You can craft personalized holiday gifts in Jewelry Making and Metalsmithing.

Learn a new artistic skill with our hands-on classes in ceramics, fiber arts, movies, painting and more

Sometimes a little guidance can help open the door to a new artistic pursuit, making life richer as a result. Studio School provides a chance to find your muse, your skills and your artistic footing, offering a wide range of disciplines and topics geared to different levels of experience and interest. Most of all, Studio School is a ton of fun, taught by supportive, patient expert artists who know the joy and satisfaction of creating new works. With more space on our new campus, the fall lineup continues Studio School’s expansion into new practices and areas.

“These type of classes are a big hit,” said Jaime Thompson, director of Education and Public Programs. “They show that art is for everyone.”

Fiber Arts classes range from loom weaving to thread painting. Photo by Vikki Penix.

Fiber Arts
Get the point with Artistic Embroidery: Painting with Needle and Thread, a basic embroidery class that will cover the magic of thread painting. Participants can choose favorite photographs for inspiration, then use textile materials instead of paints to create cloth-based landscapes and portraits suitable for framing. There’s even more fabric fun to be had with Experimental Costume Sewing and Sewing Fundamentals, plus a variety of weaving options: Intro to Floor Loom Weaving, Intro to Frame Loom Weaving, Intermediate Frame Loom Weaving and Wall Weaving.

In addition, one class will teach how to save damaged clothing with tastefully designed patches, pockets and other tricks for rehabilitating that favorite pair of jeans.

“We've got a couple of fiber classes including my favorite, which I've taken,” Thompson said. “That's how much I like it – it’s called Visible Mending, and the instructor, Darci Lenker, is a phenomenal fiber artist.”

A guitarist shoots fire out of a guitar neck while speeding through the desert.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

Art and Ideas
Watching movies doesn’t have to be a passive pursuit — understanding themes, acting and directing styles, film history and other key elements can lead to a richer viewing experience. The instructor of How to Watch Movies, James Cooper, has written and offered insight about movies at both a scholarly and journalistic level for years, and whether he is talking Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt or George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, he teaches how to see films in a new light.

“I think, especially now with so many of us getting access to these amazing arthouse films from Netflix or Hulu and all these other locations, it's important for us to learn how to talk about it, or even just to do the research,” Thompson said. “When you watch a movie and you sit there going, ‘I know there's something deeper to this, but I'm stuck,’ this class will really help you think about that film in a different way.”

Drawing Fundamentals will help students achieve greater accuracy in their sketches.

2-D Media
Like to doodle and want to get to the next level? Drawing Fundamentals will teach how to block-in forms, achieve shape accuracy and proportion, harness light and shadow and other essential drawing skills. Don’t stop there, though: For next-level classes, check out Drawing with Experimental Materials and Watercolor Landscapes or for a quick hit of knowledge on a frequently misunderstood form, check out the quickly approaching Thursday Night Late workshop on Abstract Works.

“I think Drawing Fundamentals always sells out; the instructor is phenomenal – folks really love him,” Thompson said of instructor Chris Brizzard. “We're also offering a watercolor landscape class which I think is so wonderful to have in time for the fall when you get the leaves changing colors.”

a set of jewelry cuffs rests on a metal block with tools

Learn to create jewelry using traditional tools.

3-D Media
Instead of shopping for jewelry, try making it! In Intro to Jewelry Making and Metalsmithing, instructor Taylor Martin will teach essentials like texturing metals, sawing, soldering, ring sizing, stone setting and finishing. Use your skills to create a jewelry side hustle or just make your friends and family happy during the holidays. In other classes, you can turn ordinary walls into extraordinary works of art with Mural Mayhem or take a workshop on making your own cutting board.

A ceramic piece is created on a potter's wheel. Photo by Stephanie Montelongo.

Ceramics
Mold yourself into a great ceramicist with a huge selection of classes starting with Beginning Ceramics, in which Marissa Childers teaches hand building techniques like pinching, coiling and manipulating slabs of clay. Liz Parham covers similar ground in Ceramics for Teens, and both classes culminate in introductions to the potter’s wheel. For those with the fundamentals already in place, sign up for Beginning Wheel Throwing with David Stevens or Joe Cox or try your hand at Intermediate Hand Building: Texture and Decoration or Intermediate Wheel Throwing.

Learn to create new compositions with Introduction to Songwriting. Photo courtesy Creative Commons.

Performance
Ever listen to the radio and think, “I could write a better song than that”? Introduction to Songwriting, taught by Jacob Frost, teaches the basics of song structure, melody, chord progressions, dynamics and lyrics, putting students one step closer to being the next Max Martin, Diane Warren or Ryan Tedder — or, at the very least, achieve a greater understanding of how hit makers work. Frost also teaches Oklahoma Contemporary Composers, which will study some of the great music currently being made in this state.

Discover the basics of art coverage with Writing About Art.

Literary Arts
With their expert analysis and eye for detail, arts writers help contextualize art, film, music and performance. Writing About Art, taught by Jezy Gray, provides insights into the processes of arts writers, from pitching stories to conducting insightful interviews. Acclaimed working writers like Jessica Hopper will join via Zoom to talk about their work and what is involved in writing illuminating articles about the art we love. This class, among others, shows how Studio School is constantly growing its class schedule.

“I'm really excited about how we're expanding the type of things we can offer within Studio School,” Thompson said.