Adult Classes

See. Examine. Draw. Explore the microscopic world of plants and insects from direct observation through a lens and from rich, scientific, online databases of digitally captured magnifications.

Throughout the year, Continuing Education sponsors the Figure Drawing Co-op, open drawing sessions for anyone interested in drawing from the live nude model. While an MCAD staff member is present to facilitate, there is no instruction provided. Please note that the models will be masked at all times. Open to students 16 and above. 

This class introduces individuals with little or no design background to the graphic design practice.

This introductory class is tailored to those who have never painted or have not used oil paints before and who are ready to take the plunge. Open to students 16 and above.

During this advanced class, students continue to explore and develop their work for a children’s book audience.

Learn the basics of what it takes to edit videos in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Figma is a versatile cloud-based prototyping software that offers the opportunity to explore web, graphic, and UI/UX design in a practical and user-friendly environment. Open to students 16 and above.

This class examines the lives and works, as well as the concepts and methods, of the great women painters of Abstract Expressionism.

In the User Experience (UX) Design Basics Workshop, explore user experience in the digital and physical design worlds. 

This course covers the fundamentals of line, shape, value, texture, gesture, perspective, and many other tricks of the drawing trade. Open to students 16 and above.

Learn to work with watercolors from observation, photographs, and imagination to create translucent works using this versatile medium. Open to students 16 and above.

This is a weekly accountability and professional development cohort, created as a collaborative space for artists and designers to set aside focused time for running a creative practice or business, as well as meet and exchange with other practitioners from across the country.

Discover a personal means of depicting the figure with accuracy, sensitivity, and expression.

Learn the basics of drawing with the Procreate App on an iPad. Open to ages 16 and above.

Using an existing book and altering it to use as a sketchbook can provide new ways to investigate and play. Open to students 16 and above.

This class provides the groundwork for creating print-ready documents using the page-layout application, Adobe InDesign.

Learn the essentials of landscape painting while enjoying all that summer has to offer.

This class is the printmaker's dream come true. It offers intermediate and advanced printmakers the chance to work in an open and collaborative learning community with instruction from a skilled printmaker, using some of the best printmaking facilities in the Midwest.

Throughout the year, Continuing Education sponsors the Figure Drawing Co-op, open drawing sessions for anyone interested in drawing from the live nude model. While an MCAD staff member is present to facilitate, there is no instruction provided. Please note that the models will be masked at all times.

Japanese side stitch binding (also called stab binding) is a non-adhesive binding technique that includes many variations. Open to students 16 and above.

In this course students will learn the basics of digital painting in Adobe Photoshop, including tools, blending techniques, working from grayscale to color, and utilizing different color blending modes. Open to students 16 and above.

This course is designed to help professionals at any stage of their career to either move into or deepen their career in social impact.

Polymergravure is a non-toxic, faster, and environmentally friendlier alternative to the traditional copperplate photogravure process.

With a strong focus on the end-user, gain an understanding of the importance of preliminary research, and explore a variety of UX techniques and methodologies including, but not limited to, wireframing, prototyping, journey mapping, user type definition/personas, card sorting, ethnographic frameworks, and a variety of testing methods.

Dive deeply into a project brief through the process of research, design, and prototyping.

This class is a two day intensive focusing on the specific opportunities and challenges that painting the landscape presents, and how to tackle those challenges using digital painting tools and techniques. Open to students 16 and above.

Explore the field of landscape photography and the process and choices of historical photographers.

This fun, on-location class offers students at all skill levels an opportunity to sketch together outdoors and at unique urban locales in Minneapolis, while learning the techniques to capture the people, environment, architecture, and nuances of the visual landscape. Open to students 16 and above.

Coptic stitch is a non-adhesive binding structure that allows students to build up a large block of pages to create something like a journal. Open to students 16 and above.

Augmented reality can allow artists to view their work within their own surroundings, or interact with it in real time. In this course bring artwork to life using augmented reality. Learn intuitive, code-free augmented reality platforms in this course geared towards illustrators, artists, designers, and other creatives looking to experiment with new tools and techniques.

This course provides an introduction to programming and creative code using the popular and accessible P5.js library. Open to students 16 and above.

For societies to reach a sustainable future, individuals will need to adjust their behavior to meet the challenge. This course examines the leverage points that can be used to trigger desired changes in behavior. 

This course is designed to expand the boundaries of traditional animation, encourage students to broaden their visual vocabulary, and to encourage a playful and exploratory approach to time-based media making. Open to students 16 and above. 

When making screenprints, sometimes the most fun and freeing thing is to get off the computer and get back to basics!

In this course, students work through some of the more difficult aspects of painting with water-based media and learn skills and techniques used when applying them into illustration.

Learn the powerful new animation feature of the Procreate App on the iPad and create your own hand-drawn animations. Open to students 16 and above.

Learn the groundwork for manipulating images using Adobe Photoshop and explore the most familiar uses of this image editing program, retouching and color-correction. Open to students 16 and above.

Although there are many ways to bind artwork, a single-signature is a simple form that is easy to work with and does not require a large amount of artwork to feel complete. The hard cover over the binding is a great way to keep artwork clean, damage free, and ready to share or ship if necessary. Open to students 16 and above.

Color is one of the most powerful selling tools available to the designer and marketing professional.

Because the outlines of the profession continually change, the graphic designer must know how to integrate an understanding of visual literacy with broad-based cultural knowledge.

This course provides students with the tools required to succeed in today's dynamic market and a world of uncertainty.

In this course students learn about the growing field of information design and critically evaluate how it relates to communicating sustainability.

This course introduces the fundamental language of the web: HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

In this course, students build on their understanding of HTML, and use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to create well crafted web pages.

In this course, students expand on their understanding of HTML and CSS, laying a foundation for more advanced development work.