Community Education & Professional Education

Convenient learning options for curious creatives, professionals, and degree-seekers.

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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.

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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.

Gift Cards Available!

The MICA Open Studies Gift Card is a perfect gift for creative people in your life. Click here to purchase!

Summer 2024 offerings are open for registration!

Use the filter options below to find the learning options that match your interests, location, schedule, and skill level. All times are Eastern. Deadline to register is two weeks before the start date. All offerings are subject to minimum enrollment to run.

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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 Today

Randy 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 Today

Yuanyuan 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 Today

Olivia OZ Sanders

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 Today

Trish 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 Today

Lisa 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 Today

Nan Park

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
Location 1229 W. Mount Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21217
Contact (410) 225-2219
openstudies@mica.edu