The Gallery and Art Center are holding classes. They are open to all including older adults, veterans and Military Connected Families. The classes are affordable and fun!  The teachers are very experienced and work with people of all capabilities and talents.

Here are some of our class descriptions. Please feel free to contact us with your ideas for classes as well.

1. Drawing and Painting for Beginners

Description: An introductory Drawing and Painting class structured to build upon your prior knowledge whether you are a beginner or intermediate. You will learn the fundamentals of color, form, visual organization, and visual communication skills with an emphasis on inventiveness.

• 1^st Class – Color Theory: Hue, Value, Chroma (saturation, intensity). Create value and color scales. Create an abstract painting emphasizing geometric shapes and the use of various values. (Materials: color wheel, paper, charcoal, canvas board paint, brushes, rags/paper towels, water containers, soap)
• 2^nd Class – Perspective: Create an atmospheric landscape painting including foreground, middle ground, background, and sky: Learn how to create the illusion of distance using color. (Materials: canvas board, paint, image of landscape) (vocab: cool and warm colors)
• 3^rd Class – Linear Perspective: Create a linear perspective painting. (Materials: canvas board, brushes, glue, tissue paper.)
• 4th Class – Form and shading in a still-life: Create 3-dimsionality on a 2D picture plane. Show depth and form using prior knowledge (Materials: canvas board, paint, brushes,)
• 5^th Class – Create an expressive self-portrait: Using expressive arbitrary color or optical (realistic) color. Apply values discriminately to create form.
• 6^th Class: Continuation of self-portrait.

2. Glass Mosaics

Description: Mosaics are the combination of small pieces of cut colored glass to form a picture. The instructor will show the proper use of the tools and the techniques to design and apply the glass to webbing and glass to form a picture. Students will choose from a selection of wildlife and wildflower motifs. Each design will be uniquely different. At the end of the class sessions, the student’s work product (on webbing) can be incorporated into an outdoor community art piece depicting the wildlife and flowers of Okanogan County – a permanent mosaic wall at 622 Fir Street, Oroville, WA.

3. Felting

Description: Needle felting is the creation of joining wool fibers together to form a picture. Using colored fibers, a landscape or floral design will be created without water by using special needles to adhere the pieces together. Afterward, the art piece may be framed.

4. Charcoal Drawing for Beginners

Description: An introductory drawing class that will build upon your knowledge whether you are a beginner or intermediate. You will learn how to complete a charcoal drawing: from choosing the right materials, to understanding different techniques, to finding inspiration for your work. We’ll provide tips on how to improve your charcoal drawing skills. You will learn the fundamentals of form, visual organization, and visual communication skills with an emphasis on inventiveness. (Materials: Large white sulphite drawing paper, kneaded erasers, vinyl erasers, and compressed charcoal) compressed charcoal, tinted charcoal paper, kneaded and other erasers, fixative)

• 1^st Class -Blending and Shading Techniques: Learn how to blend, shade, and layer charcoal including different drawing methods such as the subtractive approach.
• 2^nd Class – Your First Drawing: Plan the composition of your drawing by drawing in broad shapes and experimenting with tonal shading and positive/negative spaces.
• 3^rd Class – Form and shading in a still-life: Create 3-dimensionality on a 2D picture plane. Show depth and form using prior knowledge
• 5^th Class – Create an expressive self-portrait: Using charcoal, apply values discriminately to create form.
• 6^th Class: Continuation of self-portrait.

5. Painting II

Description: An intermediate painting class that builds on Painting I. Painting I is not required if you have basic knowledge of composition, form, and color theory. You will start with a sketch, transfer your sketch to a canvas, and apply acrylic paints to create a portrait over six sessions.  You will receive individualized instruction to learn how to improve your painting skills.  Please bring a reference photo of yourself or a favorite person to the first class.

6. Paper Mache Sculpture I and II

Description: Paper Mache or Papier-mâché is a versatile craft technique with ancient roots in which wastepaper is shredded and mixed with water and a binder to produce a pulp ideal for modelling or molding, which dries to a hard surface and allows the creation of light and strong objects of any shape, even very complicated ones.

You will learn to decide what form to use as an armature, make paper pulp and other layering techniques, select an adhesive, and finish your sculpture.