Academy of Art of Highland Park
Pursuing the excellence of art through the art of excellence

Session III Winter 2020
The Studio runs in consecutive 8 week Sessions
Monday, January 6 – Sunday, March 1
We are now in week 8 of 8
Registration accepted during any week in a Session, except the final 8th week.
Drawing in the Dark is back!
Next week, starting Monday, Feb. 24, our 8th Week Exploration theme will be Drawing in the Dark (DiD)!
This learning event will be presented for all practitioners of all ages all week long. The 8th Week Explorations are available for 1, 1.5 and 2-hour classes, and for additional 2nd and 3rd make-up hours.
We have many different 8th Week Explorations for our practitioners, but DiD is one you just won’t let us put away!
As a learning event, DiD is immensely fun, mentally stimulating, creatively challenging, and also eye-opening for all ages. Children thrill in the unexpected environment and what it allows us to do as artists. Likewise, adults enjoy encounters with visual phenomena we usually cannot experience in the routine brightness of the working studio.
Join the AAHP’s Saturday afternoon course!
Hit the Wall! A Course in Mural Painting**Enrolling Now!**
Mural painting is the ancient, world-wide, architectural fine art of painting on walls. Our new exciting course is available for ages 8-17.
This course introduces the youngster to a Western art history time line, and to many of the core traits that distinguish different cultural approaches to the mural across the ages.
Come learn deeply about this art form as you paint several small sections of take-home “wall” featuring your own murals.
Youngsters must have fully completed the AAHP Foundations of Studio Program with Chief Instructor Ana Soto-Canino and Senior Instructor Aaron Balavram.
Instructor: Amber Vizthum, AAHP Staff Instructor
Medium: acrylics
Tools and Gear: highly assorted
Supports: prepared plywood board (2×4 ft)
Special Event for Portfolio Prep Program Students
Honing Your Interview Skills
Saturday evening 2/22 from 7 – 9 pm
Gift Certificates available at the AAHP!
Do you have a child or teen, or an adult friend who would love to attend a professional teaching art studio? Are you or your partner confused about what meaningful gift to offer anyone? Are your co-workers or staff restless for creative life?
At the AAHP, we’ve got you covered! Gift that special person an AAHP Gift Certificate to attend our premier teaching studio!

Spotlight on the Studio Artist at the
Academy of Art of Highland Park
First Name: Prannit
Age: 12
Favorite Food: Spaghetti
Fav Place in the Whole World: Paris, France
Fav animal: Dragon
Current Course/s at the AAHP: Drawing
Current Studio Challenge: Sandwiched Monster (lightest gray scale)
Support: Drawing Paper
Medium or Media: Graphite and wax color pencils
Key Techniques: Scumbling and blending
What is the most interesting or most fun thing about your challenge right now? “It’s cool that I get to invent my monster, and that it looks like it’s hiding behind the paper.”
Anything else you wish to add? “I love playing football, it’s a really fun hobby of mine!”


First Name: Nithin
Age: 12
Favorite Food: Chicken and rice
Fav Place in the Whole World: California
Fav animal: Fox
Current Course/s at the AAHP: Watercolors
Current Studio Challenge: Triptych
Support: Watercolor paper
Medium or Media: Transparent watercolors
Key Techniques: Wash
What is the most interesting or most fun thing about your challenge right now? “I love all the different tools and materials, and using them for all the different parts of my painting.”
Anything else you wish to add? “I’ve been playing on baseball teams since I was seven, and I hope to go pro!.”
First Name: Nithin
Age: 12
Favorite Food: Chicken and rice
Fav Place in the Whole World: California
Fav animal: Fox
Current Course/s at the AAHP: Watercolors
Current Studio Challenge: Triptych
Support: Watercolor paper
Medium or Media: Transparent watercolors
Key Techniques: Wash
What is the most interesting or most fun thing about your challenge right now? “I love all the different tools and materials, and using them for all the different parts of my painting.”
Anything else you wish to add? “I’ve been playing on baseball teams since I was seven, and I hope to go pro!.”

First Name: Olivia
Age: 9
Favorite Food: Alfredo Chicken Pasta
Fav Place in the Whole World: Disney World
Fav animal: Shítzu
Current Course/s at the AAHP: Watercolor
Current Studio Challenge: Watercolor Techniques
Support: Watercolor paper
Medium or Media: Transparent Watercolors
Key Techniques: 10 different watercolor application techniques
What is the most interesting or most fun thing about your challenge right now? “I love learning so many different things I can do with watercolors.”
Anything else you wish to add? “When I grow up, I want to be a baker. I love experimenting and tasting different things.”

Next time we go outdoors (in October!) be sure to join us! We learn a lot, do a lot, and have a lot of fun while engaging in the artist’s practice of fieldwork.
Earlier this August, we had a blast at the Sourlands Mountain Preserve in Hillsborough, NJ. The outing served as the golden brooch to close our dynamic Summer Session 2019.
It was a beautiful blue-sky day under the trees.
Everyone contributed to a classic Potluck picnic with wonderful array of home-cooked foods: scrumptious things such as quinoa salad, Asian noodles, pasta salad, deviled eggs, diced fruit, good ol’ American Dirt Cake, chocolates, Chinese tarts and more. We spread out on blankets on the grass, and everyone mingled easy.
We followed that up with a free, how-to-and-why outdoor class on the deeply aesthetic and rewarding practice of fieldwork.
And then, to cap it off, we hiked to the natural boulder field called The Devil’s Half-Acre, where everyone found a spot to sit quietly, choose a subject or scene, and draw. Ana and Aaron coached.
A huge thanks to all who attended and made the day so gentle, creative, and beautiful!
Introducing Skin & Bones Studio
A Studio for Live Figure and Skeletal Anatomy Studies
Adults and teens 14 and over are invited to join the Skin and Bones Studio, our new live figure and skeletal anatomy drawing workshop.
Beginners can receive full instruction while seasoned artists are welcome to explore on their own. All materials are provided.