Community Calendar

Unleash your creativity and embrace the spirit of the season in our Ceramic Holiday Ornament workshop! Join instructor Emily Gunning in this fun-filled, tactile experience where you'll sculpt an assortment of holiday-inspired forms in clay. Perfect for any skill level, you’ll be guided through each step, from rolling slabs to surface embellishment, carving & glazing. Leave with a series of handmade ornaments for your home or to share as a thoughtful gift.

In the first class session, we will learn to form shapes from slabs and texturize with clay. The second session will feature a demo on glazing and include time for you to glaze and decorate your pieces. Your ornaments will be fired and ready for pickup at Art Reach the following week, just in time to enhance your home for the holidays.

This two-week workshop will be held from 4-6 pm on Monday, December 1 & 8 in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant.

*Tuition includes firing and supply fees

Recommended ages: 12 and up

Please note: An active membership is not required to register. Active members receive a 15% discount on classes.

DECEMBER IS HOLIDAY ART!
Dec 8: Folded Book Holiday Trees w Kristi Tefft

Art Cafe is a chance for you to create in a welcoming space with people of all levels of experience. Each session will offer a Special of the Day - an art project led by a Creative 360 teacher.

You can register for the Special of the Day or you can bring your own materials to work on whatever you would like while enjoying the company of like-minded creatives.

We will also have watercolor supplies out for anyone who would like to use them at no additional cost.

Each Special of the Day has a materials fee that is covered by the registration cost of $15

Guests can BYOB and snacks.

Children between the ages of 12 and 16 are welcome with a registered adult EXCEPT for Act & Sip.

What's included
For Special of the Day registrations:
All materials
Instruction

For Registration WITHOUT Materials:
Space to work
Watercolor materials

What's not included
If you are working on your own project, you are responsible for providing your own materials. We do have paper towels, table covers, hair dryers, and water cups.

Highlights
A chance to try something new and meet new, creative folks. It's like a yummy snack at a cozy cafe!

Dive into the vibrant world of alcohol inks with instructor Judi Steffke in this beginner-friendly class designed to spark your imagination and ignite your creative spirit! Alcohol inks are a bold, expressive medium known for their fluidity, unpredictability, and stunning, abstract effects. Whether you're an experienced artist or trying something new, this class offers a fun and relaxed environment to explore the magic of inks on non-porous surfaces, such as Yupo paper, ceramic tiles, or glass. This class will offer themed sessions recreating imagery on ceramic tiles, and will be finished with a spray-on topcoat for durability.

This workshop will feature cardinals on ceramic tile. Check out these other dates for more themes in alcohol ink!

December 2: Wreaths & Trees

December 9: Cardinals

This workshop will be held from 11 am-1 pm on Tuesday, December 9, in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant.

Recommended age: 16 and up

Please note: An active membership is not required to register. Active members receive a 15% discount on classes.

Join instructor Emily Gunning for a tactile exploration of handbuilding in clay. Over this 6-week course, students will explore various methods of building functional or decorative clay vessels without the need for a pottery wheel. Pinch pots, slab, and coil construction will be covered, as well as various methods of achieving surface texture and form for a solid foundation in pottery construction. Projects will be fired off-site and ready for glazing at the final session. All materials are provided, and no prior experience is required. Just bring your curiosity and willingness to get your hands dirty!

Supply and kiln fees are included in tuition.

This class will be held weekly from 3-5 pm, Tuesday, November 4-December 9, in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant.

Recommended age: 14 and up

Join artist Matthew Grimmer to discover the world of oil painting in this engaging 6-week course! Whether you're completely new to painting or looking to explore a new medium, this class will guide you through the fundamentals of oil painting in a fun and supportive environment. You'll first explore how to utilize the tools and materials safely, learn essential techniques, including color mixing and brushwork, as well as composition and creating depth, while working towards an academic style still-life. All levels of experience are welcome.

This 6-week course will be held from 5:30-7:30 pm on Tuesdays, November 11-December 16, in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant.

Recommended age: 16 and up

The Hestia Women's Giving Circle’s Learning Series #3: Health Department of NW Michigan
Melissa Hahn, Director of Family Health, will cover topics such as: What are the health challenges of our community and what impact have state and federal budgets had on our citizens? A Q and A period will follow the presentation. The program will be held on Zoom. To RSVP and receive the Zoom sign-in, email
info@hestiacircle.org.

More information about the Hestia Women’s Giving Circle can be found at www.hestiacircle.org and on Facebook and Instagram.

Mini Masters is a delightful monthly acrylic painting class designed to inspire creativity in artists of all skill levels. With step-by-step guidance, participants will create an 8x10 canvas masterpiece to take home. Perfect for beginners, this class offers a welcoming environment where no experience is necessary, and all supplies are included. Whether you’re discovering art for the first time or nurturing a growing passion, Mini Masters is a wonderful way to enjoy a fun and fulfilling creative experience.

Mini Masters will be held from 5:30-7 pm Wednesday, December 10, 2025, in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant.

Recommended age: 6 and up

Please note: An active membership is not required to register. Active members receive a 15% discount on classes.

Capture the quiet beauty of winter’s feathered visitors in this continuation of watercolor bird studies with instructor Cheryl Meyer. You’ll learn techniques for painting the soft textures of feathers, the expressive eyes, and the delicate charm of birds perched in a frosty landscape.

Through layering washes, blending cool tones, and adding fine details, you’ll explore how to bring these beloved birds to life with light, movement, and atmosphere. Perfect for beginner or intermediate painters looking to refine their skills, this class offers a peaceful, creative escape into the world of winter wildlife. All materials are provided, and no prior watercolor experience is necessary, just a love of art and nature.

This workshop will be held from 10 am-12 pm on Thursday, December 11, in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway, Mt. Pleasant, MI.

Check out our other session featuring Snowy Owls on December 4, 1-3 pm

Recommended age: 16 and up

Please note: An active membership is not required to register. Active members receive a 15% discount on classes.

Get in the holiday spirit and check a box off your list with an artful afternoon creating in acrylic. Instructor Annie Croft will guide participants in painting holiday themes on gift tags and wooden ornaments, for the perfect handmade touch on your gifts this season. Open to any skill level, you’ll leave with a collection of small-scale items to use for embellishing gifts or to decorate your home. All supplies are provided.

This workshop will be held from 1-3 pm, Thursday, December 11, in the Idonea Hersee Classroom at Art Reach, 111 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant

Recommended age: 13 and up

Please note: An active membership is not required to register. Active members receive a 15% discount on classes.

Filmmakers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick go on a journey into the life cycle of whitefish in the Great Lakes and the impact of invasive quagga mussel.

We originally showed this film during the 2025 Thunder Bay International Film Festival and we are hosting an encore presentation due to popularity and demand. Join us on Thursday, December 11th in the theater of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center at 500 W. Fletcher Street in downtown Alpena. This is a free event and open to all. The film will begin at 6pm.

More on the film:
All Too Clear is a documentary series and feature that uses cutting-edge underwater drones to explore how quadrillions of tiny invasive mussels are re-engineering the ecosystem of North America’s Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers. The mussels are trapping nutrients, the building blocks of life, on the lake bottom. Without nutrients, organisms of all kinds – from the tiniest plankton to the largest fish – are vanishing, creating vast biological deserts.

While the consequences for nature and people are severe, the loss of life has had an extraordinary side effect: it’s made the lakes clearer than ever before. All Too Clear harnesses this clarity to tell the story of life in the world’s largest freshwater lake system. From dazzling shallow water worlds that look more like the Caribbean than the Great Lakes, to previously undiscovered shipwrecks, completely entombed in mussels, 300 feet beneath the surface – All Too Clear brings freshwater species and ecosystems into the spotlight usually reserved for ocean environments.