Artwork by Michael Dowling.
Painting: Beginning Oil
In this 6-week class, students will explore oil painting fundamentals in an accelerated format. They will survey the DAM’s collection and sketch from art within the galleries. Students will create individual pieces inspired by their research sketches, utilizing their newly built skills. The intent of this class is to bring each artist through the entire process of researching and creating a completed piece of work.
What to Expect: Students will learn or in some cases relearn fundamental skills in addition to some tricks of the trade. This knowledge will help them work within the museum to sketch and generate ideas and bring those ideas into the studio to complete a finished project.
Creative Classes are taught in a studio art environment and offer an opportunity to learn from professional creatives through traditional and experimental approaches. Each class is uniquely designed by a creative educator for an adult audience, designed to help you learn a new skill or expand your own creative practice. Explore the Winter/Spring 2025 class schedule.
About the Educator
Born in Denver in 1972, Michael Dowling spent much of his early life as a typical kid apart from being an obsessive drawer. It wasn’t until the age of 25, and after several years studying various subjects as well as working in many fields, that Michael started painting. With that late beginning, Dowling dove full in and began studying extensively. At 28, he decided to sell a burgeoning art sales company and moved to Florence, Italy to focus on painting. He has since returned to his native Denver where he lives and works.
Michael Dowling's work has been characterized as a combination of traditional practices in realism and his explorations of mark, pattern, and color to disrupt that reality. In many compositions, figures presented as portrait, morph into their surreal self, and lone objects tell stories through their subtle positioning. These objects and characters sit in bizarre spaces with intentionally disrupted atmospheres in order to find further meaning within the imagery.
To request a sign language interpreter or any other accessibility service, 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.
Class Cancellation Policy: If a class or workshop needs to be cancelled due to inclement weather or teacher illness, a “make-up” day will be scheduled on a Friday or Saturday as the educator’s schedule allows.
