Adult Open Studio

Thursdays, 7-9pm | $25+GST

Adult Open Studio classes are casual, social drop-in art workshops, featuring a new project and theme connected to current exhibitions. These workshops explore the technical and conceptual side of art-making and give participants opportunities to experiment and explore new ideas and materials in the studio.

Upcoming Classes

January 9 | Try Something New

In this studio session, we set out our art supplies and invite you to try out what we’ve got. Pick up a piece of vine charcoal, try an oil stick, or craft your own pen tool. The aim is to get out of your comfort zone and experiment with drawing materials that are new to you.

January 16 | BYOC-Portraiture

Bring your own camera (BYOC) and play with lights, composition and settings to create a series of portraits inspired by current exhibitions.

January 23 | Figure Drawing 1

Using charcoal, conté and inks, sketch from a live model. Begin the session with expressive and loose renderings and finish with a longer more sustained study. Focus on the fundamentals of tone, form and perspective.

NB: This class features a nude model.

January 30 | A Look Within (Dave and Jenn)

Featured in our current exhibition, view the artwork by DaveandJenn and learn more about the artists’ oeuvre. Back in the studio, work with layers of acetate and acrylic paint to create a multi-faceted artwork.

February 6 | Printing Blocks

Learn about the disappearance of 14th-century explorer Basha Adu Kasa II and his enormous fleet. Follow artist Ekow Nimako’s imagining of their mysterious voyage in our newest exhibition. Create your own story in a series of layered prints using the iconic blocks.

February 13 | Heart-Shaped Cards

Join us in the studio for a card-making extravaganza! With our vast assortment of art supplies, create a unique design that tells your friends and family “I love you”. Already have your card picked out, but forgot to nab a gift? Work at a larger scale to craft a lovely hand-made surprise your special someone will remember.

February 20 | Art and Poetry

Inspired by the Dadaists, a 20th-century art movement, created a visual composition of images and text that are both nonsensical and deeply revealing of our current time.

February 27 | Say it with a brooch

Up your brooch game! For centuries, brooches have been worn as a subtle political and social statement. Using wire, beads and mixed media, create a wearable work of art inspired by current exhibitions.

March 6 | Figure Drawing 2

Hone your figurative drawing skills with a series of gestural ink drawings. Choose to stay in a loose, expressive style or try your hand at a sustained tonal drawing. Focus on methods such as sight measuring to achieve representational proportion. Learn about the many ways to create a figurative drawing and the various strengths in gesture and representation.

NB: This class features a nude model.

March 13 | Assert and Obliterate

Draw inspiration from our newest exhibition what we leave, what we take and reflect on questions about what we carry with us into the future and what we leave to history. Create an expressive drawing using concepts of assert (draw) and obliterate (erase) to add texture and interest to your work.

March 20 | Needle Felting

As spring arrives and early pollinators begin to appear, we look to nature for inspiration. Try your hand at needle felting and create a mini sculpture after viewing the macro photographs of insects by Dara Ojo.

March 27 | Ways to Watercolour

Review classic watercolour painting techniques and pair them together in a series of experiments to discover what painting possibilities exist. Mix things up with the introduction of unusual materials to increase your repertoire in infinite ways!