Get Schooled By Heavy-Hitting Artists Joe Willie Smith, Carol Panaro-Smith, and Julie Hampton

If you fall into the ugh-school’s-starting-soon-and-I-can’t-find-a-cool-class-to-take category or are just looking for something eccentric and/or fun to do with your time, three Phoenix-area artists with a lot of creative pull are offering some out-of-the-box courses beginning next week.

At Phoenix College, found-object-sculptural specialist, out-there musician, and former eye lounge member Joe Willie Smith is leading an ART273AC course called “Urban Field Studies: The Art of Finding.” According to the class description, the “hands-on class will highlight locating and creating with found resources” and “will require some physical stamina for walking and foraging in an urban environment.” It meets every Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the campus at 1202 West Thomas Road.

Over at Scottsdale Community College (SCC), 9000 East Chaparral Road, Carol Panaro-Smith is teaching “Alternative Photographic Processes” (ART137) as well as the seminar-based courses “Alt-Process” and “Mixed Media.” In ART137, which meets each Monday from noon to 4 p.m., the alternative-photographic-processes wizardette and creative brain behind Alchemy Studio and Gilbert’s Art Intersection will give her experienced two cents on analog photography beyond the silver gelatin/black-and-white darkroom world.

Also at SCC, a.ware art boutique founder Julie Hampton will be teaching “Creative Writing” (ENG210). The course, scheduled to take place on Thursdays from 7:15 to 9:55 p.m., will groom all sorts of pen-wielding and keyboard-tapping scribes, ranging from poets to novelists and beyond.