Inviting Los Angeles-Area Youth (Rising Grades 6th-12th) to Experience:
Midsummer Arts and Sciences at Qualia:
A Workshop for Dreamers and Creators
Qualia: The School for Deeper Learning, a middle and high school dedicated to deep intellectual pursuit, out-of-the-box thinking, philosophical inquiry, and passionate engagement, continues its successful Summer Arts Program in 2023, adding robust and unique STEM classes along with a diverse selection of performing, visual, and literary arts workshops. This July and August, we invite local youth to find and embrace their identities as scientific and artistic trailblazers!
With one fully virtual exception (Digital Painting), all sessions meet in person, on campus.
The cost for each 2-week course is $750 per student
Session 1: July 17 - July 28
Morning Session (9AM to 12PM)
Introduction to Music Theory
Instructor: JC Wright
Why does music sound good? What is the difference between harmony and dissonance? How can one use mathematics to aid the music writing process? In this class we begin to tackle these questions by studying the answers historically given by classical and jazz music theorists. We will consider the “rules” of chord structure, key centers, and arranging before learning how to break those rules in service of more experimental music.
Week 1: Fundamentals of Rhythm, Harmony, and Sheet Music Reading
Week 2: Contemporary Music Theories and Music Analysis
Ceramics: Wheel Throwing
Instructor: Ethan Dunleavy
Ceramics wheel throwing will focus on improving and solidifying the foundational skills involved in wheel throwing! Students will be shown how to practice several techniques for centering, coning, compression, wall-pulling, and trimming, finding whichever best suits them to then complete a pair of drinking cups and cereal bowls. The class may also touch on some more advanced techniques like handle pulling and throwing off the hump, time permitting.
Acting: The Power of Play 1 –Character-Building, Script Analysis, and Scene Study in Modern & Contemporary texts
Instructor: Anne Butler-Swiech
What makes a performance joyful and moving for actors and audiences alike? Over the course of this individually-tailored summer acting workshop, passionate theatrical novices and seasoned young performers alike will generate and experience their own answers to this question. Renowned acting teacher Sanford Meisner described effective acting as “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” Through vocal and physical work, comedic and dramatic improvisation, character and text work, and participation in a culminating scene study project, students will develop a personal actor’s “toolkit” that will enable them to perform modern and contemporary texts in a truthful, playful, focused, and passionate manner.
An Introduction to Physics: For Dogs!
Instructor: Nahuel Ossa-Jaén
For many people, physics can be a difficult topic with which to engage. By using dogs as examples for simple physics mechanics, this course aims to keep students enticed with the topics and give them the opportunity to learn physics in a fun, non-stressful environment. Dogs, being such lively and fun creatures, provide a lot of examples for kinematics and Newton’s Laws in which students can solve for velocities/speeds, accelerations, trajectories, force, friction, etc. using algebra and trigonometry. This is a great course for a student who enjoys math and/or wants to expand their skills in mathematical comprehension.
Graphic Novel Writing
Instructor: Robert Johnson
Learn the ins and outs of creating your own graphic novel, from plotting to panel layout to design & coloring. Taught by an Image Comics graphic novelist (MegaGalactic), this class is your chance to bring the stories in your mind to full blown color on the page. Students will write and illustrate a short graphic novel. Note that this is not an art class per se, so strong drawing skills are not required; it’s primarily a storytelling class!
Session 1 Afternoon Session (1PM to 4PM)
Introduction to Musicianship, Performance, and Recording
Instructor: JC Wright
This class is designed to improve the musicianship of beginner and intermediate instrumentalists. Students can expect to learn the fundamentals of listening, reading, performing, and recording music. Band members will collaborate on designing a setlist, and the class will culminate with a live performance and/or the release of a short recorded album.
Week 1: Introduction to Ear Training, Music Appreciation, Sheet Music Reading, and the Fundamentals of Rhythm and Harmony
Week 2: Introduction to Songwriting, Improvisation, Recording, and Performance Rehearsal
Ceramics: Hand Building
Instructor: Ethan Dunleavy
Ceramics hand building will be an exploration of structural stability, clay consistency, and sculptural techniques through project based learning. Students will choose from a list of hand building projects (or propose their own ideas!) and will be guided through the process, learning and improving on concepts that can be applied to any future ceramics creation they may set their minds to.
Digital Painting*
Instructor: Sarah Pan
Learn how to bend light to your will and render the 3D form on a 2D digital surface, as well as create unique characters and
concepts. In this introduction to digital painting, we will be covering the basics of how to use digital tools, and we will develop skills such as line art, rendering and color to create a finished piece!
This *fully virtual class requires a student-provided Apple iPad Pro with pen OR a drawing tablet with a digital drawing program (e.g., Krita which is free, Adobe Photoshop) and a student-provided computer.
Acting: The Power of Play 2- Character Building, Script Analysis, and Scene Study
in Shakespearean and Classical Texts
Instructor: Anne Butler-Swiech
It takes a special kind of passion, technique, and stamina to perform classical theatrical works in a way that brings these brilliant texts to life for modern audiences. This workshop will allow young actors of all skill levels to study and perform beloved Shakespearean scenes and monologues while developing a vocal and physical toolkit necessary to tell powerful human stories through meaningful delivery of heightened text. The class will culminate in a lively performance of favorite excerpts from classical plays!
Introduction to Coding
Instructor: Nahuel Ossa-Jaén
Computer science is quickly becoming a leading STEM industry as technology evolves. Having even the slightest experience in code is giving this new generation an insight into our future and the ability to appreciate the effort of technological advancements. In this course, students will learn the very basics of coding in multiple languages without needing any prior introduction to coding. Students will start with Scratch, a block-based visual programming language, with the hope of moving on to Python and Javascript. The course will give students the opportunity to explore the basic functions of simple coding languages and the resources to expand on this knowledge past this course.
The Mind Blowing World of Quantum Mechanics
Instructor: Robert Johnson
You may have heard that the quantum world is weird beyond belief, but did you know that Quantum Mechanics is also hands-down the most successful theory in all of scientific
history? Quantum Mechanics is actually a better descriptor of reality than Newton’s physics! Turns out, reality is far more mysterious than even Einstein could accept. So what is this theory that speaks to the very heart of matter and energy itself? And why does it have a bone to pick with gravity? Multiple realities, time travel and faster than light interactions…Get ready to challenge everything you think you know about your world.
Session 2: July 31 - August 11
Morning Session (9AM to 12PM)
Storytelling Through Role-Playing Games
Instructor: JC Wright
What is the structure of a story? What is the structure of a game? How can we use games to tell stories? In this class we will play, study, and design tabletop roleplaying games (like Dungeons & Dragons) to build characters and tell captivating stories. We will focus our study on indie role playing games and games that replicate popular movies, tv shows, novels, and other forms of narrative entertainment. By the end of the class, students will design their own tabletop game that captures the essence of a fandom or narrative they are passionate about.
Week 1: Survey of role playing games with an emphasis on character creation methods.
Week 2: Introduction to game theory, theories of narrative structure, game design, and playtesting sessions.
Ceramics: Wheel Throwing
Instructor: Ethan Dunleavy
Ceramics wheel throwing will focus on improving and solidifying the foundational skills involved in wheel throwing! Students will be shown how to practice several techniques for centering, coning, compression, wall-pulling, and trimming, finding whichever best suits them to then complete a pair of drinking cups and cereal bowls. The class may also touch on some more advanced techniques like handle pulling and throwing off the hump, time permitting.
Electronic Music Composition
Instructor: Robert Johnson
Did you know there is a whole band and an orchestra inside your laptop? You just have to know how to program in a Digital Audio Workstation. In this class, we will learn not just how to program music on the computer, but also how to utilize basic compositional elements like chord progressions and arranging. Whether your aim is to create video game music, a pop hit, or a classical symphony, you can unlock the power to do so — and you don’t have to know how to play any instruments! Everyone will compose a small portfolio of songs. Through these songs, students will have a record of how they created their music for future reference — and maybe the next hit on Spotify!
Each student will need to supply the following: A laptop computer and either Garageband (free) or Ableton Live 11 (with a trial)
The Power of (the) Play: Theater Performance and Production
Instructor: Anne Butler-Swiech
Theater is one of the most collaborative of all art forms, and this two-week workshop will allow aspiring performers and theatrical designers to experience the joy of collaborating on an exciting culminating performance of scenes from classical and contemporary works. Students will initially work as one group, studying the key elements of acting and scenic, costume, and props design and devising a directorial vision for their performance project that will unite performance and technical elements. Students will then choose to pursue either a performance or design track within the class (or both, if we have some passionate performers/techies!). The final, small-scale production will include some design elements and will be accompanied by a theatrical design fair where students’ visions and models for full-scale productions will be on display. Get ready for a fun, fast-paced, and deeply rewarding collective theatrical experience!
Session 2 Afternoon Session (1PM to 4PM)
Introduction to Musicianship, Performance, and Recording
Instructor: JC Wright
This class is designed to improve the musicianship of beginner and intermediate instrumentalists. Students can expect to learn the fundamentals of listening, reading, performing, and recording music. Band members will collaborate on designing a setlist, and the class will culminate with a live performance and/or the release of a short recorded album.
Week 1: Introduction to Ear Training, Music Appreciation, Sheet Music Reading, and the Fundamentals of Rhythm and Harmony
Week 2: Introduction to Songwriting, Improvisation, Recording, and Performance Rehearsal
Ceramics: Hand Building
Instructor: Ethan Dunleavy
Ceramics hand building will be an exploration of structural stability, clay consistency, and sculptural techniques through project based learning. Students will choose from a list of hand building projects (or propose their own ideas!) and will be guided through the process, learning and improving on concepts that can be applied to any future ceramics creation they may set their minds to.
Video Game Coding
Instructor: Nahuel Ossa-Jaén
Video games are becoming a bigger creative outlet for young people as coding and design become more accessible. This course will build upon students’ previous knowledge of coding and give them the opportunity to learn video game-specific coding in a class of peers with the hope of making a short, playable computer game by the end of the session. This course requires knowledge of Javascript as we will be going straight
into coding video games; there is no introduction to code or coding languages.
Each coding and video game design student will need to provide a personal laptop.
Poets’ Workshop
Instructor: Anne Butler-Swiech
What is poetry? Why does our world need poetry? What makes a poem successful? What are the different poetry forms and movements, and what can each kind of poetry accomplish? How can we read poetry in a way that changes our lives? How can we write poetry in a manner that transforms our own, and others’, existence? Open to both novice and experienced young poets, this class will dive deeply into the power of poetry. Through reading poems, learning about and practicing various poetic forms, and studying the elements that make poetry come alive, students will have the opportunity to develop their unique voices as poets and commit their work to the page and/or the stage (if we have any passionate spoken-word poets in the class)! The practical goal of this 2-week workshop is for students to create a small chapbook of original verse. The more intangible, loftier aim is for each young poet to find a unique and meaningful way to communicate the universal human experience.
REGISTER NOW!
Please fill out the information below and we will be in touch with enrollment forms and/or more information.
Instructor Biographies
Anne Butler-Swiech (Acting, Theater Performance, Poetry)
A passionate educator, performer, and poet, Anne Butler-Swiech (MFA, Acting- UCLA, BA, Theater- Duke) is a longtime member of the Qualia faculty and currently serves as Director of Grades 6-12 as well as Midsummer Arts and Sciences program coordinator. Her regional theater credits span the classical, contemporary, musical, and children’s theater genres, and she has previously taught acting at UCLA and AMDA, as well as coordinated arts education programs for L.A. theater companies. Her poetry has been published by journals such as Spillway Magazine, WomenArts Quarterly, Illuminations, and 491 Magazine. Anne is thrilled to help teens acquire the dramatic and poetic tools they need to communicate their individuality, and our shared humanity, in a transformative way!
Robert Johnson (Quantum Mechanics, Graphic Novel Writing, Electronic Music Composition)
Embracing the values of connection, creativity and curiosity, Robert is a veteran educator with decades of tutoring and teaching experience spanning subjects as diverse as chemistry, music theory and English composition. Robert has also authored educational materials, designed curricula used by LAUSD and trained dozens of teachers. A lifelong active learner, Robert is also a painter, a professionally trained sushi chef, one half of a musical duo and the co-author of an upcoming graphic novel.
Nahuel Ossa-Jaén (Coding, Theater Performance, Physics)
Nahuel Ossa-Jaen was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, and received his Bachelor’s Degrees in Physics and Computer Science with minors in Math and Astronomy from the University of Redlands.
Apart from his STEM background, he enjoys writing audio dramas and designing video games.
Sarah Pan (Digital Art)
With a background in traditional drawing and painting, Sarah has been creating digital art for almost a decade when it first emerged as a prolific practice. Her passions in art range from portraiture, character design and landscape painting, in both digital and traditional mediums. She graduated with honors from Laguna College of Art and Design in Game Art and started to pursue a newfound passion in art education. At Qualia, Sarah works with students to bridge the gap between art technique and creativity with the ultimate goal of unlocking a unique artistic voice.
Find Sarah’s art portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/sarahypan
JC Wright (Music Theory, Musicianship, Storytelling through Role Playing Games)
JC is a multi-instrumentalist improviser and music theorist with experience playing in jazz bands, pit orchestras, marching band, ukulele orchestras, and improvisational bands for dancers and silent film festivals. He has played with a variety of artists including Christina Perri and Jason Mraz in front of audiences as large as 20,000 people. JC’s music combines jazz harmony with the rhythmic groove of funk music taking inspiration from James Brown, Pink Floyd, Vulfpeck, and Lawrence among many others. JC believes that music is meant to be shared with the broader community, and strives to bring music education to curious students of all ages.
