The best way to encourage creativity as children grow up is to let them express themselves through various forms of art. In the Skokie area, there is no shortage of art classes for young Picassos. Here are some of our favorites.
One River Evanston
- Address: 1033-1035 Davis St., Evanston
- Cost: Starts at $165/month
- Best for ages: 3 and up
One River provides weekly classes which focus on contemporary art and encourage students to create their own individual pieces. Many of the instructors are working artists or graduate students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The teachers guide students through projects that are four to six weeks long.
Popular classes include cartooning and digital art shuffle, which teaches the basics of the Adobe Suite to create digital art, media and design.
Evanston Arts Center
- Address: 1717 Central Street, Evanston
- Cost: Call for pricing
- Best for ages: 7 and up
At Evanston Arts Center, kids and teens can get messy, discover new modes of making, and explore the visual arts. Youth classes spark the imagination, teach technical skills, promote creative problem-solving, build respect for the expression of others, and inspire a lifelong connection to the visual arts and art making.
Various art forms include 3D printing, cartooning, ceramic hand-building and wheel throwing, drawing and painting, etched jewelry, game programming, mixed media, printmaking, sculpture, and more.
Insight Fine Art Studio
- Address: 3905 Howard Street, Skokie
- Cost: $333/session
- Best for ages: 8 and up
Insight Fine Art Studio is a community art studio that specializes in drawing and painting classes, providing step by step, personalized instruction from a classically trained artist.
These classes aim to teach the fundamentals of drawing and painting while students work on projects of their choosing, appropriate to their age and skill level. All supplies are included in kids classes.
Art Makers Outpost
- Address: 609 South Boulevard, Evanston
- Cost: Starting at $310
- Best for ages: 6-14
Evanston Art Makers Outpost is an art-focused maker space dedicated to exploring and sharing the potential in reusing and repurposing items for creative purposes. Youth after school classes focus on eco-conscious art making that include everything from wearable art, and abstract sculpture to mosaics and jewelry making.
More than 75 percent of the materials used in class are collected from community members and local businesses, and would be otherwise destined for landfills or the ocean.
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