Those exposed to the art world already know of its powerful benefits. Artists practicing their craft often have open minds, a daring willingness to explore the unexplored, and a special talent for creating and finding profound beauty in the unusual. But perhaps art's greatest gift is its subjectivity. Imagine being in front of a mysterious painting. While our ideas about the painting are swirling around in our heads and we begin to connect our thoughts to meaning, a clarity settles in and we may look up at that painting and say, "Oh, that's what it means. I get it." The person to your right may be going through the exact same process but will probably inevitably come up with a different interpretation. But maybe the person to your left is experiencing art in a way that is disconnected from thought and mind. They may simply be in a state of "being there," just letting emotions and thoughts pass through them without reaction. Who's to say who's right? No one is and we all are.
Living in or near a city like Chicago, we're constantly exposed to opportunities such as the hypothetical example above. Whether we're creating art, sharing it, or just looking at a mysterious painting, it is somehow always affecting us. To better understand this mystifying medium requires a certain dedication and fascination. It also requires discipline. Wednesday kicked off the official start of the summer season--with this new beginning comes several incredible opportunities for people to learn many tricks of the trade. Below is just a taste of some of the fine art classes offered in the city.
Lillistreet Art Center
Offering classes in ceramics, printmaking, painting & drawing, metalsmithing & jewelry, textiles, first-time artists, digital arts and photography, and glass. Second summer session begins July 9 and lasts eight weeks.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
High school level summer classes are two to five weeks long and include beginner's studio drawing, intro to portrait drawing, multi-media projects, DIY sound techniques, sound studio practices, intro and intermediate creative writing, beginner's oil painting, advanced portfolio projects, figure drawing, 2D/3D Projects: Found/Recycled, intro to landscape drawing, inspired essays, urban gateways summer film, intro to water-based painting, and choosing and using color.
Summer three week: June 25-July 13
Summer two week: July 16-July 27
Middle school and children's camp classes include multi-arts, animation, web design, painting and drawing, illustration, architecture, fashion, toy design, video game design, and family arts.
Dates for each program vary depending on the number of weeks the student wishes to enroll. Last session takes places August 13-17.
A range of Continuing Education courses are also available for adults.
Hyde Park Art Center
Creativity Camp (one and two-week sessions from June 11-August 31) provides a wide-range of multi-media activities including painting, drawing, printmaking, mosaics, collage, book and paper making, mask making, fabric dying, improvisation, yoga, story-telling, puppetry, and theatre.
Summer Quarter start date - June 25, 2012
Second-Half Courses Begin (5 week courses) - Week of July 30
Last week of Summer Quarter - August 27 - September 1, 2012
Make-Up Class Week (for holidays and teacher absence only, not student absence) - September 4 - 8, 2012
Evanston Art Center
Workshops: custom band rings (July 16), motion and light in art (July 17), landscapes on the lake (July 21)
Five Week Classes: drawing into painting, creating collage, mosaics, caricature, multi-level drawing, business of art: showing and selling, beginning and intermediate water colors, and intermediate/advanced jewelry.
FM Gallery BYOB group art events and private painting sessions take place in showroom space. Call 312-730-0611 for information on specific dates.
Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
Classes include intaglio printmaking, screenprinting (July 3-31) , bookbinding basics (July 8), etching (July 9), photoetching, lithography (stone, plate, and paper), relief (and linoleum), collograph, monoprint, and letterpress.
Make arrangements for private and semi-private classes
Tall Grass Arts Association
Classes include composition (color theory), sketching and painting, experimenting with watercolor, beginner's to advanced knitting, figure drawing, beginner's to intermediate digital photography, mixed media.
Dates for each program vary depending on the number of weeks the student wishes to enroll.
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
A range of options are available at the MCA's hands-on Summer Stuios, every Tuesday this summer there's a great opportunity to collaborate as a family. From mcachicago,org:
Jun 26: Tell a New Story - Deconstruct familiar books as you redesign them to tell a new story.
Jul 3: From Flat to Fantastic - Transform 2-dimensional materials into standing structures.
Jul 10: Seeing City Sounds - Contribute to a collaborative artwork by drawing the sounds you hear.
Jul 17: Change What You See - Design lenses that alter the way you see familiar things.
Jul 24: City Reflections - Sculpt a structure using reflective and shiny materials.
Jul 31: Capture your Stories - Create a book to hold the stories you write, both real and imaginary.
Aug 7: Together Tower - Collaborate with another person to construct a tower or other standing sculpture.
Aug 14: In and Out of Character - Invent and then draw a new persona on a collaborative and interactive drawing wall.
Aug 21: Transparent Towers - Create your own transparent cityscape.
Aug 28: Body Building - Transform your body into a skyscraper.
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