I Solisti di Vashon
Grades: 9-12 (younger by special permission)
Mondays, Sept 12-January 30 | 5:15-6:30 pm (skip school breaks/holidays)
Tuition: $295 General | $275 Member
Instructor: Gaye Detzer
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

I Solisti di Vashon is an advanced string ensemble for high school students (8th graders by special permission). The repertoire is chosen from the great classical composers and from contemporary popular music. 

Improv II/III
Ages: 16-Adult
NEW DATES - Mondays, Oct 10-Dec 5 | 7-9 pm (skip Oct 31)
Tuition: $250 General | $230 Member
Instructor: Mik Kuhlman
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

A deeper dive into physical improv focused on ways to incorporate the body while adding verbal repartee and wit. Students must have taken Mik’s Improv class or have instructor permission to register. Contact mik@mikkuhlman.com with questions.

Kids Clay Lab
Ages: 7-12
Wednesdays, Oct 12-Nov 2 | 4:15-5:45 pm
Tuition: $115 General | $105 Member (includes $25 materials fee)
Instructor: Laurie Thorpe 
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

Join us for this exploration of hand-building clay techniques and learn to pinch, coil and slab-build. Projects will include animal sculptures, personalized mugs, food (donuts, cakes/pies, ice cream cones), and things that make noise (bells and whistles).

Improv I
Ages: 16-Adult
NEW DATES - Wednesdays, Oct 12-Dec 7 | 7-9 pm (skip Nov 23)
Tuition: $250 General | $230 Member
Instructor: Mik Kuhlman
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

Explore the spontaneous creation of theatre and short form improv with one of Vashon’s most talented actors. Learn to work with spatial awareness, balance and body centers as you build characters and develop group dialogue. A fun class for students with or without experience. Mik Kuhlman has performed and taught in over 500 schools, universities and art centers throughout the US and abroad.

Monster Knitting!
Ages: 9-12
Wednesdays, Oct 19-Nov 16 | 4:15-6 pm
Tuition: $155 General |$145 Member (includes $20 materials/snack fee)
Instructor: Rachel Keil
Location: Blue Heron Classroom

Learn the basics of knitting, how to cast on and the knit stich. You'll sew the knitted piece together and add buttons and fabric to create your knitted friend. Materials and snacks provided.

Resin Art
Ages: 15 to Adult
Saturdays, Oct 22 & 29 | 1-4 pm
Tuition: $110 General | $100 Member (includes $20 materials fee)
Instructor: Alisara Martin
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

Explore the rich colors and textures of paint and resin pouring as you develop paintings on panel using layers of paint, pigment, mica powders, and resin. These satisfying materials allow you to follow your intuition and watch your abstract come alive.

Owl Study: Science and Art 
Ages: 15-Adult 
Tuesday, Oct 25 | 6:30-9 pm  
Tuition: $45 General | $40 Member 
Instructors: Vashon Nature Center and Britt Freda 
Location: Blue Heron Gallery 

Discover the world of owls! Vashon Nature Center will begin the workshop by sharing information about our nocturnal raptor neighbors on Vashon, including their unique characteristics, habitat requirements and adaptations for survival. In the second section of the workshop Britt Freda will lead a drawing class on owls utilizing the physiological characteristics presented by VNC to guide our anatomical and mythological understanding of this legendary bird species.  Britt Freda’s work can be seen in VCA’s Heron Meadow at the Audubon Climate-Threatened Bird Mural, in museum exhibitions on Environmental Impact and in galleries and private collections.  Britt’s award-winning work is a part of the permanent collection at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.  

Songwriting with Hope
Grades: 3-5
Thursday-Saturday, Nov 3-5 | 10 am-2 pm
Celebration and performance: November 5 | 1:30-2 pm
Tuition: $180 General | $170 Member
Instructor: Havilah Rand
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

Did you know that researchers have found that hope is a belief that is teachable, measurable and one of the greatest predictors of well-being? Spend time exploring your own sense of hope, what you believe is needed for a better future for the world and pathways for achieving these goals. Then craft your discoveries into songs and create an album of hope to share with your community.

Poetry of Place – online workshop
Ages: 16-Adult
Saturday, Nov 5 | 10 am-1 pm
Tuition: $50 General | $45 Member
Instructor: Jodie Hollander

This online workshop will focus on the significance of place in poetry. Place may be defined as a geographical location, an internal state, or perhaps a poetic meeting of the two. Using the unique and extraordinary surroundings of Vashon Island as inspiration, this workshop will lead students through a series of writing prompts to ultimately create an original draft of a poem. In addition, the class will center around how to structure and develop poems and the creative process that is involved.  Jodie Hollander's debut full-length collection, My Dark Horses, is published with Liverpool University Press in the UK and Oxford University Press in the US. She currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Creating with Cashmere
Ages: 13-Adult
Tuesdays, Nov 29-Dec 13 | 6:30-8:30 pm
Tuition: $135 General | $125 Member (includes $35 materials fee)
Instructor: Jessica Kennan
Location: Blue Heron Classroom

Get creative with cozy cashmere! Make a neck-warmer and select a cashmere sweater (there will be plenty to choose from!) with a few holes in it to artfully repair and keep. Class will include information on how to wash, de-pill, and protect your cashmere and wool clothing, and additional information for tackling any creative mending project. Each student will also go home with a clothes moth trap and a sweater stone for keeping your cashmere soft and smooth. Hot tea and warm cashmere provided!

Clay Vessels
Ages: 16-Adult
Tuesdays, Jan 10-Jan 31 | 6:30-8:30 pm
Tuition: $150 General | $140 Member (includes $30 materials fee)
Instructor: Laurie Thorpe
Location: Blue Heron Gallery

Learn techniques to make functional vessels, such as cups, small pourers and bowls. Explore coil-building, slab construction, and Kurinuki - a traditional Japanese hand-building method of carving out of a single block of clay.

Knitting Just Beyond the Basics: Fingerless Mittens/Handwarmers
Age:13-Adult
Tuesdays, Jan 17-Feb 28 | 6:30-8:30 pm (skip Feb 21)
Tuition: $170 General | $160 Member
Instructor: Rachel Keil  
Location: Blue Heron Classroom

Do you know the basics of knitting and want to branch out? Learn how to knit with double pointed needles, use more than one color, and create simple designs with knit and pearl stitches as you make fingerless mittens or handwarmers for winter (a great project for scrap yarn!) Materials list provided upon registration.

Writing and Critique
Ages: Adults
Thursdays, Jan 19-Feb 16 | 6:30-8:30 pm
Tuition: $140 General | $130 Member
Instructor: Tavi Black
Location: Blue Heron Classroom

Discover the importance of having readers for your writing in this beginner to intermediate class. Set up in a writing critique group format, we will read each other’s work and learn to gently make suggestions. What makes a work speak to readers? How can we revise to make work better? What are Beta Readers and what difference can they make to developing a manuscript? How can we learn to hear opinions without taking it personally? Students should currently have writing they are working on—it can be fiction or nonfiction, as long as it is in narrative form. We will also do in-class writing exercises. Come with pen and paper or a computer as well as an open, creative mind. Tavi Black’s debut novel, Where Are We Tomorrow? was the 1st place winner of the 2016 PNWA Mainstream Fiction Contest and was a finalist in the 2021 NYC Big Book Award.