Art classes and workshops at the Sedona Arts Center

For more scholarship information, policy updates and to apply: CLICK HERE

Have you ever felt intimidated by the stark white of a canvas on your easel all ready to receive its first brush stroke? How do I begin? Where do I start? How do I make my best painting out of the beautiful but busy scene I’ve selected to paint? How do I make sense of it all? Even experienced painters sometimes stress about these things. Ed will show you how by demonstrating and guiding you in the fundamentals of plein air painting among the magnificence of Sedona.

Drip, pour, drag, layer, heat, and incise! Investigate the ancient medium of encaustic painting in this very hands-on workshop using pigmented wax, and a heated palette! Explore a rich variety of marks and surfaces while doing image transfer, etching, and collaging in this seductive medium. This introductory workshop will guide you through the basics of fusing, paint application and its possibilities, collage, stencils and going beneath the surface with line work and scraping.  Class time will be divided between demonstrations and individual work time.  We will also touch on proper studio ventilation, wax safety, and how to “finish” artworks in terms of framing and care.  Students will leave with multiple finished pieces and the understanding of proper studio set-up. This class is suitable for ALL levels!

This two-day intensive workshop is designed for artists who have had some experience in encaustics, are fluent in the basics, or have taken a previous Introductory Workshop. Students will be encouraged to develop their voice with this medium through landscape painting with individual attention and studio time.  Students will also learn how to transfer landscape sketches and techniques specific to encaustic for building up surface and interpreting form, color and light. We will work towards making work that demonstrates a style emerging or a particular interest.  Students will leave feeling accomplished and inspired!

Are you drawn to the beauty and versatility of pastel but don’t know where to start?  This crash course is for you. We will have pastel demonstrations, exercises, and plenty of at-easel encouragement.  Learn how to block in a design, underpaint using a wet wash, experiment with a variety of pastel surfaces and materials.  With an emphasis on achieving correct values, colors, and shapes you will create an exciting floral still life and leave the workshop with skills to begin your pastel journey.

Explore the vast potential of ceramics in this six-week course, ideal for students looking to develop, strengthen, and advance their pottery skills in a playful environment. Working with the potter’s wheel, slab roller, extruder, texture tools, and more students will experiment with functional and decorative techniques, turning their creative ideas into tangible works of art.

In this specialized class, students will learn the technique of creating plaster hump molds, an invaluable method for producing consistent, functional pottery forms such as plates, bowls, and vessels. We’ll explore how to design and create custom one-part molds, focusing primarily on utilizing the pottery wheel to produce repeatable shapes.

Whether you’re stepping onto the potter’s wheel for the first time or looking to build your confidence and refine your skills, this class offers a welcoming and supportive environment to explore the art of wheel throwing. Designed to accommodate both true beginners and those with some wheel experience, you’ll learn the fundamentals of wheel throwing, including centering clay, shaping forms, trimming, and pulling handles to create cylinders, bowls, mugs, and plates.

• This talk is in connection with our Element of Sport exhibit coming in April 2025.
• Free admission. Please register so we know how many to expect.
• Location: Special Exhibitions Gallery at Sedona Arts Center

Sport – and the competition, teamwork, and entertainment it invokes – may be as old as humanity’s origins. It’s a universal phenomenon that transcends time and geography, one that brings people together in the spirit of both sportsmanship and shared cultural experience. This lecture surveys a range of artworks that examine the intersection of sports, community, and identity, highlighting how athletic events have shaped and reflected societal values throughout history.

Students will carve an original sandstone sculpture using stone, tools, and all necessary equipment provided in class!  Dennis Sohocki has been a professional sculptor for almost 50 years and has sold his work throughout the U.S. and internationally.  He has created numerous monuments and has several sculptures in museums.  Students in this class will create whatever they like after learning general sculpting techniques. Each student is encouraged to have fun, make art, and enjoy the process as well as the finished sculpture!

Joan Roberts has been creating distinct wearable art pieces with metal clay for 2 decades. She will share techniques, methods and a few secrets to successful creation of jewelry pieces. Silver Clay is a mixture of microscopic particles of silver, distilled water and a non-toxic organic binder. When fired the silver sinters into a solid piece of “fine silver.”  Participants do not need past experience in metal work or other clays to be very successful.

This class is divided into two mornings so pieces can be finished and loaded into a kiln at the end of the first day and finished and polished on the second. Participants will be provided with enough clay to create up to two pairs of earrings or a pendant.

Many artists employ sketchbooks to capture journaling exercises and inspire finished pieces of art.  This expressive class will utilize collage to create uniquely personalized sketchbooks in one continuous story that unfolds over fanning pages like an accordion rather than a traditional book.  Students find this class and book form to be highly inspirational in creating momentum, flow and artistic storytelling.

In this two-day class you will be given a Seawhite of Brighton Concertina Sketchbook to create an unfolding story emerging over the pages of the book.  We will use acrylic paints, inks, markers, colored pencils, charcoal and carbon pencils, wax crayons, paper pieces, handmade papers, stencils, cloth, scraps and other materials using water-based adhesives to create colorful sketchbooks.

Join us to experience an introduction to the exciting world of alternative finishing techniques. This crash course workshop is great for a first time clay experience or for the experienced potter to explore a number of new finishes. We will be using non-traditional finishes such as Raku, Saggar, and Obvara to create beautiful surface results.

We will meet on two consecutive Sunday’s, the first, to create our pieces and the second to fire them.

Learn to create expressive, impressionistic, and bold soft pastel paintings.  See how you can illuminate the shiny skin and rich darks of plump, juicy cherries. Build stronger colors. Define lively style with stems that sway. Have fun layering creamy dots that enhance your background and establish harmony in your final painting.

Beads are made of so many extraordinary materials. In this beginning  jewelry making class, we will explore the basic skills to make your own beaded necklace and earrings.  Only the finest materials are provided. Supplies include beads of black onyx;  AZ Jasper;  Shells; Tiger Eye; Turquoise; Amethyst; and many more stones.  Crystal  beads in many sizes and hues are also available to add  a bit of sparkle!

You will leave class with a necklace and pair of earrings of your own chosen materials. There is a simple design , or choose  a more complex  design for those of you with some experience.  A gift and memory of your magical class at the Sedona Arts Center with a teacher who loves the art of beaded jewelry.

Would you like to paint more, draw more, or work in mixed media? Would you like the art you already make to “loosen up”? Be more refined? More bold? Need how-to instruction? Inspiration? Permission to play? Enjoy a sense of community?

Whether a beginner, a repeat student or a seasoned artist, this course is designed to spark your creative juices in an environment that’s conducive for exploring and expanding your painting chops. Using your choice of oils, acrylics, watercolor and/or pastels, you can bring your own fine art project, start fresh or follow instructor-led prompts for this 3-day workshop that’s filled with personalized guidance, inspiration, questions, answers and fun.

Learn the fascinating art of Shibori dyeing!  In this workshop, we’ll explore three different Shibori resistance dyeing techniques; Kumo, Arashi, and Itajme. You will take home three Indigo dyed cotton pieces for your use.

The workshop will begin with a brief history of the art of Shibori, followed by a demonstration of the three simple, basic methods of folding, binding, and using twisting methods to create unique patterns on the fabric. For the class we will use traditional permanent Indigo dyed cotton. Bring long latex gloves!