Soapstone is a beautiful material, very forgiving, easy and satisfying to carve and polish, and gets artists thinking about subtractive process sculpture. You will start with small forms (which make wonderful gifts, by the way) and by the end of the course, you may be able to move toward larger work. The instructor Ed Higgins calls soapstone a gateway stone which perhaps one day will inspire you to carve marble! Soapstone will be available to students and some carving tools will be available for use, but you may want to assemble some of your own tools. Contact Ed Higgins directly with any questions ed_higgins@icloud.com.

If you’ve never tried to work non-objectively, you’ll find that it helps you learn important lessons that will serve you well in any of your future artistic endeavors. It helps you cure the dreaded fussies, as well as getting you to think more deeply about color, brushwork, and composition. This class combines an introductory studio course with an art appreciation talk. Every studio class will end with a short presentation spotlighting some of the great abstract painters of the modern era. If you’ve ever looked at abstract art and said to yourself “I could do that!” Here’s your chance to give it a try. There is no set materials list for this class. The instructor will be able to supply enough materials to get you started, but eventually you will develop your own projects and media preferences. Contact Ed Higgins directly with any questions ed_higgins@icloud.com.

This one-night workshop is designed to introduce students to the corresponding course, FLOW 2: Intermediate + Advanced Watercolor. Though this workshop is not a prerequisite for the course, it is an opportunity to meet the instructor and preview lesson plans before committing to the full course.

Have you desired to write your memoir but don’t know how to get started? Have you started but feel stuck? If you need direction and guidance for your writing this course is for you! Instruction will focus on the craft of writing (setting a scene, dialogue, voice, showing vs. telling, character development, etc.) as well as feedback on your writing. Memoir writing is a discovery process in which you weave life experiences into a coherent pattern. Come and enjoy the exciting process of writing in an informal, friendly, atmosphere with an instructor with decades of teaching experience and the author of two memoirs. *No Class: 2/16.

Have you wondered why people meditate or how to counter your stress patterns more effectively? This class will assist you in establishing a meditation and mindfulness practice and introduce you to restorative Qigong movements that help reduce stress and anxiety. The class is taught in an informal, personalized manner by a certified stress management instructor with over twenty years of meditation experience. Please bring along a cushion or small blanket. *No Class: 2/16.

Learn about the eviction of a complete community living on Malaga Island in Casco Bay in 1912. Learn the prehistory of the island's use by our indigenous people and post history of the island after the eviction. Learn a bit about the mainland African American village in coastal Maine that no longer exists but predated the Malaga Island Colony. Visit the island remotely through a slide show created by Master Maine Guide, Alice. Course is presented via Zoom.

Working with gouache is a fast, easy way to do studies for larger paintings, helping you with color relationships and composition, but you’ll also find that adding your notes and thoughts turns your gouache journal itself into a work of art. Gouache paint is similar to watercolor, but it is modified to make it opaque. Gouache can be rewetted and dried to a matte finish, and the paint can become infused into its paper support, like watercolor. Contact Ed Higgins directly with any questions ed_higgins@icloud.com.

Oils are a very forgiving medium, great for learning because it’s easy to revise, repaint, wipe out and start over. Keeping an oil painting mobile and active throughout the process means that at any moment or any stage, your painting can surprise you and move you forward in a new direction. Sometimes one brushstroke allows you to see new possibilities. Ed has helped many artists power through their fear of starting, and gain confidence as oil painters. If you’ve never painted in oils before, don’t be afraid, contact Ed directly with any questions ed_higgins@icloud.com. *This class will focus on Color Mixing Strategies.