What The Art Wants Class Series

January 8: Creativity For People Who Have Other Obligations

Bring something you’re working on or we’ll provide materials for you to begin! This class will be a discussion of our barriers and resistance to consistent creative practices and why they happen. While we’re at it, we’ll be making stuff together. If you’re already working on a project and need some advice on your next move, bring it in & we can figure it out together. If you need some inspiration to start something new, we can discuss your ideas and what materials we can provide. We hope this class will be an encouragement for each student to continue their creative endeavors, even when we have other obligations.

January 15: A Group Project But Make It Fun - Collage Collaboration

You know how some people celebrate Halloween all throughout October or maybe Christmas from November until the neighbors ask if they wouldn’t mind taking down their lights? Well, this is how we feel about the New Year. The entire month of January is a new beginning for many of us, and it helps to visualize what we want the year to look like. Everyone will be given a posterboard they can collage their own way, piecing together magazine clippings, movie tickets, photos, little poems or quotes, patterns & texture of any kind to visualize the year ahead—Make it yours! We will provide the basics such as tape, glue and scissors, but also materials like paint, yarn, glitter or filler pieces that might help pull the project together. A collaborative playlist and a brief history of the art of collage will also be present!

January 22: Popcorn Provided - A Film & Discussion Class

Movie night! We’ll provide the popcorn, you provide the attention. We’re going to watch a movie together, but if you bring something creative to work on while it’s playing, we won’t make you feel bad about it. We just ask that you stick around for a discussion about the movie afterward! Spending time to consider the media we engage with, like a movie or a book, feels like a fun little pitstop on the Journey to Nowhere that is doom scrolling through social media. We hope this class disrupts the media mundanity long enough for you to hang out with us and have a lively discussion about art.

January 29: Writing Poetry For People Who Think They Can’t Write Poetry

We swear, it’s not as difficult as you think. This class will be collaborative, each of us building a poem together, line by line. If you’re like me and can’t think while people around you are talking, fear not! We have a quiet room you can go to come up with your line in the poem. When you come back, you’ll pass the poem to the next person for their turn. We will continue until we’ve completed a full rough draft to be edited and perfected. This class will also be discussing the position of poetry & storytelling in the world today, as well as the benefits of making time for it. We find that even writing one line can be difficult in the creative process, so this class is designed to simplify it by relying on and collaborating with others.

February 5: Conversation With Other Earthbound Humans As An Artistic Craft

This one made you pause, huh? How can conversation be an artistic craft? Hear me out: Bring a project you’re working on, a book you love, an item in your home with a story—and we will give you space to talk about it. Present your passion to us, your conundrums, your obsessions, your thoughts & questions. And we will respond! Conversation with intention. So many interactions throughout our days can feel like they’re going in one ear and out into the dark, scary file cabinet void of information. Paying attention is an exercise, a transaction, and a practice. In this class, you’ll be face to face with someone sharing something they care about, as well as learning about the art of an interview and sharing your own projects or experience! We hope this class is not only a delight, but a lesson in community support.

February 12: Letter Writing Even If You Don’t Own A Feather Quill Pen

A lost art, indeed! While we discuss what letter writing once was and why it can be used as a mindful, artistic practice today, we will be practicing our calligraphy with historical examples and learning what makes a good letter. If you have your own stationary, you’re welcome to bring it! If not, ACS will provide you with envelopes, paper, stamps, materials to design your stationary, and lastly… A wax seal. We know! You better let your pen pal know an upgrade is coming!

February 19: You’ve Heard of It, But Still Don’t Know What It Is: Junk Journaling

It’s like a scrapbook with fewer rules! And you get to keep it! You can either bring your own notebook or ACS will provide one for you. This notebook will house napkins from restaurants, movie tickets, stickers, notes from work or school, photos, anything you can dream of. There is a certain pressure that comes along with keeping an active, written journal. With junk journaling, you’re gluing and taping memories together from your week, your month, or a trip or celebration in new ways. Let me just say, junk journaling has helped me clean out entire drawers in my home! We think this class will make you think of both journaling & junk differently.

February 26: Artist Activism - How Art Creates Changes

This class idea came to us during one of our Young Artist painting classes where students were designing their own murals. Their projects were meant to draw attention to something specific, a piece of art that would make people stop & ponder. This class will be something similar, as we discuss the ways throughout history that art has had a part in the story of change and progress. Students will have the opportunity to create their own piece of art with an intention or message behind it. At the Arkansas Craft School, we invite the entire spectrum of creative identity into our building so we can all learn from one another. Art belongs to us all, and we look forward to celebrating that idea in this class.

March 5: Media Literacy For People Who Use the Internet (Everyone)

In this class, we will be learning about what it means to think critically in the age of social media, artificial intelligence, and information overload. We will learn how to engage with news & entertainment media, discuss how algorithms work & for what purpose, and how we strengthen our attention span. The average person is exposed to hundreds of ads a day, and in between those ads, we are scrolling through thousands of social media posts and driving by signs and billboards on the way to work or school. It feels like the only ad-free time we’re allowed is when we sleep. This class is designed to help you declutter your time and mind by helping you differentiate between necessary information & information designed to distract you. We think students who spend a lot of time on the social internet or do their shopping online will find this class informative and helpful. To keep things even more interesting, students will be given materials to work on creative projects while we discuss. You’re also welcome to bring your own!

March 12: Bring Me Your Trash - A Sustainable Art Class

I wasn’t kidding bring me your trash! In this class, we will use toilet paper rolls, old newspaper & magazines, old clothing or other fabrics, discarded plastic, and any other household trash items you feel could be turned into something new. Bring your clean garbage to our classroom with the intention of sharing and communicating with other students about how to transform what would have been discarded. We will discuss everything from huge projects that helped change waste management in communities to small acts of creativity that change the way you view your trash.