Two years ago I sat at a coffee shop surrounded by strangers making things. One was drawing desert flora and fauna with crayons and markers in an open sketchbook. There was someone knitting, and another embroidering a jacket. Another was carefully watercoloring a barrel cactus.
I’d just moved to this desert town and the outing was my first introduction to it. I knew none of these artists, but had somehow ended up at this gathering by invite from a friend of a friend. I tentatively retrieved my own sketchbook and drew beside them, wondering if my sketches were good enough to permit my admission to the group, which they lovingly called Art Club. Was I an artist like these guys? I wondered to myself.
“Was I an artist like these guys? I wondered to myself.”
They met each Wednesday morning for two hours and simply sat together making things and chatting. The conversations ranged from local community gossip to sharing techniques for a specific craft to learning each other’s quirks and pasts. Despite my insecurity, I showed up to Art Club each week. It became a part of my routine and the strangers became my close friends.
I realized that not only was Art Club a way to connect with people that have similar hobbies as mine, but that making art together was a conduit for building inner confidence, expanding my creativity, and alleviating isolation through connection to my community.
What is an art club?
If you google “Art Club” you’ll likely find a mix of prestigious clubs affiliated with universities and museums in major cities and organized workshops at local community centers. I’ve found that attending a workshop or traditional club can feel alienating or intimidating, especially for those who may not have any experience in the arts. Though these types of programs are wonderful resources, an art club that people make in small communities returns us to a time when gatherings happened naturally in third spaces.
“An art club that people make in small communities returns us to a time when gatherings happened naturally in third spaces.”
The art club I’m proposing is a self-founded group of friends or acquaintances that gather weekly with a shared purpose of making art together. The art includes any craft done by hand. Consider the projects you worked on in art class in elementary school. Those are the activities that make up an art club: Drawing, painting, sewing, collaging, beading, and sculpting.
There’s only one rule: There are no prerequisites
Starting an art club requires no skills. You only need a desire to make.
Have you always wanted to sew your own clothes? Try embroidering your name on an old shirt. Are you prone to doodling in the margins of your notes? Get a sketchbook and pencil to capture your ramblings. Do you collect receipts, notes, and odds and ends for memories? Try collaging them into a journal. Do you love to wear funky jewelry? Get some beads and make a necklace of your own design.
“Starting an art club requires no skills. You only need a desire to make.”
I have friends who wouldn’t call themselves artists and might even say they’re not creative. My response to that is always that creativity is innate, but it often takes patience to sift out.
Though I grew up with an artist-mother and attended art classes my entire life, I still found it intimidating to join a group of others making art. I noticed my insecurity telling me I wasn’t skilled enough when I joined Art Club. But slowly those insecurities went away as I realized kind, supportive, and inspiring humans surrounded me.
My fellow Art Club-ers witnessed my creative blocks and encouraged me to push through them and continue making even when I was frustrated. When I didn’t know how to use a certain tool or start a new project, there was someone there ready to help me tackle it or share their knowledge on the subject. When I made something that I was really proud of, they celebrated with me, saying, “It’s been in you all along.”
“Through this weekly witnessing of friends, I grew in confidence.”
Through this weekly witnessing of friends, I grew in confidence, learning that being with each other in the creative process is the whole point of life.
This witnessing also expanded my creativity. By allowing others to see my work, I was able to request their feedback, talk through ideas, and learn my own brand of weird. Similarly, seeing what others were making and their processes expanded the way I saw and approached my own work.
Why art clubs are a balm to loneliness
Art Club is the thing I didn’t know I had been missing. As many adults learn after graduating from college, I realized how difficult it is to grow a community and find like-minded friends outside the four-year bubble of a college campus. And now, online spaces are exacerbating our struggle with connection.
The World Health Organization recently released a global report revealing the impact of loneliness on lifespan. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said, “In this age when the possibilities to connect are endless, more and more people are finding themselves isolated and lonely.” The report shows that social connection is the solution to loneliness and is linked to improved health.
“In this age when the possibilities to connect are endless, more and more people are finding themselves isolated and lonely.”
– Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
We hold Art Club at a local coffee shop, which has promoted a deeper connection to my local community. It’s there that I learn about events happening in my city, how politics are impacting the people around me, and what each friend in my group is going through that week (and how we can support each other).
How to start your own art club
So, how do you begin an art club of your own? Here’s my step-by-step guide to starting a successful art club.
1. Create an Invite List
Start with one other person. The Art Club I joined began with two people. The founding member was at a coffee shop and noticed a stranger at another table flipping through an art book. They went up to the stranger and explained that they missed the days when people would gather at coffee shops without computers to talk, sketch, and write. They asked if she would be interested in meeting once a week to make art together. She was, and so Art Club was born. Slowly, the group grew as people formed connections and other acquaintances wandered up to join (I being one of them).
“Start with one other person.”
This past summer, I spent a few months in a different state. While there temporarily, I started an art club in order to maintain my routine and connect with people in the community I was living in. I invited some old friends and new acquaintances (one being a barista at the coffee shop I frequented).
Your invite list can start with a friend group you already have, an acquaintance whom you’ve always had a good vibe with, or even a family member you love and trust.
2. Pick a location
I recommend a public location, especially if you are meeting with people you may not know well. A local coffee shop or a library with plenty of sitting room works great.
3. Set a time
Choose a time that regularly works for you. The art club I attend is always on Wednesday mornings at the same start time and lasts for about two hours. If you don’t have flexible work hours and you know your invite list doesn’t either, choose a weekend or evening.
The consistency of timing is important in establishing the routine of the club. I highly recommend keeping to a set schedule and sustaining that schedule as the founder of the group in order for your art club to become a non-negotiable activity in your schedule.
4. Start with a focus and provide materials
If you or your group have never made art or are intimidated by starting, I recommend beginning with a curated project or focus. Here are a few ideas:
- Collaging: Gather old magazines, collected items, scissors, tape, and glue and collage into individual notebooks. You can have a theme like “New Year Vision Board” to prompt the collaging.
- “Pass it around” zine: One of my friends in Art Club will often bring a set of miniature “books” folded from printer paper. Each member will start with one and we each draw in them and then pass it around, adding to each other’s art until there are 7 mini zines filled with a mosaic of all of our art.
- Book or magazine showcase: Go to your local library and check out as many art books that look interesting to you. Bring them to art club and spend the time looking through them together and discussing what you’re drawn to. Use this as inspiration for what to start making at your future gatherings.
If you’re new to art making and don’t have any supplies, try searching in your area for “creative reuse stores.” Shops all over the country sell donated and used art supplies at very low prices, sometimes even free! Buying used art supplies is not only better for the environment, but it softens the mindset roadblocks new artists often feel that brand new art supplies are “precious” and therefore can’t be used.
5. Send the Invite
Now, it’s time to make it happen! Send a text to your invite list explaining the purpose of your art club and extending the invitation. Here’s an example:
Hi friend! I’m starting an art club gathering and would love for you to be a part of it. It’s a time to carve out space in the week to make art together and connect. I plan to be at [location] every [day of the week] from [X-X AM/PM] with my [preferred art materials]. There is no format, so you can bring whatever you want (sketchbook, collage, beading, knitting, painting, etc). You can pop in at any time for any amount of time. I’m starting this [day of the week]. Let me know if you can make it! ✨
You’ve prepped the supplies, you’ve sent the invite, now it’s time to show up. Again and again.
“Now it’s time to show up. Again and again.”
It may take some time for your art club to become a foundation of your life and the lives of others. As the founding member, it’s your job to stay consistent with the times and to remind your people of the gathering. Some days you may be the only one who shows up, but with time and dedication, a core group will naturally come together and the routine will be innate.
For me, Art Club is a weekly check-in akin to church: A holy balm to loneliness. Technology is causing many of us to lose this form of support. Through my Art Club, I’ve found something irreplaceable: A connection to myself and my community that couldn’t be formed through the internet.
Stevie Rozean is a writer and wedding planner based in Joshua Tree, California. She has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and writes about her pursuit of a creative life on her Substack, Mixed Multitudes. In her free time, you can find her sketching with her friends at art club, curating her home through flea market finds, and exploring the desert.
