Students of all skill levels can explore their creative interests and improve their artistic skills in non-credit art classes and workshops offered by Continuing Studies at Ringling College’s Studio + Digital Arts program, June 14–September 8. Intergenerational classes welcome adults and high school students, ages 15+. Teen Studios are open to students ages 12–18, or entering 7th through 12th grades.

Some of the many options include animation, ceramics, digital arts, filmmaking, drawing, character design, photography, writing, painting, mixed media, creature creation, illustration, figure drawing, portfolio development, and more. Classes are at the Ringling College Museum Campus (1001 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota), the Ringling College Main Campus (2700 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota), and online. Registration is open now with early registration savings until May 15. For more information and to register, visit ringling.edu/SDA/, or call 941-309-5111.

“S+DA courses are designed to inspire you to creatively explore through experimentation in new techniques, and to refine your skills for portfolio and professional application,” says Diane Zorn, Continuing Studies education program coordinator. “Sharing artistic interests, these classes are ideal for aspiring artists just beginning their creative journeys, as well as for practiced artists seeking inspiration and camaraderie.”

Zorn notes that students can explore traditional art techniques, refresh existing skills, and master new methods in studio and digital media. “Now more than ever, it’s important for people to find community and connect with others,” she says.

Some highlights of the semester include:

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  Ceramics: Hand Building to Wheel Throwing, and more: Students new to working with clay will learn the basics of hand building, beginning with pinch pots, coil pots, and moving into soft and hard slab construction skills and techniques. Students new to the wheel will begin with clay preparation, centering, and simple cylindrical forms. Completed pieces will be bisque fired, glazed, and finish fired. All skill levels are welcome. Students with experience will have individual instruction in more advanced hand-building techniques. Ceramics classes are designed for all audiences.
• Mural Project: So, You Want to Be Banksy? Learn the steps to propose and execute your own mural project. Define your audience and obstacles. Create a miniature mural in acrylic. Be bold, present your work, and enter the public art sphere with confidence. Intergenerational audiences are welcome.

• Creative Writing: Comics & Graphic Novel; Writing Horror; Video Games & Design; and Fantasy & Science Fiction. Your imagination has infinite ideas. Take one or all of this series of Teen Studios creative writing classes to pair words and pictures together to tell an immersive story. Learn the secrets of successful comic scripts; spend time exploring and reading fearful fiction, and then pen your own suspenseful tales of terror; write tales of wonder and adventure in fantastical worlds; or play video games while studying the fundamentals of video game storytelling and design—one of the hottest new training techniques in development.

• Digital Arts: Creature Concept Art; Design for a Cause: Social Awareness Poster; Digital Painting in Photoshop; Gig Poster connecting music, illustration, and design. These are just a few of the hybrid projects brought to Teen Studios this summer. In-person, hybrid, or online, students will work in both traditional drawing and digital drawing and painting methods to create with purpose. Try one or a series of these classes to build your toolbox of techniques.