This course explores the use of ceramics within a mixed media context to explore the full potential of the figurative form. From working with the live model to more contemporary approaches exploring figurative sculpture, students will learn a variety of ceramic techniques as well as exploring clay within a mixed media context. Students will learn about a number of firing and finishing options, building skills and taking new risks. Students will have access to MICA’s state of the art ceramics studio and a wide range of ceramics materials including different types of clay, slips and glazes.

In this course, students work from live nude models to investigate the technical challenges and expressive potential of a range of drawing media and approaches. In addition to investigating the human form, students work through a progression of drawings that investigate how different approaches to the figure can address mood, spirit, intensity, viewpoints, and emotion. Students will produce a portfolio of figure drawings that range in style from traditional to more contemporary and conceptual approaches that embody a student's personal artistic vision.

Monotype Printmaking is an exciting journey of creativity and self-discovery; every print is a masterpiece waiting to be revealed. This course invites artists to explore, experiment, and uncover multiple forms of expression. This course is for you if you're drawn to vivid colors and designs. Through technical demonstrations and a study of printmaking's history and contemporary artists, students will uncover the myriad possibilities of printmaking. They will receive guidance through individual and group critiques, helping them develop a unique thematic body of work for their portfolio. This course is designed to accommodate both novice and experienced artists and is accessible to students who may not have taken a printmaking class before.

Students will learn techniques such as fabric dyeing, wet felting and weaving in order to create expressive and meaningful sculptural artforms. Working in MICA's well equipped Fiber Arts center students will have the opportunity to learn professional processes, use state of the art equipment and combine their unique artistic vision with fibers' special expressive quality.

Interdisciplinary art uses a combination of art forms and explores a multifaceted approach to making. What is the piece doing? Does it tell a story? Evoke a feeling? Focusing on several concepts, students who take this course are encouraged to investigate the relationship between form, material, process and personal expression .Students may work in a variety of forms such as sculpture, performance art, collage, fiber, fashion, installation, video and photography as they learn to develop personally significant directions for making work and building a cohesive themed portfolio.

Illustration tells a visual story, provides visual interpretation, or creates a visual explanation of a narrative, concept, or process. Illustrators create images for posters, flyers, magazines, books, animations, and video games. Students in Illustration apply approaches to contemporary illustration as a means for creating or supporting a narrative/story. Students consider issues of character development, sequential imagery, storytelling genres, and the relationship between text and image. Final portfolios include a range of work exploring different illustration markets and genres.

Animation students explore image, motion, character, and narrative storytelling through traditional hand drawn techniques. Students in this course will be challenged to create work from their personal experiences and will work both independently and collaboratively. Portfolios will include concept drawings, storyboards, and completed short animations.

Type, image, composition, color, and concept, are among the essential tools used by graphic designers to solve visual challenges. Graphic Designers create posters, websites, logos/branding, product packaging, and signage. Students in this course will utilize the Adobe Creative Cloud software to take on real-world design industry challenges. Students will find their own voice as they develop designs with commercial, social, public, and political impact. Assignments will emphasize the use of symbols, sequential design, the integration of imagery, typography, and conceptual thinking. Final projects contain fully realized and executed designs that combine innovative solutions through their personal voice as a designer.

This course explores the use of wheel throwing in ceramics as a process of innovation and exploration. Students will explore how the potter’s wheel can be used as a tool and as a jumping-off point for questions about form, function, design and the potential of ceramics in sculptural applications. Students will learn about a number of firing and finishing options, including Raku firing. They will build skills and refine existing ones, creating more inventive, larger and more complicated forms. Students will have access to MICA’s state of the art ceramics studio and a wide range of ceramics materials including different types of clay, slips and glazes.

Students will explore unique alternative photography printing processes such as cyanotype, salt prints, photograms and pinhole images. They will also have the opportunity to be introduced to the magic of analogue photography through demonstrations involving the large format camera and tintype process. Working in MICA's well equipped and state of the art analog and digital facilities, students will get a chance to experience all that alternative processes have to offer and create unique portfolio pieces.

People interact with objects and places on a daily basis. From museums, to parking meters and subways- objects and places can be interacted with in many different ways. In this course students will evaluate what artists and designers do to improve and challenge public spaces. Students will think critically about the purpose of objects and places and how they can be context to develop new designed objects and places. Working in various scales from handheld to life size, students will learn product design methods, 3D printing, laser cutting and receive hands-on experience in prototyping methods, and computer-aided drawing (CAD) in MICA's digital fabrication studio.

This course focuses on building proficiency for painting the human figure. Working from a live nude model, students will learn proportion and anatomy and how to use oil paint to explore formal and expressive elements of form, texture, movement, color, and composition. Students will produce a portfolio that includes ambitious artwork that confronts the demands of large-scale format painting, portraiture, narrative painting, and the intensity with which paint expresses ideas.

Animation students will explore image, motion, character, and narrative storytelling through 2D digital techniques with an introduction to stop motion. Students will be challenged to create work from their personal experiences and will work both independently and collaboratively. Portfolios will include concept drawings, storyboards, and completed short animations.

This course focuses on building proficiency for painting the human figure. Working from a live nude model, students learn proportion and anatomy as well as paints formal/expressive elements such as paint form, texture, movement, color, composition and their application to the execution of student's personal artistic vision. Students produce a portfolio that includes ambitious artwork that confronts the demands of large-scale format painting, portraiture, narrative painting, and the intensity with which paint expresses ideas. Students will work primarily with acrylic paints in this 2-week course.