Overview - smArt and Adult Art Classes

The Muckenthaler Cultural Center has a commitment to provide children and adults with enriching and educational experiences. The smART and adult art education programs serve communities throughout Orange County and Los Angeles County. Programs are designed to provide supplemental art education for elementary, high school and college students, and cultural enrichment and studio instruction for children and adults of all ages. Docent-guided tours and a variety of art experiences for children are also available. Adult programming includes educational lectures, classes, demonstrations, and workshops. Lectures are presented as adjunct activities for the exhibitions.

Visual Arts

The Visual Arts program features classes taught by Orange County artists from a broad array of visual art disciplines.   Instructors are chosen for their dedication to education in the visual arts and their own particular strengths as artists. All classes are designed to impart the greatest amount of technical training and exploration of materials suitable for the student’s experience level. We challenge students to be creative while giving them the tools necessary to realize their visions.

Ceramic Arts

Another successful venture has been our Clay Arts program.  The clay studio shelves are cluttered with tiny clay creations waiting to be fired and brought home to adoring parents. All children are taught the basic techniques of forming and glazing, as well as the use of basic tools such as slab roller and stamps to create patterns in the clay. The younger children begin with simple projects such as vases, boxes, bookends and zoo animals. The older children make similar items incorporating the pottery wheel, giving them more elaborate created projects. We feel working with clay helps develop small motor coordination, creativity and the release of the artist within each one of us.

The adult ceramic program is designed to accommodate students of all levels, from beginners to individuals with previous ceramic experience. All students receive instruction on the use of different paints and glazes and assistance in color selection, as well as different techniques including Wheel Throwing, Hand Building Punchong Style, (traditional Korean ceramics) and hand-built coiled pottery, which is done without the aid of a wheel. This ancient technique has been practiced by Native Americans and many cultures and societies throughout the world.