Anyone Can Draw!

Visual arts courses, which include a broad variety of media, have been an important part of CCAE’s curriculum from the very beginning. If you want to hone your skills, we have courses for that. If you want to learn something new, we have courses for that. But what if you feel like you’re below beginner? What if you’ve always felt that you have no idea how to even start? What if you’ve always held yourself back because you thought you’d be embarrassed? Well, we have Ellen Stutman for that!

Ellen Stutman has taught art at CCAE for the past 50 years. She’s devoted the bulk of those years to teaching students who never thought they could draw. She’s always had a soft spot for adults who don’t think they can draw, adults who’ve been intimidated, since as far back as third grade, because they didn’t feel as talented as the classmate who was always praised by their teacher.

Ellen, herself, taught art to elementary school students for 20 years. She taught these children like she taught adults. She took them seriously. She felt it important to teach them that, in creating art, there is never one correct answer. She teaches adults at CCAE the same way.

Rather than starting by "making pictures," she has her students begin by getting comfortable with their materials – paper, charcoal, oil pastels (and just a limited color palette to start). She wants her students to enjoy themselves, to no longer feel overwhelmed by the idea of creating art. For her students, art is not a competition.

Ellen teaches two classes at CCAE—Can’t Draw? Who Says? during the fall and spring terms and Drawing with Color in the winter and summer. Does either one of these classes speak to you?