Creative Classes

Class Description:

In this class, students will be introduced to the art game Exquisite Corpse, popular among the Surrealist artists. Students will relate Surrealism and the creative creatures that emerge from the drawing game to the exhibit Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak. Drawing on this inspiration, students will create their own original illustrations and learn how story can help influence and mold an artwork's inception. Students will intertwine their illustrations and stories they construct for their creatures – connecting image and text through playful interactions of art viewing, sensory details, collaboration, and creation.

What to Expect:

We will be going into the galleries and making during class time. Exercises each class will build up to creating a final illustration at the end. Beginners welcome! The aim of this class is to jump start your creative thinking and make illustrating accessible and fun instead of intimidating for students.

Timeline:

Week 1

• Learn about and play the Surrealist drawing game exquisite corpse and relate it to the work of Maurice Sendak by visiting the Wild Things exhibit together.

Week 2

• Create your own creature from the exquisite corpse game and begin thinking about the story and personality for your creature.

Week 3

• Look at the work "Dream of Arcadia" by painter Thomas Cole in the gallery and consider how to use color, mood, scale, and environment in our final illustrations.

Week 4

• Bring everything together and work on final illustrations using gouache and color pencil.

Class Make-up Day Policy:

If a class or workshop needs to be cancelled due to inclement weather or teacher illness, a “make-up” day will be scheduled on a FRIDAY or SATURDAY as the educator’s schedule allows.

Materials:

Students will purchase their own materials and should expect to spend $30-50. We partner with Meininger’s for local shopping, purchase a kit of your required materials online for in-store pickup, or purchase the items individually.

Educator:

Charis Fleshner is an art educator and nationally exhibiting conceptual artist who earned her MFA from the University of New Mexico. She currently teaches art at the Denver Art Museum and Aims Community College. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Art Fort Collins, Emmanuel Gallery in Denver, and Strata Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has been awarded two artist residencies elsewhere in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her work can be seen at charismakesart.com. She is currently working on projects in color pencil and soft sculpture.

https://www.charismakesart.com/

Class Description:

In this class, students will explore oil painting fundamentals in an accelerated format. They will survey the DAM’s collection and sketch from art within the galleries. Students will create individual pieces inspired by their research sketches, utilizing their newly built skills. The intent of this class is to bring each artist through the entire process of researching and creating a completed piece of work.

What to Expect:

Students will learn or in some cases relearn fundamental skills in addition to some tricks of the trade. This knowledge will help them work within the museum to sketch and generate ideas and bring those ideas into the studio to complete a finished project.

Timeline:

Week 1

• Focus on oil painting fundamentals

Week 2

• Focus on oil painting fundamentals

Week 3

• Gathering sketches and ideas in the museum’s galleries

Week 4

• Gathering sketches and ideas in the museum’s galleries

Week 5

• Painting in the classroom

Week 6

• Painting in the classroom

Class Cancellation Policy:

If a class or workshop needs to be cancelled due to inclement weather or teacher illness, a “make-up” day will be scheduled on a FRIDAY or SATURDAY as the educator’s schedule allows.

Materials:

Students will purchase their own materials and should expect to spend $60-100.

We partner with Meininger’s for local shopping, purchase a kit of your required materials online for in-store pickup, or purchase the below items individually.

Educator:

Born in Denver in 1972, Michael Dowling spent much of his early life as a typical kid apart from being an obsessive drawer. It wasn’t until the age of 25, and after several years studying various subjects as well as working in many fields, that Michael started painting. With that late beginning, Dowling dove full in and began studying extensively. At 28, he decided to sell a burgeoning art sales company and moved to Florence, Italy to focus on painting. He has since returned to his native Denver where he lives and works.

Michael Dowling's work has been characterized as a combination of traditional practices in realism and his explorations of mark, pattern, and color to disrupt that reality. In many compositions, figures presented as portrait, morph into their surreal self, and lone objects tell stories through their subtle positioning. These objects and characters sit in bizarre spaces with intentionally disrupted atmospheres in order to find further meaning within the imagery.

https://m2lr.com/artists/72-michael-dowling/