ONLINE Grades 6-8: This fun yet intensive course is designed for super-motivated students who want to learn creative video making. Students are idea-generators, scriptwriters, prop creators and actors in this exciting production. Fundamentals of video making are learned through exercises in writing, shooting, and editing. In addition, students learn how to plan a complex project, research a subject, create a storyboard and work as a member of a production team. Reviewing and discussing the work is an ongoing part of the program. Students work in small groups to produce their final projects.

GRADES 6-8: Learning to draw the human face and figure realistically can be fun, explorative and expressive. In this course, students draw from observation to learn basic proportional guidelines and techniques for drawing the face and figure. Beginning with quick gesture drawings, a sequential range of exercises is planned to sharpen students' perceptual skills and their understanding of the human form. Using both wet and dry media, students use each other and professional costumed models as subject matter for portraits and figure compositions. Students also have opportunity to view a variety of master figurative works from history as they explore expressive use of gesture, line, and color. Note: No class on March 16.

Grades K-2: In this course, students look at the natural world around them as inspiration for creating their art. This course spans a wide range of art processes, media, and dimensions (2D and 3D) such as drawing from observing nature, sculpting nature-inspired forms, using natural materials for mixed media collage, recording changes in nature, and much more. Through looking at the work of artists including Georgia O'Keeffe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Sumi brush painters, and Native American artists, students determine the influences of nature on the art of various times and places. Students can directly study different natural forms for use in creating their compositions based on what is in the world around them.

Grades 6-8: This course is designed to help students refine their skills in observational drawing and painting, making purposeful choices about lines, form, and color. Students will experiment with materials as they learn to make decisive lines and cohesive color palettes and apply both realistic and expressive colors to their pieces. Art exemplars will be used to emphasize the incredible diversity of styles and expressiveness that can be achieved with color, line, and texture.

Grades K-2: Let's take a journey into the imagination. Using children’s literature as a starting point for "takeoff," students embark on flights over cities, fast journeys by train over land, and underwater excursions by submarine. As artist-travelers, students create paintings, prints, and drawings of the things they see from a bird's eye view, a bug's-eye view, a fish-eye view, and much, much more. Each journey is an exploration of an unfamiliar habitat, full of new textures, colors, living, creatures, and plant life waiting to be captured in vibrant works of art. Students will use a variety of materials in this course.

Grades 9-12. Using a variety of paint media such as inks, watercolor, tempera paint, and acrylic paint, students in this course explore a variety of paint materials, brushes, and techniques, both traditional and non-traditional, to create a body of work that spans realism to expressive abstraction. Emphasis is on breaking "out of the box" in expressive use of color media, with a variety of prompts guiding students to make meaning and incorporate narratives into their work. This is a fast-paced class, with students generating a large body of studies and exercises as they build a strong foundation and comfort with each color medium. The confident painter will then be asked to synthesize this knowledge to create larger, cohesive paintings based on a selected theme.

GRADES 4-6: Grow as an artist by exploring your abilities to not only draw but to see. This course builds upon technical skills acquired through observational drawing while providing experiences for students to enhance additional art skills such as examination, analysis, interpretation, and experimentation. Conversations, inquiries and playful activities will inspire each other to create and see in new ways. Students will use both sketchbooks and large-scale drawing surfaces with wet and dry media. No Class March 16 for Spring course, No Class July 4 for Summer Art Camp.

Using a variety of created and found images, students then learn how to make complex compositional and design decisions digitally through the use of filters, color effects, and artful use of text. With Adobe Creative Suite provided to all students, the class will work with industry standard software and develop design strategies to communicate clearly through design and digital imagery.

Grades 6-8: This intense studio class begins with a review of students’ current art portfolios, with discussion about what a well-rounded high school portfolio might look like. Students keep a reflective journal and sketchbook as they identify areas to strengthen in their artwork. Working independently with the instructor, students then develop a plan for tailored art problems intended to highlight skills and flesh out their portfolios for presentation. This course is especially designed for students who need a portfolio for entrance into high school but is also open to those who wish to employ a more independent course of study.

Grades 3-5: Calling all Makers! We need YOU to help make sense of these materials! We have some serious (and some silly) design problems that need solutions. Come play, experiment, innovate, break, reconstruct, and most importantly: Think critically, question often, and design accordingly to MAKE ART that solves problems.No Class March 16 for Spring course, No Class July 4 for Summer Art Camp.

GRADES 9-12: Bringing concept to your work can add a layer of personal investment to catapult your skill sets further, allow for stronger and more charged compositions, and bring new energy and visual interest for an audience looking to figure your work out. With a focus on deepening authenticity and originality in your body of work, your instructor will give you new frameworks for making using a variety of reflective and pre-planning tools to amplify your conceptual prowess all while sharpening your technical skill sets through demonstrations in a variety of media. Note: No class on March 16. Instructor: Amanda Foti '08 '09 (B.F.A./M.A.T.) is chair of the Art Department and a photography instructor at Overlea High School in Baltimore County. She challenges students to consider the external factors of the art-making process (what the student is being required to do) as well as the internal factors (how the student relates to the personal theme they explore).

GRADES 9-12: What makes your work, yours? Artists bring in their current body of work to identify their strengths and learn how to appeal to them by working with a teaching artist and group critique modes. For those still developing their style, have no fear! While working in series, this class creates a thematic body of work unique to the individual that will truly hone in on personal aesthetic as it relates to planning, mark making, color choice, composition, and beyond to elevate their personal body of work. Note: No class on March 16.