I booked a fluid art session for my date and our instructor was Allie who was incredible. She was…read morevery chill and made our experience amazing. My date enjoyed the whole experience - easy and effortless and we had a good laughs with other fellow participants. I highly recommend this for a date activity.

Came here for a girls weekend. Had a lot of fun with the art, the people were so nice and the art…read moreturned out great. They were so helpful when we had to ship our art pieces once they dried and delivery was smooth. One suggestion: we paid for their best PPE. I am a tall girl but not THAT tall. The poncho was not long enough to cover the top of the lower leg and shoe covers. I had a pair of pants get ruined by the bright acrylic paint that hit me right at the exposed inch of pant leg and I had to then wear those pants to a nicer dinner... little embarrassing. They should definitely consider adding an option of a longer version of the poncho. Tall people beware!

I used to be an Artist-in-Residence with Snow City Arts Foundation for about 3 years. I can't begin…read moreto share the inspirational stories that came with teaching hospitalized children and their families art. The organization employs professional artists with backgrounds in various disciplines who have experience working with children. Artists specialized in music, painting, poetry, mixed-media, video production, puppetry, fabric, printmaking and short story writing. Each year, the organization holds a posh gallery night and invites the patients and their families to mingle with the public and speak about their art. It's not too often that many of these children get an opportunity to share their experiences with large audiences. The organization offers patients and families the opportunity to forget being at a hospital and to enjoy creating art with professional artists to guide them. Overall, a great organization that places emphasis on the individual and helps find the artist in every child.

I love what the Snow City Arts Foundation is doing. I interviewed the Director and two Artists in…read moreResidence at Lurie Children's Hospital. http://youtu.be/cZslFbnUQSw

A place for learning to respect all art forms and get creative with all subject matters; a fun way…read moreto expand your mind with the arts.

Spudnik is a co-op that allows creatives and such to use their equipment in the studio for their…read moreown personal pursuits. They have letterpress, screen printing equipment, lithography, and more at your disposal. A membership with Spudnik gains you access to all of this and there are different levels based on what you want to use the studio for (basic and volunteer for more casual artists and keyholder for those who, say, make a living off of their art). If you're new to all of this they also lead classes and workshops for outside groups as well, including classes on screen printing, zine making, lithography, risography, letterpress, photoshop and more. I had a great time here designing and screen printing t-shirts with my colleagues last week. Tara and the other Spudnik folks were so fantastic, walking us through the process of creating the image (we did a collaborative drawing but you can also use their computers to create something digitally) then taking us through the steps of screen printing. I had done some INCREDIBLY DIY screen printing years ago so it was great to see how it's done in a proper setting with a dark room and all that good stuff. She told us all about the different screen gauges, the emulsion process, and more. So fun and educational! A super cool space that I wish I had known about when I lived in Chicago. I would have definitely joined and exercised my creativity, no doubt.

Loved my experience at Spudnik! We rented out the place for a team bonding screen printing…read moreexperience and had a blast! As others have mentioned, this is a space for creatives to play. While there are studios for individual artists that are in-house, there are letterpress and screen printing machines as well as workshops that are offered to the general public. Our group made a screenprinting design, where we collaborated on a drawing between the 12 of us and the wonderful staff helped us make T-Shirts with the original screenprint that we created! It was a fun, involved process and the staff at Spudnik made it easy, seamless and stress-free. If you're looking for a fun experience or just looking to get more connected to the creative community in Chicago, check out Spudnik!

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." Thomas Merton…read moreCreative Claythings is a place that makes a functional and necessary possession and teaches others to make it personal. It is art, but it is also fun and adventure. Pottery is the first utilitarian item ever created by humans. Thus Pottery's history parallels civilization. Pottery was born out of necessity and survival.The first use of functional pottery vessels for storing water and food and the use of clay to form containers was a natural progression. Personalizing it was, I believe a way to express yourself and differentiate your possessions from your neighbors. Teaching others to use their hands to translate their thoughts, feeling, and memory which enables the students to communicate ideas that they can't express in another way into something tangible is where the teachers at Creative Claythings excel. My daughter suffers from mental illness and the teachers at Creative Claythings have shown her how to express herself freely. It teaches her a way of communicating. It is a tangible expression of her thoughts, feeling, and memory; and gives her both a bridge and an outlet, a means of connecting. Creative Claythings teaches a way to communicate through art that transcends barriers and limitations and goes straight to the heart of the matter.

I took a class here a few months ago, and I have to say that this studio has the nicest people. It…read morereally is a friendly community that encourages you to explore your creative ideas. The instructors are wonderful and super great teachers. They are very attentive and will help you execute your pottery. The only reason I stopped going to the studio is that it is really hard to get to for me by public transportation but there is plenty of street parking if you have a car. The studio is more economical, and that's reflected in the price you pay for the class (less bougie than some other studios but wayyyyyy most cost-effective). They are also wonderful because they have a makeup class if you miss yours. Overall highly recommend! If you were interested though you should call or email to hold your spot - the waitlist is a few months.

When you're a student the office is on top of you to get to school to help to be there for students…read moreand parents. BUT when you graduate-- nothing but crickets. No call backs. No assistance. Nothing but attitude from the main office staff. Glad to know alumni ain't worth anything except money because they sure call to ask for it.

Nice neighborhood, one block from bus stop. Private school with locked doors, so have to use the…read moreintercom system (at each door) to get in.

After a 9-year hiatus from performing, I landed in Chicago. Tired of my life, tired of feeling as…read moreif I didn't have the right tools to "do this" at my age (I'm in my early 40s). Frankly, feeling tired. I also wasted a lot of money taking classes at places people told me I "should" be taking classes and feeling as if no one cared if I showed up and there was no measure whether I was improving or making progress. *bangs head on wall* I first found Black Box's Studio classes through a fellow improv student. From the pre-admissions interview process and then day one in their B1 class, I knew something was different. They weren't going to put up with my BS (or let ME put up with it any longer) and there was no choice except to tell the truth and be myself. It wasn't about getting it RIGHT. It was about being honest. After B1, I decided to audition for the ACADEMY conservatory program (I just graduated from Winter ACADEMY 2015 last week). I went ahead and took B2 while I was waiting on admission results. Well, I got in. And here's what I can say about The ACADEMY. 1) It's intense. If you're not ready to redefine your Level 10, keep doing what you're doing. It's one helluva shock to discover your idea of Level 10 was closer to a 6. 2) You're treated like a professional. There is no "hey, you paid -- show up when you want" mentality like most studio classes in Chicago. Our ACADEMY class saw one ensemble member dismissed mid-term. You're an ensemble and your partners rely on you to be there. Black Box won't let you forget that. Just because you paid doesn't mean you get to come and go as you please (how refreshing). 3) The instructors in this program (and the entire school) WORK in the industry. Incessantly. Audrey Francis is in The Herd at Steppenwolf, and no fewer than 4 of our other instructors are also in shows at this time at Step Up, Jackalope, Pegasus, and Red Orchid. They practice what they preach and are working professionals, not just professional instructors. 4) You're going to have days where you feel like crap. But it's good crap. That's your crap dissolving into a pile of crap you no long need. You'll keep going. It's acting. If it were easy, it would be called "beer." 5) The five months in this program transformed who I am as an acting industry professional and gave me a process that I can use on a moment's notice at an audition when they throw another set of sides at you to season generals where you're in a room full of people who hate monologues (but you now love them). My approach to text has been revolutionized, my relationship with my body in space is completely re-thunk (yes, that's a word), and my heart is sad that after graduating a week ago, I don't see my friends' faces every day. So, if you're looking for a ticket to fame or an easy button to push, keep looking. It doesn't exist. But if you're looking to do some hard (expletive) word and find your place in an industry that can chew you up and spit you out if you don't know your place and value --- then check out Black Box. I've found my voice, learned my value, and have a process to use throughout the continued growth of my career. *They are kind, but blunt. *They do not gush praise, but it'll come when you least expect it (probably when you STOP expecting it). *They will hold you to a higher standard than you've ever held yourself. *If you think this is solely a Meisner school, you're mistaken. The Black Box Method is a hybrid of many different schools of acting. And if you hate Meisner, that's a damn fine reason to try Black Box. And above all, for the actor considering where to spend his or her money in Chicago, I have found this to be the best money I've ever spent on my career -- above a beyond my college degree.

After completing the Studio program, I can say I highly recommend this class. It's definitely for…read morethose who are ready to work hard and are in it for the long haul. This class slowly delivers their method which gives you great structure for prep and gives you tools to focus before an audition/performance. The way it slowly unfolds definitely is intentional and allows you to really hone your process and helps to try to avoid common pitfalls. I especially appreciated this program already having a lot of acting training - getting some new tools (while being familiar with some things) and more structure for my process. However, I talked to newer actors who loved starting with this program too and complained of other schools not actually teaching students how to act but rather just getting notes on specific scenes done in class. What you learn in this class can be applied to every audition/performance scenario. Every teacher I had (4 total including subs) were generous, kind and still pushed you hard. They also did a good job of giving fair feedback that both encouraged what was working and helped you fix things that needed to be worked on. I found the teachers to have no ego and there to be no favoritism which is something I found annoying in some previous LA acting classes. All in all, if you have the time, energy and curiosity to commit to it, this class will help you grow immensely and hone your artistic voice.

Great place, had some wonderful clay figure classes and are trying to recover from Covid…read more Joseph

Potential students beware! I paid for a 3 week blacksmith course with this school. The transaction…read morewas done though a site called Sawyer. Once the first day came to go to class, I arrived to a completely empty place. I stood at the door waiting to enter but no one ever came. After almost 1 hour of standing in single digit weather, non-stop ringing the door bell and calling the provided number 23 times, I gave up. After dealing with Sawyer's customer service, I was told me that no refund could be provided and to continue trying to reach out to the unresponsive school. Please save your money and avoid this scam of a school like the plague.