DESCRIPTION OF CLASSES
The Workroom of Fine Arts operatedaily from Monday to Saturday, with morning and afternoon sessions.

Painting for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Grade (Primary School)
Children learn the principles of Visual Art and apply them in a variety of ways depending upon their age (e.g. painting, engraving, silkscreen, paper sculpture, sculpture, constructions with various materials.
It is important to cultivate sensorial contact at all levels through special creative exercises (e.g. hard, soft, warm, cold, light and dark, matte and glossy surfaces, etc.).
We employ a wide range of simple, easy-to-use materials like paper, cardboard, boxes, finger paint, watercolours, crayons, charcoal, marker pens, clay, dough, plasticine and other plant-based or recycled materials through experiments and various techniques suitable for young children.
Moreover, the aim is for children to get to know how to:

• explore and employ materials and techniques for creating works and developing skills,
• develop ideas and express emotions through artistic creation,
• appreciate the fact that artworks reflect the views and values of ours and other cultures,
• use sources and information for simple and subsequently more complex art projects,
• recognise the content, the form and the method of presentation of an artwork,
• recognise certain formal elements in an artwork and interpret them in a simple way.
  
  

Pottery for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Grade (Primary School)
The aim of the class is to teach children the main principles behind the techniques, materials, media and tools used in pottery and ceramic art, which involves the four elements of nature, the hands and the child's imagination. The children approach art like a game, using their spontaneity and imagination to create various shapes depending upon the subject of each exercise, such as dishes, animal forms, masks, wall-mounted objects, mobile, beads, ancient toys, dolls, etc.

Pottery for the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Grade (Primary School)
The children learn the properties and the potential of clay, the various techniques and the process of making objects (moulding, drying, firing, decorating). 
Τα children enrich their artistic expression with new elements and sensibility, while also developing and exercising their imagination, inventiveness, muscle coordination (eye - hand) manual and digital dexterity, patience and perseverance.

Freehand Drawing, preparation course for studies in Art & Architecture
This is an intensive preparation course for students who will take the freehand drawing exam in the higher education entry examination, and the aim is to help them secure entry into the schools of their choice.
Specifically, students are taught the fundamental principles of freehand drawing: materials and tools; object forms and space; observing and reading forms and spaces; transferring the subject on paper; scale and positioning of the subject; point, line, outline, form; structure of the subject; axes, inclinations, measurements, comparisons, calculations, proportions, tones, script, etc.
Candidates in the university entry exams are required to:

• Organise the design in terms of positioning and composition;
• Precisely render the proportions and inclinations of the subject;
• Render the tonal grades of the subject.

The test in the exams involves a composition of—mainly utility—objects (e.g. chairs, plastic containers, bottles, fabrics) placed on the teacher's desk, parallel to the blackboard and at a small distance from it.

Our students are trained initially on simple and gradually more complex compositions through which they learn the principles of freehand drawing, the proper rendering of proportions (measured using a stylus), volumes and textures and properly train in conveying both actual and apparent tones.

The teaching of freehand drawing goes beyond the technical aspects (materials, tools, the ability to render and convey or the acquisition of drawing skills) to focus on learning a system for organising perception, analytic and synthetic thinking, acquiring an artistic view of things and generally developing a personal aesthetic picture of reality and our surrounding 'cosmos'. Nevertheless, this academic approach to freehand drawing does not compromise the student's personal handling of the technique nor does it offer readymade solutions.

2-hour creative pottery sessions for nursery- and primary-school children
This class operates as part of the collaboration between the MCA and the Rethymnon Council of Primary Education. The lessons are scheduled upon the initiative of the children's teacher and aim at introducing pupils to the basic principles behind the techniques of pottery.

2-hour creative painting sessions for nursery- and primary-school children
This class operates as part of the collaboration between the MCA and the Rethymnon Council of Primary Education. The lessons are scheduled upon the initiative of the children's teacher and aim at introducing pupils to the basic principles behind the techniques of painting.


ADULTS:
Painting for adults Cycle A (beginners)
The class is addressed to adults with no prior experience in painting. The aim is to teach participants the basic principles behind the techniques, materials, media and tools used in painting and the visual arts in general.
The class aims also at a theoretical and practical introduction of adults to the most important parameters of visual expression so as to provide the necessary motivation and skills for a creative engagement in the visual arts.

Painting for adults       Cycle B (advanced)
The aim here is for the adult participants who have gone through the beginners' cycle to improve themselves in the techniques that interest them and develop their own personal expression and range of subjects. Another aim is to encourage the participants' artistic interests and acquaint them with various different materials which will help them discover their own favourite styles of visual expression.
Generally speaking, the objectives of the painting classes for adults are:

• Expressiveness
• Promoting debate, exchange and the coexistence of individuals who wish to measure up against themselves in this fascinating battlefield.
  Experimentation
• Acquaintance with materials and their expressive potential
• Familiarisation with the language of art
• Cultivating the special skills required in terms of technique and perception towards the creation of comprehensive artworks
• Contact with the world history of art.

 The quest is not for masterpieces; it is to seek, find and articulate solutions to artistic issues. It is each person's own gain from their engagement in a creative pursuit.


Pottery for adults
The class aims to instruct participants in the fundamentals of the techniques, materials, media and tools used in pottery and ceramic art. Specifically: Pottery technology and terminology; types of clay; glazing (making glazes by adding oxides); making coloured clay; types of firing. History of ceramic art: Neolithic, Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, Byzantine pottery; contemporary trends. Theory and practice of making coloured clay, glazings, etc. Theoretical and practical instruction in the special and fascinating Raku firing process.

Artistic Jewellery Workshop 
The aim is to encourage people to take up artistic jewel-making using metal, wire, semiprecious stones, etc. From the beginnings of time gold reminded people of the brilliance of the sun, and silver was associated with moonshine. Jewels are works of art and symbols of wealth, power and beauty. Working with nickel silver, copper and bronze and employing our imagination we create our jewels. In the workshop we apply tradition gold- and silversmithing techniques in combination with modern materials, and the emphasis is on detail and aesthetically pleasing results.


Art History Classes
The four cycles of Western History of Art, which started in December 2009, examined
European art from the Renaissance to the 20^th c. We analysed styles like Renaissance art,
Mannerism, the Baroque in the Catholic royal courts and the Low Countries, 17^th c. classicism and
18^ου c. neoclassicism; we examined also various 19^th c. movements such as Romanticism, Realism
and Post-Impressionism. The 4^th cycle ended with the movements of modern art in the 20^th c.
and focused on the Fauves, Expressionism, Cubism, the Dada and Surrealism.



Parallel events
The annual art programmes include educational visits to other museums, art spaces, studios, etc. Moreover, the students participate with their works in painting competitions or other events (exhibitions, Christmas or carnival activities of the City ofRethymnon, etc.).


Workshop Exhibitions
An exhibition is organised at the end of each year in which students from all classes participate with at least one work. Some of the works from the exhibition remain in the Workshop archives and are used in postcards and calendars or in subsequent exhibitions in which the Workshop takes part.