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Art and Antiques Appraisal + Connoisseurship | Business of Art + Design | Culinary Arts + Entertaining | Drawing | Historic Preservation | Painting |

Deborah Child, Patricia Fair, Sarah Vukovich

Louise T. Hall

Nothing quite so satisfies as a piece of fine furniture, both for its aesthetic impact and its sheer functionality. In this two-day intensive course, we explore major Eastern urban design centers and their various approaches to furniture production in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Participants soon recognize how British prototypes influenced design in the Colonies and come to understand the newly emerging American variations on a theme through studies of regional stylistic differences and their influences on rural furniture traditions. Day one focuses on New England furniture from formal to folk, covering Boston, Newport, Portsmouth, NH and the Connecticut River Valley. Day two focuses on New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Charleston metropolitan design practices and their correlated influences on the vernacular.

Applies to the following certificate program (15 contact hours): AS-E

Steve McDonald

We often think of contracts as those lengthy and incomprehensible documents used to complicate only the most significant transactions. However, whether running your own studio, working for someone else or just occasionally doing commission work, you are forming and entering into contracts every day -- but often on a handshake basis, and frequently without knowing what you're agreeing to or even that you're doing it. And if you don't know that you're doing it, you're probably not doing it as well as you could. The good news is that you don't need to be a lawyer to improve your contracting skills. In this course, we cover the basics of contracting: what a contract is, how to create one and how to go about determining what it should say.

Michael Conetta

Michael Conetta -- Executive Chef at Providence's Waterman Grille, renowned for its focus on wood-grill cooking -- has creatively fashioned a menu that marries the qualities of fine cuisine and boutique wines with casual, affordable dining. From appetizer to entree, see what an array of flavors and textures emerge from using local, farm-fresh ingredients. From seasonal sauces and rubs to relishes and salads, learn how to blend ingredients to enhance how and what you grill. He discusses seasonal variations on grilling meats, seafood and vegetables, as well as how they complement one another within a meal. Chef Conetta's philosophy focuses on cuisine quality, as defined by the source of the ingredients, the method of procurement from the environment and the purity of habitat and growth. Note: Class meets at an off-campus location; directions are sent to registered participants.

Robin Brandes

Being healthy today means so much more than tofu and sprouts. Join Certified Health Counselor Robin Brandes on a journey to demystify "healthy" food and discover how such eating can bring you newfound energy. Learn how to cook delicious seasonal vegetables that you may pass by in the supermarket simply because you don't know how to prepare them, how to incorporate vegetarian protein sources without asking "Where's the Beef?" and how to add whole grains, such as quinoa, as a main course or a quick and easy side dish. Of course, as no meal is complete without dessert, you learn how to use natural sweeteners to make guilt-free desserts! The best part? You get to enjoy the food prepared during class and return home with recipes and nutrition handouts.

Kerri Quinn Jane Jaffe, Derek Jolie

If all you do is drop a live one into a big pot of water and take it out 15 minutes later, you're missing out on the succulent possibilities of New England's most famous delicacy -- lobster! Join Executive Chef Derek Jolie of Blackstone Caterers, renowned from ballroom to beach for exquisite food, spectacular presentation and unfailing service, to learn the art of our region's finest summertime tradition, the New England Lobster Boil. Chef Derek provides tips that will make your lobster boil an unforgettable occasion to savor, and even shares a stovetop steamer method to prepare our regional favorite with ease. With the price of lobster projected to be an affordable luxury this summer, be prepared to become the consummate host of your next summer feast!

Rebecca Wagner, Olga Bravo

Summer months conjure up leisurely weekend picnics featuring freshly harvested fruits and vegetables. And what better way to complement these seasonal delicacies than to incorporate them into both savory and sweet pastries? Olga Bravo and Rebecca Wagner, co-owners of Providence's acclaimed Olga's Cup and Saucer, share their talents as they demonstrate how easy it is to prepare wonderful pastries in your own home kitchen. And as they share recipes and prepare baked goods with you, they speak about the emphasis they place on using fresh ingredients and preparing "pastry from scratch". Join us to learn how to make new favorites as a seasonal awakening for your taste buds.

Amy Wynne Derry

The beautiful landscapes of the New England summer cry out to be captured, yet the prospect of interpreting these complex subjects on paper can be daunting. This course demystifies the process and gives students the skills to approach landscape drawing with confidence. Using Blithewold Mansion as the setting, we experiment with drawing tools to express different parts of the landscape: rocks, foliage, water, trees and a variety of background forms. Students use an assortment of materials (pencil, charcoal, colored pencil and watercolor pencil) as they learn different formats for isolating and simplifying composition and become familiar with a four-value system to suggest form, light, shadow, distance and mood. They also apply the rules of perspective to create intimate drawings that suggest a variety of spatial situations, cloudscapes and interesting atmospheric effects. Note: A materials list is sent to registered students. Class meets at an off-campus location; directions are sent to registered participants.

Applies to the following certificate programs (12 contact hours): CB-E, DS-E, NS-E

Sarah Vukovich

Bill Miller

Color is perhaps the most powerful tool at the artist's disposal, but also the most complex. While the basics of color theory may seem obvious, actually working with color is often difficult -- the biggest obstacle being the paint itself. This intensive workshop seeks to bridge the divide between theory and practice, beginning with a brief explanation of exactly how optics and pigmentation differ. In the process, guidelines toward developing a personal palette, and attributes of different supports, grounds and media are discussed, and students come up with workable strategies for controlling paint. A historic overview of how paint and pigment have evolved is also covered. Consider the course a unique opportunity to gain practical knowledge that is essential for anyone interested in perfecting his/her painting craft.

Applies to the following certificate programs (3 contact hours): CB-E, DP-E, DS-E, NS-E