Grades 3–5 · Ages 8–10
Kids Art
The same ideas the Jr class is working on, taken further. A full hour, a full palette, real brushes, and a finished piece to show for it.
Enroll now See all four classes
Creature inventions from our summer class.
Fall launch special — drop in any Monday for $20.
No commitment · Launch drop-in rate for Fall 2026 · Oct 5 – Dec 14 · no class Thanksgiving week
When
Mondays, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Length
60 minutes
Fall launch drop-in
$20
Full 10 weeks
$250
Fall launch drop-in is $20 per class (standard rate $25) — no commitment, any Monday. First class is $10, so you can try it before committing. $20 off for each additional sibling. Classes are held at my home studio in Holladay — I send the address when you enroll.
Week by week
The ten Mondays.
Ten Mondays, October 5 through December 14. Every week alternates between a skill drill and a trip through art history — and every week ends with something finished that goes home the same day. Each Monday stands on its own, so you can join partway through the term without your child feeling behind.
Week 1 · Oct 5
Skill Drill
Contour and Gesture
Two kinds of line. The slow one that traces an edge without looking down, and the fast one that catches a movement in four seconds. Kids draw the same object both ways and compare.
Week 2 · Oct 12
History Journey
Bison on a Cave Wall
The first artists we know of. Real vine charcoal on crumpled kraft paper, drawn on a curved surface instead of a flat desk, using the gesture line from last week.
Week 3 · Oct 19
Skill Drill
Four Shapes First
Reading a complicated animal as circles, ovals and wedges before a single detail goes down. The hardest part is not starting with the eyes.
Week 4 · Oct 26
History Journey
Tomb Wall Register
Ancient Egypt. Figures in horizontal bands, shoulders facing you and feet facing sideways, built from the four shapes and painted in earth red and ocher.
Week 5 · Nov 2
Skill Drill
Warm Against Cool
Mixing two versions of the same color, one leaning warm and one leaning cool, then putting them side by side to see what the pairing does.
Week 6 · Nov 9
History Journey
The Lion of Babylon
Mesopotamia's glazed brick walls. A warm animal set against the cool blue ground, using both mixes from last Monday.
Week 7 · Nov 16
Skill Drill
Building a Surface
Dry brush, stippling, and scratching back into wet paint. Making texture you can feel instead of drawing a picture of texture.
Week 8 · Nov 30
History Journey
Bronze Ritual Vessel
Ancient China. The taotie mask pattern that covers cast bronze, built with the texture tools from last week and finished with a fine ink line.
Week 9 · Dec 7
Skill Drill
Overlap, Size, Placement
The three tricks that make a flat piece of paper have depth. One small landscape that uses all three on purpose.
Week 10 · Dec 14
History Journey
Gold Ground Portrait
Byzantine mosaic. A figure floating on real gold leaf with no ground and no horizon — every space rule from last week broken deliberately, which is the point.
Utah Core Standards covered this semester · Visual Arts, Grades 3–5
- 3.V.CR.5Elaborate visual information by adding details in an artwork to enhance meaning.
- 3.V.P.3Identify and explain how and where different cultures record and illustrate stories and history of life through art.
- 3.V.R.2Analyze use of media to create subject matter, characteristics of form and mood.
- 4.V.CO.2Through observation, infer information about the time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created.
- 4.V.R.3Refer to contextual information and analyze relevant subject matter, characteristics of form, and use of media.
- 5.V.CO.1Apply formal and conceptual vocabularies of art and design to view surroundings in new ways through art-making.
Standard text is quoted from the Utah State Board of Education Fine Arts Core Standards. Emily Engh Art Studio is an independent studio, not a public school — these are the standards the semester is built to cover.
Fall 2026 workshop
October 5 to December 14.
Ten Mondays. The fall workshop is about learning to see like an artist and building technique that holds up — and meeting a working artist most people have never heard of, every single week.
Kids finish the year knowing thirty-odd artists beyond the usual ten. That's deliberate. Every week is anchored to a real artist whose work connects to what we're making that day.
What we cover
The ground this class covers.
Contour and gesture — not just what a line looks like, but what it's doing.
Reading a complicated subject as a set of simple shapes before drawing a single detail.
Mixing with intention. Warm against cool, and why it changes how a painting feels.
Building surface with tools, not just drawing what texture looks like.
Overlap, size and placement — the three tricks that make flat paper have depth.
How a class runs
What a Monday looks like.
- Two weeks per element — learn it, then apply it to a real project.
- Two or three new art words a week, used out loud until they stick.
- Longer demo, closer to ten minutes, with technique shown properly.
- Full palette and real brushes. More choices, more responsibility.
- Every piece is finished to a standard, and it goes home the same day.
Kids Art and Kids Art Jr share the same weekly concept, so siblings in both classes are learning the same thing the same week at their own level.
I tell students what we're learning at the start of class, then reveal the steps one at a time as we go. It keeps everyone moving together and leaves room for the lesson to bend around the group in front of me.
Coming back next year
No repeats.
The curriculum runs on a three-year rotation, and every tier is a three-grade band. A student can stay in Kids Art for all three years and never repeat a project. When they age up into the next class, the ideas come back — but at a depth they couldn't have handled before.
From the classroom
Invented creatures, printed papers.
Student work and process from our summer classes in the park.
Enroll
Come try one class first.
Drop in any Monday this fall for $20 — or try the first class for $10. Tell me your child's grade and I'll send the studio address, the supply notes, and confirm your spot.
Enroll now Back to all classes