Observe and draw
Build observational drawing skills through natural objects, landscapes, and everyday subjects during studio lessons and field-based sessions.
Plan a program 
Studio Art Practices, Travel Journals & Collaborative Art
Explore Costa Rica.
Create your story.
An interdisciplinary course that uses art-making and reflective documentation to connect students with Costa Rica’s landscapes, communities, and schools. Projects are coordinated with partner schools and may combine studio practice, handmade travel journals, and collaborative art residencies.
DatesJune 14–28, 2027
Application deadlineMay 30, 202715 days before the course begins.
Duration15 days
Tuition$2,600International airfare is not included.
Field locationsCosta Rica · Partner schools and field sites
Course experience
Observe carefully.
Respond through art.
Students focusing on art, Spanish, or education, as well as interdisciplinary groups interested in creative practice, cultural exchange, and place-based learning. Students leave with a handmade travel journal, a portfolio of field-based studies, and practical experience contributing to a collaborative art project developed with a partner school.
- Develop observational drawing skills through natural objects, landscapes, and everyday subjects.
- Use watercolor and collage to record color, texture, movement, and a personal sense of place.
- Make a travel journal from scratch and use it throughout the course for sketches, notes, and reflection.
How the course unfolds
From close observation
to shared expression.
Studio lessons, field-based practice, and reflection connect creative work with Costa Rica’s landscapes and communities. School-based projects are shaped together with the host community.
Explore color and texture
Use watercolor and collage to capture movement, texture, and a personal sense of place.
Make a travel journal
Create a handmade journal and develop it throughout the course with sketches, notes, written reflection, and collected ideas.
Create with a community
Contribute to a partner-school art residency, potentially involving a mural, printmaking, or another collaborative project developed with the host community.
Clear from the start
What your tuition
covers.
Course tuition is designed to cover the complete academic field experience in Costa Rica during the official program dates.
- All accommodations throughout the official course dates.
- All meals throughout the full course.
- All in-country transportation required by the itinerary, including ground and water transportation when applicable.
- All scheduled arrival, departure, and inter-site transfers within Costa Rica.
- All entrance fees and scheduled program activities.
- Academic instruction by the course faculty and instructors.
- Personal research and field equipment, including binoculars, course-specific personal materials, rubber boots, and notebooks.
- International airfare.
- Personal expenses.
- University credit or any fees charged by a participant’s home institution.
Meet Your Professor
Michael L. Miller
- Academic affiliation
- Albright College · Artist-in-Residence
- Specialization
- Community-based public art · Collaborative murals · Art education
Michael L. Miller is a multidisciplinary artist and educator from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A Kutztown University graduate, he taught art for 28 years in Berks County public schools at both the elementary and high-school levels before earning an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. His work has been exhibited in galleries and art centers throughout the Philadelphia region and Berks County, while his community practice—shaped in part by the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program—has helped organize more than 75 public-art projects across the greater Reading area. In recent years, he has connected communities through collaborative art projects in Japan, Germany, and Costa Rica, using art to help people value their own neighborhoods and share their stories across cultures.
2026–2027 field courses
Ready to learn
in the field?
Applications begin with fit, preparation, and academic interest. No payment is required to submit the form.
Start your application ↗