The materials that artists use today for drawings—graphite, India ink, and conté crayon, for example—often differ significantly from those employed in centuries past. In this class, participants will examine a variety of 16th through 19th-century European Master Drawings from the Crocker collection with curator William Breazeale, paying special attention to the history of the objects and the techniques used to create them. Then participants will experiment with historical materials in the studio. Previous artistic training not required.

Curator William Breazeale received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and specializes in Old Master drawings and European art at the Crocker. Trained at the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he is the organizer of many drawings exhibitions, including A Pioneering Collection: Master Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum and The Artist's View: Landscape Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum. In addition, he has organized exhibitions on Italian paintings and European and American prints for the Crocker.

Patris left the education profession in 2004 to pursue her art full-time. She has recently been juried into several national plein air painting competitions and her work is in many private and public collections. She served on the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and is a member of the California Art Club, the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and Landscape Artists International.

Note: No experience is required unless noted. The Museum provides student-quality supplies included in the fee unless indicated otherwise. Students are welcome to bring their personal supplies; however there is no discount for doing so. Oil paints are not allowed in studio classrooms.