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Date: 7/5/2023
WARE — This summer, Workshop 13, a nonprofit cultural arts and learning center, will be hosting its first Flower Power Art Show at its ArtWorks Gallery on 69 Main St.
Executive Director Marie Lauderdale said, “It seemed fitting for this time of year. We have an exhibition committee that’s made up of five people who are artists, curators or have an interest in the arts.”
She continued, “We were brainstorming ideas and thought Flower Power would be a good one to have. We have had a really great response to this show, so it’s going to be absolutely fabulous.”
The Flower Power show opens on July 15 and runs through Aug. 27. It will be juried by Deborah Rubin who’s been pushing the boundaries of photo-realism and hyper-realism since the mid 1970’s with an eye on nature and more recently, architecture. So far, 41 artists have submitted 82 pieces of artwork. Five of the artists are from Connecticut, 34 are from Massachusetts and a few are from New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont.
“This exhibition is open to artists residing in the Northeast,” Lauderdale added. “Any medium is considered with the exception of AI generated art. It has to be original artwork from the artist that can range from acrylic, oil, watercolor, sculpture and even digital art that the artist designed digitally and then have it printed. Any medium would be considered as long as it’s in the themes of flowers.”
Part of what Workshop 13 is doing for their gallery is to support artists and help revitalize the downtown area through the arts. Lauderdale told Reminder Publishing when they have shows like Flower Power to bring in so many artists all over New England, they’re coming to this town which helps other local businesses. The workshop hopes one day that it will attract more investors to come and consider opening a shop on Main Street.
In addition, Workshop 13 will have their summer programs at its main location on 13 Church St. Art in Nature, runs from July 10-14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s a week-long art camp full of fun, creative activities and exploration open to ages 7-11 years old. They will start the day at the workshop on 13 Church St. and then get all geared to walk down to Grenville Park on 73 Church St. They will spend a great deal of time at the park throughout the week making landarts often inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, dying fabrics with onion skin, molding clay onto trees with sticks and leaves to make faces; turning things that are in nature into outdoor creations.
Travel Around the World runs from Aug. 7-11 for ages 8-12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Each day, they will travel around the world exploring different cultures through art, music and food. Some of the places they’ll go to are Japan, Africa, India and Australia. The week will be filled with making aboriginal art, manga drawing, adinkra block printing, shibori, batik, nature mandalas, lassi drinks, bento box challenges and much more.
Summer Creative Stations For Mini Makers runs on Wednesdays from July 19 to Aug. 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for ages 7-13. It’s a science, technology, engineering, arts and math inspired program with weekly challenges in art and science. This program is funded by the Ware Cultural Council and the New Braintree Cultural Council.
Workshop 13 will also host two pottery classes at their Clay Works pottery studio on Main Street. Kids and Clay runs on July 18, 21, 25 and 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for ages 7-10. They will create fun, functional and sculptural projects using three basic hand-building methods: coiling, pinching and slab-building. The second class is Wheel Throwing For Big Kids on Aug. 15, 18, 22 and 25 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for ages 10 and up as they learn to work on the potter’s wheel to make a variety of functional and sculptural projects.
“What we strive to do with all of our programs is introduce children to art and different art mediums in a professional art studio space,” Lauderdale added. “There’s a lot of content with every program that we offer and that keeps everyone’s brain active over the summer.”
All of Workshop 13’s youth programs offer a pay-what-you-can sliding scale to make the arts accessible to all. For further assistance, email marie@workshop13.org.