When it comes to group activities, the choices aren’t always black and white. Sometimes what you want is color, and lots of it, to lighten the load of a busy day. That’s where Florida’s art museums come in. Many offer group classes and hands-on art encounters that get the creative juices flowing while building rapport among attendees.
“Painting is one of the few things you do that demands total concentration, when you have to focus on one thing,” says Maria Barry, president of the Kissimmee-based artists’ co-op, Gallery One Artists. “It’s therapeutic because your brain’s not all over the place. And when you’re detached from daily life, it’s refreshing.”
Group can enjoy that refreshment at the following venues.
Visual Arts Center, Punta Gorda
The traditional arts of watercolor, drawing, pencil and sculpture are only the beginning here. The center also has a state-of-the-art pottery studio with 11 wheels, a computer studio with 11 stations, a jewelry and stained-glass studio and specialty classes in decorative painting and basket-weaving.
“The group can come in for everything from an hour-long demonstration by someone at the wheel to a three-day workshop,” says Michele Valencourt, the center’s executive director. “We can pretty much arrange anything with enough advance notice.”
Doris Bardon Community Cultural Center, Gainesville
A striking geometric exterior distinguishes this new center for the arts, which houses a gallery, classrooms and a clay studio, and welcomes artists-in-residence who also teach community art classes.
The center is open to customizing group experiences. For example, classes of up to 20 could be accommodated if 10 worked with ceramics while the others did print-making, says Lytha Nicholson, director of the center. “If they’re in town for a few days, they could come here, make something in ceramics, and we could fire it up and deliver it to their hotel,” she says.
ArtsPark at Young Circle, Hollywood
This 10-acre circle in the middle of busy Hollywood Boulevard is home to a 9,750-square-foot amphitheater with a lawn that seats 2,500, as well as a Visual Arts Pavilion where regular glass-blowing demonstrations draw curious crowds. Groups can schedule a private lesson with the artist, “learning the basics of how to blow glass and getting an overview of how glass is made,” says Karl Chuck, park manager. “It can be tailored to specific groups, and we can schedule sessions on weekdays or weekends, based on the artist’s availability.”PageBreak
Gallery One Artists, Kissimmee
Maria Barry travels for her art. As the president of Gallery One Artists and a member of other Central Florida art groups, Barry has brought artistic team building to various venues throughout the region.
A former sales and marketing exec herself, Barry says she’s experienced at gauging the mood of the group and knows how far she can push inexperienced students.
“We’ve had groups that were a mix of management and lower-level employees, and usually the lower-level do better,” she says. “The higher-ups would get frustrated and quit. I try to make it as non-intimidating as possible.”
To that end, she says budding artists in her classes start with a stencil instead of freehand drawing.
Barry also encourages an informal atmosphere and says for an evening class, groups are free to bring wine and a snack.
Sarasota’s Selby Gardens
Selby Gardens provides a peaceful botanical setting for artistic encounters. In addition to community art classes, the gardens can arrange group sessions, with classroom space for about 14 and the bayfront Great Room for larger groups. Instructors keep it simple, says Marilynn Shelley, the venue’s manager of community classes and exhibits.
“One group coming in soon will be doing Georgia O’Keeffe flowers with markers,” she says. “It’s good for any level. You don’t have to be an artist but you can learn some techniques.”
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville
Home of Art Connections, an interactive learning center where visitors paint on digital canvases and create self-portraits on computer screens, the Cummer leaves the tools of artistic creation at the door—literally. Art boxes containing paint (or pencil) and paper are available in the lobby, and guests are free to take them and use them at their leisure. Many people end up painting or drawing in the gardens, says Maggie Reynolds, associate director of education.
Tampa Museum of Art
There are virtually no limits on what groups can do at this riverfront facility showcasing a collection of contemporary and classical art, sculpture and acclaimed traveling exhibits.
“The beauty of our museum is that we have a lot of flexibility,” says Leslie Langford, director of external affairs at the facility. “We can arrange classes in chalk drawing, painting or clay. We can take a group on a sketching tour through the galleries. We can create a theme night with music and dining.”
In fact, past group activities here have included everything from a jazz band to Cirque du Soleil dancers.
