Lifelong Learning Courses for Adults

To Write a Life: Finding Your Memoir’s Voice

With Julianna Thibodeaux
When: Fridays, September 5 – October 10, 2025; 10am–12:30pm
Location: Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Tuition: $300

Everyone has a story to tell. Explore the genre and process of memoir writing in this expansive six-week course – developing a focus and themes, generating drafts and revisions, confronting writer’s block, and more. Bring your existing ideas and drafts or just come with an open mind to write something new. Through guided exercises, discussion and focused periods of writing, you’ll come away with a draft or revision of at least one brief memoir, and a roadmap to write more. Writers of all levels are welcome. If you are new to memoir, a returning student or are building experience in the genre, this course provides challenge in a supportive community.

Instructor Biography: Julianna Thibodeaux is an assistant professor at Montserrat College of Art and has taught creative writing for more than a decade on the North Shore in a variety of settings, from college classrooms to community centers. Her creative writing and journalism have appeared in numerous publications and earned several awards. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College.

“The workshop format was perfect – just the right combination of freewheeling, open-ended discussion and focused writing exercises. I wrote more in this four-week class than I had in the previous year.”

“A safe, creative space for questions and understanding of the memoir as a new-to-some-of-us form. I appreciate knowing more about what a memoir is vs. an autobiography or an essay. This course definitely unlocked my writing and I want to keep going.”

“An excellent combination of focused group discussion, sharing, and structured writing prompts/assignments. Julianna provided a safe, engaging atmosphere giving space for group members to connect as writers while sharing the creative process.”

Pots and Pumpkins: Ceramic Sculpture

With Jennifer Boisvert
When: Saturdays, October 4 – November 1, 2025; 10am–1pm
Location: Montserrat College of Art, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Tuition: $300 including materials

Carve out some fun this Fall in this comprehensive five-week ceramic sculpture class covering a range of handbuilding techniques and a hint of seasonal gourd-geousness. You will learn to work with clay using pinch, slab, and coil techniques. Use these skills to design and make small pots or vessels that can be open or completely enclosed. Along with making your own unique sculptures, you will have an opportunity to make a pumpkin using the pinch method, adding leaf, stalk and vine elements using slab and extruder techniques. You will make and glaze up to three ceramic sculptures during the course, which will be fired and ready to collect after two weeks.  

Artist Biography: Jen Boisvert is a native North Shore area artist who explores visual relationships between humans and nature using sculpture. Jen received her BFA concentration in Sculpture from Montserrat College of Art and an M.Ed. from Plymouth State University. She is an artist member at two local art associations, a recipient of the Mary Arakelian Foundation Award for best work in sculpture, and her artwork has been featured in galleries and exhibitions throughout New England.

“It was very fun, and I’m glad I got to take something home that I can use! I also appreciated the wide selection of tools and little clay tablets to test them on.”

“I appreciated the hands-on quick immersion. Realized very quickly how difficult it is. Jen was an amazing instructor and just such fun to learn from and be around.”

“I loved the entire class. Jen is a great teacher meeting each student at their level. Explaining the different tools and their capabilities.”

Printmaking

With Hannah Brooks
When: Thursdays, September 11 – October 30, 2025; 7pm–9pm
Location: Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Tuition: $320 including materials

In this eight-week course, you’ll explore the comprehensive possibilities of printmaking using simple tools and accessible materials – perfect for the home studio, kitchen table, or any creative corner. Learn hands-on techniques, including intaglio (where paper is pressed into carved lines to absorb ink) and relief printing (where ink transfers from raised surfaces onto paper). You’ll experiment with monoprinting by painting and collaging onto gel plates, then hand-pressing paper to reveal surprising one-of-a-kind images. Try silkscreen printing using stencils and fabric screens to create bold, layered designs. Explore a range of mark-making methods – from delicate etching with fine tools to creating unexpected textures using found objects like tin foil. Whether you’re new to printmaking or looking to refresh your creative practice, this course offers practical, repeatable techniques you can bring into your everyday life.

Artist Biography: Hannah Brooks is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working in print media, sculpture, textiles, and writing. With humor and a tint of sadness, her work explores the intersecting issues women navigate in contemporary America through their roles and relationships to machines, family, and our consumer-driven world. She holds a BFA in drawing, painting, and printmaking from Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State University; and an MFA in interdisciplinary studio practice from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Her work has been exhibited in venues including Tufts University Art Galleries, The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, and the Indianapolis Art Center. Brooks is currently based in Salem, MA.

“I rediscovered my creativity, working with the instructor and my fellow classmates. Using photo emulsion with a silk screen was a highlight. Inspiring!”

“As a maker, I enjoyed having the opportunity to work independently in the areas of my practice, while still having guidance with methods I had not yet tried (e.g. screenprinting).”

Portrait Drawing: Understanding Likeness as Abstraction

With David Burr
When: Saturdays, October 11 – November 15, 2025; 10am–1pm
Location: Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Tuition: $360 including materials

This six-week course explores portraiture through the lens of abstraction, emphasizing perception over representation. Students will develop a nuanced understanding of form, light, and likeness, learning to see and render portraits with greater sensitivity. Using charcoal, we will examine proportion, occlusion, value, and mark-making as tools for capturing the essence of a subject. By the end of the course, students will have the confidence to interpret and draw portraits with a deepened awareness of visual weight, gesture, and the interplay of presence and absence.

Artist Biography: David Burr is a painter and educator whose work illuminates the intersections of personal identity and the spaces we inhabit. David has exhibited nationally, including shows at Specialist in Seattle, and LBIF in New Jersey. Throughout their academic career, David has received several accolades recognizing their dedication and practice. They bring a collaborative approach to their teaching at UMass Dartmouth, the University of Washington, and Dean College, inspiring students to engage in an interdisciplinary art practice.

Mixed Media Matrix

With Tresha Bouldin
When: Mondays, November 10 – December 15, 2025; 7pm–9pm
Location: Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Tuition: $240

This six-week course will guide you through the elements, structure and arrangement of materials and ideas that form the exciting matrix of a mixed media practice. We will discuss the evolution of the genre, looking at the work of mixed media artists practicing locally and internationally. Students will develop themes, composition, and surface texture by considering the environment (mind and space) and materials (media and tools) needed to create depth and interest in mixed media pieces. You will have the opportunity to work on canvas or board, exploring 2D and 3D techniques. Through group instruction, individual coaching, independent skill-building activities and choice-creating time, you will be supported to explore your inspirations and expand ideas to develop experimental work. Students who are new to the genre and those looking for a refresher or inspiration will come away with a comprehensive understanding of the possibilities of mixed media and skills to continue a creative journey in this varied practice.

Basic materials and tools are provided. The course involves working with some items to be brought along by students, and you may like to bring some of your own materials to work with. The course instructor will be in touch with information on materials to collect and bring when you book your place.  

Artist Biography: Tresha Bouldin’s practice as artist and educator centers the power and universality of visual language. As an art teacher, she finds joy in guiding students to discover their artistic voices and explore diverse media. The inherent flexibility of mixed media is a kind of visual poem, connecting the personal and universal. Tresha’s mixed media work often explores dar,k emotive themes, opening a space for stories to emerge from layers of imagery and material choice. Tresha has a BS in education from Salem State University, a lifelong artistic practice, and many years teaching art in a variety of settings, including schools. She is based in Danvers, MA, where she spends time in her studio.  

Decorative Kiln Formed Glass

With Lisa Richardson-Bach
When: Saturday, December 6, 2025: 9:30am–1:30pm
Location: Montserrat College of Art, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA 01915
Tuition: $95 including materials

Work with the beautiful medium of kiln-formed glass to create layered decorative pieces, experimenting with opacity for tantalizing effects. You will have the opportunity to create two projects, which include a 7-9 inch bowl, and a 5 inch tile or two ornaments. We will use glass bits, frit and stringer to decorate glass blanks with your own unique figurative or abstract designs. These will then be fired and available for pick up two weeks following the class. Glass in a range of colors and finishes, supplies and tools are provided. Specialty glass will be available for an additional fee if interested. Come create your own glass masterpieces this holiday season, perfect as a gift for a loved one or yourself! Students with all levels of experience will be supported and challenged.

Artist Biography: Lisa Richardson-Bach worked as an Aerospace Engineer before discovering art was her passion. Art and technical knowledge came together when Lisa learned to work with glass. The color, the beauty, the fluidity of glass inspired her artistic spirit, while the technical intricacies of how glass cuts, melts and forms, satisfied her engineer’s brain. Lisa has spent her whole life near the ocean and is a keen boater, which deeply affects her art. She designs the feel and the motion of the sea into her work. While Lisa does branch into other styles and designs, she always comes back to the fluid lines of the ocean.

“I liked how the instructor explained the process – Lisa is so knowledgeable. Exciting selection of different materials and tools to use in making.”

“I enjoyed the mix of instruction and freedom to create our own pieces.”

“Encouraging instructor. I realized how little I know about colors and am now interested in learning more.”