“For years I have had a strong desire to provide an intimate setting which offers an abundance of beautiful materials for children and adults to express themselves with curiosity and a playful outlook.”  -Elizabeth Craig, Owner/Artist. 

I believe that everyone is an artist.

I believe that materials have their own way of speaking.  Being offered a wide range of materials has the power to inspire and wake up ideas.

I believe that relationships are central to the work between teacher and student—My role is to listen to how each student approaches the work and provide responsive instruction, whether it is in providing suggestions, asking questions, showing examples, or teaching a specific technique.  If a student feels empowered, and inspired, there is no limit to what they can do in the studio.  Playfulness and whimsy play a strong role in letting go of inhibition and allowing oneself to be open to possibilities, and is a part of how I work with students to support their work.

I believe that every person, young or old, brings some gifts to the table in which to find some material to express themselves.  Once they find that “language” through visual arts materials—or, a material that speaks to them, their ideas just start to explode.  My approach is to nurture a relationship with materials that encourages my students to let go of any fears or inhibitions--to see possibilities as opposed to the impossibility of working with materials.   I have found this to be the case over and over again, whether a student is working 2-dimensionally or 3 dimensionally with a material.  Occasionally a student will get so stuck in the outcome as opposed to the way their work is emerging that they can lose the joy in the work.  My role is to watch for this and all ways my students approach their work to help them.  Sometimes just a single shift or an idea can change everything, and they’re able to move on.  

An example of this happened when an adult student in the shrine making class confided that she had been nervous about taking the workshop because she never saw herself as an artist or being capable of being able to create.  During the workshop, she started to work with her framework—the box in which she chose—as she began to work with  materials she felt stuck.  I asked her about her intention and how she wanted this idea to manifest itself.  Listening to her, I started to see some possibilities of materials that could help her bridge the gap and as she began to draw these materials together the possibilities began to flow, and that’s what her shrine was about—flow in her life.  This was a big aha for her—that she could go there—she never expected that she could.

~Elizabeth Craig, Owner