Art in the Loft is offering a workshop with local artist and expert Mark Beins. This beginners workshop is titled Intro to Figure Drawing and will include techniques and methods for understanding the proportions of the human body utilizing a live cloaked model.

Students will map out the human form by observing and using quick gesture drawings. They will explore techniques to render tone, value, texture and perspective, in addition to getting the anatomy right.

There will be time for critique, discussion and experimentation throughout the workshop. Supplies will be available for purchase at the Loft.

Cost is $110. The workshop is Sept. 15 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

A series of figure drawing classes taught by Beins also will be offered at the Loft. The series starts Oct. 11 from 6-8 p.m. and will run every Thursday for five weeks. The series is $200, with some drawing experience required.

To register for either the workshop or series, call the Loft at 356-4877 or go online at www.artintheloft.org.

Beins lives in Alpena, where he draws, paints and teaches art to private students. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing from Wayne State University and has taught in schools in Ohio, including Bowling Green State University, the Toledo Museum of Art, and in Michigan at Wayne State University, Pontiac Center for the Arts, the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and Kirtland Community College.

His artwork is displayed in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, North Dakota, Las Vegas, Kenai, Alaska, Hollywood, California, and Saudi Arabia and Guam. Beins has won first awards in shows in Alpena, Toledo, and Venice, Fla., among others.

In industry, he headed up the graphics department at a trade show display company in Toledo, Ohio. He supervised graphic production for large two and three-story exhibits for national and international clients and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He assisted in the design and fulfillment services for computerized robotic theaters, including the production of documentary movies.

Mark works in oils, pencil and charcoal, and generally uses landscape and the human figure as the source material for his work.