Get out of your own head
An Experimental Art Series designed to help you find creative freedom
Hosted by Artist, Alia Bensliman
Hosted by artist and educator Alia Bensliman, this experimental art workshop series invites you to step beyond traditional techniques and discover new, embodied ways of creating. Each session explores a different sensory or collaborative process such as, drawing with pebbles, blindfolded mark-making guided by music, working with your non-dominant hand, creating with shared control, or painting through full-body movement.
These workshops prioritize play, intuition, vulnerability, and connection over perfection or skill.
Whether you’re an experienced artist wanting to loosen your practice or a curious beginner ready to try something new, this series offers a space to explore creativity in its rawest, most instinctual form. No right or wrong, just discovery.
Ink & Drink Details (21+ Only)
This series is part of our Ink & Drink program, which is 21+ and BYOB. Bring your favorite beer, wine, or beverage and enjoy a relaxed, social night of creative exploration. Come solo or bring friends, these workshops are even better shared.
full Workshop Schedule
January 9, 7-10 PM
Instead of relying on traditional tools, you’ll create using pebbles dragged and swept across surfaces. Explore instinctual mark-making, trace lines with stones, and reconnect with your creative intuition.
Draw inspiration from Richard Long, an artist known for creating drawings and sculptures using natural materials like stones, earth, and mud. Long reminds us that drawing can be simple, instinctual, and connected to the environment. In this workshop, we channel that spirit by using pebbles and natural textures to create raw, movement-led marks. http://www.richardlong.org/
Sound, Touch, Intuition: Challenging Comfort Zones & Trusting the Body
January 16, 7-10 pm
Step into an embodied art experience where you’ll be blindfolded and guided by music, rhythm, and physical sensation. Draw using sound, touch, and internal movement rather than sight.
Take inspiration from Hilma af Klint, whose groundbreaking drawings and paintings were guided by intuition, rhythm, and spiritual sound. Af Klint often created her work through a trance-like, sensory process, allowing music, emotion, and inner movement to lead her hand. In this class, we echo her approach by drawing blindfolded and responding to sound, touch, and instinct rather than sight, creating from within, just as she did. https://hilmaafklint.se/
January 23, 7-10 pm
A process-based, collaborative workshop inviting you to create using your non-dominant hand. Embrace clumsy lines, childlike gestures, and the joy of unlearning what art “should” be. Work alongside strangers, release control, and engage with openness and curiosity. This workshop centers sensation and expression over skill, making it ideal for artists, non-artists, and everyone in between.
Take inspiration from Cy Twombly, known for his loose, spontaneous, and childlike scribble-based drawings. Twombly embraced clumsy lines, raw gestures, and the freedom of unlearning traditional technique. In this workshop, you’ll tap into that same spirit by using your non-dominant hand to create instinctual, imperfect, and deeply expressive marks. https://cytwombly.org/
January 30, 7-10 pm
What happens when you lose control and gain connection? In this experimental workshop, you’ll create art with your hands tied, either to yourself or with a partner. This playful constraint sparks collaboration, improvisation, and vulnerability, turning the act of drawing into a shared performance. Expect unexpected marks, shared movement, and a deeper sense of creative connection.
Take inspiration from Surrealists’ Exquisite Corpse drawings, collaborative artworks where multiple artists contributed blind to each other’s marks. The results were unexpected, playful, and full of shared creativity. These drawings celebrated letting go of control and embracing surprise. In this class, you’ll tap into that same spirit by creating together under physical constraints, turning collaboration and unpredictability into the artwork itself. https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/exquisite-corpse
Move to Create: Painting with Feet While Dancing
February 6, 7-10 pm
Dance barefoot through black paint to music, rhythm, and emotion. No brushes. No pressure. Just pure expressive movement as your feet become your tools. This workshop is about freedom, joy, and reconnecting with the body as a creative force. Leave with messy feet, a textured canvas, and a sense of aliveness that lingers long after the paint dries.
Take inspiration from Trisha Brown, a pioneering choreographer known for using the body as a drawing tool. In works like It’s a Draw/Live Feed, she created marks on large surfaces through dance-like movement, letting motion guide the artwork. Brown showed that painting can be an extension of the body’s rhythm, weight, and flow. In this workshop, you’ll channel that same energy by painting with your feet, letting dance, movement, and intuition lead the creative process. https://teaching.ellenmueller.com/
Ready to let go of perfectionism?
SIGN UP FOR ALL COURSES AND SAVE $50
SAVE EVEN MORE WITH MEMBERSHIPS
Want to save even more? Explore our Artworks memberships: certain levels include free courses for you and your family, depending on the membership you choose. It’s a great way to support community art while getting creative perks.
Each class is also available individually for $35. Click on image of the workshop above to register.