There are a few openings for a five-week Color Relationships 1 class to be held this summer, and a nine-week Drawing Foundation class to start in September. Read the full announcement for course descriptions, schedule, and cost. Contact Karen Bennett by email or through the website contact form for questions or to register.

Summer color class: Color Relationships 1, Fundamentals and Color Deception

“You’ll never see the world the same way again!” This is a common comment from past students in Dick’s color classes. A color can appear very different depending on the color environment surrounding it. All artists experience this critical phenomenon, but few fully understand or exploit it. It’s all about relationships. This can be maddening, when colors don’t work together as intended, or magical, when colors relate to set a mood, create a luminous effect or convey a convincing illusion. This course offers tools and insight for any artist or designer working with color in visual or physical media.

This intensive five-week color course is based on and extends Josef Albers’ “Interaction of Color” graduate course at Yale. You will be exposed to a level of color understanding few ever know or experience. Our mission is to provide a learning atmosphere of trial and error, in which the interaction of color is discovered through a series of student-produced studies. This is not about creating art, but rather developing a grounding in how colors work in relationship with one another.

Students can expect to spend at least 3 hours weekly outside of class creating assigned color studies in Adobe Illustrator or equivalent program. Almost half of the class time is devoted to critique. Digital handouts will be provided, and you must have access to the internet.

Schedule and cost: Class will meet for 3 hours weekly for 5 weeks on Tuesday mornings, 9 am – noon, on July 28, August 4, 11, 18, and 25 at Dick’s studio in Kula. The tuition fee is $235. We require a minimum of 8 students to hold the class. Assuming there is enough interest, we will send complete registration information within the next week. Full tuition payment will be due by Saturday, July 18.

For more detail on course content and format see the Color Relationships 2014 posts
and the first 5 weeks of the 2013 class.

Fall drawing class: Drawing Foundation

Course description & syllabus

Objectives: We draw to visually describe that which we see with our eyes or from our imagination. In either case, drawing is similar to verbal communication in that both require literacy. Visual literacy differs in that it is universal and need not be translated. Both are similar in that grammar plays a key role. Visual grammar is at the core of this program.

The course is a very “hands on” and rational approach; not one designed for those who simply want to “express themselves”. As in all the arts, self-expression can best be realized with training and practice.

Teaching strategy: To develop skills in visual observation and visual description. Students will be introduced to several approaches to provide several options from which to develop and satisfy their individual needs.

Course duration: 9 weeks.

Session 1: Introduction. Examine preconceptions and introduce observation and line drawing skills.
Sessions 2 & 3. Drawing basic geometric forms from life. This includes some drawing with the right side of the brain.
Session 4: Drawing basic geometric forms in one-point perspective.
Session 5: Drawing basic geometric forms in two-point perspective.
Sessions 6 & 7: Drawing the flower pot from direct observation.
Sessions 8 & 9: Drawing complex shapes.

Homework: Self-directed, but plan for a minimum of 4 hours per week.

Supplies: 18″x24″ Newsprint drawing pad. 2B and 3B drawing pencils. 18″x24″ drawing board or larger.

Schedule & cost: Class will meet for 3 hours weekly for 9 weeks on Thursday mornings, 9 am – noon, on Sept. 17 and 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and Nov. 5 and 12. The cost will be approximately $350. We need a minimum of 8, and will limit enrollment to 10 to allow enough room for each person to draw in class.

Assuming there is enough interest, we will send out another announcement in August with finalized details and complete registration information.

See Reservation and cancellation policies. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.