Middle School Precollege Workshop Course Descriptions

JSX 005: Introduction to Digital Photography 
Learn how to use your digital camera like a professional! You will learn how to work with: F/stops, shutter speeds, lighting accommodations, depth of field, white balance, and exposure settings. Perfect for students who are new to using digital cameras. This class will move you beyond simple "point-and-shoot" photography!

JSX 006: Basic Digital Photography: Portraits
Learn the basic techniques for making good photographs with a focus on portraits. You will learn camera use, composition, exposure, basic lighting, camera care, and editing of digital files.  JSX 006 Gallery

JSX 007: Basic Digital Photography: Landscapes and Cityscapes
Learn the basic techniques for making good photographs with a focus on environments. You will learn camera use and care, composition, exposure, types of lighting (natural vs. artificial), basic lighting, camera care, and editing of digital files. 

JSX 011: Fashion Art: Silhouettes
Learn a wide variety of garment silhouettes (sleeves, skirts, necklines, pants, etc.) as you draw on fashion figures provided by the instructor. You will then mix and match these women's wear silhouettes to create your own designs. Experienced students may also use their own fashion figures.  JSX 011 Gallery 

JSX 013: Fashion Art: Faces and Figures
Female fashion figures (called croquis) are unique to each designer. In this class, you will learn how to develop your very own fashion figures, complete with facial details to convey the right attitude for your designs. You will finally design a line of croquis wearing your original designs. JSX 013 Gallery  

JSX 014: Fashion Art: Junior Fashion Trends
What is the difference between Women's and Junior's fashions? LOTS! Fit, fabric, shape, and attitude all come into play when designing for the female junior market. Learn how to design for a current youth market and incorporate the latest trends.

JSX 015: Fashion Art: Finding Inspiration
Where do designers come up with their next great idea? Museums, galleries, stores, architecture, food, songs, history, the list is endless! You will learn how to translate just about anything you like into women's wear fashion inspiration.  JSX 015 Gallery 

JSX 018: All-Inclusive Fashion Design
This class is focused on inspiration, creativity, and rendering all-inclusive fashion creations. Truly limitless in every way, you will work on creating your collections for whatever applies to your unique identity, whether that’s gender fluidity, or size, age, and race inclusivity. Can’t find what you love in a store? Let’s make them a reality! Learn how to draw all the ideas in your head and put them on paper. This is a class embracing every expressive point of view.

JSX 019: Fashion History: Trends Through the Decades
Fashion is a reflection of trends in art, music, and technology, as well as a reflection of events in society. Trends in fashion are important because they repeat themselves and are often “reinvented” by current designers. In this workshop, you will learn about fashion from the 20th century to the present day and how events in history, music, politics, etc., influenced each fashion trend. You will also use FIT’s archives to see original Chanel garments as well as issues of Vogue from the 1900’s. Each student will research a time period that inspires them the most and create a final mood board collage to use as future fashion inspiration!

JSX 025: Lets Create Comics!
Focus on the basic building blocks of comic book storytelling: story, character design, and page layout. You will create written scenes, (or one will be provided for you) and go from thumbnails and character sketches to a penciled layout of a page, reviewing and critiquing the steps as you go along. You will explore the use of photo reference as a means of making fantasies look real. The class will discuss the student's creative ambitions and the importance of reading as a stimulant in the creative process. JSX 025 Gallery

JSX 026: Illustration for Beginners
You will learn the basics of illustration while creating original imagery for short stories, poems, or your own original writings. Learn how to create dynamic visuals using photographic reference, observation, and your imagination as you discover the materials and techniques used by professional illustrators. Color, shape, composition, and scale are just some of the elements that will help bring your illustrations to life!

JSX 027: Drawing Interior Design for Beginners
If you're interested in architecture, construction, interior design, or retail design, technical drawing is an important skill to have. You will learn the basics of drafting (using a T-Square and other drafting tools), how to create an elevation and a floor plan, how to draw in scale, and an introduction to drawing a 3-D object. Projects will be customized to your interests. 

JSX 028 Color Rendering for Interior Design
How do you convince your clients that your design ideas are perfect for them? Interior designers know just how important rendered design drawings are! In this class, you will learn how to communicate your ideas using perspective drawing along with rendering techniques that will give your drawings shape and form. You will also learn how to select a color palette and apply color to your drawings using the same tricks professionals use. Learn how to render fabrics, wood, and other surfaces to make your designs pop! Class projects will be based on individual student interests.  

JSX 031: Basic Drawing Skills
This course will introduce you to general drawing principles and techniques. Observational drawing is introduced with a focus on line, contour, shading, composition, and perspective.

JSX 033: Creating Expressive Art With Mixed Media
Through fun and unconventional projects, students will create their own art using mixed media materials and found household items  and find creative and  emotional outlet to better understand their feelings. With guided demonstrations from the instructor, an expressive journey will begin, inspiring emotional growth and healing using our innate desire to create. Throughout the process, students will learn new and different ways to use the nonverbal language of creativity to communicate inner feelings, ideas, and concepts.

JSX 035: Experimenting with Color 
Delve into the world of color as you explore color-wheel mixing, color temperature, color harmonies, and color painting. You will create a number of compositions with a focus on color, working abstractly, and using texture and collaging to create final projects. JSX 035 Gallery

JSX 036: Life Drawing for Middle School
If you're looking at art high schools, you know that many of them want to see a portfolio with samples of life drawings, observational drawings, or a portrait. Well, we've got you covered! In this course, you will work from live, clothed models and learn how to draw what you see. Don't worry, we make the techniques easy and fun to learn. You will focus on line, proportion, gesture, and composition, and if you don't know what that means, well teach you that too! Perfect class for beginning artists. JSX 036 Gallery

JSX 037: Middle School Sculpture
Working primarily in clay, this course introduces you to figurative and abstract sculpture focusing on proportion and composition. You will be introduced to the tools and techniques used sculpt and model in clay. JSX 037 Gallery

JSX 038: Exploring Painting, Drawing, and Collage
Drawing with watercolor crayons, painting with acrylics, mask-making, and assemblage are all techniques explored in this class. Learn how to use a variety of media for experimentation and fun, or towards developing your unique artistic vision. 

JSX 039: Creative Sculpting, Making, and Decorating
Learn the latest techniques in stained glass mosaic to create dynamic portraits, experiment with paper pulp mache to create whimsical structures, and learn the art of making 3-D string forms. You will be encouraged to mix mediums and techniques to make, build, or decorate whatever your imagination can create. 

JSX 040: Fashion Merchandising Trend-Spotting
Did you ever wonder how certain items become key fashion trends? During this class you will learn how fashion experts forecast upcoming trends. You will photograph store windows that represent the upcoming women's wear season and learn how this information helps develop private labels for future seasons. You will also learn about major trend services that help forecast key colors, prints, fabrics, details, key items, and accessories. After these few days, you will be thinking about all the exciting career opportunities that are available in the fashion industry! 

JSX 045: Careers in Fashion Styling
Fashion Styling is a hot career right now, but what exactly does a stylist do and what are the career options for someone who is passionate about fashion? Learn about personal styling, celebrity styling, and commercial and editorial styling as well as the skills needed to succeed in each area. Learn how to shop and prep merchandise; style using color, shape, and proportion; identify fashion trends and resources; and develop a personal aesthetic. You will create individual and group projects throughout this workshop.

JSX 046: Fashion Styling for Video, Film, and Stage
Learn how to style for commercials and music videos and how to build “characters” by styling costumes. Whether your narrative is period (vintage), modern (everyday clothing), or conceptual (theatrical costume), you'll learn how to pull together the pieces to set the tone and visually communicate the character's traits to the audience. Learn how to shop, prep and assemble; style using color, shape and proportion; identify fashion trends and resources; and develop a personal aesthetic. Students will create individual and group projects throughout this workshop.

JSX 050: Fashion: From Drawing to Runway
This class will teach you the steps need to make your FASHION RUNWAY dreams a reality. Learn how your women's wear designs travel through the fashion design process; how to translate inspiration into sketches and mood/design boards; why one fabric is better than another; what happens in the pattern room; how the factory works; what it takes to produce a runway show; and finally, how your designs end up in a store! After this class you will know how a real designer puts a line together and have a road map for your future.  JSX 050 Gallery

JSX 070 Jewelry Design: Wire-Forming and Beaded Techniques
Learn the basic skills needed to create fascinating and beautiful jewelry using a variety of professional wire-forming and beading techniques. Each day you will make their own pieces to keep.

JSX 071 Jewelry Design: Metal Jewelry Techniques
Learn the basic techniques to stamp, form, and patina metals to create unique wearable pieces such as pendants, cuffs, mini-journals, bracelets, and rings.

JSX 072 Jewelry Design: Clay, Resin and Polymer Techniques
Learn the basic skills needed to work with clay, resin, and polymer to create unique finished jewelry pieces for your portfolio or to wear. JSX 072 Gallery

JSX 082: Leather Accessories
Learn how to make your own leather accessories including tassels, key chains, sneaker charms, pouches, and cases. In this course you will learn basic leather hand sewing and lacing techniques as well as how to use leather tools and hardware. You will have the option to customize your leather goods using a variety of decorative techniques.

JSX 105:  Natural Dyeing Techniques for Fashion and Fun
Learn about natural dyeing techniques using plants and foods you can find at home. Explore eco dyeing, making botanical pigments, printing plant materials directly onto fabrics, and popular Japanese shibori techniques. You will select your favorite techniques to transform T-shirts into one-of-a-kind high fashion works. Other projects also available upon request.