Art Night Out Makes "The Maine Switch" Success Stories!

Our popular "Art Night Out" Series was the featured success story in The Maine Switch this week. Please check out the full story about Catherine Bickford, Artascope Studios' visionary owner and learn alittle about the history of Artascope Studios. We are all very excited about the buzz the article has already created since Thursday. Time to come check out a new class and see what all the buzz is about!

http://www.themaineswitch.com/story/view/1847/

Vote for Artascope! Phoenix Poll for Best Art Supply Store in Portland Maine

The Phoenix Newspaper has announced their candidates for the 2008! calendar year and Artascope Studios has been selected as one of the Best Art Supply Stores in Portland! The voting window will be over soon, so place your vote. Please join our community of supporters in making Artascope Studios a household name for all of your art supply needs!

When is the last time you have stepped into our fabulous store? We have recently restocked all of our beading supplies after the Tuscon Bead Show in February and added some wonderful new items such as cast pewter findings, hand dyed silk ties and a plethora of new glass and crystal beads.

Check out our fantastic selection of acrylic paints, brushes and painting supplies. We are an exclusive distributor of Gocco printing supplies, so if silk screening or batiking is your thing, you will not be disappointed!

Need a last minute gift for a talented niece/nephew or looking for something to do with your kids while we patiently wait for the outdoor days of summer? The Art Store at Artascope Studios has lots of art kits like make your own garden stones, beaded tiara kits or beautiful origami paper packs with directions to fold your way into a creative day.


Go to http://thephoenix.com/theBest/Portland/ to place your vote! We appreciate your patronage!

Artist Series for Kids & March ArtEscape! Weekend

ANO Kids!-Sewing
The winter sewing session of the Artist Series for Kids came to a close last week. Diane led her class of students through a series of sewing techniques. Each student chose and crafted an individual project; everything from making cool hand sewn purses to a funky stitched garment to show off to their friends. Here are a few pictures of the kids hard at work.


ANO! Kids - Painting
The Acrylics Painting spring session for the Artist Series for Kids began on March 10th and will go through April 14th. This 6 week session is great for kids 8-16 and meets every week from 3:30-5pm. What a way to stimulate some creativity and inspire young artist to explore their talents while hanging out with new friends. We are looking forward to showing off their paintings at the end of the session.

ArtEscape! Weekend- Stained Glass
As we wrapped up our ArtEscape Weekend this afternoon with brunch at the studio, it was no surprise that we would be overwhelmed by the amazing creations coming from our Stained Glass intensive with Gayle. Starting on Friday night from 6-9pm, students are introduced to the techniques of stained glass: design, cutting, grinding and the copper foil method. Saturday was a full studio day from 10-6 where students were able to master their new techniques and challenge their creativity. Sunday wrapped up with a lot of oohing and aahing over each others work. Another successful ArtEscape Event!

April ArtEscape! Weekend-
Altered Book & Sewn Beading
April 18th-20th are the dates for the upcoming ArtEscape! Weekend intensive at Artascope Studios. We will be featuring 2 ArtEscape! Retreats: Sewn Beaded Jewelry with Suzanne and The Altered Book with Kim. Whether you are a seasoned scrapbooker or enjoy collaging at home, you will be inspired by using text and books as a medium for design. If beading is your thing or you have always wanted make some new items for your jewelry box, join the fun and learn exciting ways to find your inner jeweler!

Talisman PMC Necklace class was a hit!

Last Saturday's Talisman Necklace class was very well received. The intricate layered medallions consisted of three separate layers of art jewelry representing the personal intentions each student. The top layer is a stamped image on PMC, precious metal clay. Thanks to our PMC guru, Ann, Maggie and her students were able to utilize this amazing silver product by embellishing it with personal symbols and design elements. The underlying silver discs were stamped with personal sayings to keep their inspirations always close to the heart. The third layer was created with healing crystal beads. The class had a chance to pick out their favorite stones and learn all about their fascinating healing proprieties. The end results were three truly unique pieces and three very satisfied artists.

PMC, Silver Spoon Necklace and Beach Stone Pendant Review

Anne kicked off last weekend with a wonderful intro to PMC, precious metal clay. PMC is such an amazing material to work with. It acts like porcelain clay and fires to be 99.9% pure silver. You can stamp, sculpt and play you way to making unique silver creations. If this sounds like something you may like to try, we will be running our next PMC classes on Saturday March 8th with the Talisman Necklace with Maggie, Monday April 28th...PMC Pendant with Deb. Anne will be back for a ArtEscape Weekend in May...16-18th.

On Monday, we continued our exploration in metals with Diane's Silver Spoon Necklace class on Monday and Sue H's Tin collage People. It was a full house and lots of action in the jewelry and printmaking studios. Where else can you take your family silver and make a sweet new piece to wear or create a tin caricature of loved ones. It's always great to drive by the studio late at night when everything has quited down to see the beautiful glow of the studio and know there is a bundle of creativity just brimming over on the other side of the door.



The week finished out with a great workshop on Beach Stone Pendants with Lynne. Check out some of the photos from class. Everyone really enjoyed embellishing their finds with unique beads and wire wrapping techniques. Pure design fun! If this looks like fun, try out Diane's Beach Stone & Sea Glass Bracelet that will be coming up on Sat March 22nd. Always a good way to get ready for beach!



Feel free to check out our classes at http://www.artascope.com/ and look at the details in our monthly post with pictures and descriptions of our offerings!

A New Venture for Artascope Studios

Artascope Studios has decided to create a new art blog as a way to stay connected with artists everywhere and let everyone know about all the wonderful things we have to offer.

Artascope Studios is located in South Portland Maine and home to the popular Art Night Out™. Artist Series and ArtEscape!™ programs. We offer art classes in everything from glass working, wireworking, beaded jewelry, PMC, photo transfer, printmaking, batiking, metalsmithing, collage, decorative painting, fine art painting and book arts to name a few!

We have a fabulous in-house art supply store and 5 unique studio classrooms. The Art Night Out™ program is a great way to learn new skills, get together with friends or make some new ones. We hold classes every Monday and Thursday Nights from 6-9pm and Saturdays from 2-6pm. Our Artist Series are 6 week long classes that meet once a week and offer an excellent resource for students looking to find a new talent or sharpen their skills. The ArtEscape!™ Weekends are three day intensives held year round where you can experience a huge amount of creativity in a small amount of time!

There are opportunities for the community to join as members, using the facilities and receiving some great perks for a small fee. The steward program has been an intregal part of Artascope since its beginings 3 years ago. Local artist donate a few hours of their time on a weekly basis to watch over the studio, give tours and help keep Artascope looking its best. The stewards also share their talents by teaching the extensive list of classes we have to offer here. Our lovely gallery is home to creations by all of our stewards and members with a montly highlighted artist to check out.

Check out some of our upcoming February classes. Check out www.artascope.com for more information!

Cheers!
Maggie

February 2008 classes!

Intro to PMC
23 Feb - Sat (2-6 PM) $125
Explore the fantastic world of PMC and what you can create! You will learn how to roll, stamp, shape and watch your designs come to life with PMC. You will be amazed with the results. Includes a brief introduction to the medium.

Silver Spoon Necklace
25 Feb - Mon (6-9 PM) $45
In this class you will take a silver spoon or fork and convert it to a stunning pendant! Learn about sawing, drilling and wireworking! Who knew there were so many possibilities for a spoon?

Tin Collage People
25 Feb - Mon (6-9 PM) $45
Using copied photos of loved ones, create these adorable tin folk! Bring your imagination to life as your loved ones serve as your inspiration! Great for holiday gifts!

Beachstone Pendant
28 Feb - Thu (6-9 PM) $45
Are you looking to increase your wireworking skills? This new class will add another method of wire wrapping to your repetoire. Learn how to use wire to accent beachstones in a way that is sure to delight everyone!