Learn all about fish and fishing in this perfect summer class. We’ll fish lakes and rivers all week long while learning about fish biology, ecology, bait, lures, rods and reels with some of the best fishing guides around. A fishing trip by canoe or raft will help fine-tune your skills to land the big one.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will be introduced to the world of glass imagery through the process of etching. Using drawn and collected images, students will learn how to transfer them onto glass to create original compositions. We will use recycled glass, including bottles and jars, as our main material.

Status: 2 spaces remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will learn the basic skills of clay handbuilding in this class. The focus will be primarily on the methods of pinch and coil, which involve creating sculpture by pinching the clay into the base shape and building up the sculpture using coils of clay. We will be using objects that are full in form (not flat) as inspiration for the creation of our sculptures. Learning will be very hands-on and at the end of the week students will have new masterpieces ready for display!

Status: Canceled

Apply now

Back to top »

Students in this class will learn the basics of sculpture from modeling clay to mixed media. Students will explore ways to reproduce their original works as they learn how to build and cast molds — because the only thing better than making one really awesome sculpture is being able to easily make 10!

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

Inanimate objects and materials will be brought to life in this survey of traditional and contemporary experimental animation approaches. Emphasis will be placed on expression and improvisation as each student designs and produces his or her animated sequences.

Status: 2 spaces remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will be introduced to landscaping and the world of natural art. We will draw and create models and 3-D landscape environments. Students will learn to create art using materials readily found in nature while exploring the relationship between landscaping and architecture.

Status: Canceled

Apply now

Back to top »

Let your child’s first experience with our greatest playwright be filled with the fun of playing! Before they can develop “Shakes-feare,” students get hooked on the stories, characters and the wonderful world of words. Students spend the week learning and playing out an abbreviated version of one of his most famous plays. Meanwhile, they discover Shakespeare and his era, a taste of Elizabethan culture and basic acting techniques (i.e., stage direction, movement and speech). The week culminates with a student performance of “The Taming of the Shrew” during the final class.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

This is a fun, skills-building class in which students will explore a variety of techniques and media that will rapidly improve drawing abilities. Taking advantage of the area around us (i.e., architecture, parks, streets and in-class subjects), students will create drawings worthy of display.

Status: 1 space remain

Apply now

Back to top »

In this interactive class, students will construct large-scale inflatable sculptures. Pattern formation and exploration will be the focus as we build works that envelope the room, the viewer or architectural elements. Be prepared to be amazed at how everyday materials such as trash bags and tape transform into beautiful sculpture with the use of fans.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

Using a point-and-shoot camera, students will begin to look at the world through a different lens. We will experiment with lighting, angles and object placement in our photographs throughout the week. Students will be exposed to both traditional and nontraditional photography processes using photographs, negatives and found objects. Our goal will be to find the unseen as we learn to pay attention to detail. Students will be required to provide their own disposable cameras.

Status: 3 spaces remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will work with conventional and unconventional found materials in the creation of unique and expressive handmade prints. Students will create colorful, textured prints using various relief printing methods. This fun and informative class will encourage students to take creative license and think “outside the box” while providing them a foundation in contemporary art, basic color theory, collage, mark-making, composition and other 2-D design skills.

Status: Canceled

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will be introduced to the world of glass imagery through the process of etching. Using drawn and collected images, students will learn how to transfer them onto glass to create original compositions. We will use recycled glass, including bottles and jars, as our main material.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

Working from their own designs, students will use various types of tesserae (small pieces of tile, glass, mirror or stones) and colored grouts to make a mosaic panel. Students may also experiment with 3-D mosaic sculptures.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

Let your child’s first experience with our greatest playwright be filled with the fun of playing! Before they can develop “Shakes-feare,” students get hooked on the stories, characters and the wonderful world of words. Students spend the week learning and playing out an abbreviated version of one of his most famous plays. Meanwhile, they discover Shakespeare and his era, a taste of Elizabethan culture and basic acting techniques (i.e., stage direction, movement and speech). The week culminates with a student performance of “Julius Caesar” during the final class.

Status: 1 space remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will learn the skills necessary to draw a most fascinating and expressive subject — themselves! This week will build and sharpen students’ visual skills to help them simplify the complex human head into its basic shapes, lines and angles. This class will cover the proportions, planes and details of the head, enabling each student to generate many expressive sketches as well as one finished realistic self-portrait.

Status: Canceled

Apply now

Back to top »

Learn all about fish and fishing in this perfect summer class. We’ll fish lakes and rivers all week long while learning about fish biology, ecology, bait, lures, rods and reels with some of the best fishing guides around. A fishing trip by canoe or raft will help fine-tune your skills to land the big one.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Students learn how to turn people, animals and everyday objects into cartoon characters. We explore basic drawing techniques as we create our characters and turn them into comic strips.

Status: 3 spaces remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Spend a week with a medical student at the VCU Medical Center and meet health care professionals in different fields. By visiting different laboratories and having hands-on experiences and interactions with health professionals, students learn about the challenges and rewards of health care careers.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will experience a crash course in printmaking from monoprints to collagraph prints with much in between. We will experiment with colors, textures and papers to create works of art that can be reprinted and duplicated. Get ready to see double, maybe even triple!

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

There is no reason to be intimidated by a blank canvas! Students in this class will gradually move from drawing with charcoal on canvas to all-out painting on canvas. This will be achieved by drawing with charcoal on canvas, erasing mistakes with gesso (a mixture of plaster of Paris and glue used to prepare a surface for painting) and slowly adding washes of paint. Students will learn basic drawing and painting techniques, including subject matter brainstorming, with a little history of painting thrown in.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Learn more about cartooning, with the emphasis on composition and telling a story through a combination of words and pictures. Drawing instruction in this class will be geared more toward the individual student. Students are strongly encouraged to have taken at least one basic cartooning class.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will learn the basic skills of clay handbuilding in this class. The focus will be primarily on the methods of pinch and coil, which involve creating sculpture by pinching the clay into the base shape and building up the sculpture using coils of clay. We will be using objects that are full in form (not flat) as inspiration for the creation of our sculptures. Learning will be very hands-on and at the end of the week students will have new masterpieces ready for display!

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

A wet week is in store during this hands-on exploration of the ecology of Virginia’s waters. We’ll travel to a different destination each day — rivers, streams and other wetlands — to investigate energy flow and food webs in aquatic ecosystems, examine fossil remains of extinct aquatic organisms and generally explore the waters and wildlife of the area. A highlight of the week is a canoe or tubing trip down a scenic river. Swimming skills are required.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Spend a week in scrubs and discover the exciting world of nursing. A hands-on week of exploration will include visits to operating and emergency rooms, a look at pediatric nursing with a visit to the neonatal intensive care unit and an introduction to the latest equipment and skills being used by members of the nursing profession. This course is presented by the VCU School of Nursing and the VCU Medical Center.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

In this class, beginners and more advanced students will develop and improve upon existing drawing skills as they explore graphite and charcoal. Students will learn step-by-step methods to break down any observed form into its simplest shapes and basic angles. This class will train students to understand shape, measure size and placement and train their hands to accurately record that information onto paper. The basics of composition, line, shading, positive/negative space, perspective and gesture will be covered with the aim of building confidence and unlocking each student’s unique strengths and vision.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Using a point-and-shoot camera, students will begin to look at the world through a different lens. We will experiment with lighting, angles and object placement in our photographs throughout the week. Students will be exposed to both traditional and nontraditional photography processes using photographs, negatives and found objects. Our goal will be to find the unseen as we learn to pay attention to detail. Students will be required to provide their own disposable cameras.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Experience the fun of felting your own fabric and then turning it into a unique piece of clothing in this exciting class. Students will be taught how to lay out cloud-like compositions in fluffy tufts of wool and then work them into a sudsy froth to create felt. Students will then learn how to turn the felt they’ve created into items they can wear such as hats, scarves, purses and jewelry.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

This course provides students with an opportunity to create wheel-thrown vessels and explore how to handbuild ceramic sculptural forms. Students also learn ways to finish their functional ceramic work using different glazing techniques.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Students will engage in a variety of activities dealing with the many aspects of engineering. Wireless radios and robotic ants may very well be part of the week’s activities as we spend time in the labs and workrooms of the VCU School of Engineering, exploring the many career options available in the world of engineering.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

This class is a must for anyone interested in fashion art and design. Students will create designs on paper and transfer them to fabric. Some in-class sewing may occur, but students do not need sewing experience to participate in this class. The opportunity to display projects at a fashion show organized by the class is the highlight of the week.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

In this challenging class, aspiring weavers will learn the process of setting up a loom and weaving off a project. Students will learn about color and texture as they create their weavings. At the end of the week students will have a finished wall hanging or scarf to proudly display.

Status: Canceled

Apply now

Back to top »

This course will build on the skills learned in the beginner-level class. Learn how to fish using the types of equipment that the experts use to increase your chances of catching the big one. Students will get a more comprehensive understanding of fish biology and ecology. Completion of the beginner-level “Go Fish” course or several years of fishing experience are recommended for students enrolling in this course.

Status: 1 space remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Spend a week with a medical student at the VCU Medical Center and meet health care professionals in different fields. By visiting different laboratories and having hands-on experiences and interactions with health professionals, students learn about the challenges and rewards of health care careers.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

This class is for those students who enjoyed the “Playing with Light” course and want to experience more photography. The focus will be creating meaningful and creative images by observing our surroundings. We will have the opportunity to take a lot of pictures in a variety of settings and build on our knowledge of composition. Students will work on creating different types of images using traditional and nontraditional techniques. Students will be required to provide their own disposable cameras.

Status: Canceled

Apply now

Back to top »

Become a commercial design artist for a week and make your own CD cases, cereal boxes and soda cans! Students will be introduced to design strategies that are actually used in this professional field. They will create fonts, logos and business cards, as well as redesign common packaging.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

Using watercolor or acrylic paints, students learn to paint like the pros and create paintings with strong, exciting images. We’ll find subjects that students like and learn how to recreate them realistically using paint. People, animals, landscapes, vehicles — the only limit is imagination.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »

This creative class will teach students how to create a larger-than-life sculpture using paper mache. Students will learn to create an armature (the structural support for a sculpture), make the creation strong and then paint it to achieve a sculpture that will stand the test of time. Creatures, people, buildings — you name it — can be created with this easy and fun sculpture technique.

Status: 1 space remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Inanimate objects and materials will be brought to life in this survey of traditional and contemporary experimental animation approaches. Emphasis will be placed on expression and improvisation as each student designs and produces his or her animated sequences. Students who have previously taken “Experimental Animation” may repeat the class as different animation methods will be covered.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

This class is a must for anyone interested in fashion art and design. Students will create designs on paper and transfer them to fabric. Some in-class sewing may occur, but students do not need sewing experience to participate in this class. The opportunity to display projects at a fashion show organized by the class is the highlight of the week. Students who have previously taken “Fashion Design Fun” may repeat it to take on a more advanced project.

Status: 1 space remain

Apply now

Back to top »

Students who enjoyed “Introduction to Sculpting With Clay” will continue to learn various methods of clay handbuilding, with an emphasis on the coil method learned previously. Students will build large vessels and finish them off using a sgraffito surface treatment, a technique of ceramic decoration that involves painting a coat of colored slip (watered-down clay) onto a leather-hard pot and then carving through the slip to reveal the original clay color below. Students will create unique works that they’ll be proud to display.

Status: Class open

Apply now

Back to top »

Working from their own designs, students will use various types of tesserae (small pieces of tile, glass, mirror or stones) and colored grouts to make a mosaic panel. Students may also experiment with 3-D mosaic sculptures. Students who have previously taken the “Mosaics” course may repeat it to work on more advanced projects.

Status: 1 space remain

Apply now

Back to top »

A combination of skills will be employed this week as students create not only a journal, but a work of art. Using creative writing, painting, photography and collage techniques, students will have pages that are journals, sketchbooks and creative expressions.

Status: Class full

Apply now

Back to top »