Traditional education might not be for everyone, but we believe that learning is a crucial part of our lives. Stimulate your curiosity and bring out your inner student with this diverse list of continuing education courses. From the studio to the classroom, cooking to CPR, and from inside the garden to behind the bar, these classes and workshops are fun and exciting opportunities to get ready for life’s next semester.
Toledo Museum of Art
2445 Monroe St.
419-255-8000
Introduction to Flameworking Weekend
This workshop will teach the basics of making glass art with a torch. Saturday will consist of learning the basics and working with the torch and tools, molding the glass and making beads. On Sunday, you’ll tour the gallery, then make a small glass object. No experience necessary. Register online.
Date: Saturday, August 8 and Sunday, August 9
Time: 3-7pm
Cost: $125 members / $150 nonmembers
Introduction to Sand Casting Glass
Learn to make art cast in glass in this introductory course. You’ll be creating positive objects from negative space by pouring molten glass into sand molds. Copper, sand core, and color glass powder will also be used to create your unique pieces. No experience necessary. Register online.
Date: Mondays and Wednesdays for four weeks beginning August 3.
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Cost: $375 members / $400 nonmembers
In addition to all the cool glass working courses, the TMA offers workshops in jewelry-making, drawing and painting, blacksmithing and sculpture. Register for all of these online.
Owens Community College
30335 Oregon Rd., Perrysburg
567-661-7000
Fine Art Photography / Photography as an Art Form
This course will teach you the basics of creating art with photography. By concentrating on light, color, and texture, you’ll learn about the composition of a photograph and techniques on how to convey your ideas and feelings through photos. No experience necessary. Register online or at 567-661-7357.
Date: Thursday, July 16
Time: 5:30-9:30pm
Location: Maumee
Cost: $49
Culinary Boot Camp
This course was designed to teach some basic cooking skills to anyone interested in the culinary arts as a career field and to teach students how to use these techniques at home to prepare healthier meals. No experience necessary. Register online.
Date: Wednesday July 22 through Friday July 24
Time: 9am-12pm
Location: Perrysburg
Cost: $209
Sauder Village
22611 Ohio 2, Archbold
419-446-2541
Intro to Natural Spa Products (Soap Making)
Learn to make your own bath products with homemade bath fizzies, a bathsalt, a body scrub, a tub melt and a bath tea. Wear comfortable clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty. No experience necessary. Register online.
Date: Saturday July 25 and Saturday October 24
Time: 9-11am
Cost: $9 members / $10 nonmembers, plus $20 supply fee
Pickling 101
You can become an expert at the ever-useful food preparation and preservation technique of pickling. Learn about the process with pickles, relishes, and even marinades. Students get to learn how to make four different foods and take them home with them at the end. In addition, canning basics will be introduced.
Date: Monday, September 14
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Cost: $36 / $32 members, plus $15 supplies fee
Sauder Village hosts a variety of exciting classes throughout the year that show you how to use old-fashioned techniques and products in the modern world. Course schedules can be found on their website. Check out their Saturday Sampler program that runs year-round with different sewing and fabric activities each weekend.
Toledo Free School
Just Eating for Life: Nutrition Series
This 8-week nutrition series focuses on how to make positive changes in your eating habits in order to live a healthier lifestyle. Using a holistic approach, valuing each person’s preferences and budget, you’ll learn how to form the healthiest diet for the least money. Information and registration online.
Dates: 8 weeks beginning September 9th. Wednesdays
Time: 6–7pm
Cost: Free
Meditation
An open-minded, go-with-the-flow meditation course takes place every Sunday. Learn how to use meditation for self improvement and inner peace. Classes will involve discussions about thoughts and feelings. Students should bring their own mat or pillow.
Collingwood Garden at the corner of Delaware and Collingwood
Dates: Sundays
Time: 6-7pm
Cost: Free
Check out the the Toledo Free School’s entire course catalog, with classes ranging from Backyard Beekeeping to Introduction to 3D Printing to a People’s History of the United States. Many courses require a minimum number of students to register before scheduling class times.
Toledo Botanical Garden
5403 Elmer Dr.
419-536-5566
One Day Workshops:
Whether you want to work on traditional techniques, like in Pastel Portraits (September 21-23, Toledo Artists Club, listed online) or pick up niche skills, art classes will work your imagination. Remember, creativity is a muscle: exercise it.
Inks and Dyes from Local Plants
Use plants from our region to create inks and dyes that you can take home with you at the end of the course. Learn about the process as well as about local flora. During the class you can experiment with using different fabrics and surfaces.
Date: Tuesday, September 8
Time: 7-9pm
Cost: $30 / $28 for TBG members
Bim Willow: Bent Wood Furniture
Work solo, as a couple or a group while you build a piece of furniture. In this popular course, your options include a garden arbor, baking stand, loveseat, and bar stool, among others. Students must bring their own hammer and pruning shears; all other materials will be provided. Visit the Hands-on Studio at Toledo Botanical Garden Facebook page to view the price list and choose which furniture project you’d like to tackle.
Date: Saturday, July 25
Time: 10am-5pm
Cost: Price varies depending on which piece of furniture you choose to make.
Keep in the loop with the online Toledo Botanical Garden course calendar, which will be updated as new classes are scheduled. More one-day workshops include fabric arts, mosaic, jewelry, musical instruments, and journaling. Also check out the Hands-on Studio fine craft workshop at TBG for more one-day, beginner-friendly courses taught by local artists. Call 419-902-6800 for information or reservations.
Lourdes University
6832 Convent Blvd., Sylvania
800-878-3210
Bad Astronomy
Debunk pseudoscience in this fun course with Dr. Laura Megeath. Find out what your star sign really means, if the Apollo moon landing was an elaborate hoax, and if there are aliens living among us on Earth. Register online.
Date: Thursday, July 16
Time: 11:30am–12:30 pm.
Location: Appold Planetarium at Lourdes
Cost: $10 members / $22 nonmembers.
Healing Arts Institute
340 Three Meadows Dr., Perrysburg
419-874-4496
Rain Bath Ceremony: A Native American Healing Art
Spend the day learning the ancient Native American Rain Bath Ceremony, a form of rebalancing bodywork using plant oils, aromas, and healing stones. This gentle, non-invasive treatment helps reduce stress and anxiety, and restore balance to the body’s chemistry. Learn both the spiritual and scientific effects of this art. You will need to bring 2 flat sheets, a face cradle cover, 2 large towels, 3 hand towels, and a pillow, along with hot basalt stones (16 large effleurage, 8 facial stones) and a stone heating unit, which can be purchased at Body Therapy Store at HAI.
Date: Saturday, October 24th
Time: 9am-6pm
Cost: $290 / $270 if paid in full 30 days prior to class
The Toledo Artists Club Â
419-531-4079
Pastel Portraits
This course focuses on the understanding and technique of pastel portraiture with a special focus on light. Instructor Christine Swann leads this laid-back, interactive course. Register online.
Date: Monday, September 21 – Wednesday, September 23
Time: 9am-4pm
Cost: $275
Toledo Writers Workshop Â
Writers Workshop
Gather with fellow Toledo writers for the opportunity to read, edit, and share praise and advice. Each session will involve the group reading their peers’ works individually, making notes, then discussing the strengths and improvements of each piece. This supportive, collaborative group meets every week year-round. Bring 10 copies of your writing if you want to share, or else just a pen and an open mind.
Date: Tuesdays
Time: 7pm
Location: Biggby Coffee, 4031 N. McCord Rd.
Cost: Free
No need to go to the gym just to get a workout. Athletic classes will teach you what it really means when they say “exercise is fun.”
Birds Eye View Circus at the Collingwood Art Center
2413 Collingwood Blvd.
1-928-814-2030
Circus Courses
Birds eye view circus offers classes for trapeze and aerial silks, whose dates will be posted on their website. If you can’t make one of the scheduled classes at Birds Eye View, call or email at [email protected] to set up private lessons. These are available to be scheduled whenever and you can pick out of a range of skills to try: fire eating, aerial hoop, hammock, aerial yoga, stilt walking, juggling.
Trapeze Class Dates: Mondays, August 10 through September 14
Time: 6:30-7:45pm
BGSU
Bowling Green, OH
419-372-2531
Popular Culture
BG offers a variety of Popular Culture courses that are available in the fall and spring. One of these courses is Introduction to Popular Film, in which you will explore the effect of pop culture on film and vice versa. Register online. Contact for info on prices.
Date: Mondays, August 25-December 19
Time: 6-10pm
For a skill that will really impress your friends, pick up a cocktail shaker and learn what to do with a zester during this eccentric class that will truly put you above the bar.
The Ottawa Tavern
1817 Adams St.
419-725-5483
Bartending/Mixology
Train to be a professional mixologist with the Toledo Bartending School. For the first part of the class you will watch and learn how to mix drinks, then for the rest you’ll get behind the bar and try your hand at making them. For information visit toledobartendingschool.com and to register call 419-344-4495. Classes vary every week.
Date: Saturdays
Time: 9am-5pm
Art Supply Depo
29 S. Saint Clair St.
419-720-6462
Drawing the Body
In this class you’ll learn about drawing the human figure. Instructor Jennifer Giovannucci will talk about various aspects of drawing the body, then you’ll get to work on a drawing of a nude model. Bring an 18×24” drawing pad and whatever drawing tools you prefer. Quality colored pencils in earth tones, a hand-held sharpener, kneaded eraser, and charcoal sticks are recommended.
Date: Sunday, July 26 and Tuesday, August 18. Other dates TBA.
Time: 1-4pm.
Cost: $30
Lynda – Membership is Free With Toledo Library Card
When you activate your account with the library, you can take any of Lynda’s courses over whatever time period you want. With over 1,000 courses in the catalog, Lynda offers skills and training in software and technology. Audio, music, video, animation, design, social media, coding, education, IT, marketing, communication, photography, and the web are topics in classes for beginners and advanced users.
