Charcoal Drawing: Dramatic Light
Charcoal Drawing: Dramatic Light
Date and Time: Four consecutive Wednesdays: October 29, November 5, November 12, November 19, 2025
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Teaching Artist: David Gordon
Cost: $145 for all four sessions
Preregistration Required
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Explore the radiant subject of light and shadow in this brand-new Charcoal Drawing course! Teaching artist David Gordon will demonstrate and walk students through concepts, including value, texture, pattern, and how to put it all together to create compelling compositions. Exercises will include quick drawings designed to explore the charcoal medium, as well as longer drawings to study the arrangement of objects and their interaction with light and shadow. This four-part course will feature lecture, demonstrations, feedback, and class critiques.
This four-part course will be taught on four consecutive Wednesdays: October 29, November 5, November 12, and November 19, 2025, from 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
This course is for ages 16 and over. The cost of the six-part course is $145 per person. All skill levels are welcome and all materials are provided. Preregistration is required and space is limited. The course will be held inside the Cole Creativity Center located at 123 N 10th St, Santa Paula, CA. Free parking is available directly behind the building and students may enter through the front or back door.
Questions? Please call the Museum at (805) 525-5554 ext. 104 or email creativity@santapaulaartmuseum.org.
About Our Teaching Artist:
David Gordon is a third generation Kern County native who grew up south of Bakersfield surrounded by cotton and alfalfa fields. After graduating Bakersfield High School, he enrolled in San Diego State University where he earned his bachelors in Art and Applied Design, followed by his masters in Landscape Architecture from North Carolina State University. His professional career has consisted of being the Assistant Director of the Bakersfield Museum of Art, the Executive Director of the Arts Council of Kern. In 2020 he built, from the ground up, Bird Dog Arts, an 11,000 square foot art gallery representing over 140 California artists, where he single-handedly curated a collection of over 2400 pieces.
Gordon is also a landscape designer and painter whose subject matter is usually the mundane. He paints California’s big skies, agricultural regions, its deserts, especially Palm Springs and the Salton Sea, bringing to life old structures tagged with graffiti. His work usually has power lines and palm trees punctuating the landscape that pushes the viewer far past their comfort zones. Gordon has had numerous solo shows, awards, and is in high demand to teach workshops and as a juror for countless art exhibitions.
He currently lives in Ventura with his two dogs, Sassy and Dexter.
If this course is SOLD OUT, please click here to join our waitlist. You will be notified if a spot opens up or if this course is offered again in the future.