will focus on how color can be developed as a tool to communicate powerful personal or cultural information and other ideas in one’s paintings.

Students will build a working knowledge of color theory and apply a deeper understanding of color to a small series of works built over the course of the class.

In this 4-week class, students will explore the rich history of the women of abstraction, learning and practicing the techniques that make their work unique. Each week students will study paintings from the Denver Art Museum’s collections and create a work of art that mimics the artists’ style with acrylic paint on paper. Students will explore the ways in which color, movement, and composition make abstract art so intriguing and boundary-pushing.

Some of the artists students will study include Emmi Whitehorse, Georgia O’Keefe, Joan Mitchell, Elaine de Kooning, Agnes Martin, Dyani White Hawk, Mary Abbot, and Helen Frankenthaler.

In this 4-week class, students will learn the basics of tapestry weaving. They will be introduced to the techniques of tapestry weaving while playing with texture and material. Students will learn the basic elements of weaving (the loom, warp, and weft) and how to set up a frame loom for hand weaving. Instruction will cover the fundamental weaving patterns and tapestry design techniques, such as plain weave, color block design, and methods for creating texture in the weave. The course will engage with the many examples of woven works from the Denver Art Museum’s Indigenous Arts of North America and Textile and Fashion Collections as well as the work of contemporary weaving artists.

Students will explore the art of seeing and drawing in this 6-week hands-on observational drawing class. They will learn how to break down everyday objects into shapes to simplify the form, then add details to bring sketches to life. Using a range of graphite pencils, students will discover how to create depth and dimension through value, shading, and texture. By the end of the class, students will gain a stronger understanding of form, light, shadow and composition, and build confidence in their drawing skills.