This September, The Drawing Studio opens in Brattleboro. Located in The Whetstone Studio for the Arts at 28 Williams Street, The Drawing Studio will offer classes and workshops in traditional and experimental drawing practices and color theory and color mixing for painters. In addition to open, sunny work space The Drawing Studio also has a first rate art library with windows overlooking the Whetstone Brook and a coffee/tea bar.
The founder, Jason Alden, has taught drawing and painting at the River Gallery School and privately for the last 10 years. The Drawing Studio is an effort to clarify, develop and share what he loves most about drawing and the communication of Art. From the website, www.vermontdrawingstudio.com :
You already know how to draw, you just forgot. Drawing can be remembered as a natural, creative response to our experience of life and how we feel being here. Children draw and are world-makers when they do. As adults we tend to limit the aspiration of drawing to how much we can make our drawing look like the thing we are looking at: our friend, a landscape, the stuff on our coffee table, our face in the mirror. But drawing can be a way to understand and be in relationship with a subject, to become intimate with not only how it looks, but how it feels, what it communicates to us about itself. Drawing can be full of qualities beyond surface resemblance. It is a wide road and we arrive on it with a capacity for perception that we didn’t know we had.
Jason is in the final buildout phase to be ready for a September opening. He has created a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to help with the costs of this project and to share the vision of the school. Please watch the video, support The Drawing Studio if you are inspired and share with others.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/348777662/the-drawing-studio
Jason Alden can be reached at 802 380 4997 or jna1972@hotmail.com.
I think we are very fortunate
I think we are very fortunate to live in a town that not only embraces the arts but puts them at the forefront of what is vital to live a full life. The fact that we will soon have two art schools- both dedicated to encouraging people to explore, create and flourish in their artistic endeavors. The Drawing Studio takes a very organic approach to art; doing away with the concept of there being a right or wrong way to draw. ( full disclosure: the founder of The Drawing Studio, Jason Alden is my son.)
What I love most about this new school is definitely the setting- nestled next to the natural beauty of the Whetstone Brook with the same feel of simple beauty carrying over to the interior of the studio. Clean lines, nothing superfluous taking up space; shelves and shelves of well loved and thoughtfully chosen art books- it is restful and peaceful and beautiful.
Aside from any natural bias I may have I hope that many of you will take advantage of what Jason is offering here.
And, if you like the idea of such a place adding to the uniqueness of our town then please donate to the Kickstarter campaign listed above.
Also,check out the rewards for donors- some very cool things.
arts district
For a while there was talk of creating an arts district stretching from the Latchis past NEYT down Flat to about where this studio is located. The Whetstone Arts building is sort of the anchor at the other end.
The district didn’t officially pan out – RIP NEA Our Town Grant attempt – and in some ways Elliot St seems more like the arts street right now (painted telephone poles, 188 Elliot, etc.), but the Whetstone Arts building still acts as the anchor at that end.
Nice to see “the arts district” slowly forming itself.
I remember when people were
I remember when people were talking about the arts district.
Did it die from lack of interest? Just in the Whetstone building alone there are some pretty cool art based businesses- I hope that with Jay’s school there it becomes more of s destination and some of the other businesses also attract attention.
It’s definitely the prettiest spot to have a cup of coffee and see some art!