Public Classes & Workshops
Public Classes & Workshops
Join us in person for single-session courses focused on decorative art techniques and other handcrafts. Proceeds benefit programming for people living with visible and invisible disabilities. Cost of individual registration: $75.00
All transactions final.* Face masks must be worn at all times while inside the facilities. Proof of vaccination is required prior to entry.
Questions? Contact learn@alphaworkshops.org or call 646-692-8091
Schedule
Class Descriptions
Decoupage
Decoupage is a traditional method of applying paper cutouts to new or refurbished objects. Learn how to enliven and revive objects around your home in this simple and fun way. In this workshops, we will be working on applying decoupage to new objects and combining with special paint effects. A great gift choice for this holiday season! All materials provided.
Holiday Ornament Gilding
Using the age-old technique of gilding, the process of applying paper-thin metal sheets onto a variety of objects, participants will gild festive ornaments that will make special gifts for friends, family, or for yourself! All materials included.
Holiday Greeting Cards
Create your own personalized hand-made cards for this holiday season! Using hand-made stencils, stamps, and paint, participants in this workshop will create 4 attractive cards for friends or family. All materials provided.
*In the event of class cancellation without possibility of rescheduling, refunds will be available.
Previous Workshops
Decorative Glazing Techniques: Ragging
“Glazing” is a decorative painting technique that requires the use of different tools like brushes, sponges, cloths, or combs to obtain specific decorative effects on surfaces such as walls, canvases, or furniture.
This introductory afternoon workshop will focus on ragging, a technique that employs a cloth rag, wax paper, or tissue paper to apply or remove either thinned paint or a tinted, semi-translucent glaze medium to or from a surface in one or more layers. Higher contrasting colors of ragging are frequently used for accent walls, cabinets, and doors, while lower contrasting colored ragging is attractive in living rooms and bedrooms.
The student’s “rag of choice” will be applied to a high grade 12” x 15” piece of wallpaper that students will prepare with a water-based varathane varnish as a sealant, allowing the paper to dry flat and the glaze technique to be applied smoothly. At the class completion, participants will have 2 finished sample pieces reflecting their color and rag choices.
Decorative Glazing Techniques: Sponging
“Glazing” is a decorative painting term that refers to the use of tinted translucent or semi-translucent glaze mediums in one or more layers to create interest and a sense of depth on walls, furniture, or even ceilings. By using different tools like brushes, sponges, cloths, or combs, beautiful backgrounds and visual textures can be created to enhance an interior.
This introductory workshop will focus on sponging, a basic technique that employs a natural sea sponge in a stamping motion – turning the wrist and the sponge between dabs to apply (or remove) the glaze evenly to or from a surface to create appealing, colored textures ranging from very fine to coarse. Multi-colored sponging is often seen in delicate textures in foyers, bathrooms, children’s rooms, and more bold textures in casual kitchens, bistros, and boutiques.
Participants will learn how to prepare a high grade 12” x 15” piece of wallpaper with a water-based varathane varnish as a sealant, allowing the paper to not warp and their sponging techniques to be applied smoothly. Participants will complete 2 finished sample pieces of their color preferences and combinations by end of class.
Decorative Glazing Techniques: Strie
“Glazing” is a decorative painting term that refers to the use of tinted translucent or semi-translucent glaze mediums in one or more layers to create interest and a sense of depth on walls, furniture, or even ceilings. This early evening introductory workshop will focus on strie, a technique using a bristle brush in a dragging motion through a translucent or semi-translucent glaze in one or more layers.
Participants will apply this strie technique to a high grade 12” x 15” piece of wallpaper that they will first seal with a water-based varathane varnish, allowing the paper to dry flat and the glaze techniques to be applied smoothly. At completion of these two hours, participants will have 2 sample pieces, one illustrating straight strie and the other a linen or denim effect.
Fooling the Eye with Faux Bois (Wood Graining)
This is a beginners’ class where the various uses and techniques of wood graining are discussed and demonstrated for the student to easily learn. Using water-based paints, glazes, and easy-to-find tools, students will learn techniques to render oak, pine, and mahogany grains.
Insight Drawing
The InSight Drawing Method, originally developed by two-time Prix de Rome winning sculptor, Susan Smyly, is known to radically increase hand, eye, and brain co-ordination. Anyone willing to follow this structured method can quickly learn a masterly level of observing and rendering what they see. Students frequently attest to enjoying this centering process and the coherent influence on their thought process as a consequence.
Making Faces
Drawing is a key skill for all fine and decorative artists. This beginner workshop examines how an artist approaches the process of visualizing the face on a page. Artists will be encouraged to bring in face-front or three-quarter-profile images to use as a basis for their drawings.
Origami: The Art of Folding Paper
Like a musical composition or a living sculpture, origami lets one ‘perform’ an exquisite shape while adding individual creativity, just like a musician performing a sonata, or a sculptor shaping clay. Participants will learn the basic geometrical forms and techniques of paper folding, then let their own creative impulses flow as they bring birds and animals to life in paper.
Weaving
Hand-weaving is the traditional way to produce cloth all over the world. This textile art can be learned and practiced by people of all ages and skill levels. “Weaving” introduces participants to the basics of this ancient and rewarding technique. Alpha’s resident weaver will acquaint students with the essential ideas, tools and techniques of working with yarn, looms, and shuttles. The class will view examples of woven cloths styles and completed fine weavings, then progress to practicing basic weaving skills on small hand-held looms. In addition to their newfound knowledge, participants will take away reference materials for future discovery and their own weaving samples.