This five-month (20-week) art course offers a chance to work on your own personal projects, learn from instructor Aaron Gach, and workshop with fellow art and magic enthusiasts across the globe. From smoke and mirrors to spirits and mysticism, this course will engage all kinds of magical arts in relation to diverse creative practices, historical developments, and current cultural expressions.

To provide a foundation and context for our studio-based endeavors, we will be actively experimenting with, and blurring the lines between, various interpretations of magic vis-à-vis science and sorcery, metaphysics and aesthetics, social engagement and ritual, and plenty of other enchanting topics.

Throughout the journey, artists will explore their art practice’s connection along a spectrum of magics and get feedback on their art through various exchanges including lectures, discussions, readings, exercises, projects, and other course content.
The course will include final projects, workshops, lectures, and limited readings.

Aaron Gach is a California-based artist and professor. Inspired by studies with a private investigator, a magician, and a ninja, Aaron Gach co-founded the Center for Tactical Magic in 2000—an organization dedicated to the coalescence of art, activism, magic, and positive social change. His commitment to exploring disparate arts (martial arts, magical arts, and contemporary art) has led to the creation of numerous projects that consistently address public space, social politics, and community issues.

Aaron Gach has taught courses in Public Art, Street Media, Art & Magic, and 4D Art at UC Santa Cruz, Stanford University, the San Francisco Art Institute, and currently at California College of the Arts. His work has been presented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery – London, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Vigo, Spain, Deutsches Theater – Berlin, and a major public commission for the City of Toronto.