Anna Popnikolova, Assistant Editor-in-Chief
The fall session of Nantucket Artists Association classes began in October and has been continuing with regular class periods at least once a week. Most classes have been wrapping up their sessions early December, and registration for winter sessions is opening up.
The classes for teens coming to a close from this session were Teen Wheelthrowing, taught by Tracy Daily, and Digital Comics and Design with Nicci Aguiar. Wheelthrowing sessions were separated into four separate pottery classes—three for ages 10-14, on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and one for ages 15+, which took place on Tuesdays. Every class was from 3-5 pm.
The description for wheel pottery classes with Daily reads: “Whether new to the wheel, or a graduate of our other clay programs, there’s something to gain for every level in this well- rounded course. Beginners will learn how to position on the wheel, build walls, and bring an imagined form to 3D reality. Further technique is learned as students choose from our selection of glazes to paint solid, patterned, or textured pieces with various surface treatments.”
Digital Comics and Design with Aguiar was a single class, taking place on Mondays from 3:00—5:00pm, starting October 18th and finishing up December 6th. The class introduction on the AAN website included: “Learn a fun new style of digital storytelling for comics! In this class, students will design layout and content for a scrollable comic using Clip Art Studio. Experiment with panel spacing, color, backgrounds and adjusting layers to create moods and dramatic effects. This class focuses on a project that can be uploaded to the web using sites such as Webtoons, home to thousands of creator-owned contents with amazing, diverse visions from all over the world.”
A student who took this session of Digital Design classes, junior James Cronin, described his experience in the class: “The point was to make a comic but we also like prepared for working professionally online, like formatting and scheduling stuff.”
As the students participating in these two classes are finishing their work, registration for the next session of classes is open on the AAN website. The classes available for the winter session are the second session of Teen Wheelthrowing, with Tracy Daily, Digital Animation with Samantha Aguiar, and the FREE Teen Portfolio Class: Screen Printing with Leyah Jensen Marshall. Teen Wheelthrowing for ages 14+, on Tuesdays 3:00-5:00pm runs from January 11th to February 16th. Digital Animation, for the same age group as Teen Wheelthrowing, runs Wednesdays from 3-5pm and goes from January 12th to February 17th.
The class description for the Digital Animation class is, “ In this class students will learn some of the basic principles of animation as well as a few different techniques for creating 2D animation in Adobe Animate CC. While the class will mainly be using Adobe Animate, some of these techniques can be applied to other art programs like Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, and more.”
The AAN often sets up Free Teen Portfolio Classes with educators who work with students to build their portfolios and experience, all free of cost. This class is taught by Leyah Marshall, and focuses on Screen Printing. “Join us for an exciting and fast-paced class, as we play with traditional and alternative Silk Screen techniques to create fine art prints; design t-shirts and posters; and even print on fabric for art-to-wear. From home-applicable rubylith to darkroom light-exposure, we’ll learn the fundamentals of this age-old art form” Students will work to make their own designs and eventually print them onto textiles that they can wear.
Each of these classes can be found on the Nantucket Artists’s Association Website, where classes can be registered for.
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