Rhizome is pleased to offer a range of artist-developed afternoon youth classes. These will be small, friendly, relaxed classes focused on creative collaboration and open-minded engagement with the material. Please email info@rhizomedc.org with any questions. Scholarships available.
Writing For Flow | Ages 9-13 | Tuesdays 4:30-5:20pm | Sept. 8 - Dec. 15
Alternative Photography Academy | Ages 9-14 | Wednesdays 4:30-5:30pm | Oct. 14 - Nov. 18
Fieldwork (artistic feedback sessions) for Teens | Ages 14-18 | Wednesdays 4:15-5:45pm | Oct. 7 - Nov. 18
Printmaking | Ages 9-14 | Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm | Oct. 8 - Nov. 19
Story Structure | Ages 12-15 | Fridays 3:45-5pm | Sept. 25 - Dec. 11
Writing For Flow
Ages 9-13
Tuesdays, 4:30-5:20 pm
September 8 - December 15 (no class Nov. 24) - 14 classes total
Sliding scale: $150-225
This is a play-based practice class. Creative prompts, group writing activities, and in-class writing sessions-- great for enthusiastic writers but designed to entice the reluctant or inhibited writer too. Writing as a form of play helps shorten the distance between the thoughts in our heads and the words on the page. Go wild, and go for the giggles, while building stamina, confidence, and appreciation for the possibilities of the blank page.
Mt. Plantry Alternative Photography Academy
Ages 9-14
Wednesdays 4:30-5:30pm
October 14 - November 18 - 6 classes total
Sliding scale: $85-125
Join the folks from Mt. Plantry, a Mt. Pleasant based film photography collective, for a 14-week journey through the world of alternative photographic processes. We will build and use pinhole cameras, learn how to develop film using items that can be found in your pantry, create beautiful blue cyanotype prints, and create movies on real movie film. We will practice slow looking techniques through the medium of photography and create stories based on each other’s photographs. Throughout the course, we will foster an environment of curiosity and thoughtful experimentation.
Fieldwork for Teens
Ages 13-18
Wednesdays 4:15-5:45pm
October 7 - November 18 (7 sessions total)
Sliding scale: $145-215
Fieldwork is a non-directorial feedback method that supports the development of new artistic work without the pressure of producing a finished product. Participants meet weekly to share works-in-progress and exchange objective, artist-to-artist feedback in a studio setting, guided by an experienced peer-facilitator. The session culminates with an opportunity for participants to share work in an informal showing.
Fieldwork is for creators of all types! [solo performing artists, writers, composers, choreographers, playwrights, multidisciplinary artists, poets, painters, vocalists…and more!] Honed by artists around the world for over 30 years, Fieldwork has been an incubating space for DMV-based artists for 20+ years. The Field/DC is a member of the international Fieldwork Network.
Printmaking
Ages 9-14
Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm
October 8 - November 19 (no class Oct. 15) - 6 classes total
Sliding scale: $100-150
Participants will try out different printing techniques such as monoprint, collagraphy, stamping, linocut, and more.
Story Structure
Ages 12-15
Fridays 3:45-5pm
September 25 - December 11 (11 classes total)
Sliding scale: $180-270
For six imaginative people aged 12-15 who like to weave a yarn---
Bring your ideas, projects or ready minds to learn the secrets of a gripping plot, no matter your medium.
What makes a story go?-- The inciting incident, plus character development, setting, and Point of View.
What keeps us hooked?-- The midpoint transformation, plus internal and external conflict, failure, and struggle.
What makes a satisfying ending?-- The climax, plus putting our plot in moral context.
Polish and Communicate-- Guiding the experience through imagery, symbolism, and detail.
Throughout we will talk about Conflict, the essential ingredient for every story. We will hone a critical understanding of our own and other stories, explore archetypal and experimental plot structures, and frolic in the fertile creative ground of mixed feelings.
Upon registering, please include the participant's favorite story to share with the class. If we can read/watch/consume a few common stories, we'll benefit from the shared reference point.
About the facilitators:
Anna Josephson is a homeschooling parent in the District. She teaches academic writing and composition at the University of Maryland. She grew up in Alaska, where she received Socratic seminar education starting at age 12. She is a published author currently shopping her first novel.
Mt. Plantry is a Mt Pleasant based photography collective who runs workshops throughout DC teaching alternative photography processes to people of all backgrounds. The instructors from the collective include Vivian Bauer and Christian Quintana, both full time educators from DC with experience in teaching middle school aged students in a variety of topics.
Caroline MacKinnon is a parent, artist and educator who lives in Takoma Park, MD. She teaches ceramics classes to children and adults at the Takoma Park Community Center. She also holds art workshops for small groups in area schools and has previously run arts camps at Rhizome. She likes meeting people, making art, and collecting things.
Claire Alrich is a multidisciplinary artist living in Washington DC. A trained dancer, Claire’s art practice centers the body and the somatic experience even as it moves across mediums to include: installation, dance production, 2-D art, and sculpture. Based in DC since 2014, Claire’s work has been seen at Dance Place, ‘but, also’ gallery, Rhizome DC, The Capital Fringe Festival, The Source Festival, and the Performatica Festival in Puebla, Mexico. Beyond her individual practice, Claire is a consummate collaborator and an active part of the DC art community. Career highlights include co-founding the performance collective Area Woman, organizing and curating The Shed Gallery, performing as a company member with darlingdance, and creating costumes for Heart Stück Bernie and Extreme Lengths Productions. Claire is also the Field/DC site coordinator, regularly leading workshops in the Fieldwork feedback method. Her work is supported through the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Individual Artist Fellowship. In companionship with her work as an artist, Claire has spent the last decade working in public gardens, first with the Friends of the U.S. Botanic Garden, and now with the Friends of the National Arboretum. This infuses her art practice with an attention to landscape, cycles, and interspecies connections.