The Arizona chapter of the Ohara School of Ikebana is offering an Introduction to Ikebana workshop. Students will learn about the philosophy and art of Japanese flower arranging and create an arrangement. Vases and kenzan (frogs) will be available to borrow, and students will take the flowers home. 

Class Capacity 12 – Register Early!

Hosted by Members of AZ Chapter of Ohara School of Ikebana

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

Salamanders are one of three groups of living amphibians. Arizona only has one native species, unfortunately, but other regions of North America have many. This class explores the wonderful and often hidden world of these remarkable animals.

Instructor - Jeff Babson

Jeff Babson is an all-around naturalist, with particular interest in birds, butterflies, moths, beetles and dragonflies.

Owner of Sky Island Tours, an environmental education and eco-tour company, Jeff has led birding tours for the Tucson Botanical Gardens, Pima County Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and several birding festivals in southern Arizona (Wings over Willcox, Southwest Wings, Tucson Birding and Nature Festival). He lives in Vail with his wife and two children.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

Assemble a gorgeous enamel butterfly necklace as a Mother’s Day gift or as a gift for yourself.Non-traditional stringing method adds visual interest and a sense of accomplishment for the finished product.  No experience necessary.  All materials and tools provided by the instructor.

Class Capacity 14 – Register Early!

Instructor - Dee Taube

I have always loved art, so while growing up I took all the art classes that were offered in school. I was drawn to art beyond being content to just appreciate it, but during my working career making time for art seemed a luxury to be put on hold for the future. Somehow I found jewelry making and fell in love with it. It enabled me to work with color, design, and texture, it was a great stress-reliever, an outlet for my creativity, and it nurtured my soul. When I became a member of an artists’ co-op in Colorado Springs, I was constantly admiring the work created by the glass artists there, and one day one of them offered to teach me how to fuse glass. I was hooked. Creating fused glass art has taught me to appreciate all art even more than I did before. It is always a learning experience. But when everything goes right, the end result brings me joy and nurtures my soul, as I always hope it will for those who see my art. Learning, enjoying and creating art is an ongoing journey. Each new piece guides its own design and helps me grow as an artist. I love it!

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

Did a gray fox visit your backyard last night—or a bobcat? Is this track on the trail a coyote or a domestic dog? This two-hour class is an introduction to common mammal tracks in the Tucson area. Wildlife tracking is an invitation to stop, bend down, and look closely. Javelina or deer? Pack rat or ground squirrel? We are surrounded by animals we rarely see and yet—here they are, winding secretly past our houses and through our lives.

Instructor - Sharman Russell

Sharman Apt Russell’s recent nonfiction is What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs (Columbia University Press, 2024). The author of thirteen books translated into nine languages, Sharman is the recipient of the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing for her Diary of a Citizen Scientist, which was named by The Guardian as a top-ten nature book. A professor emeritus at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, she lives in the Gila Valley of southern New Mexico and continues to teach in the low-residency MFA program at Antioch University in Los Angeles.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

Dialing in your irrigation is the most important thing you can do in your landscape to get better results with your landscape plants, fruit trees, and veggies. It also is the key to saving money, and our most precious resource, water! Michael Ismail from Thrive and Grow Gardens, has been teaching proper irrigation techniques for over a decade to help people cut through all of the misinformation, save water, and finally start getting the results they want in their landscape. You will learn crucial concepts for proper watering as well as what parts to use so you don’t keep throwing good money after bad.

Class Capacity 24 – Register Early!

Instructor - Michael Ismail

Michael grew up on a homestead in the desert and has been helping people grow food in their backyards in Tucson for the past 11 years. He creates resource guides, videos, and classes to help simplify and demystify gardening in our climate. He also builds raised garden beds, plant protection enclosures and covers, as well as irrigation products, all designed to make abundant gardening more achievable in the Sonoran Desert climate.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

Participants will be guided through drawing an illustration that spotlights ecology of the Sonoran Desert with a natural history style, choosing from select pollinators and host plants (The addition of color using color pencils or watercolor is possible/optional depending on time.)

Class Capacity 18 – Register Early!

Instructor - Melinda Matson Spina

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

With these basic drawing tips and a little practice you will be able to draw just about anything you see.

Please provide your own art materials.

Recommended Art Supplies:

Paper

Pencils – both graphite and colored pencils (a variety if possible)

Ink pen

Eraser

Instructor - Devon Meyer

As an artist, Devon is constantly inspired by nature. The elaborate patterns and gorgeous colors seen in plants, birds or flowers are reflected in the work she does. Watercolor is her favorite medium but she also works in oil, charcoal, pen and ink and colored pencil.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

Desert summer heat and plants — You AND your plants are not looking forward to what’s coming. But you want something colorful to look at from your air-conditioned chair. Join Marylee, the desert’s potted garden expert, for this colorful program on container gardens for your desert home. In this jam-packed presentation, Marylee shares how to plan for the summer and monsoon seasons to keep your pots thriving.

Instructor - Marylee Pangman

Marylee Pangman founded The Contained Gardener in 1998 as a niche business in the desert community of Tucson, Arizona.  

Since then, Marylee has been compelled to share all that she has learned about container gardening over 3 decades of blistering summers and record breaking winters. Marylee sees container gardening as a way to have an oasis garden while conserving water as the demands of pots are far less than heavily planted areas and beds. You can find Marylee’s books, Getting Potted in the Desert, and Riley’s Garden Oasis at the Garden Gift Shop. These two books are excellent resources for creating and caring for potted gardens, advice on container selection, plant lists and much more. https://thepotteddesert.com

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

We will explore birds and get a basic understanding of their structure and anatomy in order to better draw these wonderful creatures. Then we will paint them!

Please provide your own art materials.

Recommended Art Supplies:

Water container

Watercolors

Paintbrushes (small and medium)

Pencil and eraser

Watercolor paper

Printer paper

Paper towels

Instructor - Devon Meyer

As an artist, Devon is constantly inspired by nature. The elaborate patterns and gorgeous colors seen in plants, birds or flowers are reflected in the work she does. Watercolor is her favorite medium but she also works in oil, charcoal, pen and ink and colored pencil.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.

This class is a great introduction to watercolor. We will explore the carnivorous Sarracenia Pitcher plant as our subject but with a relaxed and creative approach. In the first 30 min of the workshop, we will explore basic drawing & watercolor techniques to get us warmed up. The remaining portion of the class will focus on creating an illustration focused on the Sarracenia Pitcher Plant.

Main Concepts: Basics in drawing, watercolor application, design and composition.

List of recommended art materials:

•            2H, 4H, 2B or Color pencil w/ eraser, eraser (Streader), kneaded eraser & ruler

•            Plain paper, printer paper or sketchbook for drawing warmups

•            Any Size, 140lb, cold press watercolor paper. Final Illustration will be created in a 5”x7” format

•            Watercolor – Winsor & Newton Assorted Colors 6-12pk (Any variety of watercolor brand and colors are okay)

•            Assorted colored pencils for detailing (Optional)

•            Paint Brushes: #4 Long Round, #3 Long Round #6 Long Round, & Synthetic inexpensive brush for mixing.

•            2 water jars/cups, towel, or paper towel

•            Mixing palette

•            A few reference photos will be emailed out before class begins

•            Optional/additional: small spray bottle or eye-dropper 

Instructor - Adela Antoinette

Adela Antoinette (She/Her) is a published illustrator, designer and makeup artist. As a southwest born desert dweller, Antoinette’s work primarily centers on Sonoran Desert flora but fluctuates within botany through visiting different regions across the states. She specializes in various traditional mediums including her favorite, watercolor in which she has taught in workshops and classes at the Denali Education Center and The Drawing Studio. Her work has been displayed in various galleries in Arizona, Alaska, and California. Antoinette studied illustration and design at the University of Arizona, receiving her degree in Visual Communication. She is a Tucson, Arizona artist currently living in New York City.

Refund & Cancellation Policy

No refund will be issued less than 15 days prior to any Community Class. A $10 cancellation fee will be applied to all refunds. No refunds will be issued for special events. We reserve the right to cancel Community Classes due to insufficient registration, garden closure, or inclement weather, in which case, participants will receive a full refund. People with disabilities should make requests for accommodation as early as possible to allow time to make appropriate arrangements.