
Portfolio Development for College Applications
About the Course
In this 4-session workshop, high school juniors and seniors interested in applying for art and design undergraduate studies will photograph work suitable for their digital portfolio, draft a letter of intent and statement of purpose, and participate in mock interviews. Students must have a collection of work that is ready for review and curation to put into a college-ready portfolio. Suitable work includes daily sketches, finished works both digital and physical.
Related Art Classes
Making Tintypes and Ambrotypes

Winnie Westergard
Winifred Westergard is a Seattle based fine art and commercial photographer with degrees from the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts in Creative Writing, Journalism and Art. Her art making foundation is rooted in the early processes of photography, fully embracing the slow processes of 19th century photography. She is a visual creator with a strong base on human emotion and storytelling. She has managed the photography studio at Cornish College of the Arts since 1999 and has taught Photography and Portfolio Development through Summer@Cornish since 2003.
One of the first forms of photography, the collodion process is an early photographic process that produced a negative image on glass. In this course, students will learn the wet plate collodion process to produce images on tin tiles or plates. Participants of this course will be learning the skills necessary to create successful Tintypes (metal
Hand Puppet Fabrication

Nikki Rice
Born and raised in Seattle, Nikki moved to California to attend college, receiving a BFA in Film Production in 2002 from Chapman University. For the next 6 years she worked various office jobs in the film industry while also earning a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. In 2006 Nikki decided to shift her career to Special Effects Make-Up working at Creature FX studios and from there segueing into the stop motion world, beginning in 2008 with Shadow Machine on the Adult Swim hit show, Robot Chicken: Season 3. Nikki has worked as a puppet fabricator, lead fabricator and department head on numbers stop motion television shows, commercials and films, helping create iconic stop motion characters for such shows/films as Happy Honda Days (Socal regional commercial campaign for the last 12 years), Ask the Story Bots, Buddy Thunderstruck, Anomolisa and Ted Lasso to name a few. In 2022, the next adventure brought Nikki back home to Seattle to be closer to family and to hang out her own shingle as Puppets Northwest, offering a one stop shop for puppets of all kinds, SFX, 3D modeling/printing and educational outreach of all of the above.
Can’t get more hands on than making your very own hand puppet. In this class you will design and fabricate a hand puppet character, building out of such materials as foam, felt and feathers to name a few. FUN! You will learn mouth plate design, the use of rods for arm/extremity movements and the famous “Muppet Hand Stitch” to sew up the seams of
Polymer Clay Sculpting

Kyungjin Kim (KJ)
Kyung-jin Kim is originally from South Korea. He received his MFA Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. He utilizes diverse mediums to approach the substance of liminality inherent to dislocation, translation and adjustment. Through sculpture, kinetic devices, and interactive sound installations, His work has shown at venues include Gallery MC (NY), Korean Cultural Center NY, MASS MoCA Open Studios (MA), Vermont Studio Center (VT), Governors Island Art Fair 2018 (NY) RU Exhibition: DYNAMIS, Equity Gallery (NY), Rubin Museum Block Party (NY). He participated ACRE Residency (WI) MASS MoCA Residency (MA), Vermont Studio Center Residency (VT), Flux Factory Residency (NY) Sculpture Space Residency program, Utica (NY), RU Residency program, New York and recently had a Solo exhibition ‘Wishful Thinking’ at the Thomas Hunter Project Space, 2022, CUNY Hunter College New York.
He received the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, category of Architecture/ Environmental Structures/ Design in 2019, New York Corp Artist Fund in 2021 and the Queens Council on the Arts : Art Access Grant in 2021. He is a co-founder of the New York based artist group, "Jeju Island Artist Collective" and curated a Flux Factory annual major exhibition titled, "Survival Tools for Artists for the Age of Ultra Anxiety" in 2021, Plaxall Gallery, Queens, NY)
This course provides an opportunity to develop your skills in crafting lifelike human figures, rooted in an understanding of anatomy and posture. Throughout the course, each student will create a minimum of two figure sculptures, standing between 8 to 15 inches in height, using polymer clay, which will be baked at the conclusion of the class
Life Model Drawing

J. Gordon
J. Gordon brings over two decades of experience as an artist, educator, and curator, to his classrooms. Gordon earned his BFA and MFA in painting from the University of Kansas and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts respectively. While his current professional practice centers primarily around the medium of drawing, he incorporates aspects of traditional and contemporary painterly practices in both his teaching methods and mixed media art works.
Gordon is a recipient of multiple scholarships and awards, as well an artist fellowship from the state of Delaware. He has taught drawing at many colleges, art centers, and museums including the Tacoma Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He is currently represented by Gallery Strega, where he also plays a supporting role in exhibition design and curation.
In our well-lit studio, delve into the art of human-form observation and interpretation with charcoal, pencils and brushes. Explore the beauty and diversity of the model's pose as an opportunity for self-expression and growth. This class fosters an atmosphere of creativity, camaraderie, and artistic exploration.
Introduction to laser cutting for sculpture

Casey Curran
I find myself drawn to the foundation of things, to the root of their cause and the long cycle of their existence. It’s a fascination with structures laying between the very vast and the very small. A desire to see a system writ into the nature of things, defining every surface, every thought and idea. A simple piece of humanity laying somewhere between stars and bones, summoning the great and small triumphs of our innumerable endeavors.
Focusing primarily in sculpture, but not limited to any specific medium, I create kinetic environments with an internal logic and history often propelled by a simple hand crank. I invite the viewer to become a part of the work through participation, animating a tableau of flora and fauna that bloom or flutter to life when activated. When conceiving my pieces I center on a hidden narrative and assign visual elements that aline with the concept of the piece, often utilizing ornate structures and simple construction methods to further highlight my interests in Nature, foundation and form. When creating my work I look for patterns in the environments around me, trying to tease out symmetry in their ecosystems. I look for how innovation shapes itself into our ever expanding systems of complexity and knowledge. I create work that attempts to straddle the concepts of chaos, pattern, and emergence. These are the pillars I search for, the thoughtful hands that hold my metaphors.
With laser cutting as the students artistic ally, this 8-week course will cover the basics of building cut files with Adobe Illustrator and translating those files into 3D designs. We will undertake a series of guided projects that experiment with modular design, simple mechanics, and post cut construction methods. If you’ve an interest in how
Explorations in Papermaking

Brad Taylor
Bradley Taylor is a Seattle based artist, and printmaker. He is currently working at Cornish College of the Arts as the Printmaking Studio Technician. Proficient in all forms of printmaking Bradley specializes in woodblock prints. His work has been shown in numerous galleries in the Seattle area. He has also work collaboratively with many notable Seattle Artists.
In the course students will dive into different processes and techniques for making paper. Beginning with recycled paper and ending with traditional Washi paper, this class will introduce students to multiple approaches to the ancient artform of papermaking. Cornish’s printmaking studio houses a rare Washi Papermaking tool - the only one in Seattle
Introduction to Patterns & Printmaking

Brad Taylor
Bradley Taylor is a Seattle based artist, and printmaker. He is currently working at Cornish College of the Arts as the Printmaking Studio Technician. Proficient in all forms of printmaking Bradley specializes in woodblock prints. His work has been shown in numerous galleries in the Seattle area. He has also work collaboratively with many notable Seattle Artists.
This course will introduce design strategies for creating patterns and then realize those patterns in a variety of print media. Printmaking methods covered in this course include linoleum relief, mono print, and screen print.
Books by Hand

Carolyn Hall
Carolyn Hall is a writer, novelist, theatrical costume designer, artist, and educator. She was born in Seattle and was in the first class at the Evergreen State College. She has also studied Spanish in Guatemala, painting and ceramics at Cornish College of the Arts, and Creative Writing at the University of Washington. She is an alumnus of The Cottages at Hedgebrook. Carolyn co-authored and co-illustrated the children's book, In My Village (2014), which was written in Khmer and English, with Lauren Iida (Cornish graduate), and other Cornish artists. Her novel, Rose Concannon, was published in July 2016.
Carolyn has been a life long educator and has taught all age levels in the Seattle Public Schools. She has also taught at Antioch University, the Muckleshoot Tribal College, the Seattle Gypsy Alternative School (a program for Romany children), and the Hugo House. She has taught education, creative writing and book-making at Antioch University since 2000. She began teaching Integrated Studies and writing courses at Cornish College of the Arts in 2008. She is also the mother of two adult children.
In this course, students will learn basic techniques of creating books by hand. By using commonly available materials (papers, glue, ribbons and binding tape) and simple hand tools (needle and thread, awl, bone-folder) you will learn to make:1. Single signature and multiple signature books2. Instant folded books and zines3. Stab stitch variations4.
PAPERCUT!

Larry Calkins
Larry Calkins was born in 1955 in Corvallis, OR, and grew up in a small logging community named Harlan. He stepped into the family tradition of working within logging operations, but after serious injuries in logging accidents, he decided to pursue his obvious talents in the arts. He has lived in London, England, and has traveled widely throughout the US and Europe.
In the early 80s up until 2003 he worked in photography related fields in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. In the late 80s he and his wife, a former architect, began building their house near Issaquah, WA, where they have lived for the past 26 years with numerous pets, chickens and 2 mules. Larry works daily in his studio and in his metal shop -- or in the sometimes sunny, but often wet and cold outdoors.
Beginning in 2003, Larry Calkins has been Artist in Residence at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, for several years in a row. He is also an instructor at Pratt Fine Arts in Seattle and several other teaching venues in the Seattle area, including the Kirkland Arts Center, NW Encaustic in Seattle, Winslow Art Center on Bainbridge Island, artEast, Issaquah, and he has taught Art Workshops in Italy, Hawaii and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Papercutting, Scherenschnitte, Knippen, Wycinanki, Monkiri, Chien-chih or Papel picado, just a few terms associated with this ancient art form. It is a craft dating back hundreds of years, yet it is still very popular today. In this class, students will learn the art of paper cutting design and its history and many uses.Using simple tools, students
Encaustic Pen Tool

Larry Calkins
Larry Calkins was born in 1955 in Corvallis, OR, and grew up in a small logging community named Harlan. He stepped into the family tradition of working within logging operations, but after serious injuries in logging accidents, he decided to pursue his obvious talents in the arts. He has lived in London, England, and has traveled widely throughout the US and Europe.
In the early 80s up until 2003 he worked in photography related fields in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. In the late 80s he and his wife, a former architect, began building their house near Issaquah, WA, where they have lived for the past 26 years with numerous pets, chickens and 2 mules. Larry works daily in his studio and in his metal shop -- or in the sometimes sunny, but often wet and cold outdoors.
Beginning in 2003, Larry Calkins has been Artist in Residence at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, for several years in a row. He is also an instructor at Pratt Fine Arts in Seattle and several other teaching venues in the Seattle area, including the Kirkland Arts Center, NW Encaustic in Seattle, Winslow Art Center on Bainbridge Island, artEast, Issaquah, and he has taught Art Workshops in Italy, Hawaii and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Painting with an encaustic pen is a quiet meditation on process and discovery. It favors patience and deliberateness. Students will experience the slow build-up of wax, stroke by stroke, layer upon layer, adding colors bit by bit and carefully mixing them directly on the panel. This method lends itself especially well to working on a small surface.
Mastering Pen

Maja Sereda
Maja Sereda is an environmental artist, teacher and coach. Born in Poland, Maja has dedicated her life to transcribing and sharing her experiences in nature. Working with pen, graphite, color pencils, charcoal and mixed media, her highly detailed drawings explore the myriad connections between human beings and the natural world. Her drawings have been shown throughout the US, Europe, and South Africa.
After studying graphic design at University of Pretoria and working as an art director in advertising agencies, both in South Africa and Ireland, Maja became an award-winning book illustrator. She has illustrated more than 20 books with many major publishers including Penguin Random House, Maskew Miller Longman, Oskar Editeur, Tafelberg & Lapa Publishers. Amongst others, she won the Crystal Kite award in 2011 and the Katrine Harries Award for best illustration for 2010. In 2012, she was also invited to illustrate a book with a French author, Yves Pinguilly titled La Grande Fleur (The Big Flower), followed by an invitation to Salon du Livre fair in Paris, France and La Reunion, where she showcased her books and led art workshops for children.
Now based in Seattle, Maja is a teaching artist and coach. With the outbreak of COVID, she began teaching drawing classes online. By investing deeply in her students’ work through highly individualized feedback, research and demonstrations, she nurtures an online community of over 250 artists.
With a deep passion for nature, drawing and community, Maja operates Guardians of the Jungle, a creative project which aims to save endangered wildlife and protect precarious ecosystems.
Yearning to pick up a pen and/or ballpoint pen, but have found yourself a little intimidated by the fact that it doesn’t erase? Then this is the course for you!Learn basic steps, demonstrate a variety of pen techniques and be encouraged to make your creative experience smoother. In this course, students will mainly learn how to draw with technical
Public Art 101

Tory Franklin
Tory Franklin is a visual artist working with diverse media unified by pattern, print, and narrative. Since 2010, Franklin has focused on public installations inspired by folktales that are accompanied by screen-printed books, posters, and other ephemera. Her work has been exhibited at MAD Art, Bellevue City Hall, Storefronts Seattle, Storefronts Auburn, Spaceworks Tacoma, the Renton Arts Commission, Arts-A-Glow festival, Portland Winter Light Festival, the VERA Project, and 826 Seattle. She has received a Seattle Office of Arts & Culture City Artists project grant, a 4Culture project grant, and an Artist Trust GAP grant for these projects. In 2015, Franklin created her first permanent window piece with her sister, Eroyn Franklin, for Harborview Medical Center, and is currently working on SoundTransit’s Star Lake light rail station in Kent slated to open in 2024.
This lecture-style course is designed for people interested in transitioning to public art projects. We will cover how to expand your portfolio with temporary public works as well as assembling RFQ’s (Request for Qualifications) for permanent pieces. Discussions focus on applying for projects, what to expect when making it to a finalist