Canvas Studio Art Makes Room for the Arts

Is it just us, or does it seem like the arts have fallen out of the phrase "arts and crafts"? With what the craft stores are kicking out, we have a growing fear that our children will grow up to think artwork comes in cellophane bags with pre-adhesive backs.

But a visit to 's newest art studio has given us hope for the future of creativity.  is the collabortion of four women - Eileen Burgess, Meg Sellig and Maricarmen Buckley of Rumson and Beth Sillen of - for one purpose: "To provide a place for kids to have more art in their lives," says Sillen.

There is nothing artsy about the beige and green Carton Street office building where Canvas Studio Art makes its home next to . But inside, oh inside, it is the dream of every dormant artist locked inside the inertia of modern suburban life.  

Upstairs in a great room, where natural light pours in through sky lights, are rows of butcher block tables marked by the errant brush strokes of artists in training. The neutral walls are a rotating gallery of works by children and adults in the style of Picasso and Cézanne.

Burgess known around here as the art police - where she serves as chief detective sleuthing out creative types by clues in their wardrobe and their home decorating - can prove to you that there are artists lurking inside PTO parents and VPs. For Patch's benefit she holds up a small square canvas of a pear in still life. The pear glows where the light strikes its golden yellow flesh, against soft shadows in muted earthtones. "This is by a woman who said, 'I can't paint. I've never taken a class,'" Burgess said. Honestly, it's so good we thought it came from a store.

The programs here at Canvas Studio art, workshops and classes, girls nights out and summer camps, are for young children on up through adults. Part of the women's motivation for starting the studio was to give themselves somewhere to pursue their own painting that was getting lost in domestic life. Here, Sillen says, you can be around creative people who will motivate you to create. And the variety of creation is vast here. There are classes on figure molding, comics, classical oil painting, portfolio development and mixed media, and there is not a foam sticker among them.

Burgess said the classes can encourage stay-at-home parents whose schedules have freed up as kids go to school. "Rather than just going to the gym, you create something."

For kids, who are only getting art in school for 45 minutes a week, Sellig says the studio fills a void in art education and offers an alternative for students not necessarily geared up for sports.

"There are so many athletic programs, we provide a balance for that," Sellig said. 

The teachers at the studio are working artists and educators from around New Jersey, some right here in the Patch, like Kristen Lanfrank, who teaches at , and Michelle DePuma and Robert Zupdko, who teach at .

"We grabbed who we know have a great reputation," Burgess said.

"This is the place that I would have loved growing up," said Sillen whose son Jake is a student at the studio. Jake has been creating movie posters in his class using typography and figure drawing.

For these moms to have their kids around them as they find their own expressions in art seems to be part of the mission of Canvas Arts Studio to create an "environment for all ages that promotes observation, reflection and practice."

"It's cosy friendly personal space. " Sillen said. "We wanted a vibe you want to come back to."