Take a class
Experience a personalized learning journey
Dive into a medium of your choice, no experience required. Everything from ceramics and beginning painting to puppet making and stone carving! Continuing Education classes are available for youth and adults, starting at grade 5.
Spring 2025 classes began the week of February 10 and run weekly for 8 sessions.
Sign Up Today!
Have questions or need help registering? Contact the Continuing Education office at 216.421.7460.
Discounts
CIA is proud to offer discounts to veterans, alumni, seniors 55+, CMSD students, and educators—email ce@cia.edu to learn more!
Interested in more than one class? Use code MULTI0122 when registering for 2 or more classes to receive a 10% discount!
Spring Young Artist Classes
Saturday, 9:30am–12:30pm | $400
Grades 5-8. This is a great class for any student who is interested in delving into the world of painting. Students will learn the fundamentals of creating a painting, including composition, color, and paint application. As a class we will learn how to prep a canvas, sketch ideas, mix colors, and explore multiple painting tools and techniques. Paintings will be representational, so each student will choose their own subject matter — ranging from human and animal portraits, still lives, and landscapes.
Saturday, 9:30am–12:30pm | $400
Grades 5-8. In this new course, we will learn how to create original cartoon characters and props using drawing tablets and Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based art program. Unlike pixel-based art made in programs like Photoshop, vector illustrations can be scaled to and printed at any size and imported into animation programs like After Effects, Toon Boom Harmony, and more. This class is great for new students, as well as students who have taken our other cartooning and digital art classes.
Saturday, 9:30am–12:30pm | $400
Grades 9-12. This course is designed to assist students in developing the fundamental artistic skills required for a professional illustrator. Throughout this class, students will create illustrations exploring character design, visual narratives, layout, and composition. They will be assigned prompts inspired by historic illustrators that encourage them to harness their creativity to produce their own polished illustrations. Students will explore mediums such as india ink, painted collage, charcoal, and more!
Saturday, 1–4pm | $400
Grades 9-12. This course will guide you through the basics of observational drawing to create high quality and finished pieces that you can add to your art portfolio. You’ll utilize different drawing materials and processes, from portraits, to still life, to landscape/nature/botanical drawing. We will also practice critiquing your work in a constructive, fun and informative way. The goal of this course is to help you reach a higher level of skill in the creation of your own artwork. Please note, for one of the sessions students will be working from a live, nude model. Parental permission is required for students to take part in this session. If students do not have permission, they will work on a different assignment in another classroom space.
Saturday, 1–4pm | $400
Grades 6-12. The goal of this course is to explore the endless possibilities in working with clay both on and off the pottery wheel. Together we will go over basic to advanced techniques to achieve your artistic goals. By the end of the course students will have a complex understanding of how to manipulate clay on and off the wheel at all different stages of the making process. We will glaze and fire our work using multiple firing methods.
Saturday, 1–4pm | $400
Grades 9-12. In this new course, we will learn how to create original cartoon characters, backgrounds, props, and comic strips using Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based art program. Unlike pixel-based art made in programs like Photoshop, vector illustrations can be scaled to and printed at any size and imported into animation programs like After Effects, Toon Boom Harmony, and more. This class is great for new students, as well as students who have taken our other cartooning and digital art classes. It’s also great for anyone interested in exploring graphic design tools.
Saturday, 1–4pm | $400
Grades 5-8. Students will learn the basics of creating their own short stop motion animation, including film language, shot types, storyboarding, shooting an animation, and editing. To get inspired, we’ll watch a variety of different types of stop motion animations in class. Each student will then construct a set and characters out of mixed media, clay and armatures. Students will work in our computer lab with Adobe Premiere to add sound and other special effects to their piece. At the end of class, each student will have a finished animation saved on a flash drive to take home. No previous knowledge of Adobe Premiere necessary.
Saturday, 1–4pm | $200
Grades 9-12. Students will read contemporary poetry, fiction, comics, and other works by authors from a wide range of backgrounds and identities. In class, we’ll write both freely and following specific prompts. Students will share their work and celebrate the shared work of their classmates. By creating community with each other and through the work of the writers we’ll study, we’ll ignite our imaginations and catch the resulting splendor on the page.
Spring Adult Classes
Monday, 6–9pm | $495
Inspired by Jim Hensen’s Muppet Universe, whose imaginative characters monumentally transformed the shape of storytelling from Gen X and beyond, Students will explore Simple Stick, Articulated Rod and Hand Puppets and Props from Drawing Design to Construction, using Armatures, Clay, Foam and Fabric with Hot Glue. Character Narratives are encouraged. The class will be led by sustainable artist Linda Zolten Wood, who has 20 years of experience creating art dolls, costumes, masks, and puppets for CMA’s yearly Parade the Circle event.
Monday, 6–9pm | $495
Visual Narratives is a course centered on traditional mixed media techniques. By exploring historic art movements and influential artists, students will produce editorial art, picture book illustrations, and typographic designs. This hands-on approach enables participants to deepen their understanding of visual storytelling and its applications within the industry. Through collaborative discussions and critiques, students will enhance their ability to articulate their creative processes and outcomes.
Tuesday, 6–9pm | $495
In this introductory painting course, students will learn the fundamental techniques and processes of painting with acrylic paint. Class projects will target basic painting principles and guide students to develop a better understanding of tools and materials, acrylic paint and mediums, basic color theory, and two-dimensional design concepts. Discussions, demonstrations, and handouts will provide students with valuable resources to facilitate good painting practices and artistic growth.
Tuesday, 6–9pm | $495
Sculptural forms in hot glass will consist of various techniques to make both blown and solid works out of hot glass. Beginners, starting with the bubble or simply a gather of solid glass, will learn ways to develop sculptural forms out of glass, while intermediate/advanced students explore more techniques and more challenging functional forms. Each class will add a different skill to the making process. Students are encouraged to lean into the abstract, and fluid nature of glass. Natural fiber clothing is mandatory, nothing synthetic may be worn (Jeans and cotton T-shirts are recommended). Protective eyewear (safety glasses) and closed toe shoes are mandatory.
Wednesday, 6–9pm | $495
In this class focused on glass fusing techniques, students will get a chance to make their own glass artwork. With projects ranging from glass jewelry, bowls and plates, glass drawings, and suncatchers, students will get hands on experience working with a challenging material! The heating cycle of kilns, how a kiln works and how to use it, and production techniques will all be a part of this course. Students will make multiple projects based on their interests.
Wednesday, 6–8pm | $350
Get inspired and draw like you’ve always wanted! This class will encourage you to see the world and your work with new eyes. Students will work with a variety of drawing tools such as pencils, conte crayons, markers, felt tip pens, pastels, and willow charcoal to learn key techniques and concepts that will develop your appreciation and skills in non-representational drawing. The course will pull inspiration from an eclectic array of sources, including modern artists (Ernst, Miro,Tanguy, etc ), YouTube videos, and avant garde films. In addition 2 to 3 classes will meet at The Cleveland Museum of Art to discuss artwork and do studies related to artwork in the CMA collection.
Wednesday, 6–9pm | $495
Be weird — paint everything! Upcycling is a force for good in this age of landfill diversion, and acrylic paints can be your best friend in making something new and vibrant out of old materials. Tired of an old jean jacket, footstool, shoes, or vase? Paint them! You will be guided through proper adhesion and sealant techniques for your work’s durability. Bring your objects (chair sized or smaller) and be ready to paint masterpieces! Instructor Linda Zolten Wood has designed floats for Parade the Circle since its inaugural year and has created a thriving business by painting unusual everyday objects.
Wednesday, 6–9pm | $495
Have you ever wanted to try out a variety of sculpture techniques? In this introductory sculptural course, students will have the opportunity to learn the art of creating sculptural forms using wire, plaster, and mixed media assemblage. Learn essential three-dimensional design principles to solve spatial challenges, covering techniques such as carving, assembling, and modeling. Delve into the core aspects of sculpture, from materials and processes to context, form, scale, structure, and space. Discover the historical significance of sculpture while embracing design elements in the context of this captivating art form.
Wednesday, 6–9pm | $495
Jewelry + Metals is a vast medium that affords a great variety of outcomes, when the right knowledge and skills are applied. This class will introduce students to the tools, planning process, and good bench methods towards the production of jewelry. With the help of demonstrations each week, students will learn design and layout, fabrication, soldering, surfaces, and finishing techniques. Non-ferrous metals, including copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, and silver; as well as found objects and alternative materials will be considered and will allow for unique and meaningful results. Beginning to advanced students are welcome, and students will typically finish 1-2 significant projects in 8 weeks.
Thursday, 6–9pm | $495
Join us as we utilize collage as a structure for art making by placing our personal stories within their greater historical context. The primary mediums used to undertake your investigation will be a wide variety of materials including family photos, memorabilia, paintings, ephemera, and found objects. We will explore relationships between history, memory and personal experience, by creating our own unique visual ancestries. By discovering the extraordinary within the ordinary, your work will help bring deeper understanding and discoveries to your own personal stories, as well as new expression and life once again to the past. You are invited to share in this unique and highly personal journey— the only limit is your own imagination.
Saturday, 9:30am–12:30pm | $595
Learn to create a sculpture out of a colorful alabaster stone. Experience the form emerging from the center of your stone using the reductive method. This class will teach you the step-by-step process of designing, carving, and polishing your stone. You will learn to use special tools and techniques that will result in a beautiful finished and polished stone. All supplies for this class are included with the tuition fee.
Saturday, 9:30am–12:30pm | $595
The goal of this course is to explore the endless possibilities in working with clay both on and off the pottery wheel. Together we will go over basic to advanced techniques to achieve your artistic goals. By the end of the course students will have a complex understanding of how to manipulate clay on and off the wheel at all different stages of the making process. We will glaze and fire our work using multiple firing methods.
For Educators + Counselors
Teachers can earn CEU credits from any of our Adult Classes. To earn CEU credits follow the instructions on the CEU Attendance Worksheet and send it to ce@cia.edu once the class is completed.
Scholastic Art + Writing Competition Update
CIA to pause participation for the 2025
After a year of challenges for the Alliance for Young Artists + Writers that adversely affected the Scholastic competition for art educators, students and their parents across the country, the College has decided to not participate in the 2025 Scholastic Art + Writing Competition. We plan to use this year to work with art educators to evaluate how we can better serve the needs of educating and supporting the creative efforts of our young artists, designers and writers.
That said, students can submit for the 2025 Competition through the Alliance for Artists + Writers website. To find details on how to submit, enter your school’s zip code here.
We look forward to working with you to explore options for our creative community.
Support for Continuing Education Programming
