These winter workshops are a great way to learn something new. Adobe Stock
Feeling SAD (seasonal affective disorder)? These winter workshops are sure to warm your spirits and get you in the mood for spring.
Now that more activities are in person, several Delaware institutions are offering adults a variety of workshops to help expand their knowledge and extend their creative abilities.
At Hockessin’s Mt. Cuba Center (mtcubacenter.org), try your hand (or thumb) at a variety of classes: Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, rooted in the traditional Japanese reverence for the natural world; Carex, a genus of native plants—a type of sedge—that can fill various landscape niches as ground cover and specimen plants; basic pruning principles, including making the correct cuts, when to prune various plants, and selecting and using the right tools; and landscape design, including analyzing sites, drawing a basic plan, and using design principles for paths and planting beds.
For those who want to learn more about plants, plus gardening and decoration, Longwood Gardens (longwoodgardens.org) features creative courses on a continuing basis, including landscape design, sketching for landscape design, floral design, mosses, shrubs, edible plants for your garden and plant propagation.
“The Delaware Art Museum (delart.org) has classes in ceramics, photography, drawing and painting, printmaking, metalsmithing and writing for seniors.”
If planning a summer trip will lift your mood right now, the Delaware Nature Society (delawarenaturesociety.org) offers a few foreign eco-nature tours annually, including one to the Galapagos Islands.
The Delaware Art Museum (delart.org) has classes in ceramics, photography, drawing and painting, printmaking, metalsmithing and writing for seniors near Wilmington. Additional art-related programs are offered in weaving, dyeing and acrylics by New Castle County’s Art Studio (newcastlede.gov) and by the Center for the Creative Arts (ccarts.org) in Yorklyn.
Have a way with words or a story to tell? Delaware Theatre Company (delawaretheatre.org) offers a multimonth curriculum in senior playwriting, with the finished works being performed by their professional actors.
Finally, for seniors who want credit where credit is due, Winterthur Museum (winterthur.org) offers for-credit graduate courses in partnership with the University of Delaware in American Material Culture and in Art Conservation.
