An artist and a group of students at a creative class in the Creative Hub

Creative Classes

Creative Classes at the DAM

Creative Classes offer an opportunity to learn from local professional creatives through traditional and experimental approaches. Each class is uniquely designed by a creative educator for an adult audience, with specific connections to Denver Art Museum exhibitions and collections. Creative Classes are taught in a studio art environment meant for exploration of various materials and media. Connect with professional creatives, learn a new skill, and expand your own creative practice.

Classes occur on a rolling basis in two semesters: the Winter/Spring semester begins in January, while the Summer/Fall semester begins in June.

To request a sign language interpreter or any other accessibility service, please email access@denverartmuseum.org at least ten (10) business days in advance of the program. We will make every effort to provide accommodation for requests made outside of that window of time.

6-Week Classes

  • Fibers: Mixed Media Frame Loom Weaving

    Students will explore an affordable, accessible, and experimental method to weave small hanging pieces. Building a basic frame loom, doing a basic plain weave, and experimenting with mixed media materials will be taught in this class.

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  • Printmaking: Relief Carving with Intuitive Patterns

    Traditional carving techniques will be used with linoleum plates to put a contemporary twist on printmaking. Students will reflect on creating line, shape, pattern, and repetition following inspiration from museum’s on view artworks.

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  • Painting: Flow State

    An abstract painting class that explores the connections between intuitive painting, mindfulness meditation, and community. Participants will learn how to combine abstract painting and drawing skills with mindfulness meditation techniques.

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4-Week Classes

  • Collage: Embellishing for Dramatic Effect

    Students will explore various collage techniques that focus on manipulating materials to tell stories. Students will walk away from class with new strategies for exploring visual narratives and evaluating conversations introduced by artworks from the museum's galleries.

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  • Painting: Flow State

    An abstract painting class that explores the connections between intuitive painting, mindfulness meditation, and community. Participants will learn how to combine abstract painting and drawing skills with mindfulness meditation techniques.

    Full Details
  • Fibers: Intro to Embroidery

    Students will be introduced to the art of embroidery, the many different stitches one can use to be creative with embroidery, and will be inspired by the fiber works in the museum collection.

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  • Printmaking: Intro to Etching

    This 4-week class seeks to demystify printmaking and etching with the simplified and accessible method of drypoint etching. Students will learn about etching as an intaglio printmaking process: where an image is incised onto a plate, then inked and printed on a press.

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  • Drawing: Intro to Outdoor Chalk Techniques

    Introduction to techniques used in professional outdoor chalk art including base painting, pouncing, color mixing, and blending. The class will draw inspiration from the Asian, European and American art collections to recreate a masterwork in chalk using everything from pounce stencils, tempra paint, and layered and blended chalk techniques.

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  • Collage: Mixed Media Self-Portrait

    Students will explore mixed media such as painting, collage, and printmaking—and in the end compile these experiments into a self-portrait. The museum’s Contemporary Art Collection will be used as a source for inspiration in mark making, multimedia art, narrative, portraiture, and object art.

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1-Day Workshops

  • Painting: Flow State

    An abstract painting class that explores the connections between intuitive painting, mindfulness meditation, and community. Participants will learn how to combine abstract painting and drawing skills with mindfulness meditation techniques.

    Full Details
  • Fibers: Wet Felting & Needle Felting Imagery

    Students will learn techniques for wet felting and needle felting on a surface to create an image, with a wide range of colors. These techniques involve active movement and agitation of wool using various materials.

    Full Details
  • Painting: Flow State

    An abstract painting class that explores the connections between intuitive painting, mindfulness meditation, and community. Participants will learn how to combine abstract painting and drawing skills with mindfulness meditation techniques.

    Full Details
  • Fibers: Intro to Embroidery

    Students will be introduced to the art of embroidery, the many different stitches one can use to be creative with embroidery, and will be inspired by the fiber works in the museum collection.

    Full Details
  • Collage: Embellishing for Dramatic Effect

    Students will learn various collage techniques that focus on manipulating materials to tell stories. Students will walk away from classes with new strategies for exploring visual narratives and evaluating conversations introduced by artworks from the museum's galleries.

    Full Details
  • Printmaking: Relief Linocut with Intuitive Patterns

    Utilizing traditional techniques of carving, we will be working with linoleum to put a contemporary twist on a classi

    Full Details
  • Printmaking: Inspired by Posada

    Explore the printmaking practice of José Guadalupe Posada through a hands-on workshop with artist Javier Flores.

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  • Drawing: Memento Mori

    This workshop highlights drawing with specific focus on use of color pencil. Memento Mori translates to "remember death" and is an art practice used to remind us to live our lives to the fullest. Students will create their own memento mori compositions after viewing examples in the museum’s collection.

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  • Fibers: Upcycled Indigo Dyeing

    Students will learn about the art of indigo dyeing and how to make natural indigo vats using fructose sugar, henna and iron ferrous sulfate. We will explore making various resist patterns including Japanese techniques, Shibori and Ita-jime.

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  • Artmaking & Music: Visualizing Music

    This class explores ways that seeing and hearing can work together “in concert” to experience art, and our world. Utilizing both sides of our brain, we will transform visual shapes, colors, and textures into sounds; then we’ll explore how sounds themselves might turn into abstract shapes.

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  • Fibers: Wet Felting & Needle Felting Imagery

    Students will learn techniques for wet felting and needle felting on a surface to create an image, with a wide range of colors. These techniques involve active movement and agitation of wool using various materials.

    Full Details

Our Educators

Creative Classes educators are working professional artists, writers, dancers, actors, musicians, and others with a robust practice, who share their work at a national level. Our educators have instructional backgrounds within institutions such as colleges, universities, and museums. Each educator has a distinctive practice and is excited to share their expertise with others.

We are currently seeking creative educators to develop and instruct Creative Classes for adult audiences for the Summer/Fall 2024 semester. Find more information at the link below and submit your proposal today.