Summer Virtual Visual Art & Digital Media Classes
Registration for Summer Classes begins Monday, June 15th
Classes are from July 6th - August 13th
Monday - Thursday: 11am - 1pm & 2pm - 4pm
BRAC is pleased to present five Visual Art, two Digital Media classes and our signature TPS+2.0 (teens plus young adults) Project Studio this Summer Semester.
Our commitment to serve the needs of our community is especially heightened in these challenging times. Therefore, we are offering our summer semester by optional donation to assure everyone who wants to engage in creative activities can, regardless of ability to pay. Please register and take our classes for free if you need, or, if you are able to make a donation, we will gratefully accept a suggested contribution of $35 for one series of classes from our summer semester offerings.
Our digital media classes require the use of photoshop. We can provide up to five temporary subscriptions to this application for those who need the program in order to fully engage in the course. Anyone interested in this offer should email dhebbert@bronxriverart.org.
Register through Eventbrite
Monday: 11am - 1pm People in Nature with Joel Adas
All Ages
July 6, 13, 20, 27, Aug 3 & 10
For this summer class we will look at the interaction of people and nature in art. Each week we will start with a look at works by artists who celebrate the natural world and how people explore and cultivate it. We will work in a variety of media but the focus will be painting with some collage and drawing.
Materials needed: Set of paints: acrylic or tempera or gouache, watercolors; range of paint brushes: small, fine point, 1/2 inch flat, 1” flat and 2” flat; pad of watercolor or cardstock paper (about 12”x 18” or so), pencils, erasers, scissors and glue.
2pm - 4pm: Mandala and Meditation with Michele Brody
All Ages
July 6, 13, 20, 27, Aug 3 & 10
A course for all ages on how to creatively approach staying calm and healing after sheltering from COVID-19.
The production of mandalas has a long history of being produced by a range of cultures and religions as a form of spiritual guidance through the production of a geometric radiating pattern that focuses on creating a sacred space for meditation. The mandala can be seen in many forms from Tibetan painted charts and ephemeral sand paintings, to Mayan and Aztec stone carvings and stained glass rosette windows in churches. For this class, Michele Brody will guide students in creating their own mandalas in an array of materials and tools using basic geometric shapes. Each week will focus on a different approach that will explore color, line, shape and repetition.
Materials needed: Letter sized or 9x12” Drawing and watercolor papers, colored papers, scissors, pencils, ruler, compass, protractor, liquid glue or glue sticks, watercolors or acrylic or gouache or tempera paints, small brushes, thin and thick markers, flower petals, dried beans, fruit, rice and anything else around the kitchen or home you may find.
Tuesday: 11am - 1pm: Learn to Draw by Drawing with Tiffany Miller
All Ages
July 7, 14, 21, 28, Aug 4 & 11
Drawing is one of the oldest forms of communication and storytelling. Discover the beauty, magic and power of this artistic discipline in a relaxed, supportive environment. Learn how to express your own personal visions, ideas and observations. We will discuss and sketch images from master artists as well as contemporary art, storyboards and photography. We will also draw from imagination. In between classes you will be encouraged, with specific exercises, to draw from life. Draw with anything on hand such as graphite pencils (#2 pencils are fine. 2b, 4b pencils are even better) medium-soft charcoal pencils, colored pencils, ballpoint pens, markers, pastels, etc. Draw on paper and in sketch pads and you may want to use a kneaded or rubber eraser.
Materials needed: Paper or sketch book, pencil, charcoal or colored pencils or pen or markers or pastels, eraser
2 pm - 4 pm: Digital Animation with Hector Canonge
Teens and Adults
July 7, 14, 21, 28, Aug 4 & 11
Discover how digital animation can be used to make everyday objects come to life on screen. Working with computers, cameras, and crafts, participants will work on small projects to develop, direct, and film their own original animated movies.
Digital Animation class consists of six sessions, each one builds sequentially on the other. In this course participants will learn the fundamental tools and techniques for 2D animation with hands-on examples and an overview of optical toys, stop motion, and frame by frame animation. Drawing skills are not required, but participants should be knowledgeable of working with computers. Participants are required to have photoshop installed on their computer to allow for screen sharing.
Access to Photoshop is required for this 6 week class.
Wednesday: 11am - 1pm: Intro to Sculpture with Jennifer Tomaiolo
Parent & Child
July 8, 15, 22, 29, Aug 5 & 12
Let’s get creative! This class will introduce you to a variety of art materials, methods and forms that artists can use to express themselves. We will paint, draw, marble, cut and collage paper to make three dimensional figures and landscapes. We will explore how to take common household items, like a cereal box or bottle caps and use various techniques and a lot of imagination to create a whole new world. Parents with young children are invited to take the class together!
2pm - 4pm: Digital Illustration: Learn Photoshop - with Maria Ferrari
Teens and Adults
July 8, 15, 22, 29, Aug 5 & 12
Photoshop skills and knowledge provide great creative possibilities. In this class we will work on projects that incorporate Photoshop tools & techniques that will serve students well as they progress into higher education and beyond. This class teaches basic skills and good work habits that are essential to mastering Photoshop – skills that will prepare you for a lifetime of creating digital art with ease. This class will be both fun and valuable – lessons learned here will enable students to build portfolios suitable for high school submissions or college applications. At the end of the course each student will be able to exhibit prints of their work.
Access to Photoshop is required for this 6 week class.
Thursday: 11am - 1pm: Painting the Microcosmos with Marta Blair
All Ages
July 9, 16, 23, 30, Aug 6 & 13
Participants will explore mix media and painting techniques by using close up views of different items from home like the inside of vegetables, colors and shapes on fruits, plant textures, rocks, bugs, sections of the skin, or textures on hard surfaces for inspiration. When we pay attention to things we normally overlook we can appreciate the amount of details and richness they have, and suddenly the universe of graphic possibilities grows.
Materials needed: Any kind of paint, paper, markers or colored pencils, glue, scissors and paint brushes.
2pm - 4pm: Teen Project Studio
July 9, 16, 23, 30, Aug 6 & 13
Teen Project Studio + 2.0 is an intensive, project based, 6-week, digital and design program for teens and young adults, ages 15-26. This free program is limited to 15 students and is available by application only. TPS+2.0 is a unique opportunity to experience and learn about the design arts and career opportunities in the creative industries in an interactive and challenging way. It is also an opportunity to meet other teens from throughout the City with similar eagerness to learn and create.
Please click HERE to fill out our application form and submit by the due date of Friday, June 26th. Successful applicants will need to be interviewed on Zoom from Tuesday , June 30 through Thursday, July 2nd. Accepted students will be notified by July 3rd.
This summer’s project is: Tactical Urbanism in the time of a Pandemic: How to safely activate a forgotten land into a community hub. Lead by KaN Landscape Design with Karine Duteil & Nadej Hocini
Students will be introduced to public urban design based on the Black Design Manifesto and the Design for Diversity toolkit by OpenCity. We will design a site near BRAC with the pandemic as a constraint. This approach will provide the students with an opportunity to prevail over the pandemic and hopefully relieve some of their anxiety while creating a beautiful space and reconnecting with their neighborhood and community.
“Tactical Urbanism is all about action. Also known as DIY Urbanism, Planning-by-Doing, Urban Acupuncture, or Urban Prototyping, this approach refers to a city, organizational, and/or citizen-led approach to neighborhood building using temporary, low-cost, and scalable interventions to catalyze long-term change.” http://tacticalurbanismguide.com/about/
Be creative and be(come) an engaged citizen while enjoying learning. Students will be able to add this design project as part of their portfolio and resume for higher education.
All classes will be held on Zoom. Once you register through EventBrite you will receive an email with the Zoom link an hour before each session.