Dirty those hands and maybe join a cult?

Sticking to a staycation kind of summer? Studio School is gearing up for a season of paint-, clay-, thread- and fun-splattered making and creating. Classes built for your schedule (heavy on one-offs and four-week courses, with some solid eight-week offerings for our diehards) are sure to provide the Zen you’d find sitting on a beach, sipping something sweet. Reaching from the teens to the vets, Studio School reminds us art-making is for all.

A dirty throwing wheel is covered in pieces of clay. A bowl with murky water sits in front, along with two clay vessels, both beige, one holding used brushes and tools.

Pottery wheel

Ceramics for the Babes

We are here for the teens and tweens, baby: The 12- to 14- and 15- to 17-year-olds now have something to really sink their fingers into! They don’t care about mess, they aren’t interested in rules, and they’re totally ready to experiment. Clay on their pants? It’s SUPPOSED to be there, Mom! Pry your high schoolers fingers from their phones (godspeed), and let us give them wheels you aren’t scared for them to get behind!

Hands hold a crocheted bag by the handle against grey brick. There are strands of blues, grey, red and flecks of purple and yellow fabric throughout the piece. The bag has a rounded base with a handle made of similar material up top.

Rachel Lynch's creative crochet

Dump to Dope

That’s right, we’re hoarding garbage for creative crocheting adventures — reduce, reuse, UPcycle! What’s better than that? Studio School doesn’t care if you know what you’re doing. You bring the vibes, and instructor Rachel Lynch will fill your brain with all things repurposed and upcycled crochet techniques while your fingers churn out nothing but fashion gold.

Seven people are smiling at the camera, four standing behind and three sitting in front. They are all holding different fabric-made bags in different colors and patterns in blues, leopard print and flowers.

Sewing Fundamentals Expanded 2022

Amber Layne Fan Club

Amber Layne (sewing master and Studio School instructor) is slowly taking over The Studios with her dedicated sewing followers! This summer, her fiber talents are spilling into machine embroidery, guiding students through the proper mechanics, functions and possibilities. Bonus: At session’s end, you can join the Amber Layne Cult … if you’re so inclined.

A man in a dark blue shirt is working on a ceramic piece, a tool is in his hand as he is working on the bottom. Behind him are shelves with difference ceramic pieces scattered.

Veterans Ceramics

Vets Only

Know a veteran in need of a project or creative relief? “This is something that will help any veteran,” Army veteran Jen Pate says of Oklahoma Contemporary's Veterans Initiative. “It helps them deal with PTSD, their past, helps keep them focused; I would recommend this to any veteran. It’s helped me daily. There’s beauty in the nightmares if you can find it.”

Through mediums like painting, drawing and ceramics, vets can explore fundamentals of creating and understanding art alongside peers, forming creative foundations and building community.

Catch this one quick — our vet initiative is free, but space is limited.

A pastel piece is squared off the a box of blue-colored masking tape. Greys, yellows and blues are drawn onto the piece, creating swirling clouds. Oil pastels are scattered to the right with a box of oil pastels sitting open.

Jenny Elton

Look to the Sky

Cloud painter extraordinaire and Studio School instructor Jenny Elton is taking students through the clouds and between the trees, exploring light, shadow, scale and layering. The medium? We’re talking oil pastels, friends. Turn photographs, memories, your imagination or the view in front of you into a gorgeous landscape of rolling hills, floating clouds or crashing seas.

Registration closes June 28, and spots are filling fast! These are only a handful of classes from the brilliant, summer session lineup. Ceramics, ice dyeing, gouache painting and so much more await. Nab — for yourself, your kids or your friends — an opportunity to shape functional vessels, design personal masterpieces and craft one-of-a-kind creations.

Images:

Oil pastel by Studio School instructor Jenny Elton.

Studio School throwing wheel.

Crochet work by Studio School instructor Rachel Lynch.

Amber Layne's spring 2022 Sewing Fundamentals Expanded class

A veteran works on a ceramic piece.

In-progress oil pastel work by Studio School instructor Jenny Elton.

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Studio School art-making summer studio classes workshops