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Art Studio Blog

Oct
28

Student Spotlight: Annette Back

“I was working, had 3 little kids and a household to run. I wasn’t doing anything for my enjoyment or self-fulfillment. I needed more free creative time. The decision to join the art class changed my life!” – Annette Back


 

When and why did you start taking art classes at The Art Studio NY?


I started taking classes in the fall of 2014. At the time, I was working, had 3 little kids and a household to run. I wasn’t doing anything for my enjoyment or self-fulfillment.

Some friends of mine took me to a paint party at The Art Studio NY for the evening. That night I had a big AHA moment. Since graduating from School of Visual Arts, I had not painted – I used my creativity only for my clients, and that is not the same as expressing yourself freely. I needed some more of that free creative time. The decision to join the class changed my life!


What advice would you tell a total beginner who feels afraid of taking an art class or they feel they “have no talent”?

Go for it. Just try it. Most of the time, if you have the urge to paint, you have the talent within you. It’s just not tapped.


What makes your experience at The Art Studio NY unique and memorable?

I take a weekly class “Dare to Paint: Intermediate Oil Painting” on Wednesdays with instructor/Founder Rebecca Schweiger. The atmosphere, the teacher and the comradely of the students is what makes my art class experience unique and memorable. We all love to be there and help each other. It is inspiring to see the progress and completion of each others work. The feedback is invaluable. I have made friends for life.


What is something you have achieved because of your art classes that you never thought you could?

I have achieved the confidence to go out into the art world and exhibit my work confidently.


What are you most proud of when it comes to your artistic journey?


I have learned to paint freely, experiment, and recognize a happy accident. Also, I am currently building a body of work.


What fears have you overcome, on and off the canvas, since starting to paint?

I have overcome the fear of “doing something wrong” or “messing it up” on canvas.


How have your art classes allowed you to relax and relieve stress?

There is nothing like following your inner voice to create.  I love it. I now paint at home as well.


How have your art classes changed your life, either in your art or your everyday life?

Yes, I am now exhibiting, selling, working at home as well as in the studio. I want to paint more now.

To learn more about Annette’s artwork, please visit her website at :




Sep
16

Watercolor Painting in Nature

If you’re like me, you may be feeling a certain stress as summer is replaced with “fall takeover”. Amidst the pressures of daily life, we all need a healthy escape. My favorite way to recenter myself is by spending time in the woods. I could sit silently for hours, just simply “being”, listening to the leaves dance in the wind, watching time pass.  In nature, I love to watercolor painting to express what I see and feel, forgetting everything, while letting my paintbrush do all of the talking. 

Students at The Art Studio NY always say how meditative and cathartic painting is. I fully agree.

I recently explored the #blueridgeparkway and #blueridgemountains and now that I’m back in Manhattan, when I close my eyes, I still see the expansive layers of blue mountains for as far as the eye can see.  

The journey with a paintbrush allows me to visit the woods anytime I want. Through watercolor painting, I re-experience the quiet of nature and visit that same escape in my mind, imagination and through painting, without having traveled a mile. 

What and where is your healthy escape that brings you peace in the midst of life’s hustle and bustle? Entering our 15th year at The Art Studio NY, we are grateful to offer nearly 100 weekly escapes in the form of adult art classes, teen art classes and kids art classes. We invite you to our art studio this fall to discover your home away from home, where you can escape, recenter, and reconnect with the fulfilling and meaningful self-expression you’re needing and longing for.

Rebecca



Jul
25

NYC Painting Classes’ Lead Student Becomes Gallery Exhibiting Artist

Although Jenny Casey, an Art Director and fine artist in Brooklyn, New York, could be creative in her day job, Jenny craved to practice her fine art, as she hadn’t painted since college. She discovered The Art Studio NY and has been taking NYC art classes there for over seven years. Through these years, she has developed a bold, powerful, abstract style of painting.

“The Art Studio NY not only gave me a place to create art in their NYC painting classes, but I also have an amazing art community and family there. I wanted to take an art class that wasn’t demanding, but still pushed me to the next level creatively, and this art studio does just that. It’s a weekly getaway where I can release my raw emotions on canvas and clear out the stresses from the day,” shares Jenny.

As Jenny reflected on her creative art class journey, she shared, “My teacher, Edward Holland, had a great way of comparing life to art in our NYC art classes. If I was stuck on what to do next with a painting and feeling like it had to be perfect, he encouraged me to try something totally different and make it my own. I learned to not allow the painting to control me, rather to trust the process. I find this to be reflective of the need to try to be ‘perfect’ in our day-to-day lives. It is beneficial to push myself to try new things and get out of my comfort zone. This teaching, and others, have made a huge impact on my creative journey, and I’m so grateful to The Art Studio NY for that.”

Jenny began exhibiting her vibrant, abstract, mixed-media artwork in 2013, and has been featured in art galleries throughout the country, including Walter Wickiser Gallery in NYC, the SOFA Art Fair in Chicago, and the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Virginia.

When it comes to her NYC painting classes, Jenny’s paintings are inspired by her passion to express raw emotions and vulnerability on canvas. She paints in a meditative way, and her artwork stems from her own thoughts and feelings, evolving from one to the next, while incorporating bold colors and textures that evoke a sculptural feel on canvas. Her work depicts feelings of release, while simultaneously balancing the process of refinement and restraint.

Jenny’s latest artwork is currently exhibited in downtown Stamford, Connecticut, at 95 Bedford Street, throughout July. For more information, visit jcaseycreative.com or follow her on Instagram, at @jcasey_creative.

Jul
24

PROMOTING CREATIVE HEALING TO HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN


Spring 2013, New York City, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. An undergraduate student and medical student are struck by the lack of  interaction and activity amongst children hospitalized in the wards. There was a complete lack of mental and physical stimulation for the kids, and they were listless. Encouraged and mentored by Dr. Edward Burns, the two students started TEACH to promote healing for hospitalized children through creative and engaging teaching. 

Studies show that happier children have better medical outcomes, which is why TEACH is so proud of how the work engages hospitalized children and stimulates them.  

TEACH is a completely volunteer run not-for-profit that has undergraduate and graduate students engage hospitalized children with exciting STEM module activities. Since its inception in 2013, it has reached over 3,000 children across more than 30 hospitals, in more than 8 states. 

The Executive Director of TEACH remembers the young boy in Downstate hospital in Brooklyn, who was so unhappy that he had tried to run away the day before. At that time, TEACH was running a Yeast Balloon module, which uses yeast, sugar, a balloon and a water bottle, to teach children about respiration. After listening to a brief description of the exercise,  the young boy was intrigued enough to emerge from under the covers and became completely engaged. He had so much fun doing the experiment that he would not let the staff take it away from his bedside the entire day. Surgeons, staff and volunteers were all amazed by the response the Yeast Balloon had received from the young patients. One surgeon even wished he had performed the experiment himself! 

Help TEACH attain the goal of reaching 500 to 700 children in 2019 by supporting their first fundraising event in collaboration with The Art Studio NY, a paint night! Kosher appetizers and refreshments will be served.
FACEBOOK EVENT
PURCHASE TICKETS



May
31

How To Create A Life You Love

How To Create A Life You Love

I’m Sick Of Your Bullsh*t

You may find a blank white canvas scary, intimidating. You’re not alone. I once taught a private painting lesson to a woman in her 50’s; She was so overwhelmed with terror that she needed to pause and take a Xanax. Of course it wasn’t painting she was afraid of. Rather, her old self-doubting, “I’m not good enough” narrative reared its fangs.

She could have given up, we all know how convincing fear can be. Instead, she chose courage and chose to confront her own bullsh*t. In time, her fear was replaced with confidence and strength. She created meaningful artwork that inspired her to also make new empowering life choices “off the canvas.”

@elizabeth_gilbert_writer posted this stitching by artist @badasscrossstitch, and my “TRUTH!” bell went off. On the other side of your fear and bullsh*t is freedom. Power. Transformation. PERIOD.

The blank canvas has become my spiritual teacher, always asking (telling) me to face myself full-on. The REAL blank canvas, of course, is facing every day anew. Waking up, seeing the day as the ultimate blank slate. Pregnant with possibility.

Lately, I’ve been making every attempt to apply in my life what I do freely on the canvas: Experiment with new life choices, dare to face and move towards that which scares me. Embrace and play with the unknown. Surrender. Let go of control. Be fully present. Accept that life is often different than what I expected. Make space for a life that is colorful and messy and rich and layered. See that there are no such thing as mistakes, and that I can turn errors into learning and beauty. Realize that I am carving my own life path and it’s not going to look like anyone else’s life, and that’s something to celebrate rather than be ashamed of.

What if everyday, you woke up, clicked OFF your autopilot switch, and clicked ON your self-awareness, your choices, your button of “I’m sick of my own bullsh*t, today is the day I’m going to stop worrying or replaying _________________ (insert your own bullsh*t here), and instead, CREATE and lead with my truth, authenticity and courage.”

What would your tomorrow look like if that’s how you started your day? You’re that powerful, you know.


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May
29

Bringing ART to YOU!

Not only do enriching art classes take place in our Upper West Side art studio, we bring our art classes to schools, libraries and businesses throughout the New York City area! It’s an absolute pleasure to teach hundreds of children about art, self-expression, and personal creativity at the 22 various branches of the Queens Library system. Some of the kids we teach do not have art offered in school, and our art classes are their opportunity to tap into their inner-artists. These spirited pastel paintings are inspired by aboriginal animal art. 




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May
17

DOROT Legacy Artwork

“Ada and Francesca are warm and gifted instructors.  They were patient and supportive of everyone’s work and process.  Everyone enjoyed their sessions, finding the projects engaging, challenging, exciting and more.  The work was really beautiful, too – see photos attached. Thank you so much again for your help in arranging The Art Studio NY program at DOROT.” – Wendy Handler, LMSW –  Director, Lasting Impressions: DOROT’s Legacy Project
 
For the past 8 weeks, we have been teaching an art class to 20+ senior citizens at Dorot  for what is called their “Legacy Project”. Each person created artwork that is deeply personal to them, while learning new creative techniques and modes of authentic self-expression in every class. The course culminated in a final project where participants created artwork that reflects what legacy they want to leave in the world. Some pieces included photos of family, grandchildren, and meaningful chapters of their own lives while others created self-portraits reflecting their own unique spirit.
 

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May
13

Doctor’s Orders: Be Outside!

  

Countless studies now point to the importance of both creativity  and spending time in NATURE as a path to your happiness and wellbeing. Enjoying art and nature together is so great for your health that some doctors are now prescribing it.  

Psychologists have conducted studies that show being in nature reduces stress, strengthens relationships, and improves health. “Experiencing awe in nature is a powerful way to impact people’s psychology, even as they’re doing something they really like to do,” says Researcher Craig Anderson.

Why do psychologists think nature is so healthy? The sense of awe. Experiencing awe helps you to pause, slow down, experience beauty, and feel how massive the miracle of life truly is. This perspective shift allows for your own stresses and problems to suddenly become smaller when placed in a new, larger and more expansive perspective. 

Bonding with nature is even becoming a common form of preventative health care in Japan. Studies share that spending time in forests, known as shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, find that time outdoors improves cognitive abilities, reduces anxiety, and decreases rumination. Try disconnecting from technology while taking a walk, drawing outside, or even sitting on a bench to look at the intricate details of a blooming flower. Studies show that even being outside for 30 minutes a day can benefit your mind, body, and soul.

“Our findings suggest that you don’t have to do extravagant, extraordinary experiences in nature to feel awe or to get benefits,” says Anderson. “By taking a few minutes to enjoy flowers that are blooming or a sunset in your day-to-day life, you also improve your well-being.”

The Art Studio NY is dedicated to nurturing the happiest and most fulfilled YOU. This summer, nurture your health and wellness through creativity, artistic expression and outdoor art classes in nature. The beauty of nature, the freedom of creative expression, and the warmth of community. What could be better? 
NEW DRAWING CLASSES IN CENTRAL PARK start JUNE 1.

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Feb
25

I am (not) an Artist…


Day in and day out, people tell me they are not creative. When you realize that you have an inner-resource (yes, you are an artist, you might just not know it yet!) that you never knew existed, it is life-changing. You then ask yourself, “What else am I capable of that I never imagined possible?” 

Unlock your creativity and enjoy a taste of art with our NEW 1-day workshops. You’ll discover a gift that will change your life: The gift of your authentic self-expression. 
With love,
Rebecca Schweiger 

Learn more about our kids art classes and after school art programs in NYC. Also, try our a 1-time adult workshop art class this season and get a taste for art, or try a new medium! Click Here to learn more.

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