Drawing, painting, jewelry, clay and more
A rich fountain of inspiration
Art classes in the Personal Enrichment Program
Our Arts courses feature professional and life-long artists who teach aspects and techniques of drawing and painting, as well as more unexpected courses to challenge you and awaken your creativity.
Our featured instructor for Fall, Susan Lundy, now teaches three levels of The Artist’s Way, based on the book of the same name by Julia Cameron. The third level is a new class based on Cameron’s new book, Finding Water, the final installment in her groundbreaking work on the creative process. This class is a revolutionary program for artistic renewal and perseverance. Students in Susan’s Artist’s Way classes are challenged to find what is blocking their creativity. Some leave after they realize how difficult this can be. Others are transformed by the course.
Our Arts courses are welcoming and encouraging for beginners as well as nurturing accomplished artists. Beginners may discover their inner artist in courses such as Portrait Drawing: Beginning and a favorite with our students for many years, Watercolor Techniques, taught by Gale Waddell. Take your portraiture sklls further in the Portraits & Faces in Color for Artists & Craftspeople class. In the Personal Enrichment Program, students can learn to paint in several different traditional forms of media, with many different classes in everything from pastels to acrylics to oils. Lea Anderson’s great class in The Art of Mixing Colors introduces students to the world of painting, or takes their abilities to another level, with information on new color theory and harmonic composition. Challenge yourself to A Painting A Day, where you are encouraged to “loosen up and believe in yourself!”
The Personal Enrichment Program also features a variety of clay media, such as raku and clay sculpture. Portraiture and sculpture are combined in Modeling the Head in Clay. Immerse yourself in the world of Stoneware Pottery and Raku Pottery : Beginning to Advanced in one class! Another class specializes in Trial by Fire: Soda, Gas, Electric and Raku Firing.
Instructor Kristin Diener has earned quite a following in our Beginning Jewelry/Metals and Continuing Jewelry/Metals classes.
The creative ideas mixed media affords are boosting its popularity for artists, and we offer a great variety, such as Mosaic with Vintage China and Found Objects or The Art of PaperMaking in our Arts courses. Tole and Decorative Painting has been a favorite with our students for many years.
Enjoy the adventure as you hike a little, sketch a little in The Hiking Artist.
Courses such as Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and others are designed to free your creative spirit.
There’s nothing like getting your hands in a new medium or technique to get the creative juices flowing! See the new classes below for the latest ideas.
New Classes
Creativity need a boost? Need inspiration? We have brand new courses to get you going!.
- The Artist’s Way III: NEW For those who have taken the Artist’s Way, Parts 1 and 2 this class is based on Julia Cameron’s new book, Finding Water, the final installment in her groundbreaking body of work on the creative process. This is a revolutionary program for artistic renewal and perseverance. It presents steps . . . Click link for more.
- Introduction to Botanical Illustration and Art: NEW Learn the magic of drawing nature all around. This course will introduce the student to the unique needs of botanical illustration including careful observation and study of plants, brief historical information and the importance of recording a species in art. Students will practice gradation, perspective, proportions, and composition . . . Click link for more.
- Oil Painting with Pallet Knife:NEW This course is adjusted towards both beginners and intermediates. By using pallet knives in oil painting, it brings out the beautiful simplistic nature of objects and brightness in color. With the right amount of paint and the right surface usage . . . Click link for more.
- Oil Painting with Imagination:NEW This course will begin with an overview of the principles of design and composition. In the first classes we will practice observing the real world and manipulating it to make more interesting compositions. We will then explore color. The rest of the classes will be devoted to . . . Click link for more.
- 3-D Pique Assiette Mosaic Project:NEW In this class we will be creating our own surface for a mosaic from a dense foam like substance. We will cut the shape of a small house, a flower, moon, shrine etc. We will cover this with mesh hardware cloth and versabond and . . . Click link for more.
- Autumn Colors Walking and Sketching Tour:NEW Explore the spectacular fall colors in the Albuquerque area while walking and sketching in a variety of places while learning about and practicing color theory on the go! Each week we will visit . . . Click link for more.
- Artist Trading Cards Workshop:NEW Jump right into the world of miniature art, as you explore artist trading cards in this fun, hands on workshop! Artist Trading Cards (ATC for short) are mini masterpieces, the size of a baseball card. They can be done in . . . Click link for more.
Professional artist and teacher
Susan Lundy says of her art students, “I feel blessed by each person who has the confidence to free their creative self. I grow along with them.”
Susan turned a lifetime of creativity and passion for painting into a successful mural and faux painting business. Susan’s Mural Painting class teaches students— of any level of experience — to turn a simple design into a full-scale mural. She remembers seeing mural paintings in her travels and telling herself, “I can do that.” And she did!
Susan pushes her students to think positively and to turn their ideas into completed work. She also teaches The Artist’s Way I, II and III, non-denominational workshops aimed at freeing one’s creative self.
Students in Susan’s Artist’s Way classes are challenged to find what is blocking their creativity. Some leave after they realize how difficult this can be. Others are transformed by the course.
Teach a class with us
Have you spent a lifetime of learning on a favorite subject? Is there something you can do that nobody else can do? You can teach a class with UNM Continuing Education!
Turn in a course proposal. (PDF file to download, instructions on the file.)
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