Our Studio Is OPEN.

A new East Bay creative community space for all

Hello, friends! Big announcement today:

The DrawTogether Studio is open.

Welcome to DrawTogether Studio. My studio is upstairs, and downstairs (what you see here) is a creative community space for art hangs, workshops, classes, collaborations, gatherings, art shows, events, whatever art-endeavor you can dream up.

It took some time to spruce it up and settle in, but the DrawTogether Studio is now open. Located on the border of Oakland and Emeryville, the studio is a bright, high-ceilinged, creative community space where we can gather, inspire, and create, together. Its 1,000 square-feet are filled with books and art supplies, ready for YOU. For us. (My studio is upstairs!)

Beautiful, safe, and affordable, the DrawTogether Studio is available for workshops, classes, events, and more. Figure drawing classes and drawing nights are coming soon, and I will be using it with groups as a sort of “drawing test kitchen” for my own projects (some will be public). The wonderful artist Lena Wolff (who teaches amazing workshops at the DT studio) is helping program the space, and we already have a few exciting workshops open for sign up, with more in the works. READ MORE ABOUT IT AND UPCOMING WORKSHOPS ON OUR TEMPORARY PAGE HERE.

Here’s more info to download, print, and share:

The Studio Backstory

As a kid, I always wanted an art studio. I imagined a live/work loft maybe, or a vast warehouse like that one that Jennifer Beals has in Flashdance — cavernous and crumbling with light beaming through giant windows. I’d toil away night and day just like Jennifer Beals. But instead of dancing and welding, I’d paint and smoke cigarettes. I’d be An Artist.

In real life I’ve had different kinds of studios. First was an easel in my parents’ living room. When I left home, I started a long run of turning my living space into a studio. When I moved into Caroline’s house in 2009, it was the first time I had a room dedicated to making art. My first studio outside the house was above a family-run art store. A few years later, I realized my Flashdance dream: a 1200 square-foot studio on the water in SF with windows looking over the bay. Correct. But it also included asbestos tiling that frequently fell from the ceiling, crashing into a poof of cancerous dust. Every time it rained a corner of the studio flooded. But who cares. Because this:

Nothing gold can stay. Especially when it’s filled with asbestos.

Later, I worked with an awesome woodworker named Max Shulz to build a mobile studio in the back of a Honda Element so I could draw my NYT column from the road (and just draw on the road in general).

It’s cozy.

And, of course, we built the DrawTogether set.

But for the past few years, post-set and post-separation, I’ve been living alone in a small house in Oakland. My art studio is my kitchen table. And while this may have worked fine in my 20s, it no longer works for me now.

I miss the focus of the studio, but more, I miss seeing people on the sidewalk and in the halls. I miss having people over. I miss the chance events that happen on the way there and back. I miss that whole annoying, frustrating, inefficient, messy people-filled life. And I don’t think I’m alone. Maybe you do, too?

The past 5 years changed us. The pandemic pushed us into isolation. Technology saved us for a spell, connecting us while we were forced apart. It saved me. It created DrawTogether, and so much more. But it also became a habit. The conveniences of Zoom trumped the effort required for in-person meetings. Efficiency became everything. We didn’t even have time to write out “IRL.” Even after society opened back up, our solo habits held hard. Or they did for me. So much of life is on screen.

Craving connection and creativity, I built the Grown-Ups Table. I love it, I LOVE us — this is a launching pad for connection. The whole idea of it is to connect with people and get off the screen to draw. And that’s great. But the people part can’t stop here. The internet us is not the best of us. I miss eye contact with people on the street. I miss talking to strangers. And I’m not even going to talk about the election or what the current administration is doing to us.

So. No more toiling alone. This is the time to gather. This is the time to draw together. In. Real. Life.

A few months ago I wrote you this:

For a while now, I’ve been dreaming about a place to work in solitude, and also invite people to come over and create. Especially when things get tough. A beautiful space for my talented friends to teach workshops and offer classes. A place where we can ALL hang out and create.

Toni Morrison said, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” The same is true of space. If there is a space you want to be in, but it doesn’t exist, then you must build it.

With the encouragement and help of

Kyle Ranson-Walsh

, hard work of Molly Pilloton-Lam, and huge support from friends like Sarah Rich, Emily Pilloton-Lam,

Courtney Martin

and Caroline, and so many more folks, we built the studio space, and now it’s open and I hope you come and host a workshop or attend one or come to figure drawing or… anything. We will have an in-person GUT gathering there, too, for sure. I hope to see you there.

PROGRAMMING: We are working on building a webpage for the schedule of workshops. That will be ready soon. For now, there’s THIS PAGE — including an epic quilting workshop with expert Maura Ambrose who is flying in to teach, more amazing color workshops with Lena Wolff, upcoming watercolor class with Sophie Tivona, and we’re exploring stuff with artist Kristen Stain and

Carissa Potter

(who has a new book out this week!) and more…

Also we will start LIFE DRAWING soon! My friend Beth’s husband Marc was a prolific figure drawer. Sadly, he passed away suddenly some months ago, and she generously passed on all his life drawing supplies to the studio. We are ready to host figure drawing in his honor… So much ahead.

Thanks for your patience with us as we work it out. If you have any questions or want to learn more, email the wonderful Molly at molly@wendymacnaughton.com.

Alright, that’s enough for now. Big fun ahead.

If you have any suggestions or requests for what we can do with the DrawTogether Studio, holler in the comments!

And with that, here’s a studio-related drawing assignment for all you GUT members.