Wax on in these twice-monthly collective sessions featuring self-led open studio time, plus new techniques and materials to try facilitated by Studio Artist Cricket Desmarais. Enjoy creative camaraderie while you experiment with and inform your creative process.

Spontaneous Painting: A playful way to investigate your own creativity. We’re all born creative, but as we grow older many of us forget this about ourselves. Remember finger painting, when you created something for the sheer joy of it, not because you were trying to make “good” art? This workshop will help you reawaken the creative spirit you had as a child.

Express your personality through a piece of handcrafted jewelry! Local artisan Abigail Houff leads you through the making of delicate jewelry with semi-precious stones. Houff’s philosophy of bringing a heightened sense of beauty to whomever is wearing one of her pieces makes her cache of jewelry stand out.

Fine-tune your writing craft in this two-part workshop: character, dialogue, scene, plot, beginnings, and endings.

Learn the history, materials and techniques of this unique but often overlooked medium. Workshop participants can expect to learn about a drawing medium and its ensuing method that few people currently know about, much less employ. Redding takes a sometimes-intimidating medium and method and makes it approachable and enjoyable.

Paint the sea and sky at dusk, a summer favorite, with Susan Sugar. Students may opt to sign up for both sessions as they will differ.

Paint the sea and sky at dusk, a summer favorite, with Susan Sugar. Students may opt to sign up for both sessions as they will differ.

In these dark times, more than ever, readers need a laugh. At its core, comedy is an art of defying expectations, and all writers, whether you’re interested in writing comedy or not, benefit from defying expectations. This course deconstructs jokes in recent standup comedy specials, as well as funny scenes and passages in recent fiction, and use these examples as guides to help you bring the funny to your work and defy the expectations of your readers. Cheuk keeps the feedback positive. No critiquing allowed.

Learn the basics of relief printmaking by carving an image of your design from a linoleum plate and creating a 6×8″ print. Learn how to ink plates and use a DIY press to transfer your images onto paper. At the end of the workshop, you will have several prints of your own that you can, if you choose, trade with other participants to make a portfolio.

Paintings allow us to have visual conversations about light and space. Students will create paintings on sheer silk or chiffon and stretch them over wood stretcher bars. “Painting the Sky” begins with a presentation of Mosholder’s own work as she introduces herself to the class. The conversation will then segue into a brief lesson on abstraction in painting and some ‘loosening up’ exercises for students.

Gelli plates are a gelatinous slab used to create acrylic mono prints & magazine photo transfers, making beautiful images that stand on their own or can be incorporated into collage or mixed media work. Learn several different techniques including how to create print layers, how to use stencils, create transfers and use stamps with your Gelli Plate. As a final step, students incorporate their favorite images of the day into a project such as unique cards or gift tags.

Learn how to dissemble social norms, structures, and expectations in your fiction.

In this workshop students learn basic hand building techniques and color composition with polymer clay. Each student will also have the option of incorporating found objects, such as seashells, coins, rocks, etc, into an incredible piece of wearable art. Class begins with an introduction to the possibilities inherent to polymer clay, including mixing colors, adding different textures, using hand tools and stamps, and even enforcing their structure with armature wire.

Art journaling has the power not only to express what happens in our lives but to actually affect it through artistic exploration and creativity. In this workshop students are guided through several mixed media techniques that allow them to create imaginative, unique pages in their journals. Learn page layout, how to layer images with media, prompts to get you to start writing, color washes, lettering and more.

Slow down & create space in this yoga class for all ages and stages. Experience micro-movement and a slow, steady build towards strength, balance and flexibility. Leave your mat refreshed, calm, and centered. No experience necessary – only a willingness to suspend judgment, be present, and tune in. Mats and props available.

Slow down & create space in this yoga class for all ages and stages. Experience micro-movement and a slow, steady build towards strength, balance and flexibility. Leave your mat refreshed, calm, and centered. No experience necessary – only a willingness to suspend judgment, be present, and tune in. Mats and props available.

Slow down & create space in this yoga class for all ages and stages. Experience micro-movement and a slow, steady build towards strength, balance and flexibility. Leave your mat refreshed, calm, and centered. No experience necessary – only a willingness to suspend judgment, be present, and tune in. Mats and props available.

Our most popular class returns for a new season! Paint along with Rick Worth and discover why he’s one of the island’s most beloved artists! Have fun, learn essential skills, and walk away with a brand new painting each week.

Learn and experience the healing benefits from Nidra meditation, which helps identify root causes of negative feelings and anxiety and provides tools for increasing positivity.

Students focus on maintaining continuous movements with body and breath through a series of postures.

Work through postures designed to help reduce stiffness in a class that allows time to explore stances slowly and carefully.

Our most popular class returns for a new season! Paint along with Rick Worth and discover why he’s one of the island’s most beloved artists! Have fun, learn essential skills, and walk away with a brand new painting each week.

In reading and writing haiku we will explore the idea that haiku work as poetry, meditation, memoir, photograph, and discovery. Haiku illuminate the connection between ourselves and others and the natural world. We will discuss the early masters of the form—Buson, Issa, and Basho, then move on to current practitioners. And we will write haiku, knowing that the best of them just “happen” to the writer who pays attention and waits for the flash.

Key West is the home of “one human family”, but how can we practice what we preach? Social justice advocate Erika Heffernan presents information on how groups and individuals can create more inclusive programming. For this session, Heffernan focuses on recognizing different abilities and cultivating inclusive environments for people with disabilities.

Our most popular class returns for a new season! Paint along with Rick Worth and discover why he’s one of the island’s most beloved artists! Have fun, learn essential skills, and walk away with a brand new painting each week.

Discover the drama of India Ink paired with encaustic artmaking with this series of technique studies using archival quality India ink. Guided exercises help you explore using the ink & simple tools to create positive & negative spaces, repetition, contrast, marks & line. After that, flash prompts using these techniques help you create a series of small, coherent paintings. Basic encaustic skills preferred.

Participants generate new creative nonfiction work and receive feedback. During the first afternoon, Artist in Residence Gordon-Loebl leads participants in a series of writing exercises designed to generate memoir, essay, or other creative nonfiction. During the second afternoon, participants have the option to share their work and receive constructive feedback from each other as well as the instructor.

Pick up techniques and tips by watching the maestro at work. Lothar Speer demonstrates the breadth of his classical approach. While working on his latest masterpiece, Speer will talk students through his approaches to surface preparation, sketching, underpainting and how to lay in the finer details for a pristine finished piece. Students may watch, takes notes, or sketch (or paint) along.

Blending essential oils is as much a science as it is an art form. Simple scents can trigger memories, energize us or calm us down. 

Our most popular class returns for a new season! Paint along with Rick Worth and discover why he’s one of the island’s most beloved artists! Have fun, learn essential skills, and walk away with a brand new painting each week.

Learn elements of street photography, editing techniques and tricks for perfect black & white images.

Use the effects of light in your paintings to create atmosphere, interest and three-dimensionality.

Experienced paint pourers can try their hand at creating a scene out of the organic chaos. Day one is spent creating a scene of sand and wave colors, while the second day focuses on bringing that scene to life by incorporating hand-painted creatures and details.

Learn the basics of working with silver precious metal clay, making a pendant or earrings of your own design. Henriques reviews tools and techniques, and explains the different clays available. Then learn how to set a cubic zirconia stone, sand and finish your piece, and oxidize it once it’s fired.

Whether it’s a photo, a pencil sketch, or a finished painting, the art we love most always tells a story – drawing us in visually and communicating its message through symbols and imagery.

Treat yourself…and teach yourself. Learn how to make your own hydrating lotion bars, bath bombs and salt scrubs. Give them as gifts or keep them and just pamper yourself.

Collage artist Kostmayer offers a full overview of collage from composition to technical aspects.

Every writer knows the hardest thing about writing is actually sitting down and writing. Distractions and obstacles abound—both internal and external—stealing time and creative energy. In this workshop, we’ll identify common problems that keep us from writing and learn how stay inspired, productive and committed to our work.

Help preserve a Key West tradition by learning a vanishing art form from a legend.

Use basic drawing skills to create portraits in the Baroque Technique. By taking it back to the roots of the masters, students learn the quintessential elements of strong portraiture.

Move your artwork out of the realm of your dining room and treat yourself to four weeks of studio space. For three hours each week, the popular instructor Mike Rooney holds court in The Studios classroom. Students receive 45-minute mini-lessons each week and Rooney also goes easel-to-easel giving feedback and answering questions.

This workshop focuses on how to observe and respond to unique characteristics of a place through plein air painting. Participants are introduced to color theory and palette mixing in preparation for a painting session. The properties of color are key; its inherent value, opacity or transparency, and spatial effects can lead to a more intuitive usage while painting in the moment. Along with discussion of technical painting skills and approaches, participants develop their skills of observation and a sensitivity for their surroundings.

At the end of the day, participants engage in group discussions that are not only meant to open dialogue about the painting experience and finished product but also how an artist chooses what to respond to and the translation process that happens between visually absorbing a place and the images that are created.

Class starts with a classroom discussion about objectives, approaches and examples of artists’ works. Students then move outside where Williams offers a few short demonstrations. Participants then have at least 3 or 4 hours to locate a setting, do quick thumbnails as necessary and complete their work. The day finishes with a critique.

Filmmaker Quincy Perkins takes you through the process of creating compelling, intimate portraits of people through the medium of documentary film. Whether the student wants to tell a personal story or focus on an interesting figure in their life, Quincy takes you through the process of outlining, screenwriting, interview tips, camera work, editing and festival submissions.

Mike Rooney gives students a succinct four-session course in visual art’s most essential skill. Painters, sculptors, and problem-solvers are invited to start from scratch on a new skill, or to brush up their existing technique with a solid review of fundamentals.

Works and Words concentrates on concepts pertaining to “why we work”, “how we work” and the results we aim for as artists. Creative and engaging discussion is generated by assignments, critique and slide lectures. Work will be done in each individual’s studio or home and brought to class each week along with notebooks.

Award-winning actor, director and teacher Dennis Zacek teaches his Comedy Scene Study Class. Explore such forms as farce, realistic comedy, and high comedy through scene study and class discussion. Students present two-person scenes, with suggested scenes provided as needed. If you’re refining your comedic skills or just want to dip your toe into comedic styles, this is the perfect opportunity. Some experience required.

Ever watched a movie and thought, “I can write a better movie than that!”? Well, why not give it a shot? All you need is a little expert guidance, right? You can get it from Key West screenwriter and playwright Bob Bowersox, who returns with his popular screenwriting course.