Your browser is not optimized for viewing this website.

More information »

Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts

Filter by Category



2D Program

Watercolor Adventures

$500

with Hilary Doyle

Calendar Next session starts Aug 8, 2025 at 10 am

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

In this exciting workshop students will learn techniques in watercolor, drawing and collage as they draw inspiration from the beautiful Catskill Mountains landscape. Still life rendering within natural spaces (weather permitting) will be explored so that detailing is learned. There will lots of individual attention so that each artist can apply what they’ve learned to their own unique approach. Subjects include observation of the landscape, still life and figure. Subject matter and projects are flexible and open to each artist’s unique interests and needs. Techniques taught in class will include Plein Air Painting, Watercolor Collage, Wet-in-Wet methods, Masking, Texture making and Layering to create a range of painterly abstract and realistic effects in watercolor on paper. All abilities are welcome.

Hilary Doyle is an artist from Worcester, Massachusetts. Recent solo shows include “Probably a Goddess” at Dinner Gallery in New York City, and “On The Way to the Garden” at Taymour Grahne in London. She has exhibited at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Hesse Flatow, and Monya Rowe Gallery. Her most recent exhibition being a two-person show at Galerie LJ in Paris in 2024, Doyle has received press coverage in Two Coats of Paint, Hyperallergic, Bushwick Daily, and New American Paintings Blog. She has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, and SUNY Purchase College. She co-founded NYC Crit Club. Doyle was recently co-director at Transmitter Gallery and curates shows independently. Doyle received a MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Currently, Doyle teaches at the College of the Holy Cross.

Course Fee: $400 + $60 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Explorations in Natural Paints, Dyes & Pigments

$490

with Patricia Miranda

Calendar Next session starts Aug 15, 2025 at 10 am

Skill Level: Beginner To Advanced

This workshop is an exploration of color using natural dyes and pigments. Participants will create color from raw materials such as cochineal, malachite, clay, oak gall, and black walnuts, for use in a diverse group of water-based binders, from gum arabic to distemper to egg tempera. We will explore the potentials of color, and how materials carry content through history, context, physical and aesthetic properties. Considerations of the environmental impact of materials will offer a framework for maintaining a sustainable safe painting practice. Participants will create a set of handmade watercolor paints, a color swatch book, and exploratory paintings on paper, textile, and panel.

Patricia Miranda is an artist, curator, educator, and founder of “The Lace Archive,” “The Crit Lab,” and “MAPSpace.” Grants include the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Arts Westchester, Anonymous Was a Woman Relief Grant, and a NEA grant working with homeless youth. Solo exhibitions include Olin Fine Art Center, 3S Artspace, Jane Street Art Center, and group exhibitions Spartanburg Art Museum, Dunedin Fine Art Center; Lyman Allyn Museum. Recent reviews include Art New England and Brooklyn Rail.

Course Fee: $400 + $50 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Full Course

Polymorphic Media Exploration: Cyanotype, Paint, Wood

$500

with Annalise Neil

Calendar Next session starts Sep 5, 2025 at 10 am

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

Incorporating diverse materials and mediums, this workshop encourages play, curiosity and boundary-pushing. Students will create cyanotypes using photographic negatives and specimens found in Nature and be taught how to modify their natural blue tones. The class will work with various papers and fabric and learn different mounting and finishing techniques. The integration of water-based paints and collage will be explored, as well as sculptural considerations for wood panels that can support the work. Simple wood-working techniques using manual and rotary tools will be introduced. Come join us while we learn and work with this beautiful process in the fabled Catskill Mountains!

Annalise Neil lives and works in La Mesa, California. With a BFA in Printmaking from the College of Saint Rose, and a minor in Art History (summa cum laude), she has completed residencies at Playa Summer Lake in Oregon, with Mira Schor through the New York City Crit Club, and an artist residency in Motherhood. Her work has been exhibited nationally at galleries and museums including Field Projects, NYC, The Irvine Fine Arts Center, and The Oceanside Museum of Art. Neil’s work has been featured in publications such as ArtMaze Mag, Colossal, The On Being Project, Emergence Magazine, All She Makes, Resurgence, Ecologist Magazine, and New Visionary Magazine. Her work resides in public and private collections across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Course Fee: $400 + $60 Lab Fee + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee

Full Course




Forgot password?
Staff Log In