Art Classes – 2026
Chairs: Colleen Skiff & John Vandenbergh
A01 Cartooning
Week: 1 | Grades: 2 – 6
Week: 2 | Grades: 4 – 8
Attention: fans of comic books, cartoons and comic strips!
Explore the art of cartooning. Human animation will be emphasized, including facial expression, body movement and setting. Learn to create original story lines and scripts. The class will “publish” a collective comic book.
Instructor: John Vandenbergh
A02 Fun with Clay
Week: 1 | Grades: 2-4
Explore working with clay using simple hand tools and your hands! You will be building a few pieces with kiln fired and also air-dry clay to make decorative clay vessels and dishes. We will be making a pinch pot, a vessel, a dish for keys or coins, and an animal piece of your choosing. We will also be making a clay piece that may look like a piece of cake…but, once dried and painted, you can open the clay object up to reveal a hiding spot inside your dessert-looking creation.
Instructor: Shannon Blakeley
A03 Exploring Architecture
Week: 1 | Grades: 4+
Learn about different types of dwellings and how they were constructed. We will study scale and draw basic floor plans to create any building you can imagine. There will be hands on building with stone, with clay and man-made materials and constructing a 3-D building with landscaping and furniture to take home.
Instructor: Colleen Skiff
A04 The Fabulous World of Storytelling, Illustrating, and Book Making
Weeks: 1, 3 | Grades: 4 – 7
Do you like to tell stories? Do you enjoy drawing? Then this is the class for you. We will be exploring the creative practice of writing through fun games and exercises. We will also discuss the art of illustrating stories, and how imagery can enhance your written work. Then you will pull all of your imaginative efforts together in a handmade book. Each day will include an inspirational walk around the land.
Instructor: Jessica Loy
A05 Drawing and Painting
Week: 1 | Grades: 5 – 8
Capture an immediate response on paper to your daily Heldeberg Workshop world of woods, waterfalls, fields, and mountains. Using a variety of drawing and painting mediums, we will learn how to draw and paint the essence of our surroundings. We will also learn techniques to make accurate drawings and experiment with light and shadow to make dramatic or colorful statements. Most importantly, we will explore and enjoy the fresh air and camaraderie of creating art outdoors!
Instructor: Christina Coogan
A06 Macro Photography
Week: 1 | Grades: 8+
Whether it’s a photograph of an insect’s wings, a frog’s eye or veins in a leaf… study photography from the macro perspective (really really up close), “focusing” on the use of bokeh (intentional blur), angle, light, subject stalking, equipment and technique. Students will roam the grounds of Heldeberg Workshop shooting lots of different subjects (flora, fauna, rock, face, object, background and misc) and produce a slideshow presentation for open house. We’ll also talk about crop, the theory of thirds, critique and depth of field.
Students will need a digital camera capable of macro photos. This can be a DSLR with a macro lens.
Instructor: Chet Boehlke
A07 Clay Exploration
Weeks: 2, 5 | Grades: 2 – 5
Come explore the wonderful world of clay in this fun and messy workshop. We will practice a variety of hand-building techniques to create unique projects like decorative name plates, silly pinch pot monsters, coil bowls and more.
**This class is also offered for two weeks. Students who enroll for two weeks will have the opportunity to work on more individualized projects.
Instructor: Natalie Kossack
A08 Multicultural Creations
Week: 2 | Grades: 2 – 5
In this class you will explore the traditions of different cultures and artistic creations from around the world! Please come join us in this fun and exciting class making multicultural art with fun mediums using your own creative expression. Mandala rock painting, watercolor Chinese Dragons, Glue batik, Origami, Paper dream catchers, paper rangoli and more!
Instructor: Colleen Skiff
A09 Art on the Land
Week: 2 | Grades: 4+
Come and explore the many fields and streams of the beautiful Heldebergs and use natural materials to make art! We will be drawing, painting, sculpting, and creating art on the land. Let the beautiful surroundings of the Helderbergs inspire us.
Instructor: Shannon Blakeley
A11 Watercolors
Weeks: 2, 3 | Grades: 4+
Watercolor is one of the easiest mediums to work with in the outdoors. Create ‘starry skies’ nights using sail, ‘sailing boats’ using masks and resists, ‘wheat fields’ using dry brush,’sunsets’ using washes. Once you learn the basic techniques you can transform any subject, place or moment into a magical piece of work filled with color. We’ll wander the Land from teepee to pond with paint brushes in hand.
Instructor: Trish Zigrosser
A12 Printmaking
Week: 2 | Grades: 5+
Want to create your own handmade paper? We’ll use natural and recycled materials to create our own one of a kind art papers. While we wait for our papers to dry, we will create a variety of stamps to print on our unique papers. We’ll use our surroundings for inspiration as we create drawings to transfer using various printmaking processes.
Instructor: Christy Evers
A13 Metalwork & Design – Beginning and Advanced
Weeks: 2, 6 | Grades: 6 & up
In this class, students will learn how a metalsmith/artist transforms ideas into design, and in the process, creates very cool pieces of art, including wearable pieces! Students will use many different hand-held tools and work with copper and brass to create their own, special metal designs.
Returning students are welcome to work on more advanced projects.
Instructor: Irene Purificato
A14 Brazing, Welding & Wire Sculpture
Week: 2 | Grades: 6 & up
In this class you will learn how to plan out two-dimensional and three-dimensional steel wire sculptures, then bring them to life using a form of welding called brazing! This is an exciting class where students will learn to use a variety of tools while working with steel wire, and learn fun brazing techniques.
Instructor: Emma Longrod
A15 Kaleidoscope of Art
Week: 3 | Grades: 2-5
Using nature as inspiration and a variety of media including nature’s bounty, we will do rubbings of leaves and make marks with other things we find in nature during our nature walks on the trails. We will use our natural finds to paint with ink. We will use a brandishing technique to transfer images with graphite to create a symmetrical set of mandalas. Additionally, we will be creating oil pastel and watercolor self-portraits, inspired by a variety of artists.
Instructor: Gabi Lacijan
A16 Artistic Trading Cards
Week: 3 | Grades: 3 – 8
Create many miniature artworks about the same size as baseball cards! A variety of mediums and techniques will be explored to create these mini masterpieces. These works of art will be presented in card-collector pockets, sleeves and sheets. These works are great to keep, trade, or even send in the mail to friends and family!
Instructor: John Vandenbergh
A18 Exploring Sculpture
Weeks: 3 | Grades: 5+
Work with plaster gauze, paper mache, kiln and air dry clay, wire and natural and manmade materials such as fabric, buttons, gems, etc. to create unique art. Students will learn how to construct a figure – human, animal or a hybrid as well as an abstract sculpture from a variety of materials.
Instructor: Colleen Skiff
A19 Clay, Clay and More Clay
Weeks: 4 | Grades: 3+
Get your hands dirty with a natural material that is fun to explore and easy to create with. We’ll use different hand building methods with clay – animals, puzzle boxes, nature print chimes and also use the pottery wheel to create bowls and so much more!
Instructor: Colleen Skiff
A20 Wax on! Figurative, abstract, and unique wax designs
Week: 4 | Grades: 4 & up
Create an original wax sculpture! Student artists will experience the reverse process of designing and building a clay mold to cast a one-of –a-kind wax sculpture.
Instructor: Suzanne Kawola
A21 Felting and More
Week: 4 | Grades: 5+
Transform wool into textured “paintings” and 3D sculptures. We’ll learn about the amazing qualities of wool, how felted wool has been used throughout history, and look at how artists are creating inspiring and otherworldly works of art using felted wool. We’ll explore the process of needle felting and wet felting to create a variety of place based summer woodland inspired art.
Instructor: Christy Evers
A23 Mixed Media Fun
Week: 5 | Grades: 3+
Have a great time exploring with different materials and techniques: including paint, markers, paper, yarn, clay, wood…the list is endless!! Let your imagination and creativity run wild. Every art project you make is a different adventure!
Instructor: Rachel Empie
A24 Yarn Painting Class
Week: 5 | Grades: 5+
Discover the art of “painting” with yarn! In this hands-on class, you’ll learn how to use colorful strands of yarn to create textured, vibrant images that feel both cozy and expressive. We’ll explore simple techniques for shaping, layering, and blending yarn to bring your design to life—no prior art experience needed. Whether you’re drawn to bold patterns or soft, flowing scenes, this class is all about relaxing, experimenting, and making something uniquely yours. Leave with a finished yarn painting and a new creative skill you can keep building on.
Instructor: Gabi Lacijan
A25 Tie Dyes and Blue Skies
Week: 5 | Grades: 4+
Art and Nature! Learn to tie-dye and create colorful and always unique art to wear or display. Basic materials will be provided, including a cotton T-shirt and bandana, and additional items to dye can be brought from home (100% cotton, pre-washed, is best). Between tying and dying we will take short hikes to special spots at the Workshop (waterfall, pond, swamp, etc.) to enjoy the natural surroundings, look for plants and animals and learn about them.
Instructor: Robert Goldfarb
A26 A New Perspective
Week: 5 | Grades: 5+
Are you tired of drawing flat stick figures? Look no further! In this drawing class, we will focus on drawing in perspective, making your drawings go from the 2nd, to the 3rd, and even the 4th dimension! This class will teach students to draw in all perspective forms, including 1- 4 Point, fisheye, and experimental!
Instructor: Colleen Skiff
A27 Whimsical Wire Workings
Week: 6 | Grades: 4+
In this course we’ll twist, bend and shape all types, sizes and colors of wire into fun sculptures, mobiles, creatures, jewelry and more! We’ll also combine wire with other materials – pinecones, cork, wood, cloth, cardboard, paper, beads, model magic and paris craft to make almost anything you can imagine. Great for kids of all ages!!!
Instructor: Colleen Skiff
A28 Enter the Magical World of Fairy Tales
Week: 6 | Grades: 3+
If you’ve ever wanted to enter the world of a fairy-tale through your own pencil and paper, we invite you to join us in Illustrating familiar Fairy-Tales, writing your own original fairy tail and creating Pop Up Books about them. We will learn about the elements of folktales, methods of illustration, and some of the artists who helped shape storybook renditions of tales that might be familiar to you! Every day, we’ll hear traditional stories from a new region of Europe and you’ll take a little bit of the stories home with you through your projects. We hope to see you in our little corner of the enchanted Helderberg mountains soon!
Instructor: David Walden
A29 Drawing and Painting
Week: 6 | Grades: 3+
Come explore your creativity using all kinds of materials like paint, graphite, ink, coloring, and collage! Fill up your sketchbook with all kinds of art!
Instructor: Gabi Lacijan
A30 Japanese Book Binding and Zine
Week: 6 | Grades: 4+
We will be creating hard-cover books using an ancient Japanese book-binding technique. We will also be paper-marbling and using marbles and ink to create unique papers to include in your books, and stationary. We will learn a basic fold to create “zines” and writing, drawing, and building your own stories inside the pages.
Instructor: Shannon Blakeley
- Registration is anticipated to open March 10, 2026
- Mailing list families will be notified first
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