Specialties
Open Studio Project, a non-profit arts organization located in Evanston, Illinois, serves the entire Chicagoland area and far beyond. Beginning as an intention to make art and be of service to the community, OSP is now a thriving center for adults and kids art classes, workshops, trainings, and gallery exhibits that serve over 1500 people each year. We offer classes for hundreds of at- risk youth, hold a dozen unique exhibits, provide six weekend-long training sessions and half dozen introductory sessions each year- serving many for a reduced fee or no cost at all.
History
Established in 1991.
The Open Studio Project began in 1991 with an intention: to make art and to be of service. Three Chicago area art therapists -- Dayna Block, Deborah Gadiel, and Pat Allen -- began this enterprise. After many years of experience in clinical settings, these therapists realized that to be truly effective in teaching clients to use art-making for personal transformation, they themselves would need to engage in and model their own creative process alongside their clients. Over the next 9 years, a unique art and writing process was developed and refined in an art studio in Chicago.
Meet the Manager: Janet B.
Janet has been our executive director since 2012. She first came to the OSP as a participant in 1996, and has been an OSP Board Member and Artist/Facilitator for over 15 years, but she is still surprised every time she makes art by where the creative process takes her!