› Arts Education Classes

Family Clay Lab
Ages: Adults, teens and kids
Saturday, Sept 25 | 2-4:30 pm
Tuition: $40 (tuition includes $5 fee for materials)
Instructor: Laurie Thorpe
Location: Blue Heron

Join us for an afternoon of family fun and make creative cups to sip warm tea on cold nights. All ages welcome – kids 10 and under should sign up with someone older.

Musical Theatre: The Addams Family
Grades: 6-12 (proof of vaccination required)
Mon and Wed, Sept 13-Nov 17 | 3-5 pm AND Sat, Nov 13 | 9 am-noon
Additional rehearsals during tech week
Performances: Thurs-Sat, Nov 18-20
Tuition: $495
Instructors: Marita Ericksen, Lisa Peretti and Elise Ericksen

Join us for this partnership between VCA and Drama Dock, in a production that celebrates the wackiness in every family! Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family whom her parents have never met. She confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before– keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents. Speaking/singing roles for 20 students.

I Solisti di Vashon
Grades: 6-12 (proof of vaccination required)
Mondays, Sept 13-Dec 6 | 5:15-6:30 pm (skip school breaks/holidays)
Tuition: $205
Instructor: Gaye Detzer

I Solisti di Vashon is an advanced string ensemble for high school and middle school students. The repertoire is chosen from the great classical composers and from contemporary popular music.

Kids Clay Lab
Ages: 8-12
Thursdays, Sept 23-Oct 14 | 4-5:45 pm
Tuition: $115 (includes $20 materials fee)
Instructor: Laurie Thorpe 
Location: Blue Heron Backyard

Join us for this exploration of hand-building clay techniques and learn to pinch, coil and slab-build. Projects will include jack-o-lanterns, autumn leaf plates, mushroom houses, and colorful Coho salmon.

Musical Theatre: The Addams Family Lead Class
Grades 6-12 (proof of vaccination required)
Thursdays, Sept 16-Nov 18 | 3-5 pm
Tuition: $220
Instructors: Marita Ericksen, Lisa Peretti, Elise Ericksen

Dive deep into musical theatre in this intensive class required for students with lead roles in the Addam’s Family production. Class includes intensive 1:1 instruction in voice and dance, refinement of blocking and acting techniques, and close collaboration with other leads and the directors in a small-group setting. Students will also work on character development and scene study, learning techniques that can be applied to multiple genres on the stage.

Photographing the Spirit of Animals
Ages 9-13
Wednesdays, Sept 15-Oct 13 | 4:00-6:00 pm
Tuition: $150 (includes $25 materials fee)
Instructor: Annie Marie Musselman
Location: Outside Field Trips

Explore new ways to photograph animals and learn about photographers who have captured their images in beautiful and interesting ways. Class will include field trips to local farms and each student will create a hand-made visual diary of their images. Students will have the opportunity to display their work in a Blue Heron Gallery show. Annie Marie Musselman is dramatically inspired by the human-animal connection. Her award-winning books chronicle this subject: Finding Trust (Kehrer Verlag Germany) and Wolf Haven (Sasquatch-Random House). Musselman’s work has appeared on the covers of Audubon, Smithsonian, and Outside magazine and inside The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic among others.

Improv
Ages: 16-Adult (proof of vaccination required)
Mondays, Oct 4-Nov 22 | 7-9 pm
Tuition: $210
Instructor: Mik Kuhlman
Location: Blue Heron

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.

Set Design and Building Intensive: Addams Family
Grades: 6-12 (proof of vaccination required)
Tuesdays, Oct 5-Nov 9 | 3-5 pm (skip Oct 19) AND Nov 13 | 12 pm -5 pm
Tuition: $180
Instructor: Gunnar Johnson

Have you wanted to work behind the scenes of a production? Now’s your chance! Put your creative thinking skills to use building a set for the Addams Family production! Learn the global history of technical theatre, essential stagecraft terminology and scenic artistry skills. Gunnar Johnson has been involved in technical theatre for years as a production assistant at Tacoma Little Theatre.

Filmmaking 101: Telling a Visual Story
Ages: 12-18 (proof of vaccination required)
Wednesdays, Oct 6-Nov 17 | 3-5 pm
Tuition: $195
Instructor: River Branch
Location: Blue Heron

Explore the fundamentals of filmmaking—from image composition to sound design, from narrative structure to cinematography, from scripting and storyboarding to editing. Learn the skills necessary to bring your ideas to life and translate them to the screen. Class culminates in screening of your short film for family and friends. River Branch, a filmmaker and associate professor of film has worked in filmmaking and visual storytelling on a local, national and international scale for over twenty years.  Her belief in the ability for stories to generate connection, understanding and transformation drives the core of her work.  

Fundamentals of Subtractive Sculpture 
Ages: Adults (proof of vaccination required)
Thursdays, Oct 7-Nov 4 | 10 am-12:30 pm 
Tuition: $205 (includes $30 materials fee) 
Instructor: Cyra Jane 

Learn the tricks of successful subtractive sculpture, working in plaster, a relatively soft and satisfying material to carve. Explore patterning, faceting, and 3D visualization techniques that are applicable to carving a variety of materials - from more plaster to wood to marble and basalt. Cyra Jane is a multi-media wielding powerhouse known best for her surreal stone carvings and large-scale community installations. She has been the recipient of a number of grants through Ignition Northwest and 4Culture and a scholarship to Pratt Fine Arts Center, where she is now a stone carving instructor. 

Writing Your Own Story 
Ages: 16-Adult (proof of vaccination required)
Thursdays, Oct 7-28 | 7-8:30 pm 
Tuition: $90 
Instructor: Shauna Ahearn 

Gather together in a community of supportive students as you work to write your own story. Class will include free writing, allowing yourself to write lousy first drafts, editing, working with structure, and revising until you are satisfied. Students will receive writing prompts via email each day as well, to inspire writing. Shauna M. Ahern has published 5 award-winning books, including her latest, ENOUGH: Notes from a Woman Who Has Finally Found It. She loves teaching writing and living on Vashon.  

Around the World with Friday Arts Lab
Grades: K-2
PDD Fridays: Sept 10, 24, Oct 8*, 22, Nov 5, 19, Dec 3, 17 | 1:45-3:45 pm (*Oct 8 - 12:45-3:45)
Tuition: $270 (tuition includes $50 materials/snack fee)
Instructors: Joy Ghigleri and Christine Nelson
Location: Blue Heron Backyard

Take a journey on our magical map and explore different cultures through story, drama, and art. Decorate Japanese Geta clogs as we learn the story of Mako in “A Pair of Red Clogs”, travel to the Spanish countryside to create beautiful paper flowers for Ferdinand the gentle bull to sniff, play all night long under the midnight sun in the Artic Circle, and go for a ride in Pattan's giant pumpkin in India. Students will decide where the magic carpet heads next! 
Our Friday Arts Lab series provides enriching, creative activities on Chautauqua Professional Development Days (PDD). Students take the bus to VCA after school on PDD early release days and pick up is at 3:45 pm. Materials fee includes snack and art supplies. Friday Arts Lab is open to homeschoolers as well.

Friday Arts Lab: Art of Printmaking - WAITLIST
Grades: 3-5
PDD Fridays: Sept 10, 24, Oct 8*, 22, Nov 5, 19, Dec 3, 17 | 1:45-3:45 pm (*Oct 8 - 12:45-3:45)
Tuition: $270 (tuition includes $50 materials/snack fee)
Instructor: Caroline Rockey, with assistant Phoebe Ray
Location: Kay White Hall Breezeway
Dive into the world of printmaking and transform your ideas onto paper and other surfaces. Experiment with cutting stencils and creating lineoleum block prints to make holiday cards and colorful, unique wrapping paper. Create a superhero drawing to trace and silk screen, resulting in a three-colored, layered print using traditional acid free paper and ink. Practice with textiles, printing your favorite stencils from the class onto a cotton cloth, shoulder bag and lunch box. 
Our Friday Arts Lab series provides enriching, creative activities on Chautauqua Professional Development Days (PDD). Students take the bus to VCA after school on PDD early release days and pick up is at 3:45 pm. Materials fee includes snack and art supplies. Friday Arts Lab is open to homeschoolers as well.

Oil Painting Intensive - WAITLIST
Ages: 16-Adult (proof of vaccination required)
Friday, Oct 15 | 7-9 pm  
Saturday, Oct 16 | 9 am-4 pm  
Sunday, Oct 17 | 9 am-3 pm 
Tuition: $310 
Instructor: Pam Ingalls 
Location: Blue Heron Education Center

Learn to paint in the Russian Impressionist tradition from one of Vashon’s most talented and prolific painters. Watch Pam paint a demonstration with Q & A on Friday evening. Learn to paint still life and/or portraits Saturday and Sunday. Materials list provided upon registration. Bring a sack lunch. Pam Ingalls’ award-winning work has been exhibited throughout the US, Europe and Africa, and juried into more than 125 national and international shows. She has been featured in Southwest Art Magazine, American Art Collector and American Artist magazine.  Questions: pam@pamingalls.com 

Creating and Handling Digital Files
Ages: Adult (proof of vaccination required)
Saturday, October 23 | 9 am-1 pm
Tuition: $60
Instructor: Terry Donnelly
Location: Blue Heron

Join this how-to workshop for beginners, artists and anyone wanting to learn basic digital imaging techniques. Learn best practices of how to handle, resize and transmit digital images for social media, web sites, publications, artist’s calls for entries. Workshop includes lecture, demonstration and discussion. Terry Donnelly has eight books with extensive collections of his photography. His photos appear in numerous calendars, books and cards by Sierra Club, Audubon, Reiman Publications, American Greetings, Hallmark and National Geographic Books.

Intro to Portraits and Lighting
Ages: 13-Adult (proof of vaccination required)
Saturday, Nov 6 | 1-5 pm
Tuition: $75
Instructor: Rick Dahms
Location: Blue Heron

Notable photographer, Rick Dahms reprises his popular class on composition and lighting—the art of telling a story through portraits of people. Learn to set up portraits using different light sources - including natural light, artificial constant and strobe - to gain skill with each. Rick Dahm’s pictures have been published worldwide; he’s won numerous awards including nominations for a Pulitzer and Magazine Cover of the Year. His client list includes Forbes, ESPN, Rolling Stone, Wired, Sports Illustrated, Time, Gourmet, Oprah, Disney, Adidas, Chrysler, Chevron, State Farm and Microsoft.