Want to try something new? Build your existing skills to grow ideas in a stimulating group of intermediate and advanced potters. Individual projects are encouraged, with demonstrations designed to inspire new ways of looking at throwing, hand-building, and overall design.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Pottery Beyond The Basics
Explore the modern and popular craft of memoir writing. Every person has a story to tell. No matter your age, education, family, or location, your life is filled with tales big and small.
Through workshopping and class critiques, students will explore how to shape their memories into cohesive and compelling narratives. Topics will include character development, setting a scene with vivid descriptions, authentic dialogue and emotion, building your story arc, and compelling opening sentences.
Bring a laptop, iPad, or pen and paper to each session. Participants will share short writing assignments each week.
Memoir Writing Group
Learn the various approaches to creating metal sculptures, including welding (oxyacetylene and MIG), brazing, cutting (torch and plasma cutter), hammering, and more.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours.
Students should wear 100% cotton long sleeves, jeans or work pants, and closed-toe boots. No synthetic mesh, plastic, or cloth.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $40.
All Levels Metal Sculpture
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Using both hand-building techniques and the potter’s wheel, participants learn the foundational skills needed to create basic ceramic cups, bowls, and floral containers. As students refine these skills, they will work on more complex projects. This will enable them to combine techniques, push their creativity, and practice creative problem-solving.
Glazing, slips, and other surface treatments will be explored. There will be instructor demonstrations and individual consultations. Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Afternoon Clay
Join us for an evening of storytelling with Wurtele Gallery Teachers. Hear exciting stories from around the world as reflected in artworks throughout the museum’s collection. This program is inspired by our family program Stories and Art, but with adults in mind.
Meet by the couches in the Gallery lobby.
Art and Stories
Etching, a classic intaglio printing technique, involves incising lines into copper through a protected surface and then “etching” them in acid—a method dating back to Dürer and used from the Renaissance to modern times.
This class introduces environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional etching featuring different types of water-based inks, Baldwin’s Ink Ground (B.I.G) and Lascaux grounds, and coffee-lift techniques.
Some products used in this class may be irritating to highly sensitive people.
Includes one 3-hour practice session per week during monitored practice hours.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Greener Intaglio/Etching Techniques
If you are interested in making ceramic pieces for the home, this class is for you.
Making functional pots is important to all levels of students, whether you throw pots on the wheel or prefer to build by hand. Students will learn ways to modify forms to create pieces uniquely their own.
Classes will include various techniques for pot making as well as considerations pertaining to each form. Surface treatments including engobes, stains, and glazes will also be covered.
Both teacher demonstrations and one-on-one student instruction will occur each week.
Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Making Functional Pots
Learn basic metalsmithing for making jewelry, developing new skills, or strengthen existing ones. Weekly demonstrations introduce tools and techniques required for working with nonferrous sheet metal and wire. Demonstrations may include sawing, filing, cold-connecting, soldering, surface embellishment, forging, shaping, fold forming, finishing, and patina coloring.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $40 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Metalsmithing/ Jewelry
The Peabody Museum in New Haven is one of the oldest and largest university natural history museums in the world . And it can be your children’s classroom!
Join us for an inspiring art class in the newly expanded museum. This is a fantastic opportunity to draw a variety of natural artifacts, including plants, animals, and fossils, while enhancing your observational drawing skills. Participants will learn to notice finer details and improve their ability to draw from life, unlocking a whole new world of artistic expression. The Peabody’s expansive collections—featuring dinosaur bones, plant matter, reptiles, and much more—provide the perfect backdrop for this exploration.
Please note that drop-off and pick-up will take place in the museum lobby.
Wednesday morning session is perfect for home-school families.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for materials provided by CAW.
Art and Nature – Sketching at the Peabody Museum
Explore the creative possibilities of clay by shaping and molding it into one-of-a-kind works of art. Working with clay helps young people develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and emotional expression through hands-on activities. Above all, clay sparks imagination, encouraging children to think creatively and express themselves in new ways. The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW. School Policies Students who withdraw 48 hours prior to the first class are eligible for a refund or credit toward another class, less a $25 registration fee. Please click here for more details.
Adventures In Clay
No typical sand or slides at this playground!
CAW’s playground has colored sand, wood, clay, tempera and watercolor paints, markers, tissue paper and more items than we have space to list here. Students will use all these supplies to create projects including masks, paper dolls, animals, birds, insects, portraits, and imaginary creatures.
How will they do all this? By cutting, folding, stomping, splashing, blending, texturing, painting, and coloring (after they mix their own unique colors).
Bet you wish you could stay too!
Wednesday morning session is perfect for home-school families.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for materials provided by CAW.
Art Playground
Paws and Pixels is an exciting new course designed for young artists who want to create animal drawings using Procreate. Starting with the basics, we’ll guide students through sketching techniques and gradually move on to more advanced, realistic animal illustrations.
Throughout the course, students will learn how to observe and analyze animal shapes and proportions, replicate different textures like fur, glossy skin, and more, using Procreate’s powerful features. As they advance, students will explore techniques like blending modes, clipping masks, and blur effects to add depth and realism to their art.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW
Paws and Pixels
Show up for your creative self in 2025 with the Saturday Drawing Club.
Explore weekly prompts and materials combined with a mix of conversation, creative time, and feedback. Bring an ongoing project or start from scratch.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $10 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Saturday Drawing
Would you like to explore watercolors? Feeling unsure or out of practice? You can do it!
Watercolors are a whimsical and simple way to explore ideas, make memorable sketches of your travels or daily life, and develop visual self-expression.
Students will learn about materials, look at examples, create color studies, make thumbnail sketches to generate ideas and compositions, and develop sketches and paintings that explore color, line, shape, texture, and more.
Whether you enjoy landscape, still life, abstract, or contemporary art, you will have the space and support to develop your style and learn helpful techniques to help you on your creative journey.
Watercolor for Beginners
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
Do you love keeping a journal or planner? My Digital Diary is a fun and creative class where you’ll learn how to make your own stylish digital journal! Using digital sketching techniques on Procreate, you’ll create beautiful illustrations to capture your thoughts, hobbies, and habits.
In this class we’ll create graphics, illustrations, and character designs that reflect your personal style – making your diary fun to look at and use.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
My Digital Diary
Explore and develop designs for relief, intaglio, and monotype printmaking in this hands-on course. Class time will focus on creating original designs and concepts as students experiment with print plate substrates, including Corian®, Tetra-Pak®, vinyl records, and various recycled and found materials. Examples of different print styles will be shared to illustrate these techniques. This course is suitable for beginners and advanced students alike. The inks used can be cleaned up with soap and water, and students will need to bring their own paper for the first session. Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours. Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW including Linoleum blocks and black and white ink.
Experimental Printmaking
Explore, learn, and practice drawing exercises and techniques in a supportive environment. Increase visual perception, skills and confidence, and develop your unique style. Work with drawing pencils, charcoal, pastels, watercolor and ink/pens. Weekly demos and exercises include mark-making, line, value, form, texture and shading. Subjects include animals, everyday objects, portraits, autumn and nature inspirations, as well as students’ interests. We draw from observation, references and imagination. All materials provided. Join us!
For returning students, the class will include both new projects and some review.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Saturday Sketching
In this magical experience, students will bring a forest fairy tale to life using markers and colored pencils. They’ll create a series of six enchanting illustrations united by a common theme, with a focus on color, composition, and texture.
As they delve into the world of fairy tales, students will learn how to combine markers and colored pencils to produce vibrant and imaginative artwork. This class will spark creativity, enhance drawing skills, and introduce new techniques for using these materials to capture the magic of the forest!
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
A Forest Fairy Tale
See objects and space in a new light while discovering creative techniques to bring your drawing style to life.
Explore how to add depth, light, shadow, and perspective to your drawings with colored pencils.
Focus on beginning your art journey and achieving impressive results along the way!
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Creative Effects with Colored Pencils
Overcome the mysteries of the sewing machine and discover how fun and easy it can be! Learn the basics of machine sewing including threading, operating, and troubleshooting.
Practice using the machine and then move on to simple projects for yourself or for gift-giving. Choice of projects will include a 4-patch pin cushion, Boho bags, zippered pouch, and items for the home such as pillow covers. Tips for altering clothes can also be covered. Previous students are welcome to attend and work on their own projects.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $15 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Lets Get Sewing
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
New and experienced students will focus on making pottery on the wheel.
Start by using methods of wedging, centering, hand and finger positioning for raising a vessel, and positioning one’s body for dealing with a mass of clay on the wheel. Demonstrations will cover the importance of trimming techniques and various forming processes.
Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Techniques for Wheel Throwing
Learn how to make a clamshell box–a box that looks like a book, especially when set on a shelf. The design can be easily adapted in shape and size to accommodate a wide range of objects from prints, small objects, or books. Students will to the pieces and construct the two-tray cloth-covered box accented with decorative paper. Many of the basic bookbinding techniques will be taught such as measuring, cutting, and gluing.
No experience necessary. Intermediate students may work on independent box projects.
Plus receive one 3-hour monitored open bench session each week.
Introduction to Boxmaking: The Clamshell Box
Develop your pottery skills as you focus on wheel-throwing techniques in stoneware and porcelain. Lessons will cover both functional and decorative pottery with emphasis on classical forms as we know them. Students will be shown how to apply glazes and/or oxide washes to achieve desired results, such as combining glaze colors and the application of wood ash to create unexpected effects on their work. Wear clothes that can get dirty. Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27 and firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only. Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Intermediate and Advanced Pottery
Learn basic metalsmithing for making jewelry, developing new skills, or strengthen existing ones. Weekly demonstrations introduce tools and techniques required for working with nonferrous sheet metal and wire. Demonstrations may include sawing, filing, cold-connecting, soldering, surface embellishment, forging, shaping, fold forming, finishing, and patina coloring.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $40 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Metalsmithing/ Jewelry
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
You decide – explore multiple printmaking techniques and processes or deepen your practice in one area. Use etching, drypoint, woodcut, linocut, monotype, transfer prints, paper lithography, polymer plate lithography, collagraph, silk aquatint, transfer prints, or Chine-collé. Learn new techniques or connect printmaking to other artistic media.
Includes one 3-hour practice session per week during monitored practice hours.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Intermediate and Advanced Printmaking
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Learn the basics of preparing and operating a loom. Participants will weave a sampler piece combining a wide range of useful weaves. Beginning students will complete one or two simple projects of their choice by the end of this term. Intermediate and advanced students will weave projects with more complex structures using multi-harness looms.
Beginning students have a materials fee of $18 payable to the instructor.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours.
Floor LooM Weaving
Explore and create your own series of linoleum prints in this engaging class.
The instructor will guide students in developing original designs and preparing a linoleum block for inking and printing. The process of carving and printing a 4” x 6” block will be demonstrated, along with a variety of inking and printing techniques. Examples of linoleum prints will be available for inspiration.
This course welcomes both beginners and advanced students. All inks are water-based and easily cleaned with soap and water. Students may purchase their own paper or additional blocks after the first session.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours.
Exploring Linoleum Block Printmaking
Veteran book arts expert Gisela Noack brings her many years of skill and experience in restoration and conservation to students working on their own advanced bookbinding or restoration projects.
Enrollment in this class includes one 3-hour monitored open bench session per week.
This class will take place in a studio accessed by a flight of stairs. For any accommodations please send a confidential email to registrar@creativeartsworkshop.org
Advanced Hand Bookbinding
Want to try something new? Build your existing skills to grow ideas in a stimulating group of intermediate and advanced potters. Individual projects are encouraged, with demonstrations designed to inspire new ways of looking at throwing, hand-building, and overall design.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Pottery Beyond The Basics
Dive into the creative process of monotype printmaking using direct drawing, stencils, and masking techniques.
This hands-on class introduces innovative approaches to printmaking, allowing students to create bold, dynamic images with clean lines and striking contrasts. Whether you’re an artist looking to expand your skills or a hobbyist seeking a new creative outlet, this class provides the tools and knowledge to make stunning prints.
Students will design and customize stencils from a variety of materials and explore layering techniques in inking to create complex, multi-colored prints. Topics include working with gel plates, screen printing, and plexiglass monotypes. No prior experience is required.
Includes one 3-hour practice session per week during monitored practice hours.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Introduction to Printmaking and Beyond
Learn the various approaches to creating metal sculptures, including welding (oxyacetylene and MIG), brazing, cutting (torch and plasma cutter), hammering, and more.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours.
Students should wear 100% cotton long sleeves, jeans or work pants, and closed-toe boots. No synthetic mesh, plastic, or cloth.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $40.
All Levels Metal Sculpture
Explore the modern and popular craft of memoir writing. Every person has a story to tell. No matter your age, education, family, or location, your life is filled with tales big and small.
Through workshopping and class critiques, students will explore how to shape their memories into cohesive and compelling narratives. Topics will include character development, setting a scene with vivid descriptions, authentic dialogue and emotion, building your story arc, and compelling opening sentences.
Bring a laptop, iPad, or pen and paper to each session. Participants will share short writing assignments each week.
Memoir Writing Group
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Using both hand-building techniques and the potter’s wheel, participants learn the foundational skills needed to create basic ceramic cups, bowls, and floral containers. As students refine these skills, they will work on more complex projects. This will enable them to combine techniques, push their creativity, and practice creative problem-solving.
Glazing, slips, and other surface treatments will be explored. There will be instructor demonstrations and individual consultations. Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Afternoon Clay
Join us for a lecture celebrating the opening of the exhibition David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive with the South African architect and scholar Ilze Wolff, Dean’s Visiting Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, New York. Goldblatt’s pictures offer key and focused views on spatial apartheid in South Africa. This lecture looks behind, above, below, and beside Goldblatt’s lens to describe the broad territory of social imaginaries that accompany his images. In other words, if Goldblatt’s photographs bear witness to the violence of spatial injustice, what are the constructions that then give contexts to these images, images which in themselves become acts of witness? Generously sponsored by Jane P. Watkins, M.P.H. 1979, and the Martin A. Ryerson Lectureship Fund.
This lecture accompanies a preview of and opening reception for the exhibition David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive. Exhibition co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Yale University Art Gallery, in collaboration with Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid.
Acts of Witness: Photographs of Spatial Apartheid
Etching, a classic intaglio printing technique, involves incising lines into copper through a protected surface and then “etching” them in acid—a method dating back to Dürer and used from the Renaissance to modern times.
This class introduces environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional etching featuring different types of water-based inks, Baldwin’s Ink Ground (B.I.G) and Lascaux grounds, and coffee-lift techniques.
Some products used in this class may be irritating to highly sensitive people.
Includes one 3-hour practice session per week during monitored practice hours.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Greener Intaglio/Etching Techniques
If you are interested in making ceramic pieces for the home, this class is for you.
Making functional pots is important to all levels of students, whether you throw pots on the wheel or prefer to build by hand. Students will learn ways to modify forms to create pieces uniquely their own.
Classes will include various techniques for pot making as well as considerations pertaining to each form. Surface treatments including engobes, stains, and glazes will also be covered.
Both teacher demonstrations and one-on-one student instruction will occur each week.
Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Making Functional Pots
Learn basic metalsmithing for making jewelry, developing new skills, or strengthen existing ones. Weekly demonstrations introduce tools and techniques required for working with nonferrous sheet metal and wire. Demonstrations may include sawing, filing, cold-connecting, soldering, surface embellishment, forging, shaping, fold forming, finishing, and patina coloring.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $40 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Metalsmithing/ Jewelry
The Peabody Museum in New Haven is one of the oldest and largest university natural history museums in the world . And it can be your children’s classroom!
Join us for an inspiring art class in the newly expanded museum. This is a fantastic opportunity to draw a variety of natural artifacts, including plants, animals, and fossils, while enhancing your observational drawing skills. Participants will learn to notice finer details and improve their ability to draw from life, unlocking a whole new world of artistic expression. The Peabody’s expansive collections—featuring dinosaur bones, plant matter, reptiles, and much more—provide the perfect backdrop for this exploration.
Please note that drop-off and pick-up will take place in the museum lobby.
Wednesday morning session is perfect for home-school families.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for materials provided by CAW.
Art and Nature – Sketching at the Peabody Museum
Explore the creative possibilities of clay by shaping and molding it into one-of-a-kind works of art. Working with clay helps young people develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and emotional expression through hands-on activities. Above all, clay sparks imagination, encouraging children to think creatively and express themselves in new ways. The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW. School Policies Students who withdraw 48 hours prior to the first class are eligible for a refund or credit toward another class, less a $25 registration fee. Please click here for more details.
Adventures In Clay
Liminal: Coastal Science in Sacred Music is a concert and symposium featuring the Coastal Conservatory with EcoSono Ensemble and Yale University special guests.
This event will be held in Harkness Hall's Sudler Hall, 100 Wall Street, New Haven, CT.
Integrating eco-acoustic performance with intellectual exchange across science and ethics, the Coastal Conservatory creates immersive ways of listening to coastal change. In this concert, EcoSono Ensemble will perform music made with data produced by the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-term Ecological Research site about sea level rise, oyster reef restoration, shorebird extinction, and sea grass meadows. In symposial reflections, scholars and scientists will consider how music made from sonified data and with ecological relations may be heard as a new sacred music of the environment. Co-directed by faculty from music, environmental sciences, and religious studies from the University of Virginia, the Conservatory has been recognized by the Mellon Foundation, NSF, and NPR for its integrative way into relations by which coasts are being transformed. This event includes Yale students and faculty in live performance and scholarly conversation.
Speakers and performers include Matthew Burtner, Karen McGlathery, Willis Jenkins and the EcoSono Ensemble.
EcoSono Ensemble:
- Lisa Edwards-Burrs, voice
- I-Jen Fang, percussion
- Kelly Sulick, flute
- Kevin Davis, cello
Free and open to the public.
View event site for more details and full schedule.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Liminal: Coastal Science in Sacred Music
No typical sand or slides at this playground!
CAW’s playground has colored sand, wood, clay, tempera and watercolor paints, markers, tissue paper and more items than we have space to list here. Students will use all these supplies to create projects including masks, paper dolls, animals, birds, insects, portraits, and imaginary creatures.
How will they do all this? By cutting, folding, stomping, splashing, blending, texturing, painting, and coloring (after they mix their own unique colors).
Bet you wish you could stay too!
Wednesday morning session is perfect for home-school families.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for materials provided by CAW.
Art Playground
Paws and Pixels is an exciting new course designed for young artists who want to create animal drawings using Procreate. Starting with the basics, we’ll guide students through sketching techniques and gradually move on to more advanced, realistic animal illustrations.
Throughout the course, students will learn how to observe and analyze animal shapes and proportions, replicate different textures like fur, glossy skin, and more, using Procreate’s powerful features. As they advance, students will explore techniques like blending modes, clipping masks, and blur effects to add depth and realism to their art.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW
Paws and Pixels
Show up for your creative self in 2025 with the Saturday Drawing Club.
Explore weekly prompts and materials combined with a mix of conversation, creative time, and feedback. Bring an ongoing project or start from scratch.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $10 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Saturday Drawing
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
Would you like to explore watercolors? Feeling unsure or out of practice? You can do it!
Watercolors are a whimsical and simple way to explore ideas, make memorable sketches of your travels or daily life, and develop visual self-expression.
Students will learn about materials, look at examples, create color studies, make thumbnail sketches to generate ideas and compositions, and develop sketches and paintings that explore color, line, shape, texture, and more.
Whether you enjoy landscape, still life, abstract, or contemporary art, you will have the space and support to develop your style and learn helpful techniques to help you on your creative journey.
Watercolor for Beginners
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
Do you love keeping a journal or planner? My Digital Diary is a fun and creative class where you’ll learn how to make your own stylish digital journal! Using digital sketching techniques on Procreate, you’ll create beautiful illustrations to capture your thoughts, hobbies, and habits.
In this class we’ll create graphics, illustrations, and character designs that reflect your personal style – making your diary fun to look at and use.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
My Digital Diary
Explore and develop designs for relief, intaglio, and monotype printmaking in this hands-on course. Class time will focus on creating original designs and concepts as students experiment with print plate substrates, including Corian®, Tetra-Pak®, vinyl records, and various recycled and found materials. Examples of different print styles will be shared to illustrate these techniques. This course is suitable for beginners and advanced students alike. The inks used can be cleaned up with soap and water, and students will need to bring their own paper for the first session. Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours. Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW including Linoleum blocks and black and white ink.
Experimental Printmaking
Explore, learn, and practice drawing exercises and techniques in a supportive environment. Increase visual perception, skills and confidence, and develop your unique style. Work with drawing pencils, charcoal, pastels, watercolor and ink/pens. Weekly demos and exercises include mark-making, line, value, form, texture and shading. Subjects include animals, everyday objects, portraits, autumn and nature inspirations, as well as students’ interests. We draw from observation, references and imagination. All materials provided. Join us!
For returning students, the class will include both new projects and some review.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Saturday Sketching
In this magical experience, students will bring a forest fairy tale to life using markers and colored pencils. They’ll create a series of six enchanting illustrations united by a common theme, with a focus on color, composition, and texture.
As they delve into the world of fairy tales, students will learn how to combine markers and colored pencils to produce vibrant and imaginative artwork. This class will spark creativity, enhance drawing skills, and introduce new techniques for using these materials to capture the magic of the forest!
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
A Forest Fairy Tale
See objects and space in a new light while discovering creative techniques to bring your drawing style to life.
Explore how to add depth, light, shadow, and perspective to your drawings with colored pencils.
Focus on beginning your art journey and achieving impressive results along the way!
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Creative Effects with Colored Pencils
All are welcome to attend a performance of Schola Cantorum with Juilliard415, conducted by Schola's principal guest conductor Masaaki Suzuki.
Repertoire:
JS Bach Köthener Trauermusik, BWV 244a
Free and open to the public.
View event page for more details.
Schola Cantorum is a chamber choir that performs sacred music from the sixteenth century to the present day in concert settings and choral services around the world. It is sponsored by Yale Institute of Sacred Music and led by interim conductor Stefan Parkman. Masaaki Suzuki is the ensemble’s principal guest conductor. Open by audition to students from all departments and professional schools across Yale University, the choir has a special interest in historically informed performance practice, often in collaboration with instrumentalists from Juilliard415.
Yale Schola Cantorum presents: Klagt, Kinder – Köthener Trauermusik
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
Creativity meets skill development for young artists!
Students will learn representational drawing and painting through observation of real objects and images. They’ll explore color theory, texture creation, and value with pencils, pastels, watercolors, and tempera. The focus is on developing eye-hand coordination, drawing skills, and fostering creativity in a supportive environment.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Junior Artists
New and experienced students will focus on making pottery on the wheel.
Start by using methods of wedging, centering, hand and finger positioning for raising a vessel, and positioning one’s body for dealing with a mass of clay on the wheel. Demonstrations will cover the importance of trimming techniques and various forming processes.
Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Techniques for Wheel Throwing
Learn how to make a clamshell box–a box that looks like a book, especially when set on a shelf. The design can be easily adapted in shape and size to accommodate a wide range of objects from prints, small objects, or books. Students will to the pieces and construct the two-tray cloth-covered box accented with decorative paper. Many of the basic bookbinding techniques will be taught such as measuring, cutting, and gluing.
No experience necessary. Intermediate students may work on independent box projects.
Plus receive one 3-hour monitored open bench session each week.
Introduction to Boxmaking: The Clamshell Box
Develop your pottery skills as you focus on wheel-throwing techniques in stoneware and porcelain. Lessons will cover both functional and decorative pottery with emphasis on classical forms as we know them. Students will be shown how to apply glazes and/or oxide washes to achieve desired results, such as combining glaze colors and the application of wood ash to create unexpected effects on their work. Wear clothes that can get dirty. Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27 and firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only. Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Intermediate and Advanced Pottery
Learn basic metalsmithing for making jewelry, developing new skills, or strengthen existing ones. Weekly demonstrations introduce tools and techniques required for working with nonferrous sheet metal and wire. Demonstrations may include sawing, filing, cold-connecting, soldering, surface embellishment, forging, shaping, fold forming, finishing, and patina coloring.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $40 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Metalsmithing/ Jewelry
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Join Yale Consort for a service of Vespers. The Office of Evening Prayer, according to the current Roman rite and sung in Latin, will include a range of music from Gregorian chant to 8-voice polyphony.
Vespers with Yale Consort
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Explore and create your own series of linoleum prints in this engaging class.
The instructor will guide students in developing original designs and preparing a linoleum block for inking and printing. The process of carving and printing a 4” x 6” block will be demonstrated, along with a variety of inking and printing techniques. Examples of linoleum prints will be available for inspiration.
This course welcomes both beginners and advanced students. All inks are water-based and easily cleaned with soap and water. Students may purchase their own paper or additional blocks after the first session.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours.
Exploring Linoleum Block Printmaking
Dive into the creative process of monotype printmaking using direct drawing, stencils, and masking techniques.
This hands-on class introduces innovative approaches to printmaking, allowing students to create bold, dynamic images with clean lines and striking contrasts. Whether you’re an artist looking to expand your skills or a hobbyist seeking a new creative outlet, this class provides the tools and knowledge to make stunning prints.
Students will design and customize stencils from a variety of materials and explore layering techniques in inking to create complex, multi-colored prints. Topics include working with gel plates, screen printing, and plexiglass monotypes. No prior experience is required.
Includes one 3-hour practice session per week during monitored practice hours.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Introduction to Printmaking and Beyond
Want to try something new? Build your existing skills to grow ideas in a stimulating group of intermediate and advanced potters. Individual projects are encouraged, with demonstrations designed to inspire new ways of looking at throwing, hand-building, and overall design.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Pottery Beyond The Basics
Learn the various approaches to creating metal sculptures, including welding (oxyacetylene and MIG), brazing, cutting (torch and plasma cutter), hammering, and more.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours.
Students should wear 100% cotton long sleeves, jeans or work pants, and closed-toe boots. No synthetic mesh, plastic, or cloth.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $40.
All Levels Metal Sculpture
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Using both hand-building techniques and the potter’s wheel, participants learn the foundational skills needed to create basic ceramic cups, bowls, and floral containers. As students refine these skills, they will work on more complex projects. This will enable them to combine techniques, push their creativity, and practice creative problem-solving.
Glazing, slips, and other surface treatments will be explored. There will be instructor demonstrations and individual consultations. Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours on a first-come, first-served basis.
Afternoon Clay
Etching, a classic intaglio printing technique, involves incising lines into copper through a protected surface and then “etching” them in acid—a method dating back to Dürer and used from the Renaissance to modern times.
This class introduces environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional etching featuring different types of water-based inks, Baldwin’s Ink Ground (B.I.G) and Lascaux grounds, and coffee-lift techniques.
Some products used in this class may be irritating to highly sensitive people.
Includes one 3-hour practice session per week during monitored practice hours.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Greener Intaglio/Etching Techniques
If you are interested in making ceramic pieces for the home, this class is for you.
Making functional pots is important to all levels of students, whether you throw pots on the wheel or prefer to build by hand. Students will learn ways to modify forms to create pieces uniquely their own.
Classes will include various techniques for pot making as well as considerations pertaining to each form. Surface treatments including engobes, stains, and glazes will also be covered.
Both teacher demonstrations and one-on-one student instruction will occur each week.
Wear clothes that can get dirty.
Pottery tool kits are available for sale in the studio for $27. Cash or check only.
Firing fees are $3/pound. Cash or check only.
Making Functional Pots
Learn basic metalsmithing for making jewelry, developing new skills, or strengthen existing ones. Weekly demonstrations introduce tools and techniques required for working with nonferrous sheet metal and wire. Demonstrations may include sawing, filing, cold-connecting, soldering, surface embellishment, forging, shaping, fold forming, finishing, and patina coloring.
The tuition for this class includes a fee of $40 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Metalsmithing/ Jewelry
Explore the creative possibilities of clay by shaping and molding it into one-of-a-kind works of art. Working with clay helps young people develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and emotional expression through hands-on activities. Above all, clay sparks imagination, encouraging children to think creatively and express themselves in new ways. The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW. School Policies Students who withdraw 48 hours prior to the first class are eligible for a refund or credit toward another class, less a $25 registration fee. Please click here for more details.
Adventures In Clay
Paws and Pixels is an exciting new course designed for young artists who want to create animal drawings using Procreate. Starting with the basics, we’ll guide students through sketching techniques and gradually move on to more advanced, realistic animal illustrations.
Throughout the course, students will learn how to observe and analyze animal shapes and proportions, replicate different textures like fur, glossy skin, and more, using Procreate’s powerful features. As they advance, students will explore techniques like blending modes, clipping masks, and blur effects to add depth and realism to their art.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW
Paws and Pixels
Show up for your creative self in 2025 with the Saturday Drawing Club.
Explore weekly prompts and materials combined with a mix of conversation, creative time, and feedback. Bring an ongoing project or start from scratch.
Tuition for this class includes a fee of $10 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Saturday Drawing
Would you like to explore watercolors? Feeling unsure or out of practice? You can do it!
Watercolors are a whimsical and simple way to explore ideas, make memorable sketches of your travels or daily life, and develop visual self-expression.
Students will learn about materials, look at examples, create color studies, make thumbnail sketches to generate ideas and compositions, and develop sketches and paintings that explore color, line, shape, texture, and more.
Whether you enjoy landscape, still life, abstract, or contemporary art, you will have the space and support to develop your style and learn helpful techniques to help you on your creative journey.
Watercolor for Beginners
Do you love keeping a journal or planner? My Digital Diary is a fun and creative class where you’ll learn how to make your own stylish digital journal! Using digital sketching techniques on Procreate, you’ll create beautiful illustrations to capture your thoughts, hobbies, and habits.
In this class we’ll create graphics, illustrations, and character designs that reflect your personal style – making your diary fun to look at and use.
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
My Digital Diary
Explore and develop designs for relief, intaglio, and monotype printmaking in this hands-on course. Class time will focus on creating original designs and concepts as students experiment with print plate substrates, including Corian®, Tetra-Pak®, vinyl records, and various recycled and found materials. Examples of different print styles will be shared to illustrate these techniques. This course is suitable for beginners and advanced students alike. The inks used can be cleaned up with soap and water, and students will need to bring their own paper for the first session. Includes one 3-hour weekly practice session during monitored practice hours. Tuition for this class includes a fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW including Linoleum blocks and black and white ink.
Experimental Printmaking
In this magical experience, students will bring a forest fairy tale to life using markers and colored pencils. They’ll create a series of six enchanting illustrations united by a common theme, with a focus on color, composition, and texture.
As they delve into the world of fairy tales, students will learn how to combine markers and colored pencils to produce vibrant and imaginative artwork. This class will spark creativity, enhance drawing skills, and introduce new techniques for using these materials to capture the magic of the forest!
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
A Forest Fairy Tale
See objects and space in a new light while discovering creative techniques to bring your drawing style to life.
Explore how to add depth, light, shadow, and perspective to your drawings with colored pencils.
Focus on beginning your art journey and achieving impressive results along the way!
The tuition for this class includes a materials fee of $20 for basic materials provided by CAW.
Creative Effects with Colored Pencils
Come March 1 as we build a hive in Marquand Chapel with The Chapel in the Hive.
Performers:
Joseph Campana, poetry
Kurt Stallmann, music
The Chapel in the Hive is a forty-minute live performance featuring poet/scholar Joseph Campana and composer/performer Kurt Stallmann, who drawing from history and natural history and reflecting on them through literary and electro-eco-acoustic techniques. The audience will be immersed in sound, words, and images that evoke and render palpable the long history of human devotion to bees. A post-concert discussion about bees and biodiversity loss will follow this event.
The Chapel in the Hive begins with two potent moments of apian sacrality. The first comes from Charles Butler’s The Feminine Monarchie (1607), a natural history and husbandry text full of lore and reflection. The chapters are full of practical bee knowledge, meditations on the political organizations of hives, and the first articulation that a queen bee ruled the hive. Amidst these scientific and philosophical reflections, Butler narrates a wonder as he tells the story of bees that built a chapel in their hive to celebrate the Eucharist. The second draws from longstanding Buddhist attention to bees, for example, from a dharma talk by Thai forest tradition teacher Ajahn Chah, whose teaching draws an extended parallel between the bee and the fly. Whereas the bee prefers the sweetness of flowers, the fly only attends to the carcasses of the dead, indicating its gruesome attachment to materiality (in the form of rotting flesh).
Moreover, Buddhists more broadly celebrate the capacity of the bee to be nurtured by flowers and other forms of life without destructively extracting from the world around them as they seek sustenance. This attention to the symbiotic relationship between bees and their environs and their mutual thriving contrasts with one of the more famous proverbs of the era of Charles Butler (“Pro Bono Malum” or goodness and virtue repaid with ill) as bees were victims of human extractive practices. The labor of bees produced sweet honey and valuable wax appropriated, often violently, by the greed of humans. The performance moves toward a consideration of what it means to strike a new equilibrium with bees, and perhaps find a new sacrality in nature, in our age of biodiversity loss.
A post-concert panel discussion will follow the event.
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the ISM’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
The Chapel in the HIve
We invite families to join us for folktales, myths, and exciting stories from around the world that highlight objects in the collection and inspire children of all ages to view art in new ways.
Meet by the couches in the Gallery lobby.
Stories and Art
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Join us to draw or paint from a live nude model. The 3-hour session includes mixed-length poses. These are monitored “open drawing” sessions; there is no instruction.
The course runs monthly on the first Tuesday of the month. Session Dates: 1/7/25, 2/4/25, 3/4/25
Figure Drawing
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual, and Resilience aims to explore the profound and intricate intersections of religious, ecological, and expressive themes through the works of four Chicago-based artists: Joanne Aono, Karen Azarnia, Jon Seals, and Michelle Wasson. Envisioned as an artistic conversation that transcends traditional boundaries, the exhibition is designed to encourage contemplation and dialogue, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to explore.
As an artist and farmer, Joanne Aono explores the intersection of nature and the cultural significance of food sovereignty across communities, drawing on humanity's historical reliance on the earth for survival. Through large drawings on agricultural fabric and small panel drawings depicting foraged foods and cultivated plants, Aono conveys themes of impermanence, the passage of time, and the interconnectedness of life, emphasizing the essential care needed for the holistic sustenance of the Earth and its elements.
Through painting, Karen Azarnia explores themes of time, home, memory, and natural life cycles. Navigating the delicate balance between abstraction and representation, works from her Verdant series are characterized by lushness and generosity – an act of care for the viewer. The work seeks to inspire renewal and resilience, drawing parallels between the meditative rhythms of nature and the painting process.
Employing a unique mixed-media approach, Jon Seals utilizes materials directly harvested from environmentally shifting landscapes. The symbiotic exchange with the soil, water, and plant life is evident in artworks created through pouring, dipping, and combining hand-drawn and painted elements. The integration of water sourced on-site deepens the artist's connection with the land and sea.
Michelle Wasson's paintings serve as a sensual refuge, intuitively created from memory and imagination. Her canvases, flowing between landscape, still life, and the figurative, portray surreal planes where divine vessels evoke the power of nature to create, destroy, and create anew, offering a reflection of our shared humanity in the natural world.
While each artist in Symphonia offers a distinct viewpoint embodied through their own uniquely built worlds, together these worlds intertwine to culminate into something much larger. It is through this simple yet powerful act of shared connection in which Symphonia ultimately seeks to inspire a renewed sense of environmental consciousness, and a commitment to preserving the sacred harmony within our world.
Free and open to the public.
Exhibition co-curated by Karen Azarnia & Jon Seals.
This exhibition will be on view at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Miller Hall at 406 Prospect Street, New Haven from January 23-March 6 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12-4 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for an opening reception for this art exhibit on Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Sacred Music’s Religion, Ecology, and Expressive Culture Initiative.
Contact: Anesu Nyamupingidza
Art credit: Michelle Wasson: Golden Lacuna, Aurea Nova Series, 2023
Art Exhibit: Symphonia: Dialogues of Landscape, Ritual and Resilience
Join us on the first Friday of the month for a one-hour, in-person tour of the Leslie P. and George H. Hume American Furniture Study Center at the Collection Studies Center, Yale West Campus. See more than 1,300 examples of American furniture and clocks from the 17th century to the present in this facility, which opened in 2019, as well as an outstanding collection of contemporary wood art.
Registration required.
Furniture Study Highlights Tour
Join us for our family program Getting StARTed, where we offer engaging activities to guide families in looking at art together. The 30-minute sessions focus on a range of works from the collection and build in time for participants to try the month’s activity on their own.
Meet by the couches in the Gallery lobby.
Getting StARTed
Arts in Mind is a free monthly program for individuals with Young-Onset Alzheimer’s or in the early stages of memory loss, along with their care partners. This online program connects close looking at art from the Gallery’s collection with art-making opportunities. Art supplies used during the session may include pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons (oil pastels), watercolor set, sketch pad, copy paper, and notebook.
Closed captions will be available in English.
Registration required; to register, or for more information, contact the Gallery’s Education Department at yuag.education@yale.edu or 203.436.8831.
Arts in Mind
Founded by Emmy-nominated Choreographer, Chloé Arnold, SYNCOPATED LADIES is a ground-breaking mixed-media concert featuring a diverse all-female cast celebrating sisterhood, the power of joy, and tap dance! Created for theatergoers of all ages, it is an electrifying one-of-a-kind dance and storytelling experience. Get to know the ladies as they each share their inspiring journeys to reach for their dreams through the art of tap dance. With fierce footwork and spectacular pop concert production, the ladies leave audiences motivated to pursue their dreams with courage, determination, and love, no matter the obstacles.
Syncopated Ladies Live!
A mansion. A murder. A mystery.
Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench?
CLUE is a hilarious new play based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game.
This ultimate whodunit is a fast-paced slapstick comedy that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.
CLUE
A mansion. A murder. A mystery.
Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench?
CLUE is a hilarious new play based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game.
This ultimate whodunit is a fast-paced slapstick comedy that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.
CLUE
A mansion. A murder. A mystery.
Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench?
CLUE is a hilarious new play based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game.
This ultimate whodunit is a fast-paced slapstick comedy that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.
CLUE
A mansion. A murder. A mystery.
Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench?
CLUE is a hilarious new play based on the fan-favorite 1985 Paramount Pictures movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game.
This ultimate whodunit is a fast-paced slapstick comedy that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.