From Blob to Frog

Make a frog! From a sinple blob of clay to cute little finished froggy, explore how creating simple shapes and adding them together can make a unique and complex sculpt that is fun and easy to teach to your friends! Students will sculpt, cook, sand, and paint their work.

Date and time: July 18   10-3

Minimum Age of Student: ( usually 18 or older  but you may include younger like 12-16 with a parent who also registers ) 

Materials Student Should Bring (from home or purchase, with names of suppliers.) A photo of a frog they like  

Instructor bio: Kelsey Wailes is a professional artist who teaches and sells her wares up and down the east coast and online. She has been working with polymer clay for 15+ years and loves sharing this versatile and fun art medium with her kid and adult students alike. 

A walk through the woods will often allow you to find interesting twisted vines or sticks suitable for a basket handle.  This basket uses a found handle to form a rib melon basket.  A variety of reed, sea grass, and other fibers will be available to weave the basket.  The basic frame with the initial ribs atached to the stick handle will be provided.  Instructions adding secondary ribs will be stressed.  

Join artist and instructor Eric Westbrook in developing and improving your landscape painting skills. Instructor will be demonstrating with oil paint, but students are welcome to use acrylics if they prefer.

In this workshop, students will learn the fundamentals of landscape painting. Basic painting techniques will be explored. Focus will be on composition, color, atmosphere, and contrast in a painting. Each class will consist of a demonstration and individual critiques. All levels and materials welcome. 

Bring your own or utilize Arts Council supplies of acrylic paint, brushes and mixed media paper, included in the cost of the class. Both standing and table easels available.

Classes will be 10/3,10/10,10/24 from 1:30-3:30PM and can be taken as a series or for just one session.

Eric Westbrook is a painter, illustrator, and art instructor living and working in the Washington DC area. Current and former teaching venues include The Yellow Barn at Glen Echo, The Smithsonian, and VisArts in Rockville, MD.

This comprehensive workshop is designed to help high school students prepare a strong, competitive portfolio for college art program applications. Students will receive guided instruction on selecting and refining artwork, developing cohesive bodies of work, and presenting their pieces professionally for submission.

Participants will learn what colleges and universities look for in an art portfolio, including technical skill, conceptual development, originality, and process documentation. The workshop will cover portfolio organization, photographing artwork, writing effective artist statements, and understanding digital submission platforms such as SlideRoom.

Through personalized feedback, group critiques, and one-on-one guidance, students will leave with a clearer direction for their artistic voice and a structured plan for completing and submitting their portfolio on time.

Ideal for juniors and seniors planning to apply to art schools, design programs, or fine arts departments, this workshop equips students with the tools, confidence, and strategic insight needed to present their work at a professional level.

Join Karen Peck in a workshop on Painting the Fall Landscape in Pastel.  In this class we will explore painting with soft pastels through the process of layering pastels to create a fall landscape. Karen will review briefly the variety of pastels from hard to soft, the choices in papers, underpainting processes, mark making, and layering. Karen will demonstrate the process of creating an underpainting with watercolor of a fall landscape. She will demonstrate the layering of pastels to create subtle changes in color and value and invites you to paint your own fall landscape. 

Materials Students Should Bring from home or purchase, with names of suppliers:

• old cloth and apron 
• soft pastels in a variety of colors (amazon sells- Rembrandt, Mungyo, Sennelier, Mount Vision, Jack Richeson) 
• pastel paper preferably sanded and white or cream in color(amazon sells U-Art, Pastel Premier, Canson Mi-Teintes, Luxarchival, Pastelmat)  
• backing board 
• Please bring several fall landscape photos to be used as a reference.