Taking classes on our campus in Uptown affords the opportunity not only to explore the arts, but also to meet new neighbors and immerse yourself in the Sedona arts community.
Ongoing instruction and Crash Courses are available in painting, watercolor, photography, mixed media and ceramics at discounted prices.

• Gretchen Lopez teaches Painting For All Levels on Fridays, July 19 and Aug. 9 and 23. Learn to gain the confi­dence to be a painter. From the beginning to the experienced student, this one-day class in oil or acrylic will guide and teach students how to approach the painting process with confidence, while exploring the basics of value-pattern, composition and color. Students may work from life and/or photos. Instructor demonstrations and lots of individual attention will be provided. Students should take a drawing class prior to attempting painting.

• Lopez also offers Basics of Painting Crash Course on Saturday and Sunday, July 20 and 21. All materials are included in this two-day crash course. Get to know brushes and how they can work for you with a bolder and looser approach to painting. If you want to loosen up and learn to build your skills of observation, this crash course is for you. Learn how simple shapes and a limited palette of color can help build a landscape. Students will leave with small studies and a finished painting, and also with the inspiration to paint more. With materials included all barriers have been removed so that you can explore the fun of painting. All you bring is yourself and clothing that you could get paint on.

• Melanie and Brian Gold will host Fun with Art and Wine on Friday, July 26. Bring friends and have a painting party. This is a fun two-hour adventure for those who like wine but may know nothing about making a painting. Join Melanie and Brian Gold in creating a acrylic painting on canvas in a step-by-step process. Local landscape subject matter and a surprisingly fool-proof process lead to fun, laughs, more wine and the painting is finished and suitable for framing. Class is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wine will be available to participants 21 years and older only. Cost is $35 includes all art materials to complete a painting. This class also takes place Friday, Aug. 16.

• Dennis Ott will offer Ceramics For All Levels beginning Monday, July 29, and continuing through Monday, Sept. 2. The Monday class is reserved for experienced ceramicists; beginners are welcome in Ott’s Tuesday or Wednesday classes.

The Sedona Arts Center’s ceramic department operates free from the constraints of grades and benefits from the talents of its ceramic faculty and assistants as well as nation­ally recognized guest instructors. This combination allows our department to offer flexible and diverse programming in both traditional and contemporary techniques. Through demonstration and one-on-one instruction, students will learn to throw a variety of forms on the potter’s wheel or techniques to create hand-built works. Slab roller, extruder and forms are also available to create functional and decorative pieces.

Tuition includes the first 25-pound bag of clay, firings and glazes, and one open studio session per week, and the first bag of clay. Additional bags of clay may be purchased during class for $30 per bag which includes glazing and firing fees. Enrolled students may also participate in one open studio session per week.
Class schedules are Mondays, July 29 through Sept. 2 for advanced students; Tuesdays, July 30 through Sept. 3 for all levels; and Wednesdays, July 31 through Sept. 4 for all levels.
Suzy Allan will lead Hand Building Ceramics beginning Tuesday, July 30, and continuing through Tuesday, Sept. 3. This course is six class sessions and six open studio sessions. The Sedona Arts Center’s ceramic department operates free from the constraints of grades and benefits from the talents of its ceramic faculty and assistants as well as nationally recognized guest instructors. This combination allows the department to offer flexible and diverse programming in both traditional and contemporary techniques.

Come play in the clay and tap into your creative self and experience various hand-building techniques. Make bowls, boxes, sculptures, tiles, using slabs, molds, and textures. The possibilities are endless. Open to all levels, beginners are welcome. Tuition includes the first 25-pound bag of clay, firings and glazes, and one open studio session per week. Additional bags of clay may be purchased during class for $30 per bag which includes glazing and firing fees. Enrolled students may also participate in one open studio session per week.

Art workshops at Sedona Arts Center offer an intensive experience that will provide inspiration and information to distill and practice for months and even years afterwards. A wide variety of disciplines and mediums are offered with a special focus on studio and plein air landscape painting, mixed media and abstraction. Workshops are appropriate for all levels of students and are presented through demon­strations, individual instruction and group presentation. Instructors are experts in their field; experienced teachers with national recognition.

• Cas Holmes will offer Textile Books: Layers, Lines, and Image on Friday through Sunday, Sept. 6 through 8. Art always makes reference to other images and narra­tive. For our purposes, you can use an old book, maps, and found printed materials as a starting point to create a new works. The materials, text, and references will help to inform the content, as will our processes, from layering and cutting techniques through to stitch, dye, and print. During this workshop, participants will make small personal works with narrative, meaning, and humor. Low-tech methods will transform raw mate­rials and found objects into textile art. Simple drawings staining and coloring of cloth and paper, cutting, pasting, stitching, and collage will be our primary tactics to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. The class will make a book, but this is not a book-binding course.

The focus will be on found materials. Holmes will also provide a small pack of specialist conservation papers, low-tack tape, and paste for student use. Suitable for artists who enjoy taking time for experimental discovery. Holmes enjoys introducing the serendipity of found materials into the art-making process, helping each student have a unique experience and create unique art.

• Ann Brownfield Meara will offer Meditation to Creation on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 17 and 18. At this workshop, find inner guidance to create something beautiful in addition to reflecting, writing and art making, you will also learn and practice the ancient art of meditation. Out of mediation, profound creative insights arise.

Creativity is a process of allowing. It begins with an inner spark, which you feed, develop and actualize. Creativity must be nurtured into being. It can be both magical and astounding. But it arises when we relax enough to invite it in. Coaxing forth its flow, a wellspring of creative solutions bubble to the surface. Inner wisdom helps us initiate skillful, creative action. Freeing the mind through meditation creates the ground for equanimity, that fertile state where brilliance breaks free.
No prior art, writing or meditation experience is neces­sary. Just the willingness to be more creative, more inspired and more productive. Come if you wish to learn something lasting; something beautiful while allowing your creativity to be nurtured. Scholarships are available and will pay 50% towards any class or workshop tuition. Scholarships are not available for international field expeditions or painting in the Grand Canyon. The Sedona Arts Center awards scholarships to students only when funds are available.
The Fine Art Gallery is issuing a call to artists through Wednesday, July 31. Artists are invited to submit a portfolio and application to be juried into the Members Fine Arts Gallery. Submissions are accepted once annually, July 1 through 31.

The Sedona Arts Center Fine Art Gallery is a consign­ment venue for artists to display and sell their art who are at the Individual level ($60) or higher. Art sales support both the artists and SAC’s many educational programs. For the Gallery, marketability is a priority. Creative approaches and content are always valued; and superior craftsmanship is an absolute necessity. Our clientele are looking for fine art gift items, such as functional stone­ware, hand blown glass, as well as paintings, jewelry and other two-dimensional art.

Sedona Arts Center is one of Northern Arizona’s most well-established cultural organizations and serves as the creative heart of Sedona. Founded in 1958, the nonprofit organization is based at the Art Barn in Uptown and offers year-round classes, exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events that enhance the creative life of the Verde Valley.
The Center’s Fine Art Gallery, open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., promotes the original works of over 100 local artists and regularly offers special assistance for collectors and art buyers, offers private studio visits, and fosters hundreds of arts education opportunities each year. More information is available by calling the Gallery at 282-3865 or the Administrative offices at 282-3809, or visiting SedonaArtsCenter.org.