Experience Level: Beginner

Learn to draw, shade and create texture at Beginning Pen & Ink on Thursdays, Feb. 27 through March 20 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Sally Walsh will teach the basics of hatching, dots and varied line to help students learn how to create texture and visual interest.

$65/person*. Register by Feb. 17. All sales are final.

*Students should bring:

— Spiral bound sketchbook or mixed media pad (9”x12”)
— Pencil— Kneaded eraser
— See through plastic ruler
— 1 to 3 black roller ball, gel or felt tip Sharpie-type pens with varying tip sizes.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Sally Walsh is a retired art teacher from Richland Community College in Decatur. She has more than 30 years of teaching experience and has led previous art classes at Allerton.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn the basics of drawing the natural world at Drawing from Nature on Thursdays, Feb. 27 through March 20 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. in The Studio.

This course, led by retired art teacher Sally Walsh, is aimed at the beginner who has no drawing experience. Students will learn how to bring items from nature to life with shading and blending.

$65/person*. Register by Feb. 24. All sales are final.

*Students should bring:

— Spiralbound mixed media sketchbook in preferred size (9x12 is standard)
— No. 2 pencil
— Clear plastic ruler
— Kneaded eraser
— Pencil blending tool

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

About the instructor

Sally Walsh is a retired art teacher from Richland Community College in Decatur. She has more than 30 years of teaching experience and has led previous art classes at Allerton.

Experience Level: Beginner

Step back in time with turn of the century dances at Historical Dancing on Mondays, Jan. 27 through March 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion.

In this elegant setting, instructor Jeanette Watts will teach1900-era ballroom styles including the waltz and two-step, reflecting the graceful movements that captivated society early in the 20th century. Perfect for history enthusiasts and dance lovers alike, this course offers a unique opportunity to experience the elegance and charm of the Gilded Age.

$90/person for the entire series or $30/class. Register for the series by Jan. 24 or three days before each class. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Jeanette Watts has been teaching historical dances for over 20 years. She is the founder of the Terpsichorean Delights Dance Assembly in Dayton, Ohio, Queen City Vintage Dance in Charlotte, North Carolina, and spent covid writing an 8-volume series of instructional dance manuals for historical museums.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn to paint on a beautiful surface at Santorini Stone Painting on Wednesday, March 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion Solarium.

Mined in Greece, Santorini stone is a strikingly white and sparkling natural stone. It is often cut and polished for construction and landscape purposes.

In this course, instructor Sara Gentry will show how this smooth and sparkled surface makes it a uniquely wonderful canvas for painting!

$50/person. Register by Feb. 26. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

Experience Level: Beginner

Create your own unique wall hanging at Circular Weaving on Friday, March 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in The Studio.

Macy McCall of TwinFringe will share beginner weaving techniques and students will create their own weaving on a steel circular frame. A variety of colors and fibers will be available to help make each take-home piece unique!

$75/person. Register by March 5. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Macy McCall, a fiber artist in Champaign, started her fiber art journey in 2018 when she first learned about macramé. By 2020 she started her small business, TwinFringe, in which she sells her artwork and teaches a variety of workshops.

She has taught in many different locations such as Parkland Community College, Allerton Park, local plant shops, and private events. Besides macramé, Macy is learning how to weave as well, which has been an exciting endeavor as she continues to explore the beautiful world of fiber art.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn the techniques of spiral coil weaving at Colorful Coiled Items on Wednesday, March 12 from 1 to 5 p.m. in The Studio.

At this workshop, instructor Billie Theide will walk students through the process as they make colorful coiled fabric bowls, vases, placemats, coasters and jewelry. Students will be introduced to a variety of materials and edge finishes.

$100/person (Ages 13+; 13- to 17-year-olds must be accompanied by a registered adult). Register by March 5. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Billie Theide is a former chair of the Crafts Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is Professor Emerita. Theide is a metalsmith, jeweler and ceramicist. Her work is in public art collections around the world including the Smithsonian, Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Racine Art Museum, among others.

She is the recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and five Artists Fellowship Grants from the Illinois Arts Council. Theide has been recognized for her excellence in teaching and is a Distinguished Member and Past-President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to decorate cookies for spring at Spring Cookie Decorating on Saturday, March 15 from 12 to 3 p.m. in the Greenhouse Café.

Learn to decorate spring-themed cookies with royal icing, crusting butter cream and rolled buttercream! Instructor Jennifer Holhubner will demonstrate and explain wet-on-wet technique, outlining and flooding and make flowers. Each participant will receive directions to decorate five cookies.

$75/person*. Register here by Feb. 28. All sales are final.

*Students should bring a take-home container.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Champaign-Urbana native Jennifer Holhubner taught herself how to decorate cakes when she was 16 years old and took up cookie decorating in 2019.

“Although they intimidated me, I forged on and got better with each order. I still have room to grow as we all do in whatever task we take on,” she said. “But I love to share the aspects of baking and decorating. I can actually now say, I am cookier!”

Jennifer also teaches decorating classes at Parkland College.

Experience Level: Beginner (ages 10+)

Learn about soft pastels and ways to use them through basic mark-making techniques at Introduction to Pastel Painting on Tuesday, March 18 from 12 to 3 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

Serious artists ages 10 and older can sign up for this course, where award-winning artist Mandy Roeing will help students learn about pastels and paint to create a simple still life to take home. More than just a one-time painting project, this class in intended to give you basic pastel painting skills and knowledge that you can build on to continue creating.

$115/person (Ages 10+. Ages 10-15 need to be accompanied by a registered adult). Register by March 13. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Award-winning artist Mandy Roeing resides in Downs with her husband and their two daughters. Inspired by the beauty and tranquility of nature, Roeing creates color-filled landscapes and beachscapes that go beyond representation to capture the emotion of a place.

All of Roeing’s paintings are done in soft pastels, a beautiful and versatile medium that she is passionate about sharing with others through both her work and classes. She is an instructor at the McLean County Arts Center and the Peninsula School of Art and holds regular classes in painting and drawing at her own studio and gallery space in downtown Bloomington.

Mandy earned her BFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina in 2004. She is the Vice President of the Illinois Prairie Pastel Society and an active member of the Peoria Art Guild. Her work has been published in The Pastel Journal magazine and the IAPS Globe and is in numberous private collections throughout the country and abroad.