Mold, shape, and experiment with clay and tools to create your very own ceramic salt and pepper shaker set in this one-day workshop. No experience necessary.
Design and create your own functional, handmade ceramic lamp using a variety of hand-building techniques in this exciting two-part workshop! Students will construct their lamp out of clay in the first class and then return to glaze projects in the second class. Participants will be given the lighting and wiring to make their art functional.
Students enjoy a gentle introduction to hand-building and wheel throwing in this relaxed beginner’s class!
Students will explore a range of techniques for creating decorative and/or functional ceramic pieces on the potter’s wheel. Lessons can include a range from beginner fundamentals to developing skills to improve technique. For more experienced potters, the teacher can help you experiment with more advanced techniques (i.e., clay marbling, donut vase, bigger sizes).
Learn how to make fabulous cups, bowls, plates, and vases in this fun and informative class designed for beginning level students. Students will start with hand building and transition onto the wheel. 

This course invites students to explore the dynamic intersection of function and sculpture through the art of Scopin pottery. Emphasizing both wheel-throwing and hand building techniques, students will learn to create functional pieces—such as bowls, cups, and vessels—while incorporating sculptural elements that elevate their work beyond traditional pottery.

Through a combination of guided exercises, demonstrations, and individual projects, students will develop skills in wheel-thrown forms, hand-built attachments, and surface treatments. Special attention will be given to integrating functional design with expressive, sculptural forms, allowing students to experiment with creative approaches inspired by the rich heritage of Scopin pottery. By the end of the course, participants will have developed a versatile skill set, enabling them to produce functional ceramics that are both practical and artistically compelling.

Enjoy the pleasures of making your own useful pots. Students will explore techniques for creating beautiful ceramic pieces by hand and on the potter’s wheel. Form, function, and various surface treatments will be presented in a fun, informal setting.   

Singing Clay explores ancient clay hand-building techniques through the creation of sculptural and functional ceramic works inspired by contemporary and historical folk-art traditions. Students will learn and practice three foundational hand-building methods—pinch, coil, and slab construction—used for thousands of years across cultures.

The course places special emphasis on the creation of folk-art ocarinas, examining their historical and cultural significance as sound-producing objects. Students will learn how to construct functional ocarinas and creatively incorporate sound elements into dishes and vessels, allowing ceramic forms to quite literally produce a voice. Through hands-on making, historical references, and guided experimentation, students will create works that merge functions, sculpture, and sound.

Create your new favorite entertaining staple! In this workshop, we’ll use slabs to create a gorgeous, organic ceramic serving tray and pinch a matching set of mini dipping bowls for oils, olives, or spreads. Personalize your own design by keeping it sleek and modern, use lots of texture or adding small hand-sculpted details. No experience needed.
In this hands-on workshop, students both create a traditional Romanov folk clay toy—small lark/duck that doubles as a working whistle—and learn the history of it. Using simple hand-building techniques, participants form hollow shapes, build a whistle mechanism, and decorate their pieces with colorful slips and folk-inspired patterns. A fun, creative exploration of clay, sound, and storytelling.
Give your walls some love and create a stunning, flat-backed ceramic wall pocket! Perfect for holding dried fall botanicals, fresh air plants, or entryway mail. We’ll use slab-building techniques and textured stamps to create a statement piece that brings a unique handmade touch to your space. No experience needed.
Discover the Romanov folk clay tradition in this hands-on workshop as students sculpt Romanushka, the symbolic goddess of life and fertility. Using simple hand-building techniques, participants create an expressive figurine inspired by historic village ceramics and decorate it with colorful slips and folk patterns. A meaningful exploration of storytelling, sculpture, and traditional crafts.
Elevate your tapered candle game! Join us to sculpt a pair of unique tapered candle holders! Whether you love vintage style, a sleek modern loop, or chunky stacked shapes, you’ll create the perfect cozy accent for your autumn dining table or mantel. No experience needed.
In this hands-on workshop, students create traditional Romanov folk clay toy—small bear that doubles working whistles and learn the history of it. Using simple hand building techniques, participants form hollow shapes, build a whistle mechanism. A fun, creative exploration of clay, sound, and storytelling.
Experiment with colored clay and learn about the Nerikomi clay technique to create beautiful works of art in this one-day workshop.
Get festive and have some fun with clay! Hand-build your own ceramic holiday tree, then add texture, carve designs, and make it as funky or classic as you like. A cheerful, creative workshop that’ll have you feeling merry and bright! No experience needed.

Discover the vibrancy and realism you can achieve with colored pencil! Topics in this class include structural and expressive line quality, color relationships, layering and blending, capturing light and volume. We will be drawing from still lives, botanical subjects, and your favorite photographs from your photo collection, as well as art history master copies. Learn about the science of color theory and diverse applications of colored pencil. Previous drawing experience required. We will also experiment with watercolor pencil brands that mix with water and “paint” with watercolor pencils.

Additionally, the class will focus on exercises to build and polish your drawing skills, introducing the next steps from drawing to beginners. Each session will include demonstrations to improve your hand-eye coordination and learn the steps and tools to create your drawing masterpieces! Intermediate level suggested.

From line to shape, from light to shadow, this class will use oil and soft pastels, conte crayon, charcoal for portraits, and will incorporate art history copies.
Using either still life set-ups or photographs, students will focus on composition and value before applying color. Learn to block in large flat shapes of color, usually starting with the darkest colors first and using a limited palette, which will then give paintings harmony and the artist a cohesive body of work.
For artists interested in exploring their inner voice and getting in touch with their creativity, this class is for you! Students will learn the basics of acrylic painting alongside expressive brushwork and color application.  
For artists interested in exploring their inner voice and getting in touch with their creativity, this class is for you! Students will learn the basics of acrylic painting alongside expressive brushwork and color application.
This class is designed for students with previous painting experience. Individual instruction and feedback will be given based on each student’s needs in accomplishing their specific goals. Presentations and demonstrations will be given based on student interests.
This watercolor class will focus on the traditional landscape with painting demonstrations for skies, water, greenery, and buildings in a relaxed setting.
Learn about supplies and how to apply paint. Basic techniques and some “tricks” will be taught. Examples and some demos are offered each week.
This class will include drawing and painting using independent projects. We will introduce a new color theory topic each week. Many mediums will be explored, including mixed media, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, watercolors, and ink.
This class will include intermediate and advanced theories with demos and lessons. Students can engage in the lesson or paint on their own with instruction. Some lessons for the fall session will be color theory with color charts, fall landscapes, holiday still life.
Practice basic drawing techniques. Gesture, contour, quality of line, composition, form, and perspective will be emphasized.
In this multi-week class, students will explore a variety of approaches to character design and storytelling. A wide range of techniques and materials will be practiced based on interest and intention including pencil drawing, inking, watercolor, markers, and colored pencils. These materials will be explored congruently to create characters used to play tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons, but also comic making, paintings, and more! Students will also learn to cut and prep paper, measure, thumbnail, and sketch. Topics of discussion will include character design, setting, concept, and mark making.
In this multi-week class, students will learn various approaches to illustration, both traditional and utilizing new techniques and technologies. Materials explored included pencil, archival inks, watercolor, gouache, alcohol markers, paint pens, and colored pencils. Students will learn various approaches to pattern-making, cross-hatching, and other forms of mark making as well as combining created imagery into collage.
This course will focus on approaches and techniques for representational and impressionistic acrylic painting. Direct observation along with working from a photographic reference will be the basis for combining light, shadow, and color to create realistic paintings.
This “Loper Method” class is designed to provide students with methods and techniques taught by the late Delaware artist Edward Loper Sr. Students will learn about achieving rich color through direct observation and the use of a limited palette by painting a still life while focusing on light, line, color, and space.    

Do you feel overwhelmed by the digital landscape? Here’s your sign to put your screens to sleep and reawaken your senses in the natural world. Pack your favorite sketching supplies and your sense of wonder for weekly nature journaling excursions with award-winning illustrator Kate Garchinsky. In these casual sketch meetups, Kate will provide step-by-step strategies for effective and rewarding nature journaling in the field. Part art class, part scientific process and part mindfulness practice, you’ll learn journaling prompts, fine-tune your observation skills, and ground yourself in the present moment. Discover a visual language to create poetry and stories. No prior art experience or skills are required—just a sense of curiosity about wild plants and animals. There are hardly any straight lines to draw in nature!

Kate Garchinsky is a professional illustrator and painter with roots in the tidal marshes of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. She is the illustrator of seven children’s books and an Eckelberry Fellow at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia. For seven years, she illustrated the award-winning The Secret Life series of narrative nonfiction picture books, written by Laurence Pringle (Boyds Mills Press, Astra Books for Young Readers, 2017-2023) and Belle’s Journey: An Osprey Takes Flight, written by Dr. Rob Bierregaard (Charlesbridge, 2018). Her atmospheric, realistic depictions of mammals in these books have received recognition from the National Science Teachers Association, the California and New Jersey reading associations, School Library Journal, and the Animal Behavior Society, among others.

When she’s not teaching, birding, or making art, Kate enjoys live music, native gardening, hiking, and traveling with her husband and best friend, Brian. Together, they live with their two indoor kitties, Julia and Spenser, and their rescue pittie mix, Ruby Roo, in a little blue house in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania. Visit her website at kategarchinsky.com, and find her on social media as @kategarchinsky.

Note—First class meets at the Delaware Art Museum education wing. Subsequent classes may meet in outdoor locations such as Brandywine Park, Wilmington Waterfront, or Brandywine Creek State Park, weather permitting.

This “Loper Method” class is designed to provide students with methods and techniques taught by the late Delaware artist Edward Loper, Sr. Students will learn about achieving rich color through direct observation and the use of a limited palette by painting a still life while focusing on light, line, color, and space.    
This relaxed, fun class will help you see and draw more accurately. Practice basic drawing techniques and explore more advanced concepts presented in an easy-to-understand manner. Learn about line, value, perspective, and composition. Produce quick sketches and complete drawings ranging from still life to landscape to the human form using pencil, charcoal, and more. Improve your drawing skills and artistic confidence and enjoy the fun of drawing and sketching.  
Ready, set, go! Come to an evening “PASTEL JAM” and create a fall-themed pastel painting! Bring your pastels, your fun, your creativity to this one-night creative jam session to paint the colors of fall landscape and make your pastel marks come alive in a quick painting. A fall “source” photo is provided by instructor—or bring your own favorite fall photo to make your mark. Instructor will be jamming on finishing up an example along with steps shown for you to follow along if you wish. (This is not a beginner’s class, although if you have pastels, know materials, please dive in.)
Picture your story with Nature Heart-Sketch Journaling at DelArt! Begin your unique Heart-Scape Memory Journal with quick sketch journaling at the Delaware Art Museum. This special four-hour writing and sketching (using watercolor if you choose!) journaling workshop will be in and around the Museum’s beautiful gardens. You need not be an “artist” to journal. This experience uses a bit of “nature bathing,” quiet time, and journaling in words and quick illustrations. Take a creative “heart” pause to discover and record your own story while creating from new connections between your environment, natural beauty, and YOU! We will be settling in two spots with views to jump deeper into nature to listen, write, draw, and start your own Heart Journal using pen and ink, pencils, and watercolors if you choose. Bring your own spiral-bound art book, and any familiar art supplies (pens, markers, watercolors, pencils, etc.). This is mostly outdoors, beginning and concluding in studio.

Join a class that fosters experimentation and build artistic confidence while drawing in a supportive, creative environment from artworks in the Galleries. Whether you’re picking up a pencil for the first time or deepening an existing practice, we will relax while studying expressive mark making and hone your observational and abstract drawing skills while interpreting artworks in graphite and/or colored pencils. We will practice and study issues of color relationships.

Pencils and sketchbooks only in the galleries. Please meet at the front desk.

We will review the application of watercolor as a fine art medium in various artistic fields: painting, drawing, sketching, illustration, etc. The workshop will cover materials, supplies, and techniques to enhance visually watercolor artwork: papers, brushes, transparent and opaque watercolor media. We will introduce a variety of specific technical approaches: wet on dry, layering, wet on wet, imprinting, scraping, and spraying. We will introduce the use of watercolor mediums. We will discuss examples of artwork and colored pencil, and watercolor and ink.
Unlock your creativity in this beginner jewelry-making class! Learn to use essential tools while building foundational skills such as cutting, filing, hammering, texturing, soldering, cold connections, and bezel setting. Each week introduces a new technique as you complete 2–3 unique projects to take home. This hands-on 6-week course is perfect for adults and teens (16+) who are ready to explore jewelry design. Tools and safety equipment are provided—just bring a notepad.
Participants will see their skills advance as new techniques are added and old techniques are refined. Projects will change each semester. Students must have completed Beginning Jewelry Making.  
This is an opportunity for students familiar with enameling to work independently in the studio. A monitor is present for safety and to help guide students with their projects. Completion of a beginner Enameling course or permission from a Museum instructor is required to attend.
In this multi-week class, students will learn how to combine enameled forms and even flat-backed stones or found objects with fabricated metal jewelry. This class will expand on introductory metalsmithing and fabrication techniques, so while acting as an advanced metals class, no prior enameling experience is required. Primary techniques demonstrated include introductions to fusing enamel, surface decoration, bezel setting, hydraulic forming, eutectic soldering, ear wires, ring making, brooches, and more. Students are expected to explore narrative and connections between the enameled forms and the jewelry created to house them, making planning and sketching an important part of the process.

Students of any background or enameling level will be able to participate in this multi-week class. For beginners, this means basic fusing to introductory techniques such as graphite drawing, glass etching and wet-packing, among others. More advanced students will be able to continue building on their projects while techniques such as luster, overglazes, underglazes, and various other surface decoration techniques are incorporated.

Techniques covered: fusing, counter enameling, wet-packing graphite drawing, glass etching, under and overglazes, basse-taille, luster.

This is an opportunity for experienced metals students to work independently in the Museum’s metalsmithing studio. A monitor is present for safety and to help guide students with their projects. Completion of Beyond Beginner Jewelry Making or approval by a Museum metals instructor is required to attend.   
This beginner photography class introduces students to the essential skills needed to take confident, creative photographs. Participants will learn the fundamentals of camera operation—including aperture, shutter speed, and ISO—along with composition techniques that help create stronger, more engaging images. Some classes will take place offsite as field trips, giving students the chance to practice photographing a variety of subjects with guidance and feedback. Students may bring their own camera, or use one provided during class sessions.
Explore the fascinating world of 19th-century stereographs, a popular photographic medium of the Victorian era. While traditionally created using stereoscopic cameras and early photographic processes, students will use digital cameras and inkjet printing to create their own modern stereographs. Through historical examples and hands-on demonstrations, students will learn the process from capture to finished print. No photography experience required. Cameras will be provided for in-class use. Materials fee $30.
This one-day creative writing class led by Cassandra Lewis is for adult writers of all levels. For inspiration, we will take a literary tour through sample passages and encounter ghosts in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Isabelle Allende’s House of Spirits. We will witness how superstition shapes the story of “The Oblong Box” by Edgar Allen Poe and visit with metaphorical ghosts in Hilary Mantel’s Giving Up the Ghost and Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House. We may even dare to gaze upon haunted landscapes painted by Edvard Munch and Caspar David Friedrich for visual writing prompts. By exploring the narrative functions of ghosts, we will respond to a series of writing prompts and create our own ghost stories. Whether your story is supernatural, a psychological haunting, an experience of what it’s like to disappear from your own life, or an anecdote about being ghosted, the possibilities are endless!

Driven by the Transcendentalist attention to nature, this two-day intensive workshop invites you to use plants, ink and paper in new, creative ways. Students will learn to view the natural world as both studio and subject, as inspiration for artwork and for journaling.

Day 1 – Using local flora—leaves, ferns, and flowers— and paying close attention to their unique textures and forms, we will experiment with the expressive art of monotype printmaking on the museum’s large Charles Brand etching press.

Day 2 – The finished prints will become the raw material for three different journal designs that students can easily replicate at home. No prior printmaking or bookbinding experience is required. All materials are provided, but students are encouraged to bring gathered flora from their own neighborhood walks.

Adult writers in this class, led by Cassandra Lewis, will meet in the gallery and find inspiration by visiting the exhibition, Transcendent: Landscapes of the Hudson River School. After the gallery visit, writers will have the opportunity to put some of their creative writing ideas into practice in the Thronson Boardroom. The class will experience passages from Transcendentalist writers such as Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. They will also explore samples of more contemporary nature writing and ecowriting, including works by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Barry Lopez, Camille T. Dungy, and others. Ecowriting is a form of creative and critical writing that channels storytelling toward environmental and ecological themes with the goal of fostering connection, empathy and action toward nature and conservation. Writers in this class will come away with an understanding of how Transcendentalist writing continues to influence today’s ecowriting and a draft of a personal essay that connects their experience with the wonders of the natural world.

Students will develop their leadership, communication skills, and creative thinking through engaging activities. From learning the fundamentals of projection, articulation, and dramatic movement to building self confidence through imaginative character building and group scenes, our class offers a fun and educational experience.

Enameling is an ancient art of fusing powdered glass to metal, resulting in colorful designs. Campers will work in our fully equipped metalsmithing studio and will use our glass kiln to create their unique works of art. Using this technique, campers will make abstract and illustrative images on pendants, pins and various other metal objects. 

This session is all about carving, building, forming, and sculpting! Campers will find inspiration in a variety of three–dimensional artworks on display in the Copeland Sculpture Garden and inside the Museum. Using various materials from cardboard to clay, campers will make nature installations, leaning towers, ceramic sculptures, and much more!

About Summer Art Camp

The Delaware Art Museum’s summer program provides a creative experience with professional instruction in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Young artists explore drawing, painting, ceramics, and more in the Bank of America Education Wing Studio as well as throughout the Museum’s galleries and Copeland Sculpture Garden. Camp is from 9 am – 4 pm. Each session ends with a camper art show for family and friends.  

We are pleased to offer before and after care for our students and their families. Before care is from 8–9am and costs $15 per day or $75.00 per week. After care is from 4–5:30pm and costs $22 per day or $112 per week.

Campers will go on an adventure through the Museum exploring animals in some of our most beloved works of art and will be inspired by all kinds of creatures, both real and imagined! Projects include fantastical ceramic figures, cut paper designs, and creative creatures large and small.

About Summer Art Camp

The Delaware Art Museum’s summer program provides a creative experience with professional instruction in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Young artists explore drawing, painting, ceramics, and more in the Bank of America Education Wing Studio as well as throughout the Museum’s galleries and Copeland Sculpture Garden. Camp is from 9 am – 4 pm. Each session ends with a camper art show for family and friends.  

We are pleased to offer before and after care for our students and their families. Before care is from 8–9am and costs $15 per day or $75.00 per week. After care is from 4–5:30pm and costs $22 per day or $112 per week.

Students will learn the basics of drawing and illustration. Students will create their own characters using various formats and styles, while discovering their own personal style. Portraiture and figure drawing will be taught to give students a strong anatomical foundation for drawing their comic characters and working on developing a visual narrative.
This class will focus on developing students’ skills in various forms of writing, including descriptive writing, poetry, drama, and fiction. Students will engage in the writing process, from idea generation to drafting and revising their work. Students will practice vocabulary development and creative writing techniques to generate their own unique works. This class aims to foster creativity and improve writing proficiency in a caring and supportive environment.
Students will work to develop acting skills through improvisation and shorts scenes, use those skills to take risks, make strong character choices, develop character relationships, and pursue acting objectives.
Young artists explore drawing, painting, paper arts, mixed media, fibers and found objects while learning art techniques and history through engaging, inspirational projects.
Get into the spirit of the Halloween season in this fun spooky one-day kids’ workshop. Students will sculpt and shape their very own monster creation out of clay and add texture and color to bring their creatures to life. No experience required.
Dive into the exciting world of collaging in this hands-on one-day workshop! Learn techniques and skills to create a unique mixed-media work of art.