Crafting Creativity: Unleash Your Inner Maker
In a region brimming with creative folks, you can be among them as a doer, not just a spectator.
Painting class at Berkshire Art Center.
We all love to surround ourselves with the beauty that’s created by our local makers. But why leave it all up to others? A bevy of businesses and organizations throughout the area offer classes where one turns from spectator to maker.
Hoogs and Crawford Glass, Canaan, NY
Artists Nathan Hoogs and Elizabeth Crawford’s blown-glass works run the gamut from slim swizzle sticks to one-of-a-kind lampshades. Watching something delicate and beautiful being formed by fire is mesmerizing, and the artists share the beauty and skill of glassblowing via appointment-only classes. They’re open to ages 10 and up for individuals and up to four people at a time. Cost: $110 per item/person.
The evocative fragrances that emanate at Dennis Green and Ricky Tiscareno’s candle shop are so popular, they offer a candle-of-the-month subscription. Try the Custom Fragrance Experience: For $48, guests can make bespoke candles and perfumes from among 80 aromas (including tomato leaf, sandalwood, and patchouli) all while sipping at Poured’s licensed wine bar. Weekend reservations are a must; you’ll need to book online for the 45-minute session (allow another 120 minutes for curing your creation before taking it home).
Tina’s Baskets and Woven Art, Winsted, CT
Tina Puckett learned basketry at an adult-education class as a stay-at-home mom. More than 40 years later, she’s sharing the secrets of her serpentine, wildly artistic woven works in classes she runs herself. One-on-one and shared classes start with instruction on weaving traditional bowls and advance in ability from there. Choose from a two-hour mini class ($110 for one student down to $50 each for three to six students) or a five-hour class on a Saturday or Sunday ($225 or $105 each, respectively).
The Plant Connector, North Adams and Pittsfield, MA
Emilee Yawn and Bonnie Marks share their love of plants at their “community center disguised as a plant shop.” An in-store plant guide ranks their stock in order of diva-ness from high-maintenance to thrives-on-neglect. Caring for nature is the core of their mission, so, shoppers can also load up on bulk lotions, soaps, and cleaners at the Refillery. A terrarium-making class is $30 and includes all materials.
The Hillsdale General Store, housed in a historic c.1855 building, offers locally sourced and American-made goods. Shoppers have long made it their destination to browse for vintage and new products alike. But the real find may be across the street at its sister business, HGS Home Chef — where guests learn cooking skills in its two teaching kitchens from chefs like Miriam Rubin, a Culinary Institute of America grad and the first woman to work in Manhattan’s Four Season kitchens. Leaning heavily into the seasons, the classes ($120 for roughly two hours) range from spring chickens and strawberry-rhubarb pie now, to warming soups and bouillabaisse.
Berkshire Art Center, Pittsfield, MA
Formerly known as IS183 Art School, Berkshire Art Center is the place to go for art instruction in the county. Ceramics, collage, drawing, fiber, painting, photography, printmaking — this place offers it all, including private lessons if you’re not into classroom learning. Some of workshops are one-offs, others are multi-week classes.
