Art History Classes in NYC, New York

By the turn of the 20th century, luxury mansions, carriage houses, and social clubs began dotting the area now known as the Upper East Side. This social dynamic kept gallery owners and their wealthy patrons close together. Then, large residential and commercial buildings came into the neighborhood hiding one of NY’s oldest gallery districts. Hidden...

The power of Social Media and Digital Marketing today play a vital role in any design firm or individual practice. Communicating and curating your studio's individual aesthetic-vision and brand is critical. Components of this course include content selection, posting frequency, and relevant platforms.  This course will guide you to build and...

Understand primary, secondary, tertiary, and analogous colors, and how they fit into the complementary color circle.  Learn about hue, value, and intensity and how these terms translate to the Adobe suite of graphic design software. Students will work from digital color palettes, mix acrylic paints to see how colors affect each other and explore...

An introduction to art history which provides the foundations for a deeper understanding of art and how to interpret it for yourself. Gain an understanding of art history, its timeline and impact across diverse cultural centers. We’ll develop the skills to analyze major works of painting, sculpture and architecture from caves to contemporary art....

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Da Vinci. Join art historian Dr. Joe Forte and food historian Francine Segan as they discuss all things Da Vinci. Learn about the Renaissance master’s extraordinary work and explore the feasts of Da Vinci’s day, which were fanciful daylong events with guests treated to concoctions like fire-breathing...

Our experience is a journey from the 1500s to the present day. We’ll start with explorers trying to find a route to Asia but then encountered a new land. I’ll share Harlem’s role in the American Revolution and the meeting of Alexander Hamilton and General George Washington. Our group will discuss the Trans Atlantic Slave trade in North, Central...

You will gain a broad understanding of how Japanese woodworking distinguishes itself from Western approaches during this two hour talk and demonstration. The session will include an overview of traditional hand tools used in a range of work scale, from making small objects to full size timber frame building.  This will be followed by a brief...

In this workshop, we'll learn the art of block printing on textiles. We'll start with a bit of history about the process and introduction to the materials. After a little discussion about how to carve and how your image will transfer, we get right into carving and printing. A quick carve "Block" and all tools are provided,...

This two day intensive introduces students to the world of beautiful, accessible, and sustainable botanical dyes. Students learn the basics of selecting and preparing fibers, extracting color from a variety of plant materials, and fixing natural dyes to fabric. We’ll discuss the history of natural dye use, and explore some contemporary applications...

You will learn traditional botanical illustration technique after which participants can practice such a technique and/or use their specimen to create a contemporary botanical inspired drawing. We will also touch on plants as subjects throughout art history and in the post-modern era.  Seasonal flowers are provided but feel free to bring your...

Manga comics have a long history in Japanese art, and in the following years became increasingly popular worldwide. Their highly stylized characteristics and engaging storylines have become a cultural phenomenon.  Students will work in a variety of media to create their own interpretations of manga characters and comics demonstrating their technical...

Come in and learn the traditional art of shibori with indigo dye in this beginner class.  We start, learning how to begin your own indigo vat, using pre reduced indigo, and the history of indigo. 3-5 folding, tieing and binding resist techniques will be shown. Select the few you're drawn to and dye some of the plain items you have lying around...

We start with a a bit of history about the process and introduction to the materials, but then get right into carving!  Our goal will be to repeat pattern print one yard of fabric! Students should come with a 4" square image or two that you would like to work with.  Simple designs work best, and then you can add detail as you carve away. ...

Cyanotypes, a ferro-prussiate process, is a photographic process known for its blue color. It was famously used by a pioneer in photography, Anna Atkins who is often coined the first woman photographer.  Attendees will learn the history, chemistry and coating techniques for making their own cyanotypes. They are welcome to bring negatives, botanical...

This class, students will learn how to create a completed landscape or cityscape painting from start to finish. Students will learn how to select a subject and refine their ideas using sketches and drawings. Vadnais will explain and demonstrate how to create a useful under painting as a foundation for subsequent layering of color. Finally, Vadnais...