Put some pizzazz in your outdoor dining with these elegant, delightful small bites. Learn how to make scrumptious Smoked Salmon Mousse, classic Cowboy Caviar, savory Artichoke/ Goat Cheese/Red Pepper Spread, creamy Pimiento Cheese and Chips, spicy Marinated Olives, Herbed Parmesan Breadsticks and finish with a decadent sweet. Recipes and full meal included.
Please bring a place setting.
$39 member, $46 non-member, includes $18 for materials.
Instructor: Susan Evans
Morrison Center
See how easy and inexpensive it is to make your own facial steams with herbs, cleansing grains and creams, wonderful masques, including alpha hydroxy, herbal toners and astringents, and a rich creamy moisturizer that contains far more nutrients and anti-oxidants for your skin than anything available commercially.
You’ll also learn how to make a profoundly healing cream for damaged skin and premature wrinkling. Learn a few tricks for blemishes and how to make a creamy, healing lip balm.
Take home an extensive handout, bag of steaming herbs, a month supply jar of moisturizer and a pot of lip balm. After using the moisturizer from class you and your skin will never again be satisfied with anything less.
$54 member, $61 non-member, includes $30 for materials.
Instructor: Christina Blume
Put you traditional HB pencil aside for a moment and explore the possibilities of non-traditional carbon-based materials and give the priority to dark wash pencils, graphite dust, carbon dust and charcoal. Explore various papers as well as other kinds of supports and grounds, learn about fixatives and blenders. You will be using trees as your subject matter: leaves, bark, fruits and nuts, and whole trees from up close and from a distance. During the course of this project-oriented class you will find out the graphite medium that suits you best and create a finished drawing – or perhaps two – with beautiful, rich continuous tone. Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I, Pencil II
*Wed., Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 9 a.m. - noon
Instructor: Karla Beatty
Imagine growing vegetables and fish together in your backyard! Now imagine that there are no weeds, no watering, no fertilizing and heavy, dirty labor – and the plants are growing at table height for easy access. Aquaponics is a new, organic way of growing plants using fish waste as plant food. In this hands-on class you will learn everything you need to know to set up and successfully operate your own Aquaponic Garden.
Sylvia Bernstein is the President and Founder of The Aquaponic Source, the leading U.S. based company focused entirely on the home aquaponic gardener, and the author of “Aquaponic Gardening: A Step by Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together”. She also runs the Aquaponic Gardening Community, the largest online community site dedicated to aquaponic gardening in North America, and is the Vice Chairman of the Aquaponics Association. She teaches and speaks extensively about aquaponics and its exciting potential.
$95 members, $110 Non-Members
Instructor: Sylvia Bernstein
Less is more. Traditional Japanese masters developed tray landscapes so a single tree in its miniature landscape could represent the whole universe. In this class you will first learn about the thousand year history of bonsai from a bonsai specialist. You will work from a real bonsai using Coptic sketching pens and learn to use pen and ink as a loose medium. Combining watercolor washes and layered underpainting with pen and ink, you will develop a detailed mixed media illustration. With lots of individual guidance you learn to draw complex miniature 3D forms in a non-traditional way and in your final plate you’ll have captured bonsai details through suggestion.
Registration begins December 12, 2011. Class will appear sold out until then.
Fee: $192 member, $245 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I, Pen and Ink I and Color Mixing for Artist
*Tue., June 5, 12, 19, 26, July 3, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Marjorie Leggitt
Expand your watercolor repertoire. Colorful autumn leaves are your playground as you explore new techniques and materials to create artistic leaf studies. With a focus on painterly effects, you’ll experiment with dabbing, splattering and charging. Sounds like fun? That’s the idea. Play with watercolor and develop new techniques to enhance your illustrations. Fee: $200 member, $255 nonmember. Prerequisites: Pencil I, Color Mixing for Artists, Watercolor I
Registration opens June 12, 2012, 9am. Classes will appear sold out until then.
*Tue., Oct. 16, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Constance Sayas
Although, it is time to put your garden to bed you can still do some fun stuff to extend the season. Learn how to prepare your soil for next year, plant a cold frame and design your spring garden. Class materials: favorite gardening planting tool, gardening gloves, sunscreen, and favorite art supplies for garden design project!
Course description:
An accessible introduction for anyone who is interested in raising backyard hens. The class will cover all of the basics of caring for baby chicks and adult chickens in an urban or suburban setting. Class includes instructional handouts, resource list, and a video tour of an urban backyard barnyard. Instructor will bring a couple of hens into the classroom, and students will have the opportunity to hold and examine them.
Topics covered:
- Choosing the perfect chickens (best breeds and how/where to purchase)
- Chick care
- Housing and fencing
- Feeding
- Common chicken challenges
- All about the eggs
- Financial considerations (initial investment and ongoing costs)
- Livestock licensing process
The content of the class will be geared toward the needs of the participants.
Sundari Kraft is the author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Urban Homesteading" (Alpha Books, 2011). She is the founder of Heirloom Gardens and Sustainable Food Denver, and sits on the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council. Sundari runs an urban farming project and is currently raising chickens, ducks, and dwarf dairy goats in her Denver backyard.
This class focuses on spring blooming bulbs that “perennialize” (bloom year after year) in our area. Whether for perennial beds or naturalized landscapes, species from early blooming Crocus, Chionodoxa and Scilla through Narcissus, Tulipa and up to late blooming Hyacinthoides (wood hyacinth) will be discussed. You will learn planting and cultural tips for maintaining long life. Discussion also includes how best to use bulbs and design considerations with other plants and elements in the landscape.
Sign up now to discover the best cultivars of tulips and other bulbs that perennialize on the Front Range before purchasing bulbs to plant this fall. Taught by Carl Wilson, Denver horticulturist, speaker and retired CSU Extension Agent.
Explore this modern medium! You’ve learned to layer colored pencil, now learn techniques to draw effectively in this medium. Apply your drawing skills and learn new methods specific to colored pencils. Techniques include layering, building and burnishing in color. This versatile, portable medium is perfect for sketching on location as well as producing studio pieces. Learn through instruction, demonstration and practice on small studies of botanical subjects. You’ll be ready to produce a finished plate in Colored Pencil II.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I and Color Layering for Colored Pencil
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Tue., Aug. 28, Sept. 4, 11, 18, 25, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Susan Rubin
*Mon., Sept. 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Susan DiMarchi
Take your colored pencil skills to the next level. Walk through the Six Step process to create a preparatory layered drawing. Learn about grisaille and techniques to create texture, detail and depth to enhance your subject. Experiment with different surfaces, blending and shading. Sample special effects you can achieve with colored pencil on Mylar, colored and dark grounds. Group instruction and individual attention help you to become proficient in this versatile medium. Pull all of your colored pencil skills together to create a finished botanical plate.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I, Color Layering for Colored Pencil and Colored Pencil I
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Mon., Sept. 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15. 22, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Susan DiMarchi
*Tue., Oct 30, Nov. 6, 13, 20, 27, 9 a.m. – noon
Instructor: Susan Rubin
Pen and ink is at the heart of botanical illustration. Expand your drawing repertoire as you learn techniques to create line, form and texture in black and white. “Expressive line” and “stipple” become part of your artistic vocabulary as you practice this traditional medium with modern and versatile technical pens. Step-by-step instruction, demonstration and practice will give you the foundation you need to draw any botanical subject accurately and skillfully.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisite: Pencil I
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Weds., aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 6-9pm
Instructor: Marjorie Leggitt
*Mon., Sept. 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 9am-noon
Instructor: Renee Jorgensen
Take your pen and ink skills to a new level of sophistication. Explore the Gardens’ limitless world of color, textures and complex botany, and incorporate this information into your black and white illustrations. Working with both technical pen and quill, learn advanced techniques to make strokes mimic the fuzz on a fern, the down of a milkweed pod, the mottled colors of a variegated begonia. Learn how to layer and manipulate lines and stipples to develop a full range of value, texture and atmospheric perspective. Pen techniques take on new meaning as you flesh out a final inked illustration from a plant of your choice.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I, Pen and Ink I
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Tue., Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27, Oct 4, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Renee Jorgensen
*Wed., Oct. 24, 31, Nov. 7, 14, 28, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Marjorie Leggitt
Learn to draw! Begin with a brief history and an overview of the specific elements of botanical illustration. Learn the skills of careful observation and realistic drawing in graphite pencil, including line drawing, shading and perspective. Step-by-step, added techniques help you portray perspective, texture and detail. This is the entry course for every program student and the prerequisite for all courses to follow. You'll emerge from this class with the tools you need to draw anything.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. All students are welcome, with no prerequisites.
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Weekend Workshop
Fri. – Sun., Aug. 24 - 26, 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Instructor: Renee Jorgensen
*Tue., Aug. 28, Sept., 4, 11, 18, 25, 9 a.m. – noon
Instructor: Karla Beatty
*Weekend Workshop
Fri. – Sun., Sep. 14 – 16, 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Instructor: Constance Sayas
*Weekend Workshop
Fri. – Sun., Nov. 9 – 11, 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Instructor: Renee Jorgensen
Simple and classic, pencil drawing is a timeless art form. Expand on the drawing skills you learned in Pencil I as you reinforce and refine your knowledge of graphite pencil. Learn additional techniques for shading, texture, perspective, depth, composition and style. A good drawing is the basis of botanical illustration in any medium. Group instruction and individual attention are tailored to help you complete a botanical plate in this subtle and striking medium.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisite: Pencil I
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Wed., Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Marjorie Leggitt
* Mon., Sept. 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 9 a.m. - noon
Instructor: Renee Jorgensen
* Thurs., April 19, 26, May 3, 17, 24, 6-9pm.
Instructor: Karla Beatty
Become part of the watercolor botanical tradition. Combine drawing skills and your knowledge of color mixing as you discover the delight of putting brush to paper and learn the specific techniques of transparent watercolor. Instruction, demonstration and practical exercises will guide you through a variety of watercolor techniques: flat and graded washes, highlights and dry brush detail. Learn to build washes for depth of tone and shading, and how to create soft and hard edges. With these foundational skills you’ll be ready to create a finished plate in Watercolor II.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I and Color Mixing for Artists
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Mon., Aug 6, 13, 20, 27, Sept. 10, 9 a.m. - noon
Instructor: Karla Beatty
*Thurs., Nov. 1, 8, 15, 29, Dec. 6, 6 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Karla Beatty
Watercolor basics got you started—now develop your confidence and personal style. The emphasis here is on bringing it all together. Learn and refine additional techniques through instruction, demonstration and practice with special attention given to layering, shading and building form. Discover brush techniques and colors that enhance perspective and depth. Follow painting steps through completion, from broad washes to final detail. Learn how to fix mistakes and understand why watercolor is a forgiving medium. You’ll work toward completing a finished plate from a live specimen in this most traditional of botanical media.
Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: Pencil I, Color Mixing for Artists and Watercolor I
Registration begins June 12, 2012. Class will appear sold out until then.
*Wed., Sept. 12, 19, Oct 3, 10, 17, 1 – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Constance Sayas
2012 Bonfils-Stanton Lecture Series
Registration includes lectures only; please register for workshops and tours separately. There are no partial refunds for missed lectures in the series package.
Bonsai is an ancient Japanese art form where miniature trees are grown in containers. Come explore a variety of bonsai in the new Bill Hosokawa Bonsai Pavilion, discover the techniques used to form bonsai and start your own jade plant bonsai to take home.
Based on the worldwide doodling craze called “Zentangle” (started by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas) we will learn and practice repetitive strokes that form intricate decorative botanical patterns. Learn to relax and focus, as you express your style in creating intricate, decorative drawings that are simple to draw but look amazing and complicated. We will practice strokes consciously and deliberately, observe botanicals and mock their natural designs to make our own “botangles” or repetitive strokes based on plants. Using keen observation and contour drawing techniques combined with ability to translate plant forms and textures into patterns, you will create your own special botangle plate ready to decorate note cards or precious wrapping papers. Fee: $200 member, $255 non-member. Prerequisites: No prerequisites
Registration opens June 12, 2012, 9am. Classes will appear sold out until then.
Fri. – Sun., Oct 5 – 7, 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Instructor: Annie Reiser