Junior
Junior Art
Foundational drawing, color sense, and exploring materials. Children build real technique without losing confidence — free to make what they want, taught the fundamentals properly.
Junior · Portfolio · Adult · Senior
Art & Culture Programs
Basic drawing, advanced sketching, watercolor, oil, acrylic, and traditional Korean folk painting. You can learn to draw at nine or at seventy-nine.
Our Approach
Not a matter of talent. A matter of time and instruction.
For over twenty years people have walked in and told us they have no talent for drawing. Most of them are making work they are proud of within a few months. It was never talent they lacked — it was instruction.
Every class starts with observation — line, proportion, value, and the gap between what the eye actually sees and what the brain assumes it knows. Medium and personal direction come after that foundation is in place.
In the same studio a child learns to hold a pencil, a high-school student assembles a college portfolio, and a retiree picks up a brush for the first time. That mix is what makes the room work.
Classes By Group
Four kinds of class
College Prep
College Portfolio Preparation
Portfolios built around the specific schools and majors a student is applying to. Observational work, sustained thematic pieces, selection and presentation — planned backward from the application deadline.
Adult
Adult Classes
Complete beginners and people returning after years away. Choose watercolor, oil or acrylic, or move between them. Everyone works at their own pace.
Senior
Senior Art Classes
An unhurried pace, good lighting, and comfortable seated work. As much a place to talk and be among people as to paint. Most students here are starting art for the first time.
Media & Techniques
What you can work in
Drawing & sketching
Pencil, charcoal, conté. Line, proportion, value, perspective, and learning to look. The starting point for every other medium.
Watercolor
Controlling water, layering washes, and knowing when to leave the paper alone. The medium that looks easiest and is hardest to control.
Oil painting
Mixing color, brushwork, and building in layers. Because it dries slowly, oil is surprisingly forgiving for a beginner — you can keep correcting.
Acrylic painting
Fast-drying and low-odour, so it is easy to continue at home. Can be worked thick like oil or thin and transparent like watercolor.
Korean folk painting (Minhwa)
Peonies, chaekgeori bookshelf scenes, bird-and-flower compositions, the ten symbols of longevity. You learn the pigments and the brush discipline — and also why these images were painted and what each was meant to wish for.
Still life, figure & landscape
Subject matter runs across every medium — arranging a still life, human proportion, and building depth in a landscape.
Tradition
Minhwa — the painting of unnamed artists
Minhwa is the folk painting of Joseon-era Korea — made not by court painters but by unnamed artists, for ordinary households, to wish for long life, a child's success, or peace in the home. That is why it is free with its rules, bold with its color, and often quietly funny.
For students who grew up in Korea it is a picture they half-remember from childhood. For second-generation students it is a way to learn their own culture with their hands. Either is a good reason to start.
Student Work
Out of the studio
Practical Details
Before you start
Do I need to bring my own materials?
Bring nothing to the first class. Once we know what medium you want to work in we give you a list and tell you where to buy it. We start people with the minimum so the initial cost is not a barrier.
What if I have never drawn anything?
That is the most common starting point. The majority of our adult students begin with no experience whatsoever. The first class starts with drawing a line. It is not a room where people are compared to one another.
When should a student start a college portfolio?
Ideally at least a year before the application deadline — a strong portfolio comes from accumulated work, not a handful of finished pieces. That said, if you are short on time, come and talk to us and we will build the best plan the calendar allows.
How often do classes meet, and what do they cost?
It varies by class and group, and we run a flexible schedule. Call 201-887-6388 or send an enquiry and we will tell you which classes are currently running and what they cost.
Are classes taught in Korean?
Yes. Art classes run comfortably in both Korean and English — speak whichever you prefer.
It is never too late to start.
Come and look at the studio. You are welcome to watch a class before deciding.