Workshops and Courses by Date

This course is focused on the production of short and long-form comics and the visual narrative form. Students will become familiar with 1-3 panel comics, page design, lettering, inking, digital drawing, and 3-part narrative structure for long and short comics. Looking at the history of storytelling through comics, students will … Read more

This course is an exploration of how typographic techniques and principles are used for effective visual communications through professional typesetting, typographic layout, and expressive use of type. Students build skills for creating cohesive typographic systems, information hierarchy, and typographic grids. Prerequisites: working knowledge of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. For Graphic … Read more

Color & Light, Space and Time Mediations & Meditations Mixed Media Analog & Digital Online Portfolio Projects   In this course, Individual expressive and original thematic projects are encouraged.  Students may explore realistic depictive renderings or intuitive abstract imagery or personal, surreal concepts and/or fictitious futuristic themes. Individual subject matter is … Read more

view course details

Learn woodworking fundamentals through a series of exercises utilizing both hand tools and machines. Develop a habit of sharpening and tuning your tools. Practice a variety of joinery techniques and build your own sample library of construction options. Put your newly honed skills to test by building a final project … Read more

view course details

Screen printing is an old and versatile process with many modern uses. We present a variety of techniques and contemporary fine art applications of silkscreen printing. Students are guided through the transformation of an idea to printed image and encouraged to take a creative approach. The emphasis is on experimentation, … Read more

Students are introduced to the design process and problem solving techniques used in industrial design. We cover the tasks required for research, preliminary concept sketching, design refinement, presentation, and fabrication possibilities. Both media and drawing techniques and basic scale model making are addressed. No prerequisites. This course may transfer in … Read more

view course details

The 20th century is particularly suited to study the multicultural heritage of fashion and art history.  In its first 50 years, fashion and art were an expression of Eurocentric partisanship, despite extensive, uncredited cultural borrowings from peoples and countries in the global community. In the mid-1960s these broader voices in fashion … Read more

Each session of this course introduces the class to a different prompt that can be explored through drawing, collage, painting or mixed media.  While each prompt relates to some aspect of abstract picture making, you won’t need prior understanding about abstraction as a grand topic.  Rather, use each week to … Read more

view course details

Learn to develop and market textile designs using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Topics include building a design from a motif, creating colorways for your print, using scanned artwork to create designs, and texture mapping. Students create a series of print designs and a collection of coordinated prints.  

view course details

The documentation and communication of ideas require fluency with symbolic and illustrative methods; a language. This course develops and refines the basis of this language, the “alphabet and grammar” used to communicate the characteristic of objects and systems. Through the exploration of various media using architectural or industrial design contexts, … Read more

view course details

Traditionally, street photography is an established method of documentary investigation made popular in the 20th century by greats such as Eugene Atget and Walker Evans.  Following the Second World War, photographers like Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, and Diane Arbus began to look at photography and the street in very different … Read more

In Animation Toolbox, we will explore the interweaving of stop-motion and digital animation, live-action video and experimental storytelling. Sampling from the palette of animation tools available to us across the Adobe suite, as well as video, A.I. generation/ extrapolation tools, and the tricks and illusions of motion that came before … Read more

view course details

Design and fabricate individualized place settings, serving dishes, teapots, and vases. Employing hand-building, the potter’s wheel, plaster molds, and various kiln-firing techniques (stoneware, soda, low-fire) students are able to create pottery that is useful as well as personally expressive. Frequent demonstrations, lectures, and dialogue with the instructor enable beginners as … Read more

view course details

Rich and expressive, monotype joins the graphic qualities of printmaking with the spontaneity of painting. This hands-on workshop teaches the basics of chine colle, pronto plate, collagraph, as well as other processes, and explores the sequential possibilities of monotype to develop images conceptually and formally. Image-making methods, ink handling, print … Read more

view course details

Students apply skills for concept development, visual design, and user-centered thinking to design projects of moderate complexity for both print and interactive media. Prerequisites: Graphic Design 1, Intermediate Typography; students should also have completed UX Design (or be taking it at the same time) or have some background in User … Read more

An overview of pattern drafting and an introduction to clothing construction. Students explore the different methods of pattern making, from using the dart for fit to adding shape for fullness, and learn how to take body measurements for fit. Pattern drafting and construction techniques are then applied to an original … Read more

Individual attention in a supportive environment is the focus of this seven week on-campus figure drawing course designed for students of all levels and experience. The foundations of gesture, proportions, and anatomical structures will be examined while drawing a variety of life models in different poses. Fundamental drawing techniques and … Read more

Explore advanced construction and drafting methods for custom tailoring. Learn how to design and construct a tailored ensemble using traditional methods that include pad stitching, foundation shaping, special lapel and collar treatments, and finishes. Prerequisites: Introduction to Creative Fashion and Introduction to Pattern Drafting or permission of instructor.  Email: achan@massart.edu. … Read more

Students apply knowledge of foundational design and typographic principles to produce effective visual communications for a targeted audience. The designer’s role and responsibilities including the development of design content and designing for user needs as well as client goals are explored. Prerequisites: Foundations of Graphic Design, and a working knowledge … Read more

This hands-on course is designed to equip students with the essential skills and techniques required to design a chair. This course is intended for students with a passion for furniture design, interior design, or industrial design who aspire to develop a deep understanding of chair design and its impact on … Read more

view course details

This course will take an academic and experimental approach to drawing. We’ll explore the character of various media such as charcoal, graphite, pen and ink-wash. Color will be used for its expressive nature, allowing us to engage the potential of chalk/oil pastels, markers, colored pencils, and a combination of media. … Read more

This is a seven week course starts with quick exercises working from a still life on week 1 and then working from a live model on weeks 2 and 3. The course will shift into more independent work starting Week 4 through 7. The participants will respond to prompts and … Read more

Focusing on the direct, iconic imagery of the cartoon, this drawing course teaches the elements of design, along with expressive and abstract illustration to focus the eye in support of storytelling. This course covers the mechanics of narrative techniques in story-driven art. Students will develop skills in using the theories … Read more

We often think of wood as rigid and hard, but by adding heat, we can bend flexible, sweeping curves. It really feels like magic – suddenly you can tie a knot in a piece of wood or form the ribs of a canoe. Steam bending doesn’t have to be intimidating! We’ll … Read more

This course exposes students to a variety of specialized woodworking techniques applicable to furniture production. Through a series of modules devoted to select skills, sessions explore the basics of techniques with the objective of giving students enough exposure to begin applying them independently to studio projects. Areas include carving and … Read more

view course details

This is an introduction to transforming the static image into dynamic time-arts. A wide range of expressive motion is explored through hand drawn animation principles such as ease-ins, anticipation, and pose-to-pose actions. Through a series of short exercises and projects, the visual phenomena of cycles, timing, transformations, sequential structure, along … Read more

This course introduces a variety of concepts and techniques used in contemporary ceramic object-making. Demonstrations and studio activities include hand building, mold making and wheel working. Each student researches and designs a series of pieces which reflect their personal interests. Projects may include work in tableware, sculpture, or designed objects. … Read more

view course details

In this introductory course students will learn the foundations of drawing including line, proportion, shape, gesture, blocking, value, mark-making, and space through a variety of assignments that emphasize drawing from observation and iterative invention. Through live Zoom sessions students will work from the figure, landscape and through still-life set-ups they are prompted … Read more

view course details

Students create and fit virtual garments using CLO software. Through the run of this course the designer translates in-person activities, such as patternmaking and fitting, into a virtual language. Specifically, the cohort begins by virtually sewing and fitting conventional garments – pants, shirts, jackets, and skirts –  and transitions to … Read more

An overview of pattern drafting and an introduction to clothing construction. Students explore the different methods of pattern making, from using the dart for fit to adding shape for fullness, and learn how to take body measurements for fit. Pattern drafting and construction techniques are then applied to an original … Read more

Students are introduced to visual principles, as the basis of graphic design communication, and elements and issues of visual language. The course covers the manipulation of graphic form to convey meaning, strategies for idea generation and development of unique concepts, and the designer’s role as visual storyteller. Prerequisites: drawing skills, … Read more

view course details

Explore the art of personal expression through landscape photography. Tsar Fedorsky, a fine arts photographer whose own work draws on images found near home, will encourage students to discover their own visual voice by choosing to take landscape photographs close to home. Nature is all around us. You don’t need … Read more

 The extremely high heat of the electric arc makes it by far the most effective way to selectively melt steel for welding. In this class we will be ‘jumping into the ‘deep end’, so to speak, by beginning with TIG welding (Tungsten Inert Gas welding), a process that gives the … Read more

Students explore the current practices being used by sustainable fashion designers/companies, organic and eco-friendly textiles, innovations in design/ production, textiles, waste minimization, and upcycling in design and manufacturing. While working through their own process, students will use sustainable methods to design and create projects addressing social responsibility in the fashion … Read more

This workshop is an introduction to vitreous enamel on metal. Students learn different methods of applying color, images, and textures to metal surfaces. During this workshop, students explore a variety of techniques to create personal designs through successive layers of glass fired on copper using processes such as sifting, drawing, and … Read more

register

In this introductory, course participants will learn how to design and carve wooden utensils. Students will be shown how to safely and efficiently use the bandsaw as well as hand tools such as gouges, rasps, files, scrapers, and a variety of handsaws. Whether it’s spoons, spatulas, forks, knives, or something … Read more

register

 In this introduction to lapidary course participants will learn how to transform rough stone into jewelry-ready cabochons. Learn the basics of identifying rocks and develop an understanding of how the mohs hardness scale affects cutting/cabbing an stone work. Students will be carefully shown how to safely operate trim saws, a diamond … Read more

register

Thinking about a career in graphic design? Do you currently “dabble” in graphic design for personal projects? Have you found yourself designing flyers, webpages, brochures or other graphic design work professionally without any design training? This one-day workshop is specifically targeted for those with no graphic design background, to understand what makes a design “work” visually … Read more

register

In this class students will work from found images and/or drawings of their own to explore mark making with the needle. Through embroidery stitches from basic to advanced, we will learn, experiment and push the types of mark we can create with the simple tool of needle and thread. During class, basic … Read more

register

Delve into the fascinating world of bent lamination. Explore a range of techniques that will bring versatility and creativity to your wood and furniture projects. Through practical demonstrations and hands-on exercises, learn how to bend wood using molds, a vacuum bag, freeform bending methods, and more. This workshop is a module … Read more

register

This course provides an in-depth understanding of the cyanotype process. You learn all the steps required to create your cyanotype prints with ease; from the preparation of the solution, to the creation of images on transparent media, to exposing light and fixating color. Discover how to apply your prints onto … Read more

register

Memoir has dominated adult graphic novel publishing, in part because memory is often viscerally linked with imagery. Similarly, visual and comics journalism allows authors to tell non-fiction stories about politics, war, and trauma in ways that meld non-linear experiences with factual accounts. Students will explore interview, landscape, and visual translation … Read more

register

This course educates students in an array of digital design methods for creating physical objects. Participants gain fluency in crafting digital files for object-making, from initial design to machine language. Areas of focus include computer-aided design, additive manufacturing techniques, and 3D printing processes. Students learn to translate their ideas into … Read more

register

This 7-week course gives students having little to no experience with the Adobe Creative Cloud the key concepts and techniques they need to begin working with the software. Students will gain the core skills required in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to establish a solid foundation for using the software … Read more

register

This course explores the multifaceted nature of working with moving images beyond the Hollywood understanding of a ‘movie’. Students will be encouraged to take an experimental approach to recording their own videos, animating short sequences, capturing audio, and editing it all together as they create unique time-based artwork. This course … Read more

register

Electrify your studio practice! Bring to life hidden longings, revive ways of working, or join parallel interdisciplinary worlds. Enliven new awarenesses, confidence, and enthusiasm. Refresh purpose and meaning, while cultivating and accessing community and resources. Prompts, projects, research, and a varied group provide new perspectives. Current artists act as case-studies … Read more

register

An armature is a  framework, a skeleton for sculpture that holds its shape, which is covered, added to, and built over, in order to make a three dimensional shape.  In this class, you will learn to make sculpture using common materials: from the hardware store, your closet, the thrift store, or off the street, … Read more

register

Chair Building: From Design to Construction is an immersive hands-on experience that focuses on transforming chair designs into physical pieces. This course is meant to build upon the design acquired in the previous course the “Chair Design: Through Sketching, Modeling, and Full-Size Mock-ups” but if a student wishes to take … Read more

register

Graphic novels have particular literary devices and artistic tools used to communicate in the visual narrative form. This class will read and discuss some of the great graphic narratives, from Krazy Kat to EC Horror Comics to Maus and Persepolis, along with contemporary comics. This research will inform their own … Read more

register

This course focuses on the production of short and long-form comics, with a focus on the development and design of characters and the worlds that are drawn and written for them. Continued research into the history of storytelling in multiple comic genres will be folded into the course.

register

Learn to shoot great moving imagery and record high-quality audio to create engaging stories. This course will cover the aesthetic and technical skills needed to construct scenes visually and aurally – whatever genre of filmmaking you are interested in. The language and techniques of camera and sound work will be … Read more

register

This course provides a basic introduction to data visualization. Through lectures, tutorials and class discussions, participants learn fundamental concepts and design principles, dive deep into case studies, and gain hands-on skills that allow them to design dynamic data visualizations that follow best design practices. Weekly in-class demos and projects train … Read more

register

Drawing is the process of creative thinking and discovery. When you are engaged in the process of transforming materials, you’re also opening new pathways of seeing and knowing as a person and an artist. In this class you will explore ideas through the manipulation of a range of materials on … Read more

register

Individual attention in a supportive environment is the focus of this seven week on-line/remote portrait drawing course designed for students of all levels and experience. The foundations of sound portraiture will be examined while drawing a variety of subjects in different views, including self-portraits and sitters where available.We will study … Read more

register

This is a seven week course starts with quick exercises working from a still life on week 1 and then working from a live model on weeks 2 and 3. The course will shift into more independent work starting Week 4 through 7. The participants will respond to prompts and … Read more

view course details

Discover the possibilities of working with dry and water-based materials. Dry media includes pencil, colored pencils, China marker. For wet media we use:  watercolor, gouache, acrylics, etc. as well as interesting mediums such as Pe masking fluid and gesso. Gain skills in a variety of techniques, then experiment with mixing mediums in non-traditional … Read more

register

Discover your identity as a storyteller and focus on the stories that matter most to you and that you can best tell. Learn how to successfully structure compelling narratives with a scene-based, character-driven approach. With this hands-on course, you will also learn how to avoid the pitfalls of stories that … Read more

view course details

Learn the principles and techniques of video editing – the backbone of filmmaking. Whatever your interest or desired role in filmmaking, understanding editing is fundamental to your success. The editor is a detail-oriented storyteller, craftsperson, organizer, and technician. We often rediscover and sometimes reinvent our stories in the edit. Through … Read more

register

 Machining processes are traditionally used to create metal parts that require a high degree of precision. Our technological civilization could not have developed without them. This class introduces the student to the basic principles of machining in order for them to begin to create artworks that may require precise mechanical … Read more

register

In this online course students will learn the basics of oil painting including paint mixing, palette construction, brush techniques, canvas/board preparation, safety measures, and more. Students will also learn the foundations of painting’s visual language like color, composition, texture and hierarchy. Over the course of the term students will work … Read more

register

This course combines the foundations of traditional animation with multidisciplinary artist practices. You will be introduced to a wide variety of experimental animation techniques including registration-less animation, under the camera animation, replacement animation, 2-D paper puppets, and rotoscoping. We will cover how to set-up a DIY home animation studio as … Read more

register

Learn the basics of carving and shaping with hand tools; gouges, rasps, files, spokeshaves, block planes, knives, and more. Through demonstrations and prompts, explore both traditional and contemporary carving techniques and learn how they can be applied to the making of furniture and functional objects. This workshop is a module … Read more

register

Use basic embroidery strategies to introduce aspects of value and the illusion of 3-dimensional space. Practice and be introduced to techniques, such as hatching, stippling and “shading” as ways to improve how you see and render light and gradations of light and depth in your embroidered drawings. We will discuss … Read more

register