Are you inclined to make art? Perhaps you used to paint like a mad woman, but then your job and your children took up all your time? Being a career artist can be an absolutely terrifying prospect, and thus many of us give up our art penchant quite early... like around the first grade. However, art can be an extraordinarily rewarding way to spend your time and gain a sense of leisure. It is productive, expressive, and (sometimes) beautiful. Crafts, such as furniture-making, can even be functional. Occasionally art can even be a lucrative endeavor. A good number of people are going back to school later in life to start Masters in Fine Arts programs. Even if you cannot devote several years to learning, there are numerous shorter arts workshops for you to perfect your skills or pick up something new.
Here is a list of ten art programs for adults.
- Idyllwild Arts, Adult Arts Center, Idyllwild, CA. Idyllwild offers weekend courses as well as 30-hour ongoing courses. There are also numerous other art-related activities such as presentations and gallery shows.
- Haystack Mountain, Deer Isle, ME. Haystack offers workshops on clay, glass, metals, paper, blacksmithing, weaving, and woodworking.
- Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC. Penland offers "one-, two-, and eight-week workshops in books & paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking and letterpress, textiles, and wood."
- Art New England Summer Workshop, Bennington, VT. This program permits you to mix-and-match three one-week sessions in all sorts of media.
- North Country Studio Workshops, Bennington, VT. This is a very small and intimate program that is is currently planning its next set of workshops for January, 2012.
- North Bennett Street School, Boston, MA. With a strong focus on trades and crafts, this program also has workshops on such things as instrument-making.
- Women's Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY. Specifically targeted towards women, this program focuses on visual arts with studios for printmaking, papermaking, ceramics, letterpress, photography, and book arts. They offer both summer arts institutes and community workshops.
- Anderson Ranch, Aspen CO. Anderson offers year-round workshops in ceramics, sculpture, photography, new media, painting and drawing, printmaking, woodworking, furniture design, etc.
- Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA. This program has summer programs, an adult MFA, and much more, including performance arts.
- Artspace, Raleigh NC. Artspace has adult summer arts program, with a strong focus on visual arts. They also have numerous childrens' and college- prep courses if you want to rope your children into your new adventure.
I would like to extend a big thank-you to my father, career-artist Brian Cohen, for his help with this list. Do you know of any art programs you would like to suggest?
