Mondays and Wednesdays: 19 Sessions = 23.75 hours
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 17 Sessions = 21.25 hours
Students engaged in Spring Trimester Projects are required to present as part of the Spring Showcase.
Projects will present on May 20
Artists hone their foundation by employing the technical skills of a particular art or field of endeavor. These courses are Prime specific, unless otherwise designated as open to students from all primes. Students should focus their Applied Arts choices in their prime arts area, but may explore outside of their prime in some cases. Commitment to Applied Arts courses includes portfolio building.
ArtFarm Studios is a 4,000 square foot creative space, located in Annapolis with one main goal: to create a space that inspires others to create, encourage artistic innovation and bring together community in Annapolis.
In the spirit of collaboration, community, and partnership, guest artists from ArtFarm will be offering a class as part of the Apex+ program at Studio 39.
Artists engage in projects that emphasize the creative process through opportunities designed to expand their creative lens through collaboration, community engagement, and multiple performance and presentation avenues. These courses are open to students from all primes. Enrollment and eligibility requirements vary among project offerings. Commitment to a project includes mandatory participation in the Spring Showcase.
March 1 - May 20
19 sessions = 23.75 hours possible
Character Design.mp4Teaching Artist: Ryan Macauley
Mondays & Wednesdays
CLASS AT CAPACITY, email to be placed on waitlist.
All primes welcome, recommended for Visual Art and Film & New Media Primes
Character design is an important step in the pipeline of any TV show, movie, animation, or video game.
It’s key purpose is to standardize a character’s appearance so they stay consistent throughout the entirety of the project.
In this class you will learn the process of creating an effective character design through thumbnails, color, value, and silhouette.
Dancercize Dance Fitness.mp4Teaching Artist: Niaja Diggs
Mondays & Wednesdays
All primes welcome.
This class is a combination of aerobic exercise, HIIT cardio, muscle toning movements, strength, Pilates, hip hop, yoga and kickboxing set to pulse-pounding, beat-pumping music.
A fun and effective full-body workout, Dancercize is for movers of all levels and abilities.
A substantial body of research suggests that regular exercise can boost creativity, enhance memory, reduce stress, increase energy levels, and boosts mental health.
Embroidery as Art.mp4Teaching Artist: Emily McCort
Mondays & Wednesdays
CLASS AT CAPACITY, email to be placed on waitlist.
All primes welcome.
Explore all of the ways that embroidery can create works of art from a needle and thread. From surrealism to art nouveau to pop art, each week students will embroider a design based on a different visual art movement or style.
For skills of all levels, this class will allow you to explore all the fun things about visual art in a 3-dimensional medium.
Each student will have one final embroidery project where they will choose an art style presented earlier in the trimester and using at least 3 techniques taught in the course. This will be a full design on an embroidery hoop that we will present in class and have peer critiques.
By the end of this course, students will not only have a basic introduction to various art styles, but they will be able to embroider using various stitching techniques used in this medium. Students will be successful in this course if they can demonstrate a basic understanding of these stitches in their final project.
Pop Art Acrylic Painting.mp4Teaching Artist: Atalante Shay
Mondays & Wednesdays
All primes welcome.
Students will explore the Pop Art Movement and how it has influenced our culture and the art world forever while practicing techniques in acrylic painting.
We will cover a number of different Pop Art artists, learning about about them and their artistic styles while We will reviewing color mixing, composition, under painting and paint application techniques.
Students will work to develop a series of pieces within a selected Pop Art artist's style.
Story Boxes.mp4Teaching Artists: Barbara Bustard &
Lynn Schwartz
Mondays & Wednesdays
All primes welcome, recommended for Creative Writers and Visual Artists.
This class combines writing, sculpture, and slab-building with clay. Students will "write a story about a significant life experience and then create a sculptural carved box that reflects their story and ultimately will hold their story" out of clay.
No matter who you are, you have a plethora of life experiences, events, and stories that can be crafted into a compelling personal narrative that you can place in your handmade clay box.
(Slab-Built Story Boxes by Dan Ingersoll, Pottery Making Illustrated, July/August 2023)
Sumi-e and Watercolor.mp4Teaching Artist: Mary Rosoff
Mondays & Wednesdays
All primes welcome.
Working with watercolor and ink, employ beautiful, minimal brushstrokes to depict the wonders of the natural world in the style of sumi-e.
Learn about traditional sumi-e (Japanese for “black ink painting”), which is meant to convey the ch’i, or vital energy, of what it depicts.
Explore the possibilities of color, hue, and value as you create works of your own.
February 29 - May 17
17 sessions = 21.25 hours
Tattoo.mp4Teaching Artist: Robert Schumacher
Tuesdays & Thursdays
CLASS AT CAPACITY, email to be placed on waitlist.
All primes welcome, visual art experience recommended.
In this class we will discuss the history of tattoos and the varying styles, reviewing periods from as early as 3300 BCE to today.
We will learn about the design elements incorporated from ancient tribal tattoos, to the new school style of today, who started these techniques, and the symbolism involved. Students will be tasked with designing (through paper, ink, paint, or digital) to create original designs incorporating the different styles discussed.
What will your designs say about the person who you imagine wearing them?
Content Creator Workshop.mp4Teaching Artist: Melissa Daoulas
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All primes welcome, some film experience recommended.
Students will be responsible for developing an online social media account and content (short, bite-sized social media videos and photos) that focuses on their specific artistic prime, and the target audience they intend to serve.
This includes research of their art and target audience, VO scripting, filming/production on either a cell phone, iPad, or DSLR, coaching talent, video editing (as well as choosing music, audio, and fonts), social media copy editing, and final delivery/posting.
Material should focus with social-platforms as they distribute to an online platform (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.).
All good content creation has a common through line: a hook, plot line that includes talent development, inciting incident, rising stakes, resolution and talent leaving their audience with a clear idea of their art’s purpose.
Students need to accomplish the basics of documentary filming (in terms of lighting, sound, framing, having VO or talent on screen), light video editing, video exporting, video platform uploading, and creating tailored social media copy for their target audience.
Editorial Illustration.mp4Teaching Artist: Susan Lennon
Tuesdays & Thursdays
Recommended for Visual Art Primes
In this course, students will craft two artworks closely tied to specific texts. The goal is to visually represent the text's content, reinforce its main themes, and set a particular mood.
Throughout this process, students will dive into various brainstorming methods, getting a feel for the complexities of conceptual illustration.
Focus will be heavy on the importance of sketching and thumbnail sketches, teaching students how crucial these early visual drafts are in the creative process. They'll learn both individually and in groups, exploring different brainstorming techniques to generate and refine their ideas.
By the end of the course, students will have developed their skills in brainstorming and sketching, ultimately creating two final artworks that intricately weave together with the partnered texts. This journey aims to equip them with strong visual storytelling abilities and a knack for representing themes through art.
Exploring Abstract Expressionalism.mp4Teaching Artist: Mary Rosoff
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All primes welcome, recommended for Visual Art Primes
Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.
This course will explore a variety of techniques used by abstract expressionists during the beginning of the movement and applying to the student’s interpretations.
Gargoyles.mp4Teaching Artist: Barbara Bustard
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All primes welcome, visual art experience recommended.
Clay is a material rich in history and possibilities for art making, and hand building is the oldest use of the medium.
Hand building is a ceramics technique that allows you to create forms with clay and your hands, without using a throwing wheel.
Students will design an original gargoyle then use hand building techniques to make a sculpture of their gargoyle sitting on a slab-built rooftop.
Pilates.mp4Teaching Artist: Rachel Cagle
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All primes welcome, recommended for Dance and Acting primes.
Strengthen the deep muscles of the core through targeted exercises combined with breath work to gain muscle control and full body strength.
The goal is to gain awareness and control over the body through focused training of the core and extremities. Students can anticipate feeling more comfortable in the way their body moves, knowing they can move more functionally for proper strength and alignment in the day-to-day as well as their specific discipline.
Students will complete benchmark measurements at the beginning and end of the class to compare to determine how mobility and strength has improved over time.
Slapstick Through the Ages.mp4Teaching Artist: Francesca Chilcote
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All primes welcome, recommended for Acting and Film & New Media Primes
Slapstick Comedy is an ancient, highly physical popular theatrical tradition. With the advent of silent film, this style of comedy exploded. It was perfect: all action, no dialogue required. Performers from the vaudeville stage, such as Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, and the Marx Brothers, all became famous writing, producing, directing, and acting in their own movies. When sound was developed, stories became more intricate, and as the art form became more “sophisticated,” slapstick became an important tool for comic filmmakers, especially those creating for young audiences.
Over the course of this class, students will watch slapstick films, or examples of slapstick in scenes, starting from the first films ever made, to modern times. By the final class, each student will conceive their own short slapstick scene and storyboard this idea.
Spring Writing Workshop.mp4Teaching Artists: Maggie Heemstra &
Lynn Schwartz
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All Primes Welcome. Creative Writers, Film & New Media primes encouraged.
This course is divided into three units: Point of View, Voice, and Style / Story Structure / and Publishing 101. Students are expected to remain enrolled for the full collection. At the conclusion of each collection, final work is turned in and presented. In order to earn credit for each unit, that work must be handed in and presented.
Units of study:
Point of View, Voice, and Style
Story Structure
Publishing 101
Click here for more information about the units of study.
Stage Combat Unarmed.mp4Teaching Artist: Emily Karol
Tuesdays & Thursdays
All Primes Welcome.
Enrollment must be even and between 8 and 16 in order to run.
When words no longer support the heightened emotions of stage and film, characters take to violence. However, as performers we have to learn how to be believably violent but safe. If you have always wanted to know how to throw a punch or kick like they do onstage or in film, this project is for you. The project will culminate in a showcase of choreographed scenes for an audience.
Students will be challenged mentally and physically for the duration of this project. How far we will go in this process of skills learned and choreographed scenes, is based on the commitment of the students to the discipline.
The Objective: To introduce new actors to the world of UNARMED stage combat in a fun and SAFE environment. To learn how to tell a story with violence when words no longer work. To “take care” of your scene partner.
Students will leave with a workable knowledge of unarmed stage combat, that will correlate with the SAFD (Society of American Fight Directors) guidelines to safely execute the skill.
February 29 - May 20
Photography Foundation and Exploration .mp4Co-taught by Kaitlyn McQuaid and Alison Harbaugh of ArtFarm Studios and Fearless Girls Photography Camps
Mondays & Wednesdays
In order to be considered for enrollment in this class, the Google application below must be completed. Priority will be given to students who have access to their own DSLR or Mirrorless camera. There will be some light photo assignments to work on outside of class.
All levels are welcome.
This course will start with laying the foundation of photography to get everyone on a level playing field. Subjects such as Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO as well as other photography skills will be taught. Once we have a handle on the fundamentals the fun will begin. Expect a variety of photography lessons from portrait work to photojournalism/storytelling to exploring famous works and learning from them to creating a world of your own.
Occasional editing lessons and critiques will happen throughout the session to expand the discussion and help you improve upon your art.
As the semester progresses, students will have some say in the paths that we explore in the photography world as we delve into the many side of this awesome art form.
Requirements: Completion of this Google Form
By opting in to a face-to-face project, artists commit to the full trimester, the final presentation (at the Spring Showcase, an evening event), and any additional rehearsals required to prepare the presentation (tech or dress rehearsals that may be scheduled outside of the regular classes, that students will be informed about in advance).
As a collaborator, it is imperative that artists see the project through from beginning to end, therefore, only at the conclusion of the project are hours awarded. If artists do not complete the project and present at the festival, they do not earn the hours.
February 29 - May 20
36 sessions = 45 hours possible
Booked and Busy.mp4Teaching Artists: Jamie O'Connor & Emily Zinski
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays
Singing experience recommended.
Scheduling of this class will be determined in conjunction with the teaching artists within the first two sessions. Students can anticipate meeting at least 2 days per week with the option for 3 or 4.
If you want to pursue a collegiate or professional career in musical theater, opera, or commercial music - this course is a must for you. In this class, students will learn how to find, prepare, and execute competitive & professional vocal auditions. We will explore the concept of type, develop your repertoire, master the art of callbacks, and prepare you for upcoming school, collegiate, and professional auditions. This project will culminate in a mock audition open to the public on May 20. Students will leave this project with a headshot, performance resume, and self-tape material for their demo reels.
March 1 - May 20
19 sessions = 23.75 hours possible
Instrumental Chamber Music (final).mp4Teaching Artist: Dr. Kari Shea
Mondays & Wednesdays
Instrumental Music: Band, Orchestra, Piano
Instrumental Chamber Music is a course designed to empower students with efficient and effective techniques for practicing and preparing chamber music.
With one person on a part, students will learn leadership and collaboration skills.
Students will select a desired genre of music and performance goals and work to realize their potential through various strategies and tools to maximize their musical progress on a selected piece with a small group of musicians.
Final performance will be part of the Spring Showcase on May 20.
Transforming a Classic (final).mp4Teaching Artists: Francesca Chilcote & Emily Karol
Mondays & Wednesdays
All Primes Welcome
This is the second part of a three part project. You do not have to have been involved in Part 1 to participate in Part 2.
Suspense, Mystery, Impending Doom, and Secrecy are themes in the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Robert Louis Stevenson. These stories have been adapted for tv, film, and the stage, and are well loved by all ages. After the success of Studio 39's last adaptation and production, “Transforming a Classic” is back with “Science Fiction and the Detective Story.”
Collaborators will read and dissect “The Tell Tale Heart” and the “Pit and the Pendulum” by Poe, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” and “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” by Doyle, and “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Stevenson. Through a series of prompts and activities, we will adapt one of these tales which will be produced in the Fall of 2024 at Studio 39 in partnership with Design & Production (pending).
Creative Writers with interest in retelling stories from a new view point, Visual Artists who like to find inspiration from written material, Actors who are interested in script writing, Design and Production aficionados that are curious on how to develop material from the storyboarding and workshopping phases are all strongly encouraged to join for this unique project!
As part of the Spring Showcase on May 20, this group will introduce audiences of the production to come through a staged reading.
“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” -- Edgar Allan Poe
Worldbuilding.mp4Teaching Artists: Michelle Bland & Johnny Weissgerber
Mondays & Wednesdays
All Primes Welcome
Collaborative storytelling is the name of the game in this project.
Artists will begin with charrette design exercises to develop a story/world, will take it through script building/storyboarding and production design, and develop it into a lightly produced new work or installation piece.
Artists will come up with plot, narrative arcs, presentation styles and design choices in collaborative groups.
Artists will present works as part of the Spring Showcase on May 20.
