Spring 2023 Session
MCG Youth has been dedicated to inspiring creativity, learning, and personal growth through the arts for over 50 years.
By providing opportunities to hone their creative skills alongside teaching artists, we are focused on developing personal, artistic, future-ready, and civically minded high school students.
We are committed to creating a community that fosters a sense of belonging, interconnectedness, and hope.
ENROLLMENT
Apprenticeship Training Program(ATP) enrollment will be held exclusively via our website.
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Enrollment will open on March 28th at 6:00 p.m.
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Spaces fill quickly, so sign-up early!
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Courses are offered at no cost to PPS students.
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Admission is on first-come, first-served basis.
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Waitlists will be maintained.
TRANSPORTATION
There will be a van or bus at most PPS high schools going to MCG Youth.
For all other students, transit tickets will be provided or MCG staff will arrange for pick-up.
Public transit tickets will be provided to get home.
MCG Youth admits students of any race, sex, national origin, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
Contact- Claira Heitzenrater
Email- cheitzenrater@manchesterbidwell.org
Phone- 412-322-1773 Ext. 187
Fax- 412-321-2120
Questions?
Registration
Course Guide
Creative Spark is MCG Youth’s theme for the 2022-2023 ATP programming. This year we’ll be focusing on the creative process, from artistic conception to a polished final product. Courses that are marked with a 🔥 will be centered around this theme.
How to Draw Your Dragon – Creature Design
Tuesday, April 11th – June 6th (8 contact times)
Teaching Artist: Ashley Kenawell
35mm
Tuesday, April 11th – June 6th (8 contact times) No class on May 16th
Teaching Artist: Germaine Watkins
Competition Clay 🔥
Tuesday, April 11th – June 6th (8 contact times) No class on May 16th
Teaching Artist: Bryce Hemington
Upcycled Crafts🔥
Tuesdays, April 11th – June 6th (8 contact times) No class on May 16th
Teaching Artist: Raquel Kueffner
Use a variety of digital painting techniques to create, capture, tame, and study creatures of your own design. We’ll also learn ways to access free online references to make a more convincing creature design.
Focus in on the Pentax K1000 35mm film camera. Take pictures during field trips in black and white, then process and print them yourself! You will also have the opportunity to sign out cameras and continue your photographing experience outside of class. Open to all photography knowledge levels.
Spin Me A Yarn – Non-Linear Storytelling🔥
Wednesdays, April 12th – June 7th (7 contact times) No class on May 3rd or 11th
Teaching Artist: Ashley Kenawell
All Kinds of Cameras! 🔥
Wednesdays, April 12th – June 7th (7 contact times) No class on May 3rd or 11th
Teaching Artist: Germaine Watkins
Welcome to Competition Clay, where the prizes are cheap, but the glory is REAL! We are going to embark on a “choose your own adventure” game where you’ll earn points by completing various clay-themed challenges. Use all the tools in our clay studio, including pottery wheels, the slab roller, and the extruder to earn all the points. On the way, learn lots of fun pottery techniques for making your art.
Slapped-Up Slabs
Wednesdays, April 12th – June 7th (7 contact times) No class on May 3rd or 11th
Teaching Artist: Bryce Hemington
Use your creativity to repurpose materials into crafty objects. Use our endless supply of beads to create fun jewelry or duct tape in every color (we mean it) to create a duct tape wallet! Learn to make paper and bind it to create recycled notebooks. The only requirement is that your crafts be utilitarian; materials are diverse, and possibilities are endless!
Weave a story that branches out in multiple directions. We will be working with branching- path narrative design, meaning the reader can choose the outcome of a story, in a world you create!
This class will introduce you to many di erent types of cameras! Make creative images using the pinhole, 35mm, 2 ¼, 4x5, Polaroid, and digital cameras! Once you figure out your camera of choice, make some awesome imagery! This course will help you in future endeavors to know the right camera for the right situation! Open to all students.
Get ready to go slab-happy! In this course, we’ll dive into making work that comes out of the slab roller (sheets of clay). We’re going to make all the pottery classics, like bowls, plates, and mugs- BUT, starting from a clay sheet instead of a lump of clay! This is a great place to start in clay if you haven’t worked with it before, or you can use this as an opportunity to go deeper into more challenging techniques that will make your work more distinct.
Landscape Painting
Wednesdays, April 12th – June 7th (7 contact times) No class on May 3rd or 11th
Teaching Artist: Raquel Kueffner
Spring is here, and what better time to paint our beautiful city? In this class we will learn to use watercolors, acrylics, and oils to create landscape paintings. We will study linear and atmospheric perspective and learn guidelines for putting together stunning compositions. Weather permitting, we will go outdoors to paint like true plein air artists.
Will It Blend(er)? – 3D Basics
Thursdays, April 13th – June 8th (8 contact times) No class May 11th
Teaching Artist: Ashley Kenawell
No prior knowledge needed! Learn some of the ground rules for working in 3D design. In this class, we’ll be using modeling and sculpting techniques in Blender, a free and open-source application.
Close-Up
Thursdays, April 13th – June 8th (8 contact times) No class May 11th
Teaching Artist: Germaine Watkins
Discover the world beyond what you see. Macro photography allows you to see super up-close to the point of amazement. Use our transformed digital cameras in class, during field trips, and for home assignments. Open to all students.
Porcelain!
Thursdays, April 13th – June 8th (8 contact times) No class May 11th
Teaching Artist: Bryce Hemington
Do you want your glazes to be more vibrant? Is regular clay too easy to work with? Looking for a new challenge, or just want to make some fancy dinnerware? Porcelain could be the answer for you! We are going to tackle this once-exotic clay body and make some pottery in the process. We’ll cover how to throw with clay that feels like cream cheese and make pottery both on the wheel and with hand building techniques.
Sewing
Thursdays, April 12 – June 1st (7 contact times)
Teaching Artist: Raquel Kueffner
In this class you will have the option of sewing apparel, accessories, or soft sculptures (plushies, anyone?). We will be working primarily on the sewing machines. You will be assigned one project that you must complete, and after that you can select your own projects! Some sewing experience preferred but not required.