Art & Myth in the Middle Ages

Teaching Artist: Shoshanna Schlauderaff

Hail, fellow! Let’s explore Medieval themes from around the world. From alchemy & medicine, mythology & lore, to theatre & art— this class delves into many exciting and strange cultural aspects from the Middle Ages. The themes chosen are meant to inspire your imagination, creativity, and humor while incorporating history and legends.

The Middle Ages serve as a very unique and rich time in history to pull artistic inspiration from. We will be exploring why these ages weren’t so dark after all, and tapping into the wonders of technology, art, lore, textiles, manuscripts, theatre, and more!

This course will focus heavily on historical exploration, creative interpretation, engagement with mythology/fantasy, and communicating humor through art.

The Art of Creative Journaling

Teaching Artist: Maggie Heemstra

Regardless of the type of artist you are, maintaining your creativity can sometimes prove to be a real challenge. A journal is an excellent tool you can use to keep your creativity alive.  

Learn and understand the art of creative journaling - using visuals, colors, images, patterns, words, and writing prompts in order to create an outlet for your creative thoughts and ideas. 

The journal can help you practice and refine your skills, can function as a sketchbook, notebook, scrapbook or day planner. It’s ideal for brainstorming ideas. It can also help silence your inner critic. There are no rules or limits. There’s no wrong thing to write, plan or draw. It’s a safe space where your creativity can flow without being judged. And, it can also be used as a healthy, expressive outlet.  Creative Journaling uses BOTH images and words. 

HIstory, But Make it Fashion

Teaching Artist: Emily McCort

Take a time machine back to explore fashion from the streets of the Renaissance to the grungy 1990s! 

Whether you’re an artist who wants to practice drawing clothes from another era, or a costume designer who wants to research the period of a play, or an actor who wants to know what type of clothes you would've worn in Shakespeare’s day, this class has a little bit of information for everyone. 

Each week will cover a different time period, followed by an activity incorporating fashion from that period. Spend one week designing a fall collection fit for Fashion Week in the 1960s, experiment with what your favorite modern tv characters would look like during the Renaissance, or sketch a gown and wig to rival that of Marie Antoinette’s - whatever your skills are, wherever your talents lie, use them to show off fashions of the past. 

History, But Make it Music

Teaching Artist: Clay Michalec

Each week, a historical event related to music will be discussed. Students will demonstrate their learning with a weekly assignment such as questions/prompts to complete, making digital artwork, timelines, videos, etc. 

Monster of the Week

Teaching Artist: Shoshanna Schlauderaff

Face off your mythical foes in this Dungeons & Dragons inspired class! Each week a

new fantasy monster is introduced in a specific battle scene or storyline, and it is your

responsibility to face the challenge of defeating this monster. Whether this be through

creating an opponent, designing a trap, writing a story about the monster face-off, or

coming up with a hero, this class encourages all of your fantastical storytelling and

problem-solving art skills.

You are encouraged to lean into playfulness, lore-creation, and drama. Some examples

of art-making skills that could be engaged: music to compose a battle ballad,

scenery/prop designing, playwriting, digital art or physical mock-ups/minis, etc. Let’s

fight some monsters together!

Music, Health, and Wellness

Teaching Artist: Clay Michalec

How does music serve as part of a holistic personal wellness program? Students in this course will explore the wide breadth of wellness benefits that music offers. 

Possible assignments could include listening to music with guided imagery and journaling about their experience, creating soundscapes, reporting on music's relationship to psychology, studying and reporting on what happens neuro-biologically when we interact with music, using song and lyric-writing as a means of personal expression, and other activities. 

Musical Theatre Repertoire: A Deep Dive

Teaching Artist: Jamie Levine

Do you love listening to musical theatre?  Do you have a favorite Broadway show?  Let's take a deep dive into musical theatre repertoire! 

In this course, students will explore the history of musical theatre, common practices in the genre, and learn healthy musical theatre singing technique.  

Each week, students will view different performances of songs in the musical theatre cannon and write reflections on the selections.  Students will also be required to record a video each week of them singing a musical theatre song using the practices and techniques that were discussed.  

Nature Musings

Teaching Artist: Emily Karol

We spend most of our days buried in our books and devices. Sometimes we only see the sunrise and sunset from the window of a vehicle. The weeks are for work not for adventuring. 

This Virtual Lab is the opportunity to take some time for yourself outside of the every day norms. The adventures are simple but enjoyable. They range from coloring, crafting, photography and more. 

Each week we will go outside on an adventure, weather permitting. 

Unleashing Imagination: A Journey of Creativity and Self-Expression

Teaching Artist: Selin Balci

Students can pick a theme every week and create three pieces of artwork based on it. They'll have a wide range of mediums to choose from, including traditional ones like painting and drawing and more experimental ones like sculpture and digital art. They will be encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and incorporate found objects and other materials into their work. 

This project aims to help students create art, explore different artistic styles and materials, and enhance their artistic skills.

Video Editing for iPhone

Teaching Artist: Lukas MacKinney

This video-centered lab will offer a new lesson each module in video editing on adobe premiere rush, a free app for iPhone and android. 

New filmmakers welcome! This lab will be introductory-level, will optional intermediate assignments for more video-savvy students.

Each module will include a weekly tutorial focusing on a single editing technique; students will also be expected to shoot short sequences on their phones to edit. Lessons will also include examples of each technique from film and digital media.