Education & Classes in Goleta

Once a costumer for productions including Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Tami Macala switched careers midstream when she discovered the art of creating mosaics, according to a Noozhawk profile. She started mosaicking everything from fireplaces to fountains to other, lesser mosaics, eventually landing high-profile projects at the Florida Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Arby’s restaurants.

After more than a decade of working as a professional mosaic artist, Tami opened the Santa Barbara School of Mosaic Art (SBSMA). At the school, Tami and guest artists from near and far teach how to trick out tables with colorful shingles, coax gently luminous Mexican smalti into intricate patterns, or fuse glass for even more complex designs. Students can pick up tools and tiles at the SBSMA supply store and drop by during lab hours to work on independent projects.

The Vita Art Center engages children, teens, and adults in creative expression with visual arts classes and monthly exhibits at their gallery. Capping head counts at 10 students or fewer, instructors work to keep classes welcoming for both beginning artists and those who have already painted a replica of the Sistine Chapel on their living-room ceiling. Young fingers pinch and coil clay and daub acrylic paints, and adolescents delve into more complex skills such as collage-making and printmaking. Adults may twist copper wire into handmade jewelry or learn how to enliven tax returns with stippling, cross-hatching, and other drawing techniques.

If you didn't know any better, it would be easy to assume that The School of Shred is a place to learn guitar, or at least a place to practice the art of destroying important documents. Instead, the school teaches its students how to shred through waves, shred across pavement, and shred down mountainsides. It's a fitting business name for owner Corey Oswald, who has seemingly spent more of his life moving on some kind of board than on his own two feet. Corey has more than 20 years of experience surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding. But today, and for nearly a decade now, he helps others get their shred on by offering group and private lessons in all three sports.

The Camarillo Academy of Performing Arts’ instructors bring an impressive list of awards and professional credits to their roles at the facility, where more than 10,000 square feet of sprung floor welcome toes of all ages. Within the six studios, all equipped with floor-to-ceiling mirrors and surround-sound music systems, aspiring dancers join group lessons, intensives, and recreational adult classes. Traditional dance curricula range from ballet to hip-hop; aerial classes teach students to spin in the air on suspended silks. There's a program available for every age, style choice, number of extra legs, and desired level of studiousness, whether pupils are looking for an after-school activity or hoping to land a spot in the resident dance company.