
In this live, online art class, students learn the fundamentals of art and design while they do graphic design, illustration, logo design, painting, and drawing projects inspired by different cultures.
It's a worldview and art class!
We'll start off in Italy and follow the route of Marco Polo East through the Middle East to China and Japan, then down to Australia, over to Africa, and wrapping up in the Americas. We'll learn about the art, culture, and religion of each area.
We'll create art inspired by art, architecture, and landscapes. We'll design posters, book covers, and logos. Expand your student's understanding of world religions with readings from, "The Baker Pocket Guide to World Religions."
If you liked, "Paint Your Way Through Art History," you'll love this class with Courtney Sanford!
Meets weekly for an hour and a half
14 weeks per semester
Tuesday 2:30
Wednesday 2:30
Regular Prices:
$349 per semester*
$619 for the full year*
*These prices include the registration fee.
Registration fee is non-refundable. See FAQ for refund policy.
Click the red button below to go to checkout.
You can pay for the full year or pay per semester.
Class Calendar:
Fall Semester begins the week of Aug. 26.
Fall Break: the week of Oct. 14
Last day of Fall semester is the week of Dec. 9
Spring Semester begins the week of Jan. 13
Spring Break the week of Mar.10
Last week of class: the week of Apr. 21
You do not need to have had an art class before taking this class. Drawing and painting skills will be covered, but we recommend taking Paint Your Way Through Art History before this class if possible.
All classes are recorded, so if you miss a class, you can watch the recording later.


Learn new drawing and painting skills each week and begin to develop original compositions. We will discuss where new ideas come from and learn methods for generating new ideas. Students discuss their ideas and creativity becomes contagious. These classes tend to be more relational with more time for students to talk and they have more opportunities to try their own thing and see where it leads them. We often combine art history with pop culture to create fun new paintings. We create landscapes, still life, and portraits and introduce graphic design projects like album covers, expressive typography, and book design using traditional methods (painting, drawing, and cut paper). Students may use software to create their art in this class.
The book, "Imaginative Realism" will be our guide for creating fantasy characters. Purchasing the book is optional. I recommend it for students who have a real passion for drawing fantasy characters and settings.
The book, "Graphic Design Fundamentals" is recommended for students who are particularly interested in graphic design. It is optional reading.
"Design" is solving problems with art.
ALL CLASSES ARE RECORDED SO YOU CAN WATCH LATER IF YOU MISS A CLASSNote: tuition is per student. If siblings take the class, they both pay tuition.
This course alternates every year between GREAT BOOKS and GREAT ADVENTURES
2024-25 will be Great Books . 2025-26 school year will be Great Adventures,


This is one of my favorite classes to teach. I love seeing students find their own voice and express themselves. Projects are loosely defined and students can modify the project so they do it their own way or their own style.
I also love the classes that students lead, I get to try new things, too!
This class is a great complement to Challenge III and/or Challenge IV.

Skills:
Fine arts skills:
Landscapes, still lifes, portraits and sculpture.
Design skills:
Typography, album covers, book covers, and illustration (If students want to use Illustrator they can. The design book above will get them started.)
We explore where new ideas come from and learn ideation methods
Student Take Overs:
students have the opportunity to lead a class in the second semester.
Themes:
The theme for this class changes each year because students often take this class for two or three years.
2024-25 will be GREAT BOOKS: Creating Art inspired by Out of the Silent Planet, Select Shakespeare Characters and Scenes, and the Odyssey
2025-26 will be GREAT ADVENTURES: Art Around the World
We will learn about the culture, art, and religion of each country/continent and create fine art and graphic design projects inspired by that area. Focus will be on non-Western art and religions.
WHAT PARENTS ARE SAYING:
My daughter has thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the art class on Mondays. I can't tell you what it's done for her confidence and even love of her skill set. Monday is her favorite school day of the week, resulting in her working on other projects throughout the week. Your class fuels her!!
2025-26 SCHOOL YEAR THEME: GREAT ADVENTURES
First semester, we'll follow the route of Marco Polo from Italy to Israel, to the Middle East to China.
Second semester: Japan, Australia, South America, Africa, back to Europe to finish in England with Beatrix Potter.
We'll generally spend 3 weeks on each country.
I'll show a slide show on the art, culture, and religion of that country and students will do a fine art project inspired by that country's art or paint a painting of an animal from that country or do a landscape or architecture. It will be a wide variety of inspiring projects! Students have a little more flexibility in this class to spend more time on a project if they want to. Some days feel like a workshop.
Students take the art from the previous week and use it to inspire a graphic design.
(For the graphic design project, students can do hand lettering or use Canva or Illustrator.)
Optional Readings:
The Baker Pocket Guide to World Religions: What Every Christian Needs to Know by Gerald R. McDermott. (link at right)
Graphic Design Fundamentals: An Introduction & Workbook for Beginners by Kris Taft Miller (Includes an introduction to Adobe Illustrator if you are interested in that, I can answer questions related to Illustrator at the end of class.)
Your syllabus will have reading assignments from these 2 books if you want to add on one or both books.







WHAT STUDENTS ARE SAYING
"Not only does it push you to be a better artist, it gives you a great community of other artists and friends!" -Greta
"I didn't realize I wanted to get better at art until I took this class and realized how much I enjoy it! -Julian
"It helped me develop my sense of color and how to use color. I can replicate photos now because I understand what I'm seeing." -Caelyn
"This class gives me opportunity to grow without the stress :)" - Clara

Supply List
You'll need all the supplies from "Paint Your Way Through Art History" --
Drawing pencils and pens, paints, plus the following:
Spiral Bound Art Journal of Mixed Media Paper that is 11 x 14 inches
Sketchbook or plenty of copy paper for sketching
The 5 mixing colors from Art History (phthalo blue, magenta, yellow, black, white - see picture)
Burnt Sienna acrylic paint
Unbleached titanium acrylic paint
Ultramarine Violet acrylic paint (optional, because you can mix this)
Ultramarine blue (optional)
A compass for drawing circles or a circle template (For Great Adventures)
Ruler (14 inch or more)
Markers (Crayola or better brand)
Colored pencils (PrismaColor or similar brand)
Gold foil
Gesso
Flat brushes
Round brushes
1 to 2 lbs of a polymer clay like Sculpy Clay
Poster board to cover your work area
Charcoal for drawing
Fixative Spray
Masking tape
Fine tip black pens
Sharpie pen
Students can also use paint pens, markers, watercolors and any other art supplies the like in open-ended projects.


Class Calendar:
Spring 2025:
Start: Week of Jan. 13
Spring Break: week of Mar 10
Last week of Class: April 28
Fall 2025
Start: Week of Aug. 18
Fall Break: Week of October 13
Thanksgiving Break: Week of Nov. 24
Last Week of Class: Dec. 8
Spring 2026
Start: Week of Jan. 5
Spring Break: March 9-17 (2-Week Spring Break)
Last week: week of april 27