New Children’s Museum expands art class offerings — for grown-ups

Since converting its staff offices into art studios and classrooms — named Artopia — last year, the New Children’s Museum has expanded its programming.

In its latest iteration, adults can step into the state-of-the-art ceramics studio, even without children of their own. 

To ceramics teacher Jazmyne Sempsrott, the adults in intro to ceramics workshops are more playful and experimental at the museum, compared to other adults-only classes she has taught in the past. 

“No one really eased up,” Sempsrott said. “Adults are a lot more relaxed here.”

In past classes she taught, she said adults took themselves seriously in a way that made trying something new — especially an art process where much can go wrong — more difficult. 

Weeks into new weekend programming, more adults are seeking out the museum workshops as an activity for friends and family. 

“I feel like there’s a lot of communities that are looking for something to do that’s outside of the normal socializing — a bar, a restaurant,” said Dawn Vitale, who manages Artopia. “This gives it a little bit more of that play activity, because once you hit a certain age, you forget all of that curiosity.” 

At  a ceramics workshop on Saturday, three women who had never tried pottery spun the wheel for the first time. Only one brought a child, her 15-year-old daughter, with her. 

None of the women were instant pottery savants, but for the friend group, it was a bonding experience with each other. 

“I didn’t do amazing at it, but I did enjoy it,” Shawna McCarthy said. 

McCarthy’s favorite part was finding an activity she could share with her teenage daughter.

“You have to savor those times that you actually get to get out and spend time doing something,” McCarthy said. 

For all the women, the focus was less on gaining artistic mastery, than pushing themselves to try new things. 

“I’m never too old to learn,” said Teresa Heath from the College Area. 

For Britney Hall, the third friend, it fulfilled a New Year’s resolution of going to more art classes and other activities outside her comfort zone. 

“When there’s opportunities, I’m just saying yes now,” Hall said. 

The class included more typical participants for a children’s museum as well — parents and elementary school-aged children. 

For Miew Longbottom and her 9-year-old daughter, it was the first time they’d ever created something alongside each other, both learning at the same time. 

“They get to make together,” said Rae Nester, the museum’s other ceramics teacher. “It’s like a really shared experience, which is awesome.” 

Nester joined the museum last summer excited to develop a ceramics program from its infancy. As they try out new programs from multi-week after school classes to one-off Saturday workshops, she has come to treasure teaching whole families. 

In addition to the permanent ceramics studio, Artopia contains 8,600 square feet of indoor and outdoor spaces suitable for many art forms. 

“Artopia is kind of where, when you’re hit a certain age and you still want to be creative, you come up here,” Vitale said.