At Sedona Arts Center, creativity is meant to be experienced. Our classes and workshops — from iPhoneography and oil painting to sculpting, stained glass, ceramics, and pottery for teens and beginners — are designed to be welcoming, hands-on, and inspiring. Whether you’re exploring something new or building on existing skills, you’ll learn from working artists in a supportive environment that values curiosity, craft, and creative joy — all in the heart of Sedona.
Watercolor Crash Course with Betty Carr
April 6, 2026, Monday, 10am-3pm
This class welcomes beginners who have some drawing experience and want to learn how to paint with watercolor, as well as the more experienced painters who want to learn more watercolor techniques.
Our class will focus on the “how to’s” of brushes, mediums, paper, seeing and painting light on form, understanding temperatures of light and shadow, and working with edges in painting a variety of subjects. I’ll be demonstrating exciting ways to create effects in watercolor using impressionistic, painterly brushwork. How to paint in watercolor using glazing and textural techniques, incorporating frisket (don’t worry if you don’t know what that is – you will find out and it’s fun), and applying a value sketch will be covered. When completed, we will all have painted some exciting and beautiful watercolors.
Amazing Gel Prints: Working with Stencils with Elizabeth St Hillaire
April 13, 2026, 10am-5pm
Based on her book of the same name, Elizabeth St. Hilaire will teach you how to achieve complex gel prints through layering. Learn to build layers with stencils over solid colored sheets with initial prints and ghost prints. Create pastel colors with layers of pattern that stay light in color. Combine stencil patterns with foam stamping, mark making, and texture. Add watery washes and spatter for even more pattern and color that soaks all the way through the sheet. Experiment with one pull prints where you build up multiple layers on the plate and pull them all at once. Enhance your prints with glitter or sparkly foil effects, the cherry on top! Elizabeth has been teaching gel printing for over 20 years and she still gets excited every time she pulls the paper off the plate! Come and learn in a fun environment where you are encouraged to ask questions and enjoy the process.
Fabulous Friday & Florals with Elizabeth St Hillaire
April 14–16, 2026, Tuesday — Thursday
Be inspired by beloved Mexican painter Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón aka Frida! You do NOT need to know how to draw faces, I will teach you a photographic transfer technique that works like magic in order to start with a good proportional likeness.
Portrait emphasis will be on creating an acrylic encaustic effect background, transferring your drawing directly from a photo print-out, and shading black pastel line-art by rubbing with your fingers. Add a fabulous floral crown inspired by photo reference or your imagination and hand-painted papers created in class through the gel printing process.
Floral collage emphasis will be on utilizing gel printed papers to develop form through light and shadow. Hand painted papers will be glued down over a basic acrylic under-painting to create impressionistic painterly collaged florals for Frida’s crown or a bouquet. Paint your own collage papers, print local leaves, learn mark making, and more!
Rag & Bone: Assemblage of Box Shrines with Melinda Rasch
April 18–19, 2026, Tuesday — Thursday
Bring your junk…your stuff…your treasures, that you’ve been collecting and living with forever and create something new and incredible! In this workshop, we will be transforming a plain box into a shrine of surprises with your favorite personal items. Think “out of the box” when choosing which found items to include as part of your shrine. Move beyond the expected and familiar into new territory. Then bring your most precious finds and imagination to class, and we’ll put them all in a box.
Using a combination of mixed media techniques and materials, including paint, paper, collage, metal pieces and scraps, stone, trinkets, bits and pieces, and some creativity, we’ll assemble and adorn our boxes, transforming the ordinary into a new story.
The Joy of Painting: A Bob Ross Class with DJones
April 22, 2026, Wednesday, 1-4pm
Tap into your inner artist and experience the joy of painting — Bob Ross style! In this fun, hands-on workshop, a Certified Ross Instructor will guide you step-by-step through creating your own landscape masterpiece using traditional Bob Ross wet-on-wet oil techniques. Learn how to paint happy little trees, soft clouds, and serene mountain scenes in just three hours.
All materials are included, and all skill levels are welcome — no experience needed! Ages 12 and up can participate with an adult, making this a perfect creative outing for families or friends. Come paint, relax, and discover just how happy art can be.
Pastels Plus with Nori Thorne
April 23, 2026, Thursday
This class will jumpstart pastel beginners with a toolbox full of tips and tricks for better pastel paintings. There will be pastel demonstrations, fun warm-up exercises, and plenty of at-easel encouragement in Pastels Plus. You will experiment with different underpainting techniques, explore mark-making and layering with hard and soft pastels and try out a range of pastel surfaces. With an emphasis on achieving correct values, colors, and shapes you will create an expressive raven portrait and leave the workshop with skills to continue your own pastel journey. No drawing skills necessary – just a love of color and sense of adventure!
Watercolor Unleashed with Julie Gilbert Pollard
April 29 – May 1, 2026
Wet & Wild! Using a combination of watercolor and gouache (gouache is optional) learn to paint water that looks wet, reflective, and splashy. With a stunning creek scene as your model, paint water as it cascades, then splashes around and over the rocky streambed. Techniques will be demonstrated to address the various puzzles with which the artist is faced when painting this stunning, fascinating and challenging subject!
Scholarships are an important part of Sedona Arts Center. It has a long history in providing students in need of financial assistance, the ability to hone their skills and creative talents. Art classes and workshops also allow an emotional break from daily life and offer social interaction with fellow lovers of art. We are proud to offer our scholarship program, with the help of The Kling Family Foundation, The Ceramics Scholarship Fund, and the Debbie Winslow Scholarship Fund, which allow us to continue this long standing opportunity.
Our mission is to connect, enrich, educate and lead through the inspiring power of the arts and creative discovery.
Sedona Arts Center (SAC) is a cornerstone of Northern Arizona’s cultural community and serves as the creative heart of Sedona. Founded in 1958, this nonprofit organization is based in Uptown Sedona and offers year-round classes, exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events that enrich the artistic life of the Verde Valley.
NO SALES TAX – FREE PARKING – UPTOWN SEDONA
Sedona Arts Center is a 501(c)3 organization that offers all purchases without sales tax (an almost a 10% savings!)
