Community Education & Professional Education
Convenient learning options for curious creatives, professionals, and degree-seekers.
Expand your career skills and options.
Advance your professional skills, pivot your career, or pursue competitive graduate degrees while building valuable creative connections for future collaborations. Our non-degree Professional Practice offerings are taught by industry experts and structured to make MICA’s rigorous art and design instruction accessible to working adults.
Cultivate your creative interests.
Explore new skills or deepen your practice with access to MICA’s specialized resources and equipment and personalized support from our experienced artist-instructors. You’ll get hands-on experience that results in finished pieces and plenty of interactive critique and feedback along the way.
Community Education
Beginner
Workshop: Traditional Fiber and Digital Design
Sundays, June 9 - July 7, 2024, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Whether it be hand-painted or digitally designed, patterns can be placed on fabric, fashion, accessories, and wallpaper. In this course students will create digital patterns in Adobe illustrator inspired by self painted watercolor paintings that explore the intricacies of botanical illustrations. Students will be introduced to fiber techniques like dyeing and embroidery to enhance knowledge of traditional fiber arts and your final designs. If you enjoy combining digital media with traditional hands-on processes this course is for you! Access to the Adobe Creative Suite is included for the duration of this course.
Cost: $285
Register TodayRosa Chang
Professional Practice
Beginner
Workshop: Photoshop for Creative Professionals
Wednesdays, May 29 - July 10, 2024 (no class on June 19), 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
ONLINE: Elevate your Photoshop skills! This workshop is tailored for artists, designers, and photographers looking to enhance their digital image editing expertise. Explore topics such as color correction, retouching, image manipulation, and mastering layers & masks. We’ll also cover digital file formats and industry best practices. Join us for an interactive learning experience. You’ll have exclusive access to Adobe Creative Suite throughout the workshop, empowering you to create professional-quality work.
Cost: $342
Register TodayRandy Morgan
Professional Practice
Beginner
Workshop: Food Illustrations
Mondays, June 3 - July 8, 2024; 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
ONLINE: Join us to indulge in the delicious world of food illustration! Discover the art of illustrating food and learn how to create illustrations that capture the essence of food through drawing and painting techniques. From vibrant fruits to tantalizing desserts, learn how to convey texture, color, and flavor on paper while honing your skills in composition and storytelling. This is a great workshop for beginner illustrators!
Cost: $342
Register TodayYuanyuan Zhou
Professional Practice
Beginner
Workshop: Illustrating a Visual Narrative
Saturdays, June 1 - July 6, 2024, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
ONLINE: This course provides a comprehensive introduction to one scene visual storytelling and asks how composition, color, and other visual language tools can express a narrative. Through seminars, workshops, and feedback sessions, this class will use themed prompts to guide students from the concept and ideation process through to a final illustration. Using a medium of their choice, students will combine imagination with critical thinking skills to produce illustrations that tell a creative story. Please note: this class will focus on building a narrative in one single composition, not on sequential art.
Cost: $342
Register TodayOlivia OZ Sanders
Community Education
Beginner
Painting the Landscape
Thursdays, June 13 - August 22, 2024 (no class on July 4), 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
ONLINE: Throughout history, the challenge of capturing the changing light in landscape and the expressive possibilities that climate creates have captivated artists from El Greco and Turner, to Corot and Van Gogh. In this course, suitable for all levels and open to all media, students will explore painting techniques for quickly rendering light and atmosphere in the afternoon-evening landscape The instructor will demonstrate a number of methods that offer tangible opportunities for success with quick studies, as well as with more extended compositions. After mastering the basics of depicting form through value, students will explore the nuances of color palettes and paint application to render the emotive qualities of the landscape. Homework assignments will challenge the student to explore different light situations throughout the day.
Cost: $750
Register TodayDuane Lutsko
Community Education
Beginner
Workshop: Shake It Up!
Saturdays, June 29 - July 27, 2024, 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Are you in search of a new artistic direction, or looking for ways to delve further into your existing imagery? Summer could be the perfect time to try something new in the studio. In this 5 week workshop, we’ll explore techniques designed to break habits and expectations that might be holding our practices back. Through a series of formal, material, and interactive prompts, students will produce a range of studies that will culminate in two finished projects. Expect a lighthearted, experimental, and supportive environment with plenty of feedback. We hope you’ll join us!
Cost: $285
Register TodayElizabeth English
Community Education
Beginner
Drawing Workshop: Tone and Light
Thursdays, June 13 - July 25, 2024 (no class on July 4), 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
This workshop is designed to help you refine your skills in observational drawing by focusing on line and tone. Using two different media, graphite and ink wash, students will hone their drawing skills and receive constructive feedback on their work with guidance on how to create a cohesive and impressive collection of drawings. Each session will focus on a different strategy to build foundational drawing skills and sharpen your ability to perceive the world around you. Whether you aspire to pursue a career in art or simply wish to express your creativity, this workshop is the perfect opportunity to develop your artistic talents.
Cost: $342
Register TodayDavid Little
Community Education
Beginner
Drawing Workshop: Line and Form
Tuesdays, May 7 - June 11, 2024, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
This workshop is designed to help you refine your skills in observational drawing by focusing on lines and forms. We’ll explore different charcoal techniques, and tools. Students will hone their drawing skills and receive constructive feedback on their work with guidance on how to create a cohesive and impressive collection of drawings. Each session will focus on a different strategy to build a strong foundation for your drawing portfolio and sharpen your ability to perceive the world around you. Whether you aspire to pursue a career in art or simply wish to express your creativity, this workshop is the perfect opportunity to develop your artistic talents.
Cost: $342
Register TodayDavid Little
Community Education
Beginner
Intro to Photography
Fridays & Saturdays, May 24 - June 22, 2024, 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
This course explores the fundamentals of photography, providing a hands-on experience with a focus on 35mm film. Students will learn the basics of shooting film, and grow to master the intricacies of 35mm cameras in order to capture timeless images. Engage in practical sessions, learning the art of photograms and darkroom printing to manipulate light and shadow for compelling visual narratives from their images. In addition to exploring the charm of analog photography, students will understand the nuances of monochromatic compositions, learning how to use contrast and tone effectively. Whether you’re a beginner seeking a creative outlet or an enthusiast looking to refine your skills, this course provides a solid foundation in the art and craft of photography.
Cost: $750 + a lab fee of $25 is required for this course.
Register TodayKris Lee
Community Education
Beginner
Open Studio Model Sessions
Sundays, May 19 - Jul. 21, 2024; 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; or Mondays, May 20 - Jul. 22, 2024, 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.; or Saturdays, May 25 - Jul. 27, 2024, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Sessions are offered for those who want to draw or paint from the live figure. Each section includes two models—one for quick poses for sketching and one for sustained drawing or painting. A class coordinator will ensure the quality of each session.
Cost: $135.
Register TodayMax Cortes
Community Education
Beginner
Workshop: Introduction to Hand-building Functional Art
Saturdays, June 15 - July 20, 2024; 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
In this workshop, we will transform clay into ceramics by creating sculptural forms using hand-building techniques. We will learn the fundamentals of three-dimensional design coupled with essential clay techniques such as slab construction, coil building, and pinching. We’ll apply these techniques to craft challenging and exciting projects. Additionally, we’ll delve into color and texture, mastering surface decoration while learning to apply slips and glazes. Throughout the course, we’ll explore the work of artists and cultures that have embraced this medium throughout history, as well as contemporary artists currently working with clay.
Cost: $342
Register TodayPatrick Bell
Professional Practice
Beginner
Workshop: Illustrating in Procreate
Mondays, July 1 - July 29, 2024, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
ONLINE: Unlock your creative potential and dive into the world of digital art with Procreate. Whether you’re an aspiring artist, designer, or hobbyist, this course will guide you through the fundamentals of Procreate, empowering you to create stunning digital illustrations and paintings on your iPad. This class will help you gain a comprehensive understanding of how to use various brush types, layers, blending modes, color palettes, and advanced features like time-lapse recording of your work. This course requires Procreate on the iPad and an Apple pencil is highly recommended.
Cost: $190
Register TodayTrish Moore
Professional Practice
Beginner
Developing Critical Literacies – Reading in the Content Area, Part I
Tuesday, June 18; Thursday, June 20; Thursday June 27; Tuesday July 2; Friday July 5, 2024, 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
ONLINE: A literacy course focused on strategies for integrating literacy with visual art at all levels, PreK-12, this seminar involves development of art experiences, grounded in chosen themes and aligned with MD art and literacy standards, which become the framework for integrating relevant and developmentally appropriate literacy strategies for visual art students, PreK-12. Class meetings involve artistic responses, presentations, discussions, and lectures. This course will promote alignment and expedited feedback around lesson planning and art + literacy integration, ensuring that students grow and flourish in teaching literacy as the root of the arts. Students will gain necessary hands-on experience to activate their creativity in order to integrate art and core content across disciplines. Students will be exploring the tools and resources teachers need to support developing readers. This course is intended for new teachers in the field, conditionally certified teachers, and veteran teachers who wish to gain more strategies for integrating literacy in their art classrooms. It fulfills 3-credits toward Maryland Teaching Certification and is approved by the Maryland State Department of Education, meeting the standards for Literacy in the Content Area – Part I.
Cost: $1,350. 3 credits.
Register TodayLisa Stuart
Professional Practice
Beginner
Methods and Strategies for Teaching Art
Mondays and Wednesdays, June 17 - July 8, 2024, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
ONLINE: A methods course focused on strategies used in teaching Visual Art, PreK-12, this seminar involves the search of one’s own studio investigations for metaphors and themes, which then become the focus of the construction of units of study. Students develop unit materials including: research on art and artists, formation of an elegant problem, experimentation with materials, creation of a prototype, design of teaching visuals, assessment process and criteria, and a written unit plan with ideas for adapting the unit to different grade levels. As a result, students select and apply a variety of strategies for exploring form and materials, developing symbolic and academic language, and different ways of knowing and thinking in art. Class meetings involve studio investigations, presentations, discussions, and group work. This course is intended for new teachers in the field, fulfills 3-credits toward Maryland Teaching Certification, and is approved by the Maryland State Department of Education; however, it could also be applicable to veteran teachers who wish to renew their own artistic practice and develop new instructional units.
Cost: $1,350. Credits: 3.
Register TodayNan Park
Community Education
Beginner
Large Format Photography
Saturdays, May 11 - July 13, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
By the end of this course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of camera controls, film processing, darkroom techniques, and the creation of final prints. Students will gain a deep appreciation for traditional darkroom photography and developing 4×5″ film using a large format camera. Students will also learn the basics of scanning negatives for digital output. By the end of the course, students will have not only mastered the technical aspects of large format photography but also developed a personal artistic vision, and celebrated with a group show that includes having an opening reception in MICAs Main gallery.
Cost: $675 + a $30 lab fee is required for this course.
Register Now
Jefferson Steele
What our students
are saying
“I actually love the remote delivery. I still have access to the instructor and peers, but I don’t have to cart all my painting supplies (and wet canvases) back and forth every week!”
“Superb balance of information, demonstration, peer sharing, and hands-on application.”
“I most liked the lectures and class critiques. The teacher is a master at eliciting class participation and gleaning the important points of the lessons through the works.”
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FAQs
Are payment plans available?
Open Studies offers payment plans for all offerings! Enroll now and pay later with equal payment installments. For more details and to begin the process, please contact Open Studies Registration Staff at openstudies@mica.edu.
How will I access the software needed for the class?
Once enrolled, you will receive a MICA email with a link to your Student Getting Started Guide. Please check the email that you used to register for the course or workshop.
To note: The email you receive once you are enrolled will also include login instructions to access tools and software necessary for your class such as Canvas, Adobe Creative Suite, Zoom, and Google Drive.
I'm interested in taking a class in person. What are the COVID-19 related guidelines?
We are in Operational Mode 5 to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable educational experience with MICA. See Operational Mode 5 webpage for more information; this info will also be included in the Getting Started Guide with your registration confirmation email. Masks are encouraged, but not required.
I’m not sure if this class is for me. How can I talk to someone?
Contact the Office of Open Studies at (410) 225-2219 or openstudies@mica.edu
How will I interact with classmates if I choose an online course?
Classes will be held synchronously via Zoom, where peer and instructor discussions and critiques will be conducted.
How will I get my materials?
A materials list is included in the Student Getting Started Guide (PDF) once a student is registered and enrolled in the course. Materials will also be available to purchase through the MICA Art Store at https://shop.mica.edu/art-supplies/.
I see this course is for credit. What’s this for?
Students enrolled in this course also receive non-degree credits. Some teachers may be able to apply these credits towards renewals of teaching certifications.
Will I be on zoom the entire time?
Class format and “zoom time” will be structured to accommodate the needs of each class. Most classes incorporate a mix of instructor-led discussion, critique and independent work time.
What time zone are the courses held?
All courses and workshops are scheduled for an EST time zone.
What if I need to drop the class, how can I get a refund?
Please fill out this form to drop the course you are enrolled in and then submit a written request for a refund to openstudies@mica.edu including your full name and course information before the start of the second class.
Questions?
Contact Us
Office of Open Studies
Baltimore, MD 21217
openstudies@mica.edu
