Art Studios

718. Signal Return – April 27, 2024 – Detroit, MI

Engage in art-making AND support printmaking at Signal Return!

The nonprofit’s mission is to keep the ancient art of traditional letterpress printing alive via classes, art shows, and other community-fostering events held at its Detroit-based studio and shop, where its sells striking posters, greeting cards, and other works of art handcrafted at the studio. It works in conjunction with various other arts-and-community-focused organizations, including the Michigan Arts & Culture Council, The Kresge Foundation, and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. Its current class offerings explore topics such as wood-type poster-printing, journal book-binding and screen-printing, and custom coaster-printing and business-card-making.

I visited Signal Return to attend a Mother’s Day-themed card-making workshop with Ann Arbor-based artist Paloma Núñez-Regueiro. Paloma taught us how to hand-carve linoleum stamps, then create printed greeting cards with them using several different types of hand-printing implements, including mini printing presses and other hand-printing tools.

Paloma was a fantastic teacher, offering in-depth instruction in a warm, supportive manner. The half-day class was intentionally kept small, to allow for ample hands-on instruction time. By the end of it, I had an array of gorgeous cards (such as the ones shown above) – designed and created by moi!

What a fun way to support the local arts and spread love to my mama and others in my life. Thanks, Signal Return, for encouraging me to embrace my inner artist!

9301 Kercheval Ave., Ste. 1

Detroit, MI 48214

www.signalreturnpress.org

716. Splatter – April 19, 2024 – Ferndale, MI

Exuberantly get your art on at Splatter!

The Ferndale art studio offers 60-minute sessions that allow patrons to spray, sprinkle, and – of course, splatter – their way to artistic masterpieces.

Splatter currently offers two artists’ adventures: Splatter Masterpiece and Pour + Spin. Via a Splatter Masterpiece session, guests use various types of brushes to fling various colors of paint at 16-by-20-inch canvases hung at their respective artist’s stations, to the beat of upbeat music blasting throughout the studio.

One of the Splatter Masterpiece painting tools is more Super Soaker-esque than brush-like. It allows an artist to pull up paint into a foam tube, then spray it (at impressive velocity) at their canvas!

The Pour + Spin Splatter package also allows painters to flick, splatter, and splash paint onto a 16-by-20-inch canvas. The twist here (pun totally intended!) is that the canvas is attached to a table that’s continually spinning – yielding cool, momentum-inspired patterns.

Each of the two art packages includes a few minutes of instruction from Splatter’s awesome staff artists – who are also on hand to regularly change brush water and help as needed – plus a full suit of protective regalia: plastic ponchos with hoods, zip-up jumpsuits, and plastic booties that not only cover your shoes, but extend up your thighs. Not a drop of paint sullied my clothes during my Splatter Masterpiece session!

My friends and I had an absolute blast at Splatter. It was delightful to watch our paintings morph and change over the course of our hour-long sessions. Mine (shown above, in the second photo) ended up a drippy, trippy kaleidoscope of colors that I quite like. It’s a memento of that Friday night I spent blowing off steam at Splatter, in my own personal art-therapy session – an experience I most exuberantly recommend!

1956 Hilton Rd.

Ferndale, MI 48220

www.splattermi.com

58. Creative Arts Studio – September 8, 2014 – Royal Oak, MI

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It was so relaxing to go to this place Monday evening and spend a few hours just talking to a friend and painting a piece of pottery. I love activities that access the right side of my brain, because I can feel how such processes are much more intuitive and for me, therapeutic after a long day of having to use the left (analytical) side.

Creative Arts Studio offers much more than just painting of preformed pottery. It also has pottery wheels where you can form your own, glass fusing, jewelry making, canvas painting, and more.

114 W. 4th St., Royal Oak, MI 48067

www.creativeartsstudios.com