Filter by Category
25-26 Winter Session
in 2025 Education Session
Graphic Arts Marketing
with Lydia Bratton
Unleash your creative potential and professionalize your artistic practice in this hands-on course focused on graphic arts marketing.
Designed for adult artists and makers, this class takes place in our digital lab, where you will learn to use Krita, the powerful and free digital painting and illustration software, to create professional marketing materials.
What You'll Create and Learn:
- Logo Design: Develop a unique and memorable logo that visually represents your artistic brand. You will learn Krita's vector tools to design a scalable logo that works on everything from your website to a business card.
- Book/Album Cover Art: Design a compelling front cover that tells a story and captures attention. We will explore composition, typography, and color theory within Krita to create a professional-grade cover for a fictional or personal project.
- Promotional Graphics: Create eye-catching digital graphics for social media, email newsletters, and online announcements. Learn to use layers, brushes, and text effects in Krita to craft stunning visuals that promote your work and engage your audience.
- Digital Portfolio Pieces: Transform your existing artwork into polished digital files for online display. You'll learn to prepare and optimize your art for web and print, ensuring your portfolio looks its best.
- Branding Fundamentals: Beyond the software, you'll gain an understanding of essential marketing concepts. We will discuss how to define your target audience, craft a brand message, and apply a consistent visual identity across all your projects.
Who Should Take This Course:
This course is ideal for artists, illustrators, and designers who want to learn robust and free software to market their work. A basic understanding of computers is helpful, but no prior experience with Krita or graphic design is required. You will receive step-by-step instruction and personalized feedback in a supportive and creative environment.
Course Format:
This is a project-based workshop where you will work on your own marketing materials from start to finish. By the end of the course, you will have a small portfolio of professionally designed marketing assets created entirely in Krita, giving you the confidence and tools to take your art career to the next level.
Moved to Saturday, January 31st due to snow
3-6 pm
Class Fee: $57
Monologue Study for Young Adults (13-18)
with Shelby Mejia
Ages: 13 - 18
Solo performance can be frightening for those who haven't had an opportunity to grow their skills. This course is the perfect place to get more comfortable with performing monologues and owning the stage solo.
Through theatre games, activities, tailored rehearsals, and individualized feedback, students will be ready to perform solo pieces with confidence and style at our final group presentation.
Tuesdays 5:30-7 pm
February 3rd - February 24th
Class Fee: $114
Will run
Kid's Theatre Exploration (8-12)
with Shelby Mejia
Ages: 8 - 12
Do you have a young actor yearning to explore the world of theatre? In this class, instructor Shelby Mejia will guide students through theatre basics and techniques that they can either carry with them as they advance in the craft, or even use in their day to day lives.
This exploration will be done using theatre games, scene work, improvisation practice, character development, and storytelling techniques.
This class will meet at Baldwin Elementary School in the Activity Room.
Ages 8-12
Thursdays 5:30-7pm
February 5th - February 26th
Tuition: $114
Mindful Landscapes: Acrylic Basics
with Emily Thomson
2026 is the year to focus on your mental and physical health, and this Wellness series is the perfect place to start!
Come and paint a beautiful landscape scene using acrylic! Painting a landscape scene can be relaxing and a great pleasure to view. Emily will go step by step to show how to poaint an outdoor landscape, including mixing colors, adding texture, and techniques for the use of acrylic paint.
Saturday, February 7th
10 am - 1 pm
Free for any residents of Manassas Park, Manassas City, or Prince William County in need of wellness programming.
Please note that this class takes place at the City of Manassas Community Center!
Digital Arts: World Adventures
with Lydia Bratton
Ages: 8 - 14
Get ready for a digital art adventure!
In this class, we will use our computers and tablets to travel the globe and discover amazing places, from the dazzling lights of a bustling city to the peaceful beauty of a remote mountain. We will explore famous landmarks, natural wonders, and cultural treasures from around the world.
Inspired by our virtual travels, we will use digital tools to draw, paint, and create our own unique compositions, learning new techniques and bringing these breathtaking scenes to life on the screen.
Saturdays 1-3 pm
February 7th - February 28th
Class Fee: $152
Mindful Landscapes: Watercolor Basics
with Mike Flynn
2026 is the year to focus on yourself and your wellness. Back by popular demand, join artist and teacher Mike Flynn as he guides you through simple steps to creating watercolor landscapes.
In this workshop you will use simple design and composition to execute beautiufl landscapes in four or five steps. Start your year at the ARTfactory crafting a beautiful vision for the year to come!
All supplies will be provided, but experienced painters are welcome to bring their own!
Ages 15+
Saturday, February 7th
1-3 pm
Class Fee: Free!
This free wellness workshop is brought to you in partnership with UVA Health.
Painting Acrylics with Jortt
with John Hartt
John will present a two hour class where he leads students in painting an original piece of art based on his signature strange and wonderful style using acrylic paints.
February's class will be all about painting a Big Goofy Eyeball!
Join your favorite artist, Jortt, as he helps you create your next masterpiece based on his signature strange and wonderful style using acrylic paints. This project is a big goofy eyeball. John will guide you through his process of working with simple shapes, and turning them into Something Wonderful.
Students will paint along and be encouraged to create their own original work.
He will address the following :
– Feel confident at the easel
– Stop thinking and start creating
– Composition
– Finding shapes
– Color theory
...and this is a fast-paced painting project, so wear work clothes.
Tuesday, February 10th
4-6 pm
Class Fee: $38 Canvas Fee: $5
Oil Painting: Pet Portraits
with Emily Thomson
Learn to Paint your beloved pet (dog, cat, rabbit, horse?) Students will bring in a few photos to choose to use as their reference to paint from. You will learn the basics of oils, learning to mix, drawing your pet, and blocking in shapes and values, adding color, textures and details.
Each week you will progress and build up the paint layers to make a complete painting.
Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 pm
Feburary 11th - March 11th
Class Fee: $190 Supplies Fee: $20