Creative Classes

Students will have to opportunity to learn how to create cyanotypes using varying found objects, drawing on transparencies, photography, and the sun! This process is engaging and involves working with exposure to light. It is an accessible and fun way to learn how to draw with light exposure.

Etching is an intaglio printmaking process where an image is incised onto a plate, then inked and printed on a press. This class seeks to demystify etching by teaching a method that is as simple as drawing. No expensive metal plates, no acid baths! Just an etching needle, a plexiglass plate, and you. We will learn what intaglio is, the difference between traditional acid etching and drypoint, and how to ink and print an image.

Flow State is a one-day workshop 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, and will explore how this hybrid practice can be used to hold space for our Selves 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.

Do you have old t-shirts, socks, bandanas, or pillow covers shoved in a corner of your closet?

Instead of throwing those away, you can transform the old garment with natural indigo dye at this workshop. Students will learn about the art of indigo dyeing and how to make natural indigo vats using fructose sugar, henna and iron ferrous sulfate. We will explore making various resist patterns including Japanese techniques, Shibori and Ita-jime.

In this class, students will learn how to carve their own block, and print on fabric. The class will begin by introducing students to block printing. We will spend one class exploring the museum, looking for inspiration in the exhibitions and designing the blocks we want to carve. Then students will carve their own block(s) and use them to print on fabrics and other textile goods.

In this class, students will learn how to use oil paints as the primary medium by introducing fundamental painting techniques and materials. Students will study composition, basic color theory, painting terminology, methods of application, working from observation, and historical contexts. The primary subject will be figures and portraits in a landscape or atmospheric setting. Students will learn how to see, with an emphasis on composition, proportion, and balance. Denver Art Museum exhibitions, such as Eyes On: Julie Buffalohead and Mi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place, will be used to teach students how to contextualize the self and place both visually and conceptually.

In this class, students will investigate a selection of fiber-based objects in the collection of the Denver Art Museum. The course will be an exploration into the process and techniques used by specific fiber artists to create their artworks. Focusing on notions of off-loom weaving, participants will be encouraged to explore various methods while responding to their own interests.