Observe flowers with an exciting new perspective using abstraction interpreted in watercolor. In this class, participants capture not only what they see using watercolor, but also personal responses as they paint form, line, shape, and work in color. One day of the workshop is spent on color theory and mixing. Daily demonstrations, one-on-one instruction, and sharing painted work provide the foundation for a dynamic exploration of this nuanced medium.

In this acrylic painting workshop for beginners, students use observation to develop skills in color mixing, composition, and brushwork by embarking on a new painting each day, culminating in a significant independent work. Beginning with studies in black and white, this course utilizes individual instruction, group discussion, and extensive demonstrations to give students confidence in color mixing to create chromatic strength, tackle complex color relationships, and reveal individual voice. Students work from still life and landscape with an emphasis on tonal structure and color theory, and progress quickly to create fully realized independent works.

Students learn to make imagery pop in this dynamic painting workshop open to all skill levels. Participants are challenged to dive into acrylic on panel while embarking on an abstract approach to image making. We explore color theory, patterning methods, and how to use masking tape to create clean, sharp lines and angles. We investigate abstraction and find personal ways to create shape, consider composition, and develop a sense of space. Emphasis is placed on hard/soft edge painting techniques and layering processes. Students are encouraged to let their creativity flow, while expanding their artistic techniques in this versatile and accessible painting medium.

Join an engaging exploration of the synthesis between two distinct art forms: photography and painting. Students discover transfer techniques that integrate photographic images and text directly onto painted surfaces, resulting in intriguingly layered works. Participants explore traditional collage and photomontage, and master new methods that allow for opaque and translucent layers. Reductive methods, such as sanding and scraping, reveal the history of earlier photographic layers and suggest an archaeological approach to image development. The workshop emphasizes experimentation and exploratory approaches. Students produce a portfolio of physical examples of all techniques.

This dynamic abstract painting workshop invites intermediate painters to work from their experience of the natural world as their source material. The workshop begins with creating sketches as subject matter to build upon to create paintings. Students focus on their natural inclinations and responses to their natural environment and find ways to translate them into an abstract and unique painting language. The rule of engagement for this workshop is to learn to work from instinct and memory, rather than photographic or other digital sources. Participants explore personal mark-making to archive an experience of their environment, pulling out unexpected motifs and patterns, while exploring the space between representation, abstraction, and the subconscious.

This rigorous acrylic painting workshop guides students through a series of process-based material explorations in order to develop narrative content with a distinct tie to a personal visual vocabulary. Chance processes and experimental games allow for stories to emerge from the painting process. We explore many strategies such as rorschaching, model-making, and reenactment as a means to translate ideas, images, and narratives into visual forms. Each participant develops an archive of sources and references. Students discover the unique ways that paintings tell stories while developing a personal language through material exploration and play.

In this skill-based, introduction to oil painting workshop, participants focus on the fundamentals of painting through the subject matter of still life and portraiture. Emphasis is on composition, concepts of modeling light as it falls on form, and color theory. Workshop participants are guided through the process of traditional techniques of indirect painting as well as contemporary painting methods. Strategies for achieving life-like effects, chiaroscuro, and Tromp L’oeil techniques are also introduced. We engage in daily demonstrations of oil painting methods and individual and group discussions to support our exploratory studio time.

In this workshop, students engage in one of the most interesting and challenging pursuits in representational painting: working with the figure. From color mixing exercises to studies of proportion and composition, we learn to represent the figure quickly and convincingly with oil paint. Further emphasis on paint handling and brush work helps hone basic oil painting techniques. In addition to painting from a model, students are guided to create engaging and expressive self-portraits. Even with no past experience, students come away from this workshop with a heightened understanding and skill of this popular but often challenging genre.

In this workshop, students have the opportunity to develop unique paintings from handmade watercolor paints while exploring the vibrant, seasonal plant life of Snowmass Village. Through foraging and working with cultivated dye plants, students learn to extract, process, and bind botanical pigments into rich, archival-quality paints. The class includes daily painting sessions focused on plant illustration, color swatching, and cataloging. Participants leave with their own custom watercolor set, a collection of painted studies, and a printed booklet of recipes and techniques to support the continued exploration of place-based, sustainable artmaking.

This course explores observational painting and provides the foundation necessary to understand the relationship of oil painting to color and culture and how they inform one another. Emphasis is on the development of skills while painting from a still life: seeing and composing in relationship to color and surface while evoking light/value and the illusion of space with color and texture. Demonstrations on best practices with oil materials and techniques in alla prima, dry brush, scumbling, impasto, and expressive brushwork are shared, practiced, and discussed.

Master Class This course is designed to improve our work through full immersion in the discourse of contemporary painting. We examine theory and critical dialogue as it pertains to individual practice, and explore the history and craft of paintings within a contemporary context. Through readings and discussion, artists have opportunities to broaden the scope of their practices and continue to hone their artistic voices. This course uses the term “painting” in the most expanded contemporary manner. We engage in individual critiques, group critiques, reading assignments, group discussions, and the creation of new work. Students should bring a digital portfolio of current studio work.

In this mixed-media workshop, students of all levels experiment with works on paper. We focus on developing perceptive drawing skills, simultaneously exploring the combination of a variety of media. This workshop also introduces students to safe, non-toxic printmaking methods which combine with drawing but don’t require a press and can be applied outside of the studio. We allow for unexpected results to occur with the use of familiar materials in unconventional ways, serving as a means to foster new ideas.

Discover the many possibilities of working in mixed media incorporated with quilting techniques to create colorful and vibrant compositions. With an experimental approach to quilting, students use appliqué, cyanotype, photographic images printed onto fabric, painting and ink, stamping, embroidery, and decorative hand stitching as they focus on pattern, composition, surface texture, and color relationships. While addressing the complexities of the quilted image, we emphasize discovering new ways to piece together compositions, creating formal connections, and incorporating personal and found materials like fabrics, beads, and relics.

This workshop asks students to engage in close readings of image, sound, and text in order to develop their own creative practice. Authors and artists examined include Roy DeCarava, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Dawoud Bey, Tina Campt, Baldwin Lee, Susan Sontag, James Baldwin, Endia Beal, and Joni Mitchell. Students will explore questions such as, How are history, region, identity, social location, sound, and disposition communicated through image? How can narrative be a co-creative endeavor alongside image? How does the body of the photographer figure in images even when not visible? What ethical principles ought to guide visual and narrative storytelling? Class sessions will include writing exercises and peer critiques.

This workshop invites participants to design and build custom computational tools for digital drawing and image-making, and to translate generative work into physical form using pen plotters.  Through an emphasis on tool-building and exploratory “vibe coding,” students investigate distinctive and unconventional approaches to mark-making. Rather than relying on existing software, participants develop their own image-making instruments using languages and frameworks such as JavaScript, Python, p5.js, Three.js, or Processing. The workshop foregrounds the creation of bespoke workflows and pipelines, allowing each student to align technical decisions with their individual creative vision. Iterative development is central to the process, positioning tool-building itself as a core creative practice. Custom tools may be published online or shared via GitHub, contributing to a growing library of generative instruments. Final outcomes may include pen-plotted drawings produced with robotic plotters, digital prints, or interactive, web-based applications.

In this workshop, students expand their collage techniques with digital and traditional processes to create simple and layered composite images and constructions. Combining painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, wood, paper and found or fabricated imagery helps tell the story. Students use the laser cutter to cut or engrave paper or other materials and push their imagery further by utilizing the capabilities of the UV printer. Demonstrations include collage, nontoxic resin, laser engraved imagery and cutting, and transfer techniques. Participants have the freedom to explore individual projects with the assistance of the fabrication lab assistants. Discussions include developing content, narrative, and artistic voice through combined techniques.

This dynamic workshop explores the expressive power of painting allegorical narratives through a mixed media approach. Students draw from photographs, artworks, and collage to generate bold, dynamic sketches that spark ideas for their final projects. Blending play with technical skill, the class emphasizes both creative freedom and craftsmanship, encouraging participants to find their own artistic voice. With exercises in color, material experimentation, and contextual study, students build confidence while expanding their visual language. The week culminates in innovative projects that showcase imagination, skill, and personal interpretation.

Drawing and painting have the capacity to make a bold impact through formal elements like color and contrast, as well as through conceptual elements like the ability to tell a visual story. In this workshop, we use drawing and painting prompts to intervene with our images, using problem-solving skills to make them more powerful. Students create drawings and paintings, iterating on them to work and rework a narrative with the guidance of the instructor. Drawing and painting are the artistic basis of this workshop, and students are invited to work in the painting medium of their choosing.

Through material exploration of water-based media, this workshop moves students from initial narrative concept to execution with the help of in-class discussion and the implementation of techniques pre-existing and newly formed. Participants learn the processes and methods for effective use of water-based media to create vibrant imagery in the studio, and to work swiftly and spontaneously on-site wherever our painting journeys may take us. The workshop is guided through demonstrations, lectures, and in-class painting time, as we work with feedback from the instructor and classmates to develop a rich and dynamic painting practice.

In this dynamic mixed-media textile and painting class, students incorporate painting and drawing vocabularies into a variety of textile media. Students are encouraged to translate their personal imagery into fiber paintings, exploring formal conversations including color, mark making, foreground/background, and conceptual questions about memory, presence, and absence. Surface texture, narrative, and atmosphere are explored through the combination of methods and techniques. This experimental workshop is an opportunity for students to add new image making approaches to their studio practices, including image transfers, painting, and textiles.

This intermediate-to-advanced painting workshop focuses on developing an abstract language through the exploration of various water-based painting methods. While some students may be looking to shift into abstraction from a representational practice, other participants who have experience creating abstract paintings are encouraged to bring deeper focus and consistency to their imagery and approach. Prompts are provided to foster new ways to develop mark, surface, expression and meaningful color choices.

This intensive life drawing workshop, open to students of all experience levels, allows participants to explore the figure through traditional drawing media, with a focus on value, texture, form, contrast, light and shadow, and gesture. In addition to honing our rendering skills, the class addresses the elements of a drawing composition that create narrative: props, fabric patterns, symbolism, and costume. Emphasis is placed on the role that color plays in a drawing, and how powerfully it can impact the meanings behind a narrative image, particularly when working through a surreal lens. The week begins with fast-paced exercises while drawing from a model, and culminates in a longer pose, incorporating costumes, personal objects, and other materials that build a dynamic, multi-layered figurative stage from which the imagination can blossom.

This workshop invites students to explore how to enhance landscape photography — natural or urban — through mixed media techniques, deepening the narrative and emotional impact of each image. Participants gain hands-on experience combining photography with printmaking, drawing, painting, and collage. Students receive guidance in Italian and Japanese marbling traditions, learning how to create pattern and texture on photographic surfaces. By integrating representational and abstract approaches, they transform landscapes into imaginative, emotive, and visually dynamic compositions. Through discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on experimentation, participants refine their creative vision and develop original artworks that expand the possibilities of photographic storytelling. This class is ideal for artists and creatives who would like to explore or amplify their photographic language by expanding its limits through mixed media experimentation.

Explore a drawing approach to abstract painting with a focus on line quality, mark, and gesture. This method of immediacy encourages students to find specificity in their imagery and create large-scale paintings on muslin that contain wall power. Working in acrylic and other water-based media, students experiment with out-of-the-box prompts like painting without a brush, using charcoal as an underpainting/drawing, and working from the subconscious. Color is explored as an important tool for creating space within a painting.

Working with water-based pigments on paper, students observe natural forms and explore line, mark, repetition and color as ways to bridge into pattern and decoration. The class discovers the combinations of ink, charcoal, acrylic, gouache and Flashe, experimenting with effects achieved by layering and blending these materials. Students are encouraged to not only work from observation, but to explore their imaginations, incorporate images and symbols from their personal histories, and allow colorful forms to emerge. Students should expect to work rigorously, developing a large body of unique works on paper, including stretched paper on canvas, to add to their portfolio.

In this introductory-level painting workshop for teens, students learn to approach painting through a variety of lenses, from observational to stylized, and embark upon many exercises relating to color, line, and form. Students begin by focusing on painting from observation and learning to record what they see, then explore abstraction, pattern, and developing color fields. We take inspiration from paintings throughout history and gain a knowledge of historical works and take a look at contemporary imagery. Teens come away with a portfolio of paintings to build upon.

This workshop immerses students in the creative possibilities of mixed media by integrating photography with both traditional and experimental drawing and painting techniques. Participants work with watercolor, acrylic, India ink, graphite, and pastels to build layered, dynamic surfaces that merge photographic imagery with expressive mark-making. Through hands-on demonstrations and guided projects, students explore image-transfer methods, surface manipulation, and innovative approaches to combining materials. The workshop places strong emphasis on conceptual development, encouraging participants to transform personal, found, or generated photographs into evocative works that blur the line between representation and abstraction. By the end of the week, students create a cohesive series of artworks that demonstrate technical versatility and reflect their individual creative vision.

The second year of this three-year advanced mentorship program encourages each student to push their studio practice. Working at a rigorous pace, engaging in critical dialogue with the group and with the instructors in individual critique, artists refine and expand their investigations. Wide-ranging topics include concept and approach to contemporary art practice as well as technical and material explorations. Students are expected to work independently with the support of their class peers and instructors, raising the ambition of their own studio goals. Although primarily a painting workshop, participation by installation artists and other artists working across media is encouraged. The goal of the series is for students to gain community, develop insight into their work and, through discussion, challenge themselves to reflect on their artistic intentions.

This workshop encourages students to approach abstraction with spontaneity and mark making as an emphasis when forming an image. With an intention to challenge painters to engage in surface and materials, we focus on our response rather than preconceived notions about image making. Students are encouraged to interact with drawing and painting materials in a physical way, while considering color palette, speed, and gesture to aid in the process of developing paintings that are strikingly personal and visually compelling.

Master Class In this master class workshop for advanced painters, students investigate their intentions and concerns within their painting practice, while working at a rigorous pace in the studio. Class consists of one-on-one and group critiques, discussion, and ample studio time to make new inquiries into their work. Participants are challenged to explore new avenues and dive deep into the content and methods behind their practice. Topics for discussion include source material, negative/positive space, zooming in on a painting and working from a crop, content, color and gesture, and symbolism. Students are asked to bring a digital portfolio of recent work to share with the class. * Please note: Hilary Pecis teaches daily from 9 am – 3 pm. Late afternoons are dedicated to independent studio time with Liz Ferrill present for feedback and dialogue.

Gel Plate monotype is a low-tech, inventive, and user-friendly printing method that offers kitchen-table convenience for making art at home as well as portability for travel. Students learn the basics of this fun, press-free approach, launching their work in this medium for fun and discovery of new directions. We make finished prints and experiment with imagery and motifs for other artistic practices like painting and ceramics, and learn an “invisible” collage technique to combine works on paper into larger format works. Simple tools like brayers, rubber tipped clay shapers, brushes, and cut paper allows for complex layered prints.

Master Class This advanced painting workshop is for students working in any painting medium, and is designed to be a catalyst for making art within a broadly-defined painting language. Students work on individual projects while digging into experimental processes that boost the forward momentum of their work. Presentations, prompts, and critiques support purposeful discussions addressing how work is communicating. Questions and topics covered include,How can time be captured through color? What is tactile knowledge? Who are your art ancestors and what is their role in the building of your visual language? What and how does your work communicate within the context of contemporary art? Students are asked to bring a digital portfolio of current studio work.

Learn the elements of watercolor painting and many of the techniques that yield the luminous results the medium is known for. Students explore washes, dry brush techniques, color mixing, working in grey tones, and drawing elements. The workshop begins with working from a still life and moves on to other possibilities for observational study. Students leave the workshop with a toolbox full of new skills and techniques to apply to their watercolor painting practice, as well as several unique works of art to add to their portfolios.

Master Class In this master class workshop for advanced painters, students investigate their intentions and concerns within their painting practice while working at a rigorous pace in the studio. Class consists of one-on-one and group critiques, discussion, and ample studio time to make new inquiries into their work. Participants are challenged to explore new avenues and dive deep into the content and methods behind their practice. Topics for discussion include content, color and gesture, and symbolism. Students are asked to bring a digital portfolio of recent work to share with the class.

Grasp the fundamentals of one of the most useful studio tools: drawing. Whether a novice painter or a beginning sculptor, students in this workshop focuses on several elemental drawing techniques to help strengthen your creative base. We explore drawing from observation and photographic sources, with an emphasis on mixed-media and drawing strategies designed to decrease the intimidation factor. We delve into techniques ranging from charcoal drawing to collage to pen on paper. Concentrating on a strong sketchbook practice and learning how to look, students focus on ways to approach complicated drawings regardless of skill level and get beyond the fear of the blank page.

Observe nature with fresh eyes, letting time slow to examine the wild world closely. Participants investigate nature firsthand, using magnifying loupes to inspect subjects, contemplating life, growth, decay, and regeneration, and — using the natural world as source material, we read, discuss, observe, and embark on a painting journey. The emphasis of this workshop is to think about painting as process and movement rather than fixed form, depicting nature with paint without needing to reproduce observations in a literal way. Melding abstraction and representation, students discover and produce depth, allowing an image to float to the surface. We learn to develop form, mix color, and consider composition, all inspired by what we see around us.

Discover inspiration from locally grown produce found in farmers’ markets. Capture not only what you observe, but also your interpretation of subject, as you render the forms with watercolor. Learn to simplify and abstract subject matter and record the essence of a fruit or vegetable with minimal marks. Develop various approaches to the invention of personal color choices and imagery to stretch your preconceived notions of these elements and their initial meaning. Basic drawing, painting, technique, color theory, color mixing, design and composition are explored.

In this hands-on workshop, students use the Fab Lab’s laser cutter and CNC router to translate personal imagery and visual ideas into hybrid works that combine digital precision with analog expression. Pushing two-dimensional painting onto three-3 dimensional surfaces creates a dynamic sense of wall power, and lets us explore painting as an object through individual experimentation. Incorporating physical elements, and painting on a variety of substrates and collage develops a sense of physicality, space, and texture. Painters and sculptors alike are invited to step outside of the rectangular picture plane, developing a deeper understanding of material relationships and the sculptural potential of the painted surface.

This workshop, open to students of all levels, explores the connectedness between nature, the elements, and people through acrylic painting and mixed media art making. Using fluid and heavy body acrylics, participants incorporate the fundamentals of composition, color theory, energy lines, and mark making. Using mixed media applications, students explore creating layers, adding surface texture, and developing meaningful subject matter in their work. Abstraction and representationalism are investigated and merged into imagery to evoke dynamic and complex paintings.