Making Space for Creativity This Fall at Art Studio 760
October always feels like a shift. School is underway, routines are settling in, the leaves start changing color, and the weather becomes a little more unpredictable. It also seems like October is the time of year when things start speeding up.
And yet, this is also a time of year when there is so much to notice.
Many of us have hundreds, or thousands, of photographs on our phones. We stop to capture a beautiful sunset, the light coming through the trees, a family moment, or a tree caught right in that wonderful transition from green to yellow to orange and red. In a way, our creative side is already asking us to pay attention.
Sometimes we even look at one of those photographs and think, I’d love to sketch that someday, or That would make a beautiful painting.
But then life fills the calendar.
Work, family, appointments, errands, activities, celebrations, and obligations all compete for our time. That idea we had about sitting down with a sketchbook or trying a watercolor gets pushed aside for another day.
Maybe that’s exactly why making time for creativity matters.
Making Time for Yourself
I’ve been noticing more adults coming into the studio and simply giving themselves a couple of hours to make art.
On Wednesdays, our Adult Nature Journaling sessions offer a wonderful opportunity for observing, sketching, watercolor, journaling, and open studio work. Later in the evening, Adult Open Studio offers another chance to settle in and work on something of your own.
One thing I’ve especially enjoyed seeing is people pulling out their phones and finding photographs they’ve been meaning to do something with. It might be a landscape, a flower, a place they’ve visited, or simply an image that caught their attention. Then, finally, they give themselves the time to paint or draw it.
Taking a couple of hours to make art doesn’t necessarily have to be about producing a masterpiece. It can simply be a chance to slow down, look closely, work with your hands, and give your mind a rest from everything else demanding your attention.
Studio time can become a little bit like meditation or self-care, a place to put everything else aside for a while and concentrate on what’s right in front of you.
Whether you’re returning to art after years away or interested in trying something new, adult art classes at Art Studio 760 are designed to offer that kind of relaxed, supportive space.
Making Time for Each Other
Making space for creativity doesn’t always have to mean quiet time by yourself. Sometimes it’s about making time for each other.
This fall, we’re introducing Friday Night Workshops at Art Studio 760 as another way to gather around the table. These evenings are less about formal art instruction and more about enjoying the experience of making something together.
Bring a friend, meet up with cousins, plan a night out, celebrate something, or simply spend a couple of hours together doing something a little different.
Our first featured project is the Decoupage Wooden Box Workshop, offered on three Friday evenings in October, November, and December. Participants will create a one-of-a-kind wooden box using beautiful specialty papers and decoupage techniques.
You’ll leave with something you’ve made yourself, something you can keep or perhaps give as a gift, but the finished project is only part of the experience.
As everyone’s calendars get busier, sometimes we have to intentionally make time not only for ourselves, but for the people we enjoy being with. Maybe a creative night out becomes a new tradition.
Friday Night Workshops are for ages 16+ and will be held October 16, November 13, and December 11 from 6:30–8:30 PM.
Making Time for Young Artists
That sense of creative community is important for younger artists, too.
Our fall schedule brings kids together on Tuesday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, with a new Friday 1:00–3:00 PM class as well.
These aren’t just hours to complete an art project. They’re opportunities for young artists to work alongside one another, develop skills, explore their own ideas, talk about what they’re making, and learn from the people around them.
There’s something special about having a regular place where you know you can come in, sit down at an art table, and make something.
At Art Studio 760, kids and teen art classes combine flexible scheduling with ongoing art education, giving students opportunities to develop drawing and observation skills, explore painting and mixed media, and continue building on what they learn over time.
Traveling Back to the Beginning
Our homeschool artists are making room for something completely different this October: they’re traveling through time!
October marks the beginning of Time Machine Tuesdays: Homeschool Art Explorers at Art Studio 760.
Our first journey takes us all the way back to prehistoric times, where we’ll explore some of the earliest examples of human artmaking.
We’ll draw animals with charcoal, discover the origins of paint and pigments, and think about why people began making images in the first place.
And there’s an interesting connection between those prehistoric artists and all those photographs sitting on our phones.
Humans have always observed the world around them and felt an impulse to record what they see.
Thousands of years ago, that might have meant the image of an animal drawn on a cave wall. Today, it might be a photograph of an incredible October sunset taken on a phone.
The tools have changed tremendously.
That desire to stop, notice, remember, and create hasn’t.
Through the Time Machine Art Explorers program, homeschool students explore art history, different cultures, materials, techniques, and studio projects through hands-on learning and creative discovery.
Making Time to Celebrate
October also brings plenty of reasons to gather.
Birthdays, family celebrations, and other milestones give us another opportunity to make time for the people who matter to us. At the studio, we’ve been enjoying seeing families celebrate birthdays by gathering around the art tables and making something together.
There’s something lovely about a celebration where the activity isn’t simply filling time. Everyone gets involved in creating, talking, laughing, and eventually heading home with something that reminds them of the day.
Art parties and private events at Art Studio 760 can be planned for kids, tweens, teens, adults, families, and other groups, with creative projects tailored to the occasion.
What Will You Make Time For?
The next time you stop to photograph a beautiful sunset, an interesting shadow, a changing tree, or a moment you don’t want to forget, take a second look at that image before it disappears into your camera roll.
Maybe that’s your next sketch.
Maybe it’s the beginning of a painting.
Or maybe it’s simply a reminder that you noticed something beautiful in the middle of a very busy day.
As October gets busier, I hope you’ll make a little room for that part of yourself, too.
Make a Little Room for Creativity
Whether you’re looking for a weekly art class, a creative night out, a homeschool art experience, or simply a place to spend a few hours making something with your hands, there’s a place for you at Art Studio 760 in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Explore upcoming classes and programs and find a little time to create this fall.
Comments