Learn how to transfer hand-drawn imagery onto clay using monoprinting techniques with slip and underglaze. Explore layering, line work, and expressive surface design. Bring leather-hard pots if you’d like, or use provided slabs. All materials included; $20 materials fee payable to the instructor. No experience necessary.

This is an opportunity to learn how to draw Plein Air, meaning outdoors. We will be meeting on several Saturday mornings at 9 am at the Centre Street Gallery on 11 Centre Street. There will be some instruction and some suggestions on how to approach our time drawing outside. We will head off with sketchbooks in hand, into the coffee shops if it is bad weather and outside if its good. We will finish our session back at the gallery for review and sharing. Some experience drawing is helpful but not necessary. Bring a sketchbook, pencil, sharpener and eraser and weather appropriate clothing as we may be doing some walking. Meets on 4/18, 4/25 & 5/2.

Designed for beginners but open to all levels, we will use our pastels in a loose, expressive way to create several quick drawings, with the goal of finding new approaches to a very traditional medium. Using expressive mark-making and bold color choices, we will work from a selection of reference photos from our beautiful state of Maine. An array of mats will be provided, with the goal of everyone leaving with something matted that they would consider worthy of display!

Learn to identify, regeneratively gather and harvest, properly store and process, and weave with pine needles. We'll cover the basics of coiled basketry, which is a global, ancient human skill, and create a wonderful pine-needle basket. All tools and materials will be provided. *Program includes all required tools and materials.

Learn the Zentangle method for mindful drawing and create your own art even if you don’t think you are an artist. Using the Zentangle motto of “anything is possible one stroke at a time,” you’ll learn simple pen strokes that will open up doors to creative pattern-making for relaxation, creativity, and focus. In this introduction, Irene Burgess, certified Zentangle teacher, will provide you the basics of the method in a stress-reducing atmosphere designed to make you appreciate your own creativity. All supplies needed will be provided.

This class is a watercolor with pen and ink class for beginners, or people who need a space to pull out the watercolors that are collecting dust. Students will leave with a matted, abstract botanical/nature-based piece. We will start with a free painting approach with an emphasis on colors and patterns in nature, creating two different pieces. Working from an array of photos, art books and bouquets of fresh flowers, students will be encouraged to paint, draw, or even transfer some abstract botanical shapes and images onto their watercolors. With a supply of different sized mats, we will mix and match our pieces with the goal of everyone finding a mat for one of their pieces.

Part One: Learning to See. Instructor Ed Higgins has helped many local artists of all experience levels gain confidence in their drawing simply by refusing to reinforce many common misconceptions about art which abound in the social media milieu. We learn art by actively doing it, not by passively watching. Understanding how to see like an artist is the first, essential step upon which all subsequent fine art skills depend. Simple, careful observation. Paying attention. It’s not mysterious, it’s not magic. But there are no shortcuts, and it does take practice. The trick is making the practice of observation itself fun, and that requires a willingness to stop telling yourself that you can’t do something. Focusing on results rather than learning, and product instead of process leads to impediments in development which effectively blinds artists rather than actually helping them improve their ability to see. The materials list for this class are: 1) your eyes, in reasonably good working order, 2) a sketchbook, and 3) a pencil and eraser. *No Class: 4/21.

Whether you are a complete beginner or looking to brush up on previous skills, this is the drawing class for you. Working in a variety of media, we will cover all of the basics: line, shape, value, proportion, composition, perspective and markmaking. Particular focus is placed on observational skills, learning how to translate the 3-dimensional world onto a 2-dimensional surface. A materials list will be provided after registration. *This session is 8 weeks.