Learn the basics of clay animation in this hands-on 8 week class with local filmmaker, and “Celebrity Deathmatch” animator Tim Smyth. Students will work in groups to come up with stories, and learn to make simple characters out of clay, and bring them to life, frame by frame, with Stop Motion Animation. The 8’th and final class will be a premier of the final films for friends, and family. No prior experience necessary. All materials, and equipment will be provided. While we will shoot the animation on computers, this is not computer animation, or CGI. As a note, Miss Tracy will also be assisting the students in their clay-mation development.

Fine print: You are required to enroll in this as a series and not class passes like our other classes. No sibling rates apply due to extra limited seating.

Heart Studio is owner Kim Piazza’s passion project. She has worked in the corporate design world for nearly seven years and has switched careers to work with her true love— people. She gets more joy out of seeing someone else succeed through her teachings than creating her own work.

The main curriculum is for ages 7-18. It is set up as a series of individual project briefs and the timing is based on the student’s pace. Each project is designed to build new skills in drawing, painting, and design using mediums like watercolor, colored-pencil and the Adobe Suite interchangeably. We explore a variety of artistic realms, including still life, animals, people, landscapes, and abstract concepts. Each class is 1.5-hours long.

Once the student is at a more advanced level, we will work together on self-directed pieces to enhance the breadth of work.

For ages 5-10 Weekly Project Class, we have a new theme each week and work to develop skills in a variety of mediums. In the beginning of the class, we focus on directed drawing, and with those skills we move to a final project.

We host toddler classes titled Create & Craft designed to build fine motor skills and stimulate the right-brain by experimenting with color, shapes and even music!

We specialize in private lessons and adult-specific workshops.

The studio is designed to be collaborative, and we plan to host critiques that will teach students to communicate with each other about their works using an art + design vocabulary. We heart every member and promise to make Heart Studio the most worthwhile creative experience.