In a quaint Victorian nestled in midtown Sacramento, creativity and
social change have found a welcoming home - and they're looking for
families to come visit.Art Beast Children's Studio, which opened July 2, is a drop-in art studio and play center geared toward children ages 7 and under.
The studio was born out of the desire to provide a safe, reasonably-priced place for children to experience fun, imaginative play and help raise money for a local charity.
Proceeds from the studio help fund Tubman House, a transitional living program for young, homeless families.
"With the economy the way it is, we could see ourselves becoming the next sad story," said Bridget Alexander, co-founding director of Art Beast. Alexander and Blithe Raines also run Waking the Village, the nonprofit organization that oversees Tubman House and Art Beast.
So the two women got to work transforming the four-story Victorian at 2226 K Street into a children's imagination wonderland, complete with an open art studio, six play spaces and a classroom. The hope is to secure at least a 20 percent profit to donate to Tubman House.
The open studio offers kids an opportunity to create works of art using a variety of mediums and tools. It affords parents a chance to relax, given that the painting is occurring in a setting where smearing purple paint on a table is fine, if not expected.
I took my kids to Art Beast one day last week to test it out and wound
up spending nearly three hours there without realizing how much time
had passed. Here's a testament to how much fun we had: there was not
one request for snacks or juice the entire time (which honestly, I
hadn't packed since I didn't think we'd be there that long). Next time,
I'll come prepared and we'll have an even longer adventure.My 2-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter (Elle is pictured at right) loved smearing paint on the plexiglass wall and using foam brushes to splotch orange and green paint on construction paper.
The highlight of the painting, however, came at the expense of my face and shirt, which got sprayed with yellow paint while I was trying to pump the paint into a little palate. Note to parents: You will want to dress everyone heading to Art Beast in play clothes, but the paint does wash out with a little stain remover, trust me.
The courtyard of Art Beast also is a treasure trove of exploration.
Sand begs to be poured and pushed through little fingers. Mountains of
tiny pebbles can be sifted and washed.A hit with many of the kids, including mine, that day were mounted pots, muffin tins and other metal objects, which children could bang or tap with sticks for their music-making merriment (my son Lex, pictured at left, said he was "playing Mama a song").
Nicola Miller, of Sacramento, learned about Art Beast through Facebook and brought her son Lane, 3, and daughter Tillie, 9 months, to the studio Monday to explore.
"I think it's fabulous," Miller said. "I'd definitely come back."
While families can pay the drop-in admission of $8 per person (children under 1 years old are free), open studio memberships are available for $60 per month for one child and adult. Family passes are $90 per month.
Monthly membership packages that include weekly art classes start at $90.
For more information, visit Art Beast's Web site.
