Online Class Offerings
About Our Virtual Classes
ArtsMuse offers virtual classes via Zoom on a variety of art and culture topics. Classes run approximately 90 minutes, depending upon discussion. No art history background is necessary to attend or enjoy. Sections are capped at 25 students to keep things intimate.
Cost: $30 per class. To secure your spot, you must register and pay. Payment can be made using a credit card (Visa or Mastercard) or Pay Pal in the registration section, or directly through Venmo or Apple Pay.
Zoom links are typically sent out the evening before class - or shortly after you register if it’s the day of. *You may register up to 30 minutes before class.
*Register and pay for classes by clicking on specific time/date links below. If that date/time doesn’t work with your schedule, you can always purchase a video. Most previous classes are available on video for purchase. To see what we’ve offered in the past, click on ArtsMuse classes (2020-2025).
Or, if you want me to repeat a topic for your group, in-person or online, let me know. We can make it happen.
Spring 2026 Classes
APRIL
JAMES ENSOR AND THE BELGIAN AVANT-GARDE OF THE 1880s AND ‘90s
Tuesday April 7 at 5:30PM or Wed. April 8 at 7:30PM
Symbolist, Expressionist, even Proto-Surrealist: these are labels that have been used to describe and explain/contain the provocative, carnivalesque work of Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949). We will discuss Ensor’s tempestuous place within Les Vingts, a group of avant-garde writers and artists in Brussels, who during the 1880s and early ‘90s fostered exchange with contemporary French modernists, like Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Seurat, and exhibited their paintings for Belgian audiences. Our class will explore the wide range of cultural and art historical references in Ensor’s art, his increasingly irreverent attitude toward society, and the artistic legacy of this now highly-celebrated native son.
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LOOK AT ME NOW: CINDY SHERMAN AND THE ART OF IDENTITY
Wednesday April 15 at 7:30PM or Tuesday April 21 at 5:30PM
Cindy Sherman (American, b. 1954) is recognized as one of the most important and influential artists in the world of contemporary art. This class will explore Sherman's extraordinary career, which has spanned almost five decades, situating her iconic self-styled photographic production within a broader social and art historical context. We will consider how the artist has focused a critical lens on images of women and female stereotypes across an evolving mediascape (including film, tv, magazines, video, and social media) in profound, amusing, and at times disturbing ways. We will also reflect upon the impact of Sherman’s pioneering work on younger generations of artists, her surprising intersection with the fashion industry, and how her inventive practice continues to register the aspirations, foibles and markers of today’s culture.
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MAY
ALICE NEEL: AN ARTIST’S NEW YORK REALITY
Tuesday May 5 at 5:30PM or Wednesday May 6 at 7:30PM
Alice Neel (1900-1984) is considered one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century. Bucking social convention throughout her life and eventually becoming an icon of the feminist movement, she befriended communists, marched for causes she believed in, and lived life on her own terms, while raising two sons in New York City. Neel painted what she wanted and how she felt called to, sticking to figuration during (and long past) a period that witnessed the rise of “heroic” male Abstract painters like Jackson Pollock. She is most recognized for her expressionist, yet matter-of-fact portraits of friends, family, and strangers that reveal a deep empathy for the human condition and her appreciation of diversity. Many of her seemingly mundane New York scenes, however, also provide a personal and historical perspective that we might find just as revelatory and interesting.
James Ensor (Belgian, 1860-1949), Self-Portrait with Masks, 1889. Oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 31 1/3 in. Coll: Menard Museum, Komaki, Japan.