Education & Classes in Coronado

As proprietor of Sew Inspired, Laura spreads her love for clothing design and assembly through creative sewing programs for children, teenagers, and adults. She starts kids out at the foundational level, encouraging them in the creation of simple projects such as crafting felt flowers or stitching smiley faces onto moms' best business suits. Teenage sewers take their learning into their own hands with self-directed sessions while tackling the more advanced concepts of sketching, patternmaking, and draping. Adults may opt to work on personal projects during unstructured open-sew studio times or hone their skills in three-week classes, during which they acquaint themselves with the sewing machine and set to work crafting A-line skirts.

The instructors at Canvas, Paint and Wine, Oh My! edify budding artists in their spirited 2.5-hour workshops, which yield canvas-and-acrylic images of sunsets, cresting waves, death-metal album covers, and other pleasant images. In classes often held at Luggatti's Italian Grill, teachers help guide students' brushes across the canvas with step-by-step instruction as students imbibe wine and absorb appetizers.

Huntington Photo Workshops instructor Tim Mathiesen has collected four decades' worth of panoramic landscapes on trips across the United States, Europe, and Asia. His partner in image stalking, Paul Thompson, has filled the 35 years of his career with countless faces of families and newlyweds. In detailed workshops, the two tackle topics such as sports photography, posing, and harnessing natural light, and aim to get all students comfortable with their own digital camera and inimitable eye.

Bonnie Stromer, a registered art therapist, opened Xpressive Arts Center to make art programs available for everyone in the community, animating her belief that the arts are an important form of communication. Inside the historic stone building, instructors lead an array of classes in printmaking, beadwork, and painting. Art-therapy sessions are led by a registered art therapist specializing in treating children who have behavioral problems and adults who suffer from depression; the art therapist palliates these afflictions by stoking the flames of each individual’s artistic expressivity. During the popular BYOB painting sessions, groups of painters bond and learn new techniques over wine, beer, or basically any kind of matter that starts with the letter b. A variety of parent-and-child classes, such as Mommy and Me sessions and family craft nights, helps strengthen the bond of caregivers and tots through artistic expression and paste.

Featured on Fox 5 and CBS 8, PaintNVineyard's painting classes give students of all skill levels the chance to learn how to paint under the direction of a professional artist in a state-of-the-art, fixed-location studio. Each class focuses on a specific subject that everyone in the class re-creates, such as a Tuscany hillside, a view of outer space, or an implausibility of gnus. The staff equips each workstation with acrylic paints, a tabletop easel and canvas, paintbrushes, and any other needed materials. During birthday parties and group outings, the 40-person studio whispers with the sound of brushstrokes and hushed debates about whether Monet knew he was inventing impressionism or was just nearsighted.

The confectioners at Christopher Michael Chocolates challenge the palate's expectations with inventive flavor combinations, often balancing a sweet base with savory accents. The complex treats begin their lives as simple, preservative-free ingredients, including fair-trade Venezuelan cacao beans, organic dairy from local farms, and homegrown herbs and citrus fruits.

Christopher Michael's renowned creations, which stole hearts from their position in the 51st Grammy Awards's gift baskets in 2009, include the Sizzling Bacon bar, which marries smoky bacon with sweet milk chocolate, and the Aztec Spiced bar, sizzling with chilies and cinnamon. Handcrafted and painted truffles burst on tongues with traditional and nontraditional flavor infusions, including chipotle and honey, rosemary and grapefruit, and caramelized banana.

In addition to slinging premade candies, the team shares its expertise by hosting regular classes, including truffle-making sessions, where students learn to temper chocolate and lick ganache out of the bowl while the instructor isn't looking, as well as courses in caramel and ice-cream creation.