Your instructor, Chris Toy is the author of 6 popular cookbooks, a private chef, and has taught Asian-fusion cooking for several Maine community education programs. Cooking students will learn how to prepare a variety of recipes from Asia, Europe, and the Americas incorporating traditional and local ingredients. Each meal will actively engage cooks with the tools, techniques, and stories behind the dishes being created.

Escape to a Grand Victorian Inn, the Harbor View House in Prospect Harbor on the coast of Maine, with an intimate group of artist, cooks and creatives! All meals are included in the workshop fee plus special activities to extend your learning from the day’s workshops, including a private house concert by Grammy balloted sing-songwriter, storyteller, and author Gordon Ward. Day students are welcome. For more information about the workshop, call Mary at 207-632-2251. To book your stay at the inn call 207-963-9122 or visit https://harborviewhousellc.com/. 

Feedback from recent participants:  

“I learned so much from Chris that I can use immediately at home in my own kitchen.”  “Great kitchen hints!”

Your instructor, Mary Laury is an accomplished watercolorist and highly esteemed teacher. She encourages all her students to believe they can be successful. Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. If you have never painted in watercolors, we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you will pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together!

Escape to a Grand Victorian Inn, the Harbor View House in Prospect Harbor on the coast of Maine, with an intimate group of artist, cooks and creatives! All meals are included in the workshop fee plus special activities to extend your learning from the day’s workshops, including a private house concert by Grammy balloted sing-songwriter, storyteller, and author Gordon Ward.  For more information about the workshop, call Mary at 207-632-2251. To book your stay at the inn, call 207-963-9122 or visit https://harborviewhousellc.com/. 

Feedback from recent participants: 

“Great instructor!-Mary acts as a guide to develop our own style.“ “Easy no stress instruction.”

Watercolor Painting is an exciting medium; it flows and moves and does beautiful things. Instructor Mary Laury has been recognized for her work by the Maine Arts Commission.  Participants will do landscapes and seascapes in this 4-session course. If you have never painted in watercolors we will start at the beginning. If you have painted before, you may pick up some new tips and tricks as well. We all learn together!   This is an in-person class; makeup class, if needed, 10/29/24.

The supply list will be available here soon. 

Mary Laury served as the founding Executive Director of Schoodic Arts for All, an award winning non-profit organization celebrating the arts and culture in Downeast Maine for over 20 years. The botanical subjects and dynamic nature of Maine are Mary's passions. An experienced teacher, she has taught painting and drawing in classrooms and in the field for many programs throughout her career.

If you have painted in watercolors before and want to jump to the next level while painting with a supportive group to go deeper into your work, we will paint and discuss the works developed in the class to ask questions and share thoughts. Composition, value study, and texture will be discussed.

This class will include painting from references of places you love, some still life work from your own keepsakes, and perhaps painting outside when the weather permits. This is an in-person class; makeup class, if needed, 10/29/24.

Watercolor Painting Class materials list.

Mary Laury served as the founding Executive Director of Schoodic Arts for All, an award winning non-profit organization celebrating the arts and culture in Downeast Maine for over 20 years. The botanical subjects and dynamic nature of Maine are Mary's passions. An experienced teacher, she has taught painting and drawing in classrooms and in the field for many programs throughout her career.

You can draw! Anyone can learn to draw. This 4-week class will teach you how to draw what you see. The class will give you a jump start to drawing accurately and give you confidence to draw for pleasure or as a base for your painting. Get ready for a whole world of seeing details that you have never noticed before!  This is an in-person class; makeup class, if needed, 10/29/24.​ 

For supplies, you should bring a pencil, eraser, Sharpie, page protector, ruler and paper.  Mary uses computer paper but a sketch book is fine. 

​Mary Laury served as the founding Executive Director of Schoodic Arts for All, an award winning non-profit organization celebrating the arts and culture in Downeast Maine for over 20 years. The botanical subjects and dynamic nature of Maine are Mary's passions. An experienced teacher, she has taught painting and drawing in classrooms and in the field for many programs throughout her career.

Urban Sketching is designed for individuals interested in capturing the vibrant essence of urban scenes through sketching. Whether you're a beginner or have some drawing experience, you’ll develop observation skills, learn essential drawing techniques, and express your unique perspective of the town's architecture and life.

Join us once a week for an immersive experience in urban sketching, guided by an experienced artist. You will learn about basic tools and techniques, including:  basic tools and techniques for drawing; an introduction to perspective; how to use lines and washes with watercolors to express what you see; methods for drawing your neighborhood, and focusing on what you notice and want to share. This is an in-person class.

France Hilbert has taught classes at College of the Atlantic since 2018. She is a professional artist and art educator with an extensive resume of training and experience including major commissions and installations. Her artistic education began at the age of seven, when she was taught by her grandfather, the late artist Jaro Hilbert. From him, she received a thorough education in the classical tradition. She pursued her formal education at the National Fine Art Academy of Paris, France, (ENSBA), was an artist in residence in Copenhagen, studied German Expressionism in Berlin, and traveled extensively to paint and study around Europe and abroad. At the Art Students League of New York, she received a Merit Scholarship to master portraiture in painting and completed a Certificate in Sculpture. She was selected for “Model to Monument”, a sculpture program at The Academy of Art, Newington Cropsey Foundation, Hastings on Hudson, NY and received an Edward G. McDowell Travel Grant from the Art Students League of New York. Of her many public and private commissions, some are permanent installations. “Talma”, a 7-foot bronze sculpture is installed in the public square of the Theatre of the Valley of L’Yerres, in Brunoy, France. A pair of 4-foot bronze relief sculptures entitled ”The Calling” are installed at the Georgetown University Medical School building in Washington, DC.

This course introduces students to the techniques and methods of the depiction of the human figure through direct observational drawing.

We will be working from models online to investigate movement, volume, and anatomy of the human form. We will learn perspective to draw the figure in space. Students will practice with a variety of subjects such as themselves, people with whom they live, family members, or pets. Students will be given assignments and documents such as illustrations of anatomy, references to art history and artists’ works.  This is a live online class using ZOOM; makeup class, if needed, 12/4/24

For supplies we will use large drawing pads, pencils, pens and charcoal.

France Hilbert has taught classes at College of the Atlantic since 2018. She is a professional artist and art educator with an extensive resume of training and experience including major commissions and installations. Her artistic education began at the age of seven, when she was taught by her grandfather, the late artist Jaro Hilbert. From him, she received a thorough education in the classical tradition. She pursued her formal education at the National Fine Art Academy of Paris, France, (ENSBA), was an artist in residence in Copenhagen, studied German Expressionism in Berlin, and traveled extensively to paint and study around Europe and abroad. At the Art Students League of New York, she received a Merit Scholarship to master portraiture in painting and completed a Certificate in Sculpture. She was selected for “Model to Monument”, a sculpture program at The Academy of Art, Newington Cropsey Foundation, Hastings on Hudson, NY and received an Edward G. McDowell Travel Grant from the Art Students League of New York. Of her many public and private commissions, some are permanent installations. “Talma”, a 7-foot bronze sculpture is installed in the public square of the Theatre of the Valley of L’Yerres, in Brunoy, France. A pair of 4-foot bronze relief sculptures entitled ”The Calling” are installed at the Georgetown University Medical School building in Washington, DC.

Do you want to improve your writing skills for work? Write a poem to your beloved or finish that family memoir? Or maybe you’ve considered writing a script? If so, come join us in this 6-week writer’s workshop where we will explore a variety of writing genres. 

This fall, our focus will be on STORIES - both real and imagined. We will analyze the elements of effective storytelling, including (but not limited to) plot, character, scene, point of view, voice, and tone. Participants will write and/or revise their stories of choice and together we will examine successful writing strategies and tricks of the trade. And most of all, we will discover that writing can be fun!  This is a live, online class using ZOOM.  

Kristin holds a Masters in English (Literature), as well as an M. F. A. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine.  She is the 2019 recipient of the Maine Literary Award for Drama and Lit Fest’s 2019 Dramatic Writing Fellow for Emerging Writers. Her critical and creative works have appeared in The Explicator, Ekphrastic Review, The Atlantic, New Hampshire Public Radio, and more. Follow her at kristinjleonard.com.