studio 23Tag

Posted 29 May 2021 | art, classes, classroom, membership, painting, studio 23

The Importance of Summer Art Camp

Whether your child is an artist, athlete, or mathematician, an art camp can help your child balance-out and help further develop their growing brain. A recent Harris Poll revealed that 93 percent of Americans consider the arts to be an important connection to learning and success. Research shows us that arts-based education wires and rewires our brains for creativity in ways we are really only beginning to understand.

When it comes to shaping young minds, summer art camps have become an essential piece of the puzzle. The art camp activities can stimulate young minds with new concepts and skills, as well as lessons about art and art history.

Some children that absolutely love a specific art form find that getting an uninterrupted amount of time at art camp strengthens their skills and nurtures their talents. Many of these students may not even get time to dedicate to art during the school year. So art camp can be even more important to development for these students.

Even if your child is not a budding young artist, summer art camp can be a good option for your child with many benefits. Studies show that children of all ages who participate in the arts perform better on standardized achievement tests than students with low arts involvement.
Art also becomes another way for children to express themselves. By encouraging communication with new friends, summer art camp students can gain a big confidence boost, which can in turn be beneficial in how they communicate at home, school and with other adults.

Students who participate in summer art camps often work collaboratively to create projects, which teaches negotiation skills. They learn to work through creative differences, compromise, and learn that they can collectively create something great.

By interacting and working with a different students, children also learn an appreciation of different perspectives. They observe how other kids create different artwork based on the same instructions- a great way to teach students that just because something is different, doesn’t make it wrong!

Studio 23 is offering four different summer art camps for students aged seven to twelve.

June 21-25

July 12-16

July 26-30

August 2-6

All camps run 8:30-3:30 Monday through Friday and culminate in a student art show at the end of the day on Friday. Cost is $160 for members and $190 for non-members.

We have limited seating in these camps so you’ll want to register your student right away. You can register through our website www.studio23baycity.org or by calling the studio at 989-894-2323.

We hope to see you at art camp this year!

Autumn Reyes

Education Coordinator

Studio 23/The Arts Center

by Autumn Reyes

Posted 24 April 2021 | art, art center, art gallery, classroom, drawing, painting, studio 23, support, watercolor

Art Ed with Autumn: Supporting the Arts

Hello everyone and thanks for visiting the Studio 23 art education blog! 🙂

First, I just want to remind you that we have some really great classes starting in our spring session here at Studio 23. Adult clay, kids clay, drawing, painting, art for kids and teens… we really try to offer a diverse selection of classes. Also, by taking art classes at studio 23 you’re not only learning valuable art skills, you’re also supporting your local art hub AND helping make art accessible to EVERYONE in the Great Lakes Bay region. So what are you waiting for? Check out our selection of classes and register today!

Check here for adult classes!

Check here for child classes!

While on the subject of supporting the arts, I wanted to share this fantastic list compiled by Randy Cohen titled;

10 Reasons to Support the Arts in 2021

Arts unify communities. 72% of Americans believe “the arts unify our communities regardless of age, race, and ethnicity” and 73% agree that the arts “helps me understand other cultures better”—a perspective observed across all demographic and economic categories.
Arts improve individual well-being. 81% of the population says the arts are a “positive experience in a troubled world,” 69% of the population believe the arts “lift me up beyond everyday experiences,” and 73% feel the arts give them “pure pleasure to experience and participate in.”
Arts strengthen the economy. The nation’s arts and culture sector—nonprofit, commercial, education—is an $919.7 billion industry that supports 5.2 million jobs. That is 4.3% of the nation’s economy—a larger share of GDP than powerhouse sectors such as agriculture, transportation, and construction. The arts have a $33 billion international trade surplus. The arts also accelerate economic recovery: a growth in arts employment has a positive and causal effect on overall employment.
Arts drive tourism and revenue to local businesses. The nonprofit arts industry alone generates $166.3 billion in economic activity annually—spending by organizations and their audiences—which supports 4.6 million jobs and generates $27.5 billion in government revenue. Arts attendees spend $31.47 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission on items such as meals, parking, and lodging—vital income for local businesses. Arts travelers are ideal tourists, staying longer and spending more to seek out authentic cultural experiences.
Arts improve academic performance. Students engaged in arts learning have higher GPAs, standardized test scores, and college-going rates as well as lower drop-out rates. These academic benefits are reaped by students across all socio-economic strata. Yet, the Department of Education reports that access to arts education for students of color is significantly lower than for their white peers. 91% of Americans believe that arts are part of a well-rounded K-12 education.
Arts spark creativity and innovation. Creativity is among the top five applied skills sought by business leaders—per the Conference Board’s Ready to Innovate report—with 72% saying creativity is of “high importance” when hiring. Research on creativity shows that Nobel laureates in the sciences are 17 times more likely to be actively engaged as an arts maker than other scientists.
Arts have social impact. University of Pennsylvania researchers have demonstrated that a high concentration of the arts in a city leads to higher civic engagement, more social cohesion, higher child welfare, and lower poverty rates.
Arts improve healthcare. Nearly one-half of the nation’s healthcare institutions provide arts programming for patients, families, and even staff. 78% deliver these programs because of their healing benefits to patients—shorter hospital stays, better pain management, and less medication.
Arts for the health and well-being of our military. The arts heal the mental, physical, and moral injuries of war for military servicemembers and Veterans, who rank the creative arts therapies in the top four (out of 40) interventions and treatments. Across the military continuum, the arts promote resilience during pre-deployment, deployment, and the reintegration of military servicemembers, Veterans, their families, and caregivers into communities.
Arts Strengthen Mental Health. The arts are an effective resource in reducing depression and anxiety and increasing life satisfaction. Just 30 minutes of active arts activities daily can combat the ill effects of isolation and loneliness associated with COVID-19.

Wasn’t that a great list? It made me feel so empowered to help advocate for the arts! I hope it moved you, too, and I challenge you to share this list with 5 friends or family members!

Until next time… stay safe and keep creating,

Autumn Reyes

Education Coordinator

Studio 23/The Arts Center

by Megan Koch

Posted 9 April 2021 | art, art center, classes, collaboration, community, gallery, membership, studio 23

Our members made an impact!

Collaboration within our community is really important to us at Studio 23. Beginning in January this year, our membership committee created a Membership Drive that would give back to two nonprofits in our region. As I hope you know, Studio 23 has been a registered nonprofit for over 60 years. We were founded in 1959 by a group of artists and community members who wanted a space for artists to display their work.

Studio 23 is a part of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and a local Rotary Club. It is a great way for us to network and to know what others are working on. With our connections we reached out to the Bay Area Women’s Center and Big Brothers Big Sisters to collaborate with us for our Membership Drive. Happily they both accepted and we got to work!

With each new member and renewing member we donated a Craft Bar packet to a child in their care. What is a Craft Bar packet? It is an art project that has step by step instructions with all of the art supplies in one convenient packet for you to use. We sell our Craft Bar packets during open gallery hours and they make a perfect project for you to gift or to create on your own!

We set a lofty goal of 100 members in three months. Well, we came really close at 87 members and we are proud to say we still donated 100 Craft Bar packets to children through Bay Area Women’s Center and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Last Friday, we dropped off the donations and here is how they impacted the organizations:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Great Lakes Bay Region has a mission of creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Their vision to help all youth achieve their full potential. Last week I got to sit down with Rachel Sprunger who is one of two Bay County Match Coordinators, and discussed the impact of the Craft Bar Packets.

“Being able to do arts and crafts is wonderful for our littles. It helps keep them creative and focused. With art they can have a creative outlet and it helps them grow and find their strengths” – Rachel told me how art really makes an impact on the littles. The packets will be porch drop offs that the littles and bigs can do virtually together. We can’t wait to see what they create!

Big Brother Big Sisters is always looking for BIGs. There are currently about 12 littles in Bay County who are waiting for a match. BBBS receives referrals of littles from our school system and has a partnership with the Dow Bay Area Family Y. For more information about becoming a Big or referring a little contact BBBS at 844-4BE-ABIG or visit our website https://bbbsgreatlakesbay.org/.

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The mission of the Bay Area Women’s Center is to eliminate domestic violence and sexual assault. BAWC provides free-of-charge crisis intervention, advocacy and safe haven to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault; and violence prevention education to the community; while actively pursuing social change.

I got to speak with Maggie Pickering who is a Sexual Assualt Therapist and Jeremy Rick who is the Executive Director of the Bay Area Women’s Center. The Craft Bar Packets will be given to their clients who are in their shelter. Maggie said that “art has a therapeutic power and it helps her work with clients”. They provide therapy services in person and virtual.

“Anytime we can expose our kids to something positive and fun, we can help them better”, says Jeremy. Their goals at the shelter are to help empower the children to keep them safe. A lot of times when families come to the shelter, the children feel guilty for their situation. Art can help them erase the guilt as they work with their therapists to better themselves and their family.

It was such a pleasure to donate these art packets to two organizations who will benefit. Art is a wonderful thing and now it can help these children be empowered and get creative. With your support as members, these kids were gifted the joy of art!

Thank you for reading along and sharing art with our community! You can sign up to be a member today by visiting: https://www.studio23baycity.org/membership/

Sincerely,

Tara Welch

Executive Director

twelch23@studio23baycity.org

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Spring is coming!

We were chatting as staff here at Studio 23 and we are shocked with how quickly time is going! April is here and we are prepping for our Summer Art Camps, Summer Solstice event and even the Chalk Walk Art Festival.

Exhibition: Land To River, A collaboration with the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy and sponsored by Waste Management.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 5pm

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood to take a Plein Air Painting Class with Artist/Instructor Ruth Howell.
Ruth will guide you through painting outdoor scenes in plein air. The class will cover supplies, equipment and tips to paint outside. Artists are encouraged to work in a painting medium such as watercolor, oil, acrylic or pen and ink.

This workshop will run rain or shine- shine will get us outside and rain will keep us painting from the stage windows inside Studio 23.

Saturday, April 24th 10am-1pm

The social season is upon us! Grab your friends and join Studio 23 for a Bridgerton inspired paint night. Each attendee will learn how to paint a custom wooden tea-cup holder while enjoying a night out. And because you’re creating it yourself, you’ll be able to personalize your own colors selections.

You bring your beverage of choice and we will provide pizza, breadsticks, and all the supplies you need to complete this beautiful cup holder!

Thursday, April 29th 6-9pm

by Autumn Reyes

Posted 4 March 2021 | art, art center, artist, classes, classroom, studio 23

Art Ed with Autumn: Youth Art Month

Hello friends!

It’s hard to believe it’s already March, isn’t it? It still feels like January in my mind.

If you’re familiar with Studio 23, you know we offer a large variety of children’s classes. We offer children’s art, teen art, and even clay for kids. Not to mention the various children’s workshops we offer throughout the year. If you’ve seen our social media presence, you know we love to share all of our student’s hard work. But, because March is national youth art month, we have even more reason to share our children’s art and programming with you. So every week we will give you a glimpse into our children’s art classes through social media. We’ll show you what our students are working on and completed projects. This is just another way for us to celebrate our young students who love creating at Studio 23. You may also notice the hashtag #YAM (Short for Youth Art Month) being used this month. This is another way we can showcase all the hard work of our young artists. If you have a young artist at home we encourage to use #YAM, as well. We ALWAYS love to see what our students are working on!

#YAM

On that note, just a reminder that we are offering our Spring Break Art Camp this year! Camp is ideal for 7-12 year olds and runs March 29th through April 2nd from 8:30-3:30 and cost is only $160 for members $190 for non-members. If you’re student is interested you’ll want to give us a call right away as seating is very limited for this camp.

We also have our Summer Art Camps posted on our website and we’re taking registration. These camps are so fun… your student will spend the week with Ms. Sue immersing themselves in all things art! It’s such a fun week- a great time is had by all!

Summer Art Camp

Oh, and I have one more #YAM related reminder for you. Our Teenworks & Kids Creation virtual exhibit is going on now! Don’t miss the chance to check out some stunning artwork from our Bay City schools!

I hope you and the young artists in your life find some time to create or engage in art!

See you next month,

Autumn Reyes, Education Coordinator

by Autumn Reyes

Posted 29 August 2020 | classes, studio 23

Education Blog with Autumn Reyes

Hello Studio 23 family!

I hope this post finds you all healthy and well.

In today’s educational blog post I’d like to reach out specifically to our students for a moment… First of all, let me say “Thank you!” from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for trusting our instructors with your art education. I appreciate each and every one of you.

I would like to take this time today to appeal to Studio 23 students and ask you to use your voice to advocate for us. If you’ve taken a class with us I ask you to share it on social media. Share a picture of yourself working at the studio or even just the art you’ve created and tag us in your post. By simply sharing on social media and checking in at Studio 23 or tagging us, you’re using your voice to advocate for our Studio 23 classes… more than that, you’re advocating for our Studio 23 family!

Social media is always changing its algorithms and that makes it harder for non-profits like Studio 23 to be seen. With help from you we can continue to make art accessible even through these uncertain times.

If you’re unsure on how to get started here is a great example from Cindy Bancroft who shared her experience with the Smartphone group class taught by Armin Mersmann…

“This is my latest creation in Armin Mersmann’s iPhoneography Group class sponsored by Studio 23. Having just finished our term I must say the art created by this talented group of passionate artists to the thought provoking discussions about art was awe inspiring and has brought joy, laughter and community throughout the pandemic. As I have often said, this is a must take class with a new session starting soon so keep an eye out for announcements on both Studio 23 and Armin Mersmann’s Facebook page. For those that don’t live locally or even in this state this class is taught via Zoom!” Thank you, Cindy for sharing your talent and thoughts with us! #studio23onthego #makeartvirtual #michiganartist

With that said, don’t forget fall classes are now posted and start the week of September 14^th. Some classes are virtual, many are in studio. And don’t worry, we are committed to keeping everyone safe by keeping class numbers small and requiring masks at all time.

I can’t wait to see you all this fall!

Autumn Reyes

Education Coordinator

by Megan Koch

Posted 4 February 2020 | art, art center, art gallery, artist collective, community, gallery, member, membership, painter, painting, studio 23

Meet our member, Amy Gibas

#meetourmembermonday

Studio 23’s mission is to provide the Great Lakes Bay Region with a vibrant arts center dedicated to making the visual arts relevant and accessible to all. It is our passion to connect artists with our local community and to engage our community with art!

This past week we sat down with Amy Gibas, a member of Studio 23 to talk about her journey with art and how Studio 23 helped connect her with artists right outside her studio doors.

Amy Gibas has been involved with Studio 23 since 2012, if our memory serves us correct! Amy taught Sip N’ Swirls at Studio 23, during her BFA program at Saginaw Valley State University. Then she moved on to complete her MFA at Ohio University. Luckily, we had Amy move back to our community to begin her career in the Great Lakes Bar Region. Right away she wanted to reconnect with the art community, to work alongside artists just like she did in school.

On FaceBook she saw a post for the 100 day project with Studio 23. This opportunity helped connect her with local artists and our Curator, Valerie Allen. Val and Amy shared a vision to create a group for artists that would help engage with one another, participate in professional development and notify each other of exhibition opportunities. Amy tells us that Studio 23’s Artist Collective was formed by the excitement around the first 100 day project.

You can be a part of the Artist Collective by becoming a member of Studio 23. Through the collective they host various events throughout the year, focusing on networking and professional development. They also have a private FaceBook page where they share information weekly on exhibit opportunities across the state and encouragement on artwork.

Amy’s best advice to up and coming artists is “Don’t give up and don’t sell out. Always make the work you are passionate about!”

Join Amy and the many other artists in our collective by becoming a member today!