Hi everyone, Cat here! I just wanted to sit down and talk a little bit with you all a little bit about Art Unplugged, its history, and some other general updates surrounding the Art Unplugged schedule. So let’s get started!

Art Unplugged is our annual art retreat here at Mrs. O’Leary’s. We started holding our art retreat in the summer of 2010 (just a year before I started working for the Russells) and have held it every year since then. That makes this year our 11th year of gathering together people who love creating, learning, and building friendships together.

Our classes cover a broad range of medias from metal working to painting to collages and so much more (including a Brunch in the Public with the group)! Between the variety that Joni brings every year and the guest teachers who travel from all over the country, there is always at least one class that someone could enjoy. Many of the offered classes are good introductions to other medias as well, so don’t be afraid to try something new!

Just in the last few years we offered classes over how to make tube-bezel earrings, creating clay faces, junk journalling, creating a steampunk collage, pottery, watercoloring, silk scarf painting, forging a copper bangle, and several others. As you can see, we had quite a wide variety of medias that were offered from talented and friendly teachers.

It’s not just an Art Retreat for us. It’s a way to connect with people, a way to see friends who we don’t get to see often. A chance to create with a group other creative individuals. To celebrate friends, old and new, sharing a unique experience with laughter and a few tears (a week of classes, multiple classes a day, can be intense). At the end of it, everyone goes home exhausted but happy with wonderful projects to proudly display.

Our students, and even our teachers, get a chance to learn new skills or improve upon ones they already have. It’s an experience like no other. It relies on the teachers that pour their energy into creating the classes offered and the joy of the students that join us in this once-a-year experience. Many people come back year after year, including a friend of mine who I watched grow from a awkward teenager to an independent young adult.

The friendships and camaraderies that are forged during Art Unplugged can last for years, even if the only contact is upon the return to Mrs. O’Leary’s classroom.

This year, we had gotten Art Unplugged 2021 hammered out and schedules printed out, but we have had to push it back due to health complications in the Russell family. It was originally planned to run from September 17th to September 23rd, but it will now be held from September 27th to October 4th.

We hope that everyone who has signed up with us under the original timeframe are able to shift their classes to the new dates, but we also understand that schedules can be tricky. Believe us, schedules around here are never set in stone for one reason or another, no matter how hard we try to stick to them. Thank you all for your understanding about the changes and we hope to see you all during Art Unplugged 2021, September 27th – October 4th!!!