Sedona Arts Center — Discover New Art Classes & Workshops

ART CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
at Sedona Arts Center

Sedona is surrounded by a magical landscape of red rock formations and high desert hills with beautiful Oak Creek meandering through it all. Come experience the Shangri-La of the Southwest, a beautiful learning environment with Art Colony roots going back nearly 100 years! Sign up for an art class or workshop today!

Gaining a Perspective: Sharpening Your Drawing Skillset ONLINE
with Jude Valentine
February 5–26, 2025
Wednesdays, 12–2pm AZ TimeLearn the ins and outs of how to draw convincing buildings, landscapes, interiors and round objects with the use of linear and empirical perspective. We’ll be understanding this drawing concept through demonstrations, hands on drawing exercises, individualized instruction and looking at examples of some of the accomplished Renaissance and modern masters. Learn how to use perspective to your advantage to make great drawings!

GAINING A PERSPECTIVE: SHARPENING YOUR DRAWING SKILLSET

Unleashing Your Creativity
with Patricia Saxton
February 7–28: Fridays, 1–3:30pm Unleash your creativity! Would you like to paint more, draw, or make collages? Would you like the art you already make to “loosen up”? Be more refined? More bold? Need how-to instruction? Inspiration? Permission to play? Enjoy a sense of community?

Whether a seasoned artist or a complete beginner, this course is designed to spark your creative juices in an environment that’s conducive for exploring and expanding your abilities. Bring your own fine art project, start fresh or follow instructor-led prompts for these once-weekly sessions filled with personalized guidance, inspiration, questions, answers and fun.

UNLEASHING YOUR CREATIVITY : LEARN MORE / SIGN UP

The Living Abstract: Using Happy Accidents ONLINE
with Julie Bernstein Engelmann
February 8–22: Saturdays, 11am–3pm The Living Abstract is a foundational workshop that helps you set your painting up for success and capture the living moment.

In three weekly sessions, discover ways to let the paint sing, navigate the mid-process “beautiful mess,” and bring your painting to fulfilled completion—without losing its life force and what makes it beautiful.

On Days 1 and 2, you’ll be guided step-by-step through a sequence of intuitive and “happy accident” techniques that build on each other to create a painting that is authentic, dynamic, and deep. Along the way, you’ll learn about color mixing and composition to enhance your painting.

On Day 3, see your painting through the eyes of depth and flow. This key approach cuts through confusion, so you can complete your painting and bring it to life in a harmonious and soul-satisfying way.

THE LIVING ABSTRACT: USING HAPPY ACCIDENTS : SIGN UP

Introduction to Silver Clay
with Joan Roberts
February 12 – 13: Wednesday–Thursday, 9am-1pm Joan Roberts has been creating distinct wearable art pieces with metal clay for 2 decades. She will share techniques, methods and a few secrets to successful creation of jewelry pieces. Silver Clay is a mixture of microscopic particles of silver, distilled water and a non-toxic organic binder. When fired the silver sinters into a solid piece of “fine silver.” Participants do not need past experience in metal work or other clays to be very successful.

This class is divided into two mornings so pieces can be finished and loaded into a kiln at the end of the first day and finished and polished on the second. Participants will be provided with enough clay to create up to two pairs of earrings or a pendant.

INTRODUCTION TO SILVER CLAY : LEARN MORE / SIGN UP

Building Bold Landscapes in Soft Pastel
with Alison Crary
February 15 – 16: Saturday–Sunday, 10am-4pm Learn how to create bold and vibrant landscapes in soft pastel. This course will be broken into steps to simplify the process. Each step will include instructor demonstration with questions encouraged, followed by student practice, group discussion and individual feedback.

We will start by simplifying the scene into basic shapes and value masses to build a compelling composition from a provided reference photo. The next step will be to explore color relationships, both for the underpainting and the pastel layered over it. These steps will help students gain confidence to build their finished piece, with instruction regarding the painterly handling of pastels to build an impressionistic style landscape painting.

BUILDING BOLD LANDSCAPES IN SOFT PASTEL : SIGN UP

Creative Aging: Unwind, Create, Connect
with Michael Sjostedt
February 25: Tuesday, 10am-12pm (Ages 65+)Explore the joy of artistic expression and social connection in this engaging workshop designed for adults 65+. Create one-of-a-kind bookmarks, notecards, and small art pieces using vintage magazines and ephemera. Whether you’re crafting for yourself or creating gifts for others, this hands-on session promotes creativity, skill-building, and meaningful social engagement.

CREATIVE AGING: UNWIND, CREATE, CONNECT : LEARN MORE

Drawing II: The Next Level
with Ed Buonvecchio
March 3-17: Mondays, 9am-4pm Drawing II: The Next Level begins where Drawing I: A Practical and Entertaining Artleaves off. If you are an absolute beginner, take Level I first, However I encourage artists with more skill to jump in and take this course. Drawing can be a useful and fun tool in your daily life taking you away from your stressful day and giving you a way to express ideas or memorialize experiences. Learning to draw and sketch can give you the skill to design something you want to make, start a painting or serve as a launchpad to exploring other forms of art or teaching others your learned drawing skills. In this three-week, day long ongoing studio class we will learn skills and tools needed to draw what you see or imagine.

We will be performing exercises in drawing to develop the necessary skills to make drawings that show confident strokes and to strive for confidence in your ability. We will draw still lifes, human figures (from photos), landscapes and delve deeper into linear perspective, value, line, shape and composition. We will practice the use of pencil, charcoal, ink pen and brush.

DRAWING II: THE NEXT LEVEL : LEARN MORE / SIGN UP

Pastels: A Crash Course
with Nori Thorne
March 4: 10am-4pm Are you drawn to the beauty and versatility of pastel but don’t know where to start? This crash course is for you. We will have pastel demonstrations, exercises, and plenty of at-easel encouragement. Learn how to block in a design, underpaint using a wet wash, experiment with a variety of pastel surfaces and materials. With an emphasis on achieving correct values, colors, and shapes you will create an exciting floral still life and leave the workshop with skills to begin your pastel journey.

PASTELS: A CRASH COURSE : LEARN MORE / SIGN UP

Glazes I: Understanding Glazes
with John Post
March 4-April 15: Tuesdays, 1-4pm

Unleash your creativity and discover the fascinating world of glaze-making in this hands-on, in-depth course. Much like baking, glaze-making involves following recipes, measuring ingredients, and using heat to transform simple materials into beautiful, vibrant finishes. With a little patience and experimentation, you’ll learn how to control every aspect of your glazes—from surface texture to color variation—giving you the ability to create the perfect glaze for your pottery.

GLAZES I : UNDERSTANDING GLAZES : LEARN MORE / SIGN UP

GLAZES II: Exploring Glazes
with John Post
March 5-April 9: Wednesdays, 5-8pm

Ready to deepen your understanding of glaze creation? Exploring Glazes is an advanced course that builds on foundational glaze-making skills, perfect for those who’ve completed Understanding Glazes and are eager to experiment further. You’ll refine your technical knowledge, troubleshoot common issues, and gain the skills to customize glazes to suit your unique artistic style. Unlock new surface qualities and learn to bring your vision to life with the science of glaze development.

*Prerequisite: Completion of Understanding Glazes

EXPLORING GLAZES: LEARN MORE / SIGN UP

Big Effects: Pastels and Mixed Media ONLINE
with Jude Valentine
March 5–26, 2025
Wednesdays, 12–2pm AZ TimeCreate a portfolio of mixed media ideas by experimenting with combining pastel with acrylic, watercolor or gouache. We’ll use various approaches and media to discover visually interesting textures and applications. Each week we’ll explore a new combination to produce stunning effects. Students will use supplied sketches to map our their paintings and we’ll work in class on application of color effects.

BIG EFFECTS : PASTEL AND MIXED MEDIA : ONLINE : LEARN MORE

Canyon Color for the Painter: A Plein Air Workshop
with Carol Douglas
March 10-14, 2025Transform your plein air painting skills in this unique week-long oil, acrylic, pastel and watercolor workshop. You’ll focus on color from every angle and apply advanced color concepts to your work. Color theory is not just a collection of good ideas; it’s the cornerstone of your toolbox. Using practical lessons and exercises, you’ll take what you’ve learned about color and use it to enhance your artistic vision.

Discover shortcuts to save you time and effort in the studio or field.
Learn how to lead with color and create a color strategy before you pick up a brush.
Choose the most effective color system for your purpose and master its application.

This painting class is open to all mediums. Basic painting experience is required.

CANYON COLOR FOR THE PAINTER: A PLEIN AIR WORKSHOP

Painting Luminous Watercolors with Impressionistic Brushwork
with Betty Carr
March 15-17, 2025Learn to capture the beauty of light in this three-day workshop! Betty Carr teaches students to accurately portray the effect of light on any subject in watercolor. Students will explore a variety of locations in beautiful Sedona.

During her workshop Betty begins each day with a demonstration/ lecture covering tools, techniques, brushwork, problems and solutions. Emphasis throughout the workshop is on organization and simplification of darks and lights, value and color relationships, edges, movement and mass to create a dynamic, coherent composition.

PAINTING LUMINOUS WATERCOLORS WITH BETTY CARR

You can also browse all our classes and workshops online:
Click here to see all of our classes and workshops

Scholarships Are Available!
See Our New Terms and Application

Scholarships are an important part of Sedona Arts Center. It has a long history in providing students in need of financial assistance, the ability to hone their skills and creative talents. Art classes and workshops also allow an emotional break from daily life and offer social interaction with fellow lovers of art. We are proud to offer our scholarship program, with the help of The Kling Family Foundation and the Debbie Winslow Scholarship Fund, which allow us to continue this long standing opportunity.

For more scholarship information, policy updates and to apply: CLICK HERE

Our mission is to connect, enrich, educate and lead through the inspiring power of the arts and creative discovery.

Sedona Arts Center is one of Northern Arizona’s most well-established cultural organizations and serves as the creative heart of Sedona. Founded in 1958, the nonprofit is based in Uptown Sedona and offers year-round classes, exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events that enhance the creative life of the Verde Valley.

SedonaArtsCenter.org

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