Thanks!

While going through our Flickr Site this morning to determine what today’s blog post would be about, I was struck by how many stellar young artists our Program has had the privilege to work with over the last few years. I know that I speak for our instructors when I relay how super lucky we feel… getting the chance to work with your children… to teach them about art. We are continually moved by their genuine curiosity, engaging intellect, and their clear vision of the world around them. They are very cool people. Very cool, indeed. Thanks for the opportunity!

From Life

Our older classes, including Observational Painting with Benny Fountain and Drawing Techniques with Kendra Larson, have been creating work based on observation… drawing and painting from life. Any person who has attempted such a feat knows that this is no easy task… especially when you are just learning how to do it. Our students are both meeting and exceeding the challenges set before them.

Wow! If I’d had some of these skills when I was their age… I would be a little father along in my drawing practice, I think. Our students are amazing. Just check out a few of the awesome observed personal still-life drawings that our Drawing Techniques class completed over the weekend. So good.

A surpise visit from an old friend.

Our second week of classes saw the start of some very interesting projects. Comics, for instance, began work on their onomatopoeia project. The MiniMasters began painting their underwater landscape, and our Drawing Techniques class worked on a personal still life using value. Our Mixed Media Studio class spent a second week in the Ceramic Studio, glazing their clay fish. After working in the studio for about an hour, PNCA Alum and regular Youth Program staff member, Bob Fish stopped in to work on one of his own projects. Our students, intrigued by what he was up to, gathered around a throwing wheel to watch him work. Bob graciously allowed the whole class to watch as he threw a vase in a matter of minutes.



After impressing our crew of 7 and 8 year olds with his mad-ceramic-skillz, Bob allowed students to add texture to the vase by running a finger along the surface as it spun slowly on the wheel. It was a great surprise to the end of our Mixed Media Studio’s class day. If you would like to see more images from Saturday’s classes or catch a sneak peek of our students fish being glazed, visit our Flickr Site!

User Experience Design

I am excited that our newly expanded program in web and digital communications opens with a workshop in UX Design by David Lowe-Rogstad, co-founder and chief evangelist at findsubstance.com, next weekend, October 13+14, 10-4:30pm. With his extensive industry experience and leadership capacity, David made critical contributions to our ambitious agenda for bringing you up-to-date professional development in one of the most dynamic arenas of professional design and marketing. I know that David would be pleased to see you at his upcoming workshop. Learn more about the UX Design workshop and our Endorsement in Web + Digital Communications.

Batman & the King

So our Comics + Zines class with Gary Sweet created a rather interesting series of zine pages during their first class session. The cohort of 9 to 11 year olds came up with some pretty awesome sketches when prompted to draw the caped crusader, Batman, from memory. After drawing a few different version of the Batman, students were then given pages of an old Elvis biography and asked to incorporate one or two lines of text. The results were quite EPIC.

If you would like to see the entire suite of Elvis + Batman Zine pages you can do so by visiting our C+Z set on Flickr.

The start of classes!

Another September has come and gone, which means that Youth Program classes are in full swing. We had a great first day on Saturday, with the largest incoming Fall Youth class in 3 years! We saw so many new young faces on campus! Our instructors were super excited for classes to start and introduced some great projects, which we hope to share with you over the coming weeks. There were quite a few wonderful moments from our first day of classes. Here are a few choice pics…

If you want to check our more images from our first day of classes you can do so by visiting out our In the Classroom collection on Flickr!

Book Arts

Our fall program offers several special opportunities for studying different aspects of book arts. Brett Warnock is eager to share his passion for comics and his deep knowledge of the publishing industry with you in Careers in Comics. Just back from an exciting time presenting Top Shelf Production’s latest publications at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, Brett will guide you in a close-up investigation of key roles and opportunities in the industry.

Author and illustrator Victoria Jamieson returns to our program with a studio course on children’s book illustration and Trevor Dodge will lead a partially online course in which you will study the flourishing of personal memoirs in comics and graphic novel form and in which you will design your own (auto)biographical mini-comic.

Creativity Labs for Adults

This is the last week to guarantee your spot in our Creativity Labs classes for adult. This series of courses is designed for students interested in creative experimentation while learning about art, design, and craft in ways that are meaningful, fun, and educational. Examining craftsmanship and design-oriented thinking, each course introduces students to new ways of art making with unique curriculum and engaging instruction. Continuing Education is incredibly excited to offer these courses that allow students to expand their knowledge in these unique subjects. Classes include:

• Mechanical Advantage in Kinetic Sculpture introduces simple machines and their application in making things move without having to resort to powerful and expensive shop tools and materials.
• Welding teaches you to gas weld, arc weld and cut steel with fire with an emphasis on sculptural forms.
• Theremins + Monophonic Synthesizers learn the basic of electronics before exploring technology ranging from vacuum tubes to transistors.
• Physical Computing for Artists Arduino at an art school? Indeed! Learn to sense and control the physical world with the open source micro-controller. n

Priority Review of Certificate and Endorsement Applications

Advance your career and expand your creative practice with a PNCA Certificate or Endorsement. Submit your application at the end of this week, in time for priority review of applications starting Monday, September 10.

Image courtesy Patrick Hanna, Design Certificate ‘10.