tech+art – Firehouse Cultural Center

tech+art is all about art, technology and exploration.

Learning | Experimenting | Making | Doing

Cool, creative programs for girls and women.

Girls, ages 11 – 14

Byte-sized four-week classes.

Women, ages 15 and up

Monthly schedule of workshops.

Taught and mentored by professional artists and women working with technology.

FREE programming includes classes & workshops in:

Video Editing
Design
Digital Collage
Photography
Books & Graphic Novels
Music & Audio
Stop Motion Animation

Registration by phone or email

Sign-up early for one session or more. Limited spaces available.

813-645-7651

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Interested in a group registration? Please call for alternate scheduling information.

Stay tuned for future progams.

Please check back for session updates or sign-up for our email updates.

Join the tech+art email list

Classes for Girls, ages 11 – 14

Byte-sized four-week classes. Saturdays, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Upcoming Classes for Girls

#5: Creating with Photoshop
Dates to be announced

#6: Making Noise (creating with sound)
Dates to be announced

#7: Graphic Novel & Comics
Dates to be announced

. . . and more!

Past Classes for Girls

Class #1: Video Mindscape — An introduction to making and editing video

Jan. 30 – Feb. 20, 2016, Saturdays, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Ever wonder what it would look like if we could see the workings of your wild and wacky mind? Well here’s your chance to make thoughts and ideas visible. You choose how/what you want to express about yourself in this video. Are you a slow and logical thinker or do your thoughts and ideas come rapidly from every direction? Do you daydream, think about politics, fashion, love, school, friends, nature, everything at once?

Learn how to: layer images, use green screen, transitions, pace, text, sound etc. (You will be shooting your own video and you will also have access to stock video and audio clips.)

Instructor: Dee Hood, Artist & Educator

Class #2: Filmmaking is for Girls — Introduction to filmmaking

April 2 – 23, 2016, Saturdays, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Do you have a story inside of you that would be just perfect as a movie? You’ll get hands-on experience behind the camera using our equipment, or bring your own video camera or camera phone. Working together in small groups, you’ll learn camera, sound, and lighting techniques that will make your story come alive.

Learn how to: find your story, write a script, plan your film, create storyboards, cast your movie, find locations, light your shots, record sound, direct your movie, and then tell the world about it!

Instructor: Lynne Hansen, Filmmaker & Screenwriter

Week 1: Exploring the equipment and introduction to movie storytelling

Week 2: Screenwriting, storyboarding, and types of shots

Week 3: Introduction to directing, camera moves, lighting and sound

Week 4: Advanced techniques, trailers & posters, and tools to help at home

Class #3: Stop Motion Animation

June 18 – July 9, 2016, Saturdays, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Create your own stop motion animation short! Learn about the animating style that created memorable movies and characters like Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and The Nightmare before Christmas. Then you can make your own film characters come to life! Get hands-on experience in understanding how to create the illusion of movement as you create and build the body and personality of your main character, the set, animate and video edit using cameras and computer software.

Instructor: Maria Del Castillo

Week 1: Intro & brief history of stop motion animation. Building a personality. Character analysis and mannerisms.

Week 2: Understanding movement. Storyboarding. Exposure sheets. Set building.

Week 3: Set building, continued. Shooting short film.

Week 4: Complete shooting. Edit videos. Presentation of shorts.

Class #4: FUNdamentals of Photography … with Cell Phones!

July 16 – Aug. 6, 2016, Saturdays, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Learn the FUNdamentals of photography with the camera you are most likely to have with you all the time: your cell phone or mobile device! In this class you will explore the art and skills of making great photos as you learn to create different kinds of photographs with new techniques.

Instructor: Selina Roman, Artist/Photographer

Week 1: Light and the camera. Why cell phone photography? Creative portraits, silhouette, props, ambient light.

Week 2: Looking for life’s details. Using and making filters. Favorite places and things.

Week 3: Fun with alternative lighting. Putting photos in motion (creating gifs and animated photos via Instagram/Photoshop/Google Photos — depending on age)

Week 4: Output basics: Printing your photos as basic prints, stickers, magnets.

Participants will need to have access to a mobile device with a camera for the purposes of this class. (Does not need phone capability). You will also need to have a USB cable to upload your photos to a computer. Don’t have a device? We have options!

Workshops for Women, ages 15 & up

“Nitty Gritty” workshops. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Upcoming Workshops for Women

#5: Digital Montage
Date to be announced

#6: Creating with Sound
Date to be announced

#7: Designing for Social Media
Date to be announced

. . . and more!

Past Workshops for Women

Workshop #1: Introduction to Video Editing

March 12, 2016, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

This three-hour video-editing workshop will teach the basics of creating and editing video using iMovie on Mac computers. The workshop will be a hands-on introduction to non-linear editing. We will talk about how to construct videos from beginning to end, and how to save them as self-contained movies.

Instructor: Anat Pollack, Professor of Art, Coordinator of Digital Video & Electronic Arts, University of South Florida, School of Art & Art History

Workshop #2: Stumbling Your Way To Great Photographs: Beyond Basics

April 30, 2016, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

In this hands-on workshop you will explore resources and techniques in macro (close-up) photography. You will have the opportunity to create, edit, enhance and then discuss the photographic images.

Participants will be introduced to simple digital editing techniques and will work with creating your own professional images using Mac computers provided by Firehouse Cultural Center with Adobe Photoshop editing software. Handout resources on shooting, editing and critiquing your photographs provided.

Requirements: Please bring:
1. A digital camera (camera phone, point and shoot or professional)
2. USB cable to upload photographs from camera to computers.

Instructor: Patricia Yontz, Artist/Educator

Workshop #3: Text/Image Workshop

June 18, 2016, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

TEXT as symbol, letter, word, sentence
– Text as INFORMATION.

TEXT as line, shape, form, space, pattern
– Text as DESIGN.

In this hands-on workshop explore Text WITH Image and Text AS Image.

Digitally experiment with visualizing type to communicate ideas, to add decorative elements to images with type, to have type become stand alone imagery.

After a brief introduction of some history, terminology, and visual examples of text/image, you will use Photoshop to change type font, type size, type color, type placement, type/image relationship to achieve text solutions. These processes can be applied to any design format that uses text (posters, invitations, announcements, packaging) or art expression (painting, drawing, collaging, printing).

Requirements:
Bring a digital photograph of yourself on an external jump drive (4G / mobile phone is fine). You will also need the jump drive to save your work.

Instructor: Sheryl Haler, FILM Faculty, Ringling College of Art and Design

Workshop #4: Photography: Creating with a Digital Negative

July 16, 2016, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Open to students age 15 and up and teachers.
No prior photography or Photoshop experience necessary.

Follow a basic 3-step process for creating a printable negative from a digital file. We will cover basic exposure, overall negative contrast and how to match the contrast of the image to different photographic processes. Students can explore the possibilities available using digital negatives.

Students will need to provide a high-res digital image file from a DSLR or camera phone. We will output images to an Epson printer using OHP transparency film. We will conclude the workshop by experimenting with contact printing and mix media possibilities for a finished artwork.

*Please bring the USB cable that connects your phone or camera to the computer. You can also use the memory cards from your camera.

Instructor: Rebecca Sexton Larson

Want to become involved? Please do be in touch!

We are excited to connect women artists, designers, users and creators of and with technologies to other women and girls in learning and mentoring environments. We work with women instructors, teaching assistants, mentors, visiting professionals and program consultants.

To learn more and find out how you may become involved contact email hidden; JavaScript is required

tech+art is coordinated by Artist/Educators Dolores Coe and Dee Hood.

Thanks to our supporters for providing opportunity!

The 2016 year of tech+art free programming is made possible, in large part, through the generous grant support of The Community Foundation Tampa Bay, SouthShore Council Women’s Fund.