Creative Classes

This drawing-based, 1-day Workshop will focus on exploring repetitive mark-making as a calming, meditative practice. Students will use repetition with a variety of drawing materials to discover the benefits of slowing down, finding focus, and developing rhythm in order to counteract the high stress of our fast-paced society. With emphasis on exploration, this class is open to all levels of creatives while placing value on the practice of being present in the moment rather than thinking too far ahead to a finished piece.

To gather ideas and an understanding of ways in which repeated marks are used by artists, the class will tour the Denver Art Museum galleries to see works by Agnes Martin, Vance Kirkland, Lucy Lewis, and Camille Pissarro (and other Impressionists.) In addition, students will view works by Modern and Contemporary artists beyond the DAM Collections. Students will experiment with mark-making in sketchbooks using a variety of drawing tools including pencils, pens, markers, and other dry media. This experimentation will lead to creating a work or multiple works on small-format fine art paper. Class participants will develop a unique visual language of marks to add to their toolbox for both artistic creation and personal well-being.

In this 4-week class, the foundations of learning and practice will be centered around the question of how the Impressionists captured light and color in their paintings. Students will explore how to create a sense of atmosphere with color, light and shadow, and mark-making through the study of The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism and other Impressionist works in the DAM collections. Students will learn basic watercolor techniques to guide their artistic explorations, culminating in a final painting over the course of the class session.

Flow State is a 6-week abstract painting class that explores the connections between intuitive painting, mindfulness meditation, and community. Participants will learn how to combine abstract painting and drawing skills with mindfulness meditation techniques. Each class will present different ways this hybrid practice can be used to hold space for ourselves and each other. Participants will work individually and as a group using acrylic paint, pastels, paper and canvas. This class will connect to abstract works in the Denver Art Museum collection, including pieces by artists like Mark Bradford, Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Sam Gilliam, Shinique Smith, and Sonia Gechtoff.