Looking for more space to spread out and work on a project? Or maybe you want to work amongst other artists to feel inspired and get some helpful feedback on your work. Join other local artists any time between 9am-12pm, for Open Studio. Please pay $10 cash at the door. Bring all supplies you need to use, NRAS has easels available. 

No registration, drop in only, cash or check.

No registration required – all are welcome! $10 cash only 

Looking for a creative way to kick off your week? Join us every FIRST and THIRD Monday night at North River Arts Society for Drop-In Craft Night! Bring your own project—whether it’s knitting, sketching, embroidery, sewing, collage, or any craft you're working on—and enjoy a relaxed, welcoming space to create alongside fellow makers.

All skill levels are welcome. This is an informal, social night perfect for getting inspired, sharing ideas, and making progress on whatever you're into. Come solo or with friends—stay the whole time or just pop in!

This group is open to all ages, levels, skills and crafts. 

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

Join North River Arts for Friday Night Figure Drawing!

Settle into a relaxed, creative atmosphere and spend your Friday evening drawing or painting from a live model. Each session begins with a series of short, dynamic poses designed to help you warm up, loosen your hand, and explore gesture. We then transition into longer poses, giving you the opportunity to dive deeper into proportion, anatomy, shading, and more refined detail at your own pace.

This is an uninstructed studio session, making it a wonderful option for artists of all levels who are looking to practice, build confidence, or simply enjoy dedicated time to create in community with others. Bring your preferred materials and enjoy a supportive, inspiring environment to grow your figure drawing skills.

Easels provided by NRAS. $20 drop in fee at the door, cash only. Space limited to 14 students. 

Embrace Winter! If you are a landscape painter in the North you spend a lot of time looking at snow and bare branches. Instead of dreaming of warmer days (they will come) learn how to make the most of what can be a fascinating and beautiful feature of where we live. We will study the color of snow, the effects of shorter days, and how to paint bare branches against the sky, etc. We will paint on black paper and underpaint on sandpaper, exploring winter in its intricacies, and how it relates to pastel painting. Demonstrations and group critique daily, along with indi- vidualized instruction at your easel. All levels welcome!

Instructor Bio:

Liz Haywood-Sullivan, IAPS/EP, PSA-MP, has been dedicated to working exclusively in the pastel medium since 1996. Her attraction to the medium is pastel's unique ability to capture light and atmosphere in the landscape. She is a sought-after instructor and judge for pastel societies and arts organizations around the world. Liz authored the popular book Painting Brilliant Skies and Water in Pastel (Northlight, 2013). Her award-winning pastel paintings have been featured in numerous books and magazine articles, and have appeared in national, international and museum exhibitions worldwide. Liz is a President Emerita of the International Association of Pastel Societies (2013-2017) and past president of North River Arts Society (2021-2025). Her online instruction can be found at

www.epiphanyfineart.com.

www.lizhaywoodsullivan.com

Materials List: Download Here

Recommended Lodging for Out-of-Town students:

Inn at Scituate Harbor

Fairview Inn

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

Are your still life’s lacking… something? Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your skills, this hands-on workshop will guide you through composition, lighting, color, and technique. I will demonstrate how to layout a compelling still life, the block in, and the techniques to bring your painting to life. You don’t want to miss this weekend workshop!

About the Instructor: I returned to my first love of representational painting about two decades ago. At an early age I fell in love with the works of Rembrandt van Rijn, a love which carries through to today. I remember standing in front of a portrait of his of an old man and finding myself brought to tears. That an artist some 375 years ago, from an entirely different world, speaking a different language, and from a different culture could reach through time and speak so profoundly to a person of my time, to me is, the highest form of art. I seek in my art to reach such a pinnacle of truth, to make my work speak so directly to those who view it.

I paint in a direct style, with a simple limited palette. With sensitivity, mastery of technique, and a magician’s sleight of hand, I endeavor to engage you, the viewer. To not only pique your interest, but to reach your heart.

My works have been presented at the Oil Painters of America, Portrait Society of America, and National Oil and Acrylic Painter’s Society, International Guild of Realism, amongst others. I am a Master Artist at the esteemed Boston Copley Society of Art, a member artist at the Salmagundi Club in New York City, co-founder and teacher at the online academy Epiphany Fine Art and currently paint and teach out of my studio in Norton, Massachusetts.

Materials List: coming soon

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

You can do this! Explore sketching with abandonment. Step out of your comfort zone and draw with a variety of materials, letting all the imperfections, “mistakes,” and corrections lead you to beautiful discoveries and exciting images. Perfectionism is highly overrated. Let fearless mark making lead you to dynamic images that engage and delight! Layer, smudge, erase…it’s all good.

In this workshop, we will look at some of the masters of intuitive drawing (both past and present) for inspiration. You will watch Suzette demonstrate various techniques and be coached through exercises using different mediums. You will utilize still life as subject matter. Please bring 3-5 objects from your home to arrange in your space and a patterned dishtowel or fabric piece to wrap into the still life. Anything goes! Ordinary objects are often poetic. Don’t over think what you bring in. Suzette encourages you to bring the drawing tools you already have in your kit and not to worry if you don’t have every element on the extended

materials list. Get ready to wow yourself…

Materials list:

Must have:

• A book of cheap sketch paper for exercises
• A Bristol pad, Vellum or Smooth, as big as you please but not smaller than 11x14
• A graphite pencil
• Some willow or vine charcoal
• Paynes Gray acrylic ink
• white charcoal or white conte crayon or white pastel
• 3 colors watercolor, acrylic gouache, or acrylic paint and a brush

Nice to have:

• watercolor, gouache, acrylic sets
• pastels, oil or soft
• ink tense pencils
• Cran d’arche Neocolor crayons or like product
• water-soluble graphite
• acrylic markers
• crayons
• gel pens
• prior works you are willing to tear into collage material

About the Instructor: Suzette Lebenzon

Suzette Lebenzon has painted since her childhood in Scituate, MA. She has kept a studio and shown in galleries most of her adult life. Her home and studio are in Wellfleet.

Suzette was a recipient of the Mass Cultural Council’s Unrestricted Artists’ Grants. In 2023, Suzette was inducted to the National Association of Women Artists, as a Signature Member. Her work has been curated into shows at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, the Scollay Square Gallery in Boston’s City Hall, and the Galatea Fine Art Gallery in SOWA.

She is represented by the  AMZehnder Gallery in Wellfleet, MA; and the BBLG Gallery in Smithtown, NY.

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

This one-day workshop is an immersive introduction to intuitive abstract painting, focused on process, experimentation, and attentive looking rather than making a “finished” picture. Together, we’ll explore how to work without a plan, allowing the painting to evolve through layers, marks, and response.

Participants will create up to four 12“ x 12“ cradled wood panels, working with acrylic paint and a variety of mark making tools and materials to build layers. The day will also include a short collage based composition exercise to loosen up and explore value, balance, shape, and line.

This workshop is open to all levels and abilities, welcomes anyone curious about abstraction, process, and more importantly, play. The atmosphere will be relaxed, supportive, and focused on fun and discovery.

About the Instructor: Nancy Cloonan is an abstract painter based in Plymouth, MA whose paintings are an amalgamation of the shapes, lines, and ordinary gems she sees while walking every day.

Cloonan earned her BA in studio art with a concentration in printmaking and photography from Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York. She has consumed an abundance of courses and workshops in a variety of mediums since her undergraduate degree. She now focuses on abstract, mixed media on wood and paper.

Cloonan's work has been exhibited and collected throughout the USA. She has been featured in Artypants Magazine twice. Cloonan is currently seeking gallery representation.

Lifelong learning is imperative for Cloonan. In addition to her painting practice, she has facilitated workshops for adults and youth, has been an artist in residence for K-5 students, and has experience mentoring and being mentored.

Materials List:

• Tracing paper pad
  
• Shop towels - blue, Scott brand work best (Home Depot has them)
  
• 4 pack/value pack cradled wood panels, 12”x12” or 10”x10” (Michael’s usually has them)
  
• Value pack of brushes - get the cheap ones
  
• Gloss medium
  
• Glue stick
  
• Scissors
  
• Silicone bowl scraper (only if you have one handy!)
  
• Acrylic paints:  artist grade, not student or craft grade (see below)
  

I use mostly Golden, but Liquitex is a good option. You could buy a starter set so you’d have the primaries. If you buy separately: titanium white, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, cadmium red light, cadmium red dark, cadmium yellow dark, cadmium yellow light. A couple transparent colors: green gold, manganese blue

If you don’t want to commit to all of these, thats fine too! I’ll have some extra paints for you to use. 

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

One goal of representational painting is to make an image appear three-dimensional on a two- dimensional surface. Understanding light and shadow helps to accomplish this artistic illusion. In this one-day workshop we will work on creating effective lights and shadows in a pastel painting, focusing on composition and value shapes as well as mark-making, layering, and blending. We will discuss form shadows and cast shadows and the way in which a shadow’s definition and color are influenced by the source, quality and temperature of the light casting the shadow. In the morning you will create a number of different studies focusing on how best to capture different aspects of shadows in the pastel medium. In the afternoon you will create a larger piece applying what you have learned. All students will have personalized feedback and guidance as you explore this topic. This class is appropriate for all levels. A materials list will be provided in advance.

About the Instructor: Heather Quay

“My goal is to have my paintings capture the feeling of a particular time and place. I have always been fascinated by the way that painters portray the quality and temperature of light. As a pastel painter, I continue to be drawn to scenes where the light is the central character. Whatever I am painting – from landscapes, both natural and manmade, to figures, animals, and portraits – I’m always striving to render the light I see onto the surface of my artwork.”

Heather’s work has been included in juried exhibits across New England and online, and has won a number of awards. She is an Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America, and a Signature Member of the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, the Connecticut Pastel Society and the Maryland Pastel Society. She is also a member of the North River Arts Society, the Central Massachusetts Pastel Society, the Pastel Society of New Hampshire and the Lyme Art Association. Heather is a Featured Artist on the Artsy Shark website. More about Heather and her work can be found at www.heatherquay.com

Materials list:

coming soon!

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

In this workshop, students will explore the art of letterpress printmaking and abstract collage composition.  Students will learn various techniques for creating layered letterpress prints using wooden type and vintage papers and ways to replicate the letterpress look on a gelliplate. 

Students will be inspired by the close examination of abstract artists' works as they learn composition, color balance, and layering techniques for collage using the prints they’ve created.

By the end of this workshop, you will have a collection of collages that combine vintage materials with unique letterpress prints. These collages will showcase your skills in abstract composition and innovative printmaking techniques.

Materials List

Instructor Bio:

Sarah Z Short is a collage artist and printmaker from the woods of Rhode Island. Her background as an English teacher explains her love of books, which she also enjoys using as the primary material for her collages.

Sarah works with found paper and ephemera, utilizing the stories of the past in her contemporary art. She begins many of her pieces by printing with wooden type on pages rescued from discarded books. The prints are then abstracted in her collage compositions to make the original letter forms unrecognizable. Her interest is in the shapes and white space she can make with the typography.

Website:  https://sarahzshort.com/

Instagram: @sarah_z_short

Recommended Lodging for Out-of-Town students:

Inn at Scituate Harbor

Fairview Inn

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

Join us for a hands-on one-day workshop exploring the whimsical art of spun cotton bird making. In this session, participants will learn the technique ofusing a diluted glue solution to build up cotton fibers into various shapes, with a special focus on birds. From songbirds to more imaginative varieties, Michelle will demonstrate how the same core process can be adapted to create many different types of birds, allowing for both guided learning and personal creativity.

Participants will be led step-by-step through forming, shaping, and finishing their own cotton bird. By the end of the day, each student will leave with a completed bird(s) and the skills to continue experimenting with cotton at home.

This workshop is suitable for beginners and experienced makers alike and is perfect for anyone interested in sculpture, folk art techniques, or playful mixed-media processes.

Instructor Bio: Michelle Chung Levesque is a self-taught fiber and mixed media artist who loves to work with wool, fabric, paper, and metal wire. As a lifelong creative and maker of stuff, Levesque has always enjoyed the challenge of making beautiful things from unexpected raw materials and she strives to show this passion in whatever she creates.

Materials List:

• a bag of jumbo cotton balls 
  
• Bottle of Elmer’s glue, clear or white
  
• acrylic paints and assorted brushes (NRAS has some available for those who do not have any)
• paper towels 

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.

In this captivating 2-day workshop Julie and Michael will help you discover the beauty of pastels. You will explore color, layering, blending and composition as you learn how to create a vibrant floral artwork. They will share: their knowledge; skills; materials/process; tricks and tips and their love of detail – all of which can be applied to any genre, and the workshop is perfect for all skill levels. Two tutors, two creative days.

About the Artists:

Julie and Michael are international award-winning artists sharing a love of pastel and realism. They’ve been fascinated with realism since childhood and in their artwork, they strive to create paintings with greater depth and feeling than can be achieved with a photograph. Julie is in the IAPS Master Circle (IAPS-MC) a Master Pastelist in: New Zealand (MPANZ); and Australia (MPSA) and is a Signature member of the Pastel Society of America (PSA). Michael is an IAPS Eminent Pastelist (IAPS-EP), a Master Pastelist in: the Pastel Society of America (PSA-MP); New Zealand (MPANZ); and Australia (MPSA) They both have had articles and their pastel paintings published in many leading art magazines and sell their work internationally and through galleries in New Zealand. Between them they have over 40 years of teaching experience and currently teach workshops Internationally and throughout New Zealand. Julie also teaches privately from their studio in Greenhithe, Auckland.

www.juliefreeman.co.nz www.michaelfreemanartist.com

Additional Information:

Please help us be respectful to our neighbors.
Do not park in front of neighbors or turn around in their driveways.