Arlington Community Education

Do you enjoy drawing, or want to improve your skills? Join us to practice drawing techniques and explore the world of color, pattern, and design. We will use pencil, charcoal, ink, and pastels, and together focus on new subjects each day. Experiment with drawing from observation, including still life, portrait, and figures, as well as imaginative drawing.

Fimo is an oven-fired polymer clay that comes in many rich colors. This satisfying and tactile artist medium is fun to use and a great way to explore small 3D sculpting and hand-building. Combine and manipulate the clay to create people, animals, garden flowers, unique jewelry, and whatever you can dream up. Once baked, your creations will last forever.

Travel the world as we explore the cultures and crafts of people from countries near and far. We’ll discuss geography, history, and traditions as we work on projects including aboriginal dot art from Australia, brightly colored textile molas from Panama, and designer fashion posters and accessories from the glory days of England’s pop music scene. At the end of the week we’ll pack it all up and take home a trip portfolio.

Beginner: Master the art of photography using your DSLR in manual mode. Learn to take full control of your artistic vision by evaluating the environment and light around you and adjusting your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO accordingly to take beautiful and intentional photographs. Beyond Beginner: Do you already know the ins and outs of your camera in full manual mode? Join this workshop-based class to develop your own style of seeing and capturing the world and hone your photographic voice to create images that are original, unique, and instantly recognizable as yours. Please note:You must bring your own DSLR camera or mirrorless camera that has a manual mode (older models are fine).

Journey around the world as we explore animals from many habitats. Learn about different creatures and create art focusing on their unique characteristics. Flex your creativity and imagination as you experiment with collage, drawing, painting, and sculpture. Destinations may include the rainforest, the North and South Poles, and the ocean.

Get a taste of traditional summer camp with classic crafts and games. Make slime, decorate magnets, weave gimp, mix up salt dough, and get creative with a huge selection of crafty projects that you can wear, hang on your wall, or give as gifts. Then get moving with fun group games like 7-Up, Capture the Flag, Alibi, and Statues. If it’s really hot, we’ll cool off with water games such as Drip, Drip, Drop.

Comic books are an excellent way to tell a story. Explore many different ways to create, design, and plan a comic book/strip sequence. Practice character development, story building, facial expression, and figure drawing to make your characters come alive. Look at samples of graphic novels, traditional comics, manga, and anime, then explore your own style and interests in these comic drawings.

Use various surfaces and styles to create unique watercolors inspired by master painters from around the world. Enjoy learning the fundamentals of playing and painting including proper brush and palette selection, as well as application techniques such as wet-on-wet and layering.

Fashionistas, don’t miss this “fashionable” twist on crafts and games. Make bling-y bracelets, sparkly lounge pillows, and beach bags extraordinaire. Each day we’ll stage photo shoots to fill our fashion books with images that feature the accessories and new friends we’ll make. Our week will end with a fabulous fashion show and dance party.

You and your team will work as fashion stylists and designers to create fabulous outfits using fabrics, paints, and some unconventional materials. We’ll talk about fashion principles such as color and proportion, take a spin through fashion history and trends from the 1920s through today, and use sewing machines to turn our creative visions into fashion reality. We’ll also make coordinating accessories that you can take home.

Create your own three-dimensional world by combining oven-fired polymer clay with a variety of mixed media such as decorative papers, markers, paint, duct tape, and found objects. Stretch, pull, twist, mold and sculpt people, food, animals, and more to inhabit the scene you create, whether a landscape, interior, or someplace from your imagination.

Explore your world and express your uniqueness through art. You are special and one-of-a-kind, and there are so many parts that make you the one and only you. Create an imaginative world full of your favorite things, places, and animals as you paint, print, and sculpt artworks that express the person that you truly are. 2022 parent: "My child loves taking Ms. Flores's class, so every year we make sure to sign her up. She has so many wonderful, creative crafts for the kids. It is amazing how much they packed into one week."

Nature has long been a source of fascination and inspiration for artists. We will explore a variety of techniques as we experiment by creating works of art out of natural materials. We will go for walks and observe our surroundings and make art outdoors. In addition, we will learn about famous artists who use nature as their inspiration. Let your creativity bloom!

Artist trading cards are a popular way to create, trade, and collect mini works of art with friends and family. Started in Switzerland, the concept has traveled the globe. Cards are the size of baseball cards and are signed and dated by the artist. Working with various art materials and themes, create your own original series to trade, give as gifts, or keep.

Cyanotypes are beautiful blue photographs produced by the sun. The development process is a fascinating and ancient combination of art and science.As we learn about cyanotypes, you'll experiment with the process, play with subject matter, and learn to push the boundaries of composition and style to make highly artistic photographs. At the end of this hands-on class you will have a handmade book of your very best prints. 2022 parent: "My son has always been hesitant about art, not really enthusiastic about it. However, this class changed all that! Everyday he came home with a smile on his face ready to show me what he had done and he was so proud of his final project. I was thrilled he was excited to go to class everyday. The teacher is phenomenal and I would highly recommend this class to all my friends."

Did you know that making friendship bracelets is a two thousand year old tradition? We will use beads, bangles, and elaborate patterns to jazz up the more traditional string and gimp creations. Choose beautiful colors of string then learn to braid designs such as candy stripe, criss cross, and skinny stripe. Add in fun beads or charms to make them even more special. You will go home with bracelets galore and plentiful supplies to make more. This is “knot” your everyday friendship bracelet making class. Beginners to experts welcome.

Immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter through a combination of creative arts and crafts while enjoying the company of your fellow fans. Construct personalized wands and craft your way through potions, divination, herbology, care of magical creatures, and quidditch. While we work on our creations we will chat about our favorite wizarding world. 2022 parent: "Wide variety of amazing projects that they did and brought home. Really creative class, perhaps best we've ever taken!"

Create your own magical, miniature world. Using a variety of techniques, design miniature 3D sculptures, drawings, and paintings. This open-studio class gives you the freedom to choose what you want to create using a huge selection of supplies.

Inspired by your active imagination and favorite movies, use special effects to transform a sculptural foam mannequin head into your own spooky or spectacular character. Design props and accessories to add dimension and personality. We will use acrylic paint, model magic, and other mixed media to bring our creations to life.

Use Matisse’s paper cut outs, Frida Kahlo’s portraits, and the techniques of other famous artists as inspiration for your own artwork. We’ll talk about artists we love, study examples of their work, and then experiment with the drawing, painting, and collaging techniques that make their work so extraordinary.

Play and experiment with a wide variety of collage techniques and materials. We will make patterned paper and layer it with other materials like watercolor paint, colored pencils, old magazines, books, and much more. Take your skills to the next level by mastering the hardest part of collage—learning how to narrow down your materials and use your “editing eye” to make sure all of the elements work together.