In New Class, Art-making is Family Time

Article and Photographs by Rebecca Cook  

Imagine a life where the freedom and pleasure you may have felt in art-making as a child stays with you through adulthood. A life where the act of self-expression in putting ink or paint to paper is as familiar as tying your shoes.

This idea is one reason to consider a new class at The Umbrella called Brayers & Brushes for Families, taught by Rebecca Davidson. It's a multigenerational version of a class for kids that Davidson teaches where students make their own prints and paintings while learning art techniques and experimenting with different materials.

On a recent wintry afternoon six young children trooped into class, where Davidson gathered them around a low table to demonstrate print-making with gelli plates.

She instantly captured their full attention with an enticing array of colorful ink-pots and a wiggly-jiggly rectangle of yellowish gelli material that she passed around the group.

"Whoa!" was the reaction when Davidson used a small roller called a brayer to spread the ink evenly over the gelli plate.

"That looks fun!" said one girl as Davidson arranged a daisy and some cut-out shapes on top of the brightly-colored ink. She showed the class how to press a piece of paper down on top of the objects and the class held its breath as she peeled the paper carefully away to reveal a print.

"That's pretty!" said a student.

Davidson's years of experience teaching art to children were evident as she moved them quickly through the project's steps. The students' eagerness to dive in was met with the instructor's rapid-fire directions. First, grab a shopping basket. Next, fill it with the necessary supplies: gelli plate, brayer, paper, scissors, flowers and leaves.

And finally, the all-important decision about the color of ink to be used. Carrying the small pots gingerly to their seats, the students dabbed the ink on their gelli plates and slowly, carefully, rolled their brayers, spreading the ink to the edges.

As they repeated the steps, confidence grew until they were moving quickly between the stations of the activity: choosing ink, dabbing, rolling, arranging shapes, pressing paper, peeling the print away, carrying it to the drying rack, and DONE! On to the next one.

In less than an hour Davidson had taken the students from complete beginners to practitioners who clearly considered speed to be a desirable objective.

"It looks like a rhinoceros, kind of," said one boy in snow pants as he turned an objective eye on his own creation.

All the students were intent on their work, enthusiastic and focused. Some made time for talking about their choices and actions, and some worked quietly, completely absorbed.

The kids displayed the easy, natural relationship to art-making that is a birthright of childhood. Where does that go, as we get older? For many adults and even older children, it seems to evaporate or get permanently buried within us. 

But what if, as children, there was the chance to see that art-making is part of life for people of all ages, including our own parents? What if art-making was something enjoyed by all generations, like skiing or playing Monopoly? An activity to be shared, a way to connect, to get to know each other better?

Brayers and Brushes for Families begins on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. The six-week class is from 5:15 to 6:15 pm (with no class on February 18). The age range is five years old and up. Registration is for a pair of adult/student. Space is still available.