Youth and Family Classes and Programs
Art exploration is not only fun—it plays an important role in your child’s development. From fine motor skills to creative problem solving to fostering social and emotional development, the benefits of art classes for your child go far beyond the artwork they’ll bring home at the end of class.
With offerings in ceramics, digital art, and music, we invite your budding artist to unleash their creative potential with The Studios at SAM. Our curriculum is flexible, featuring one, three, and four class sessions for students ages 5-17.
Hands on for the Holidays
Holiday Glaze & Shine
Family Ornament Workshop
November 24 OR November 25
1-4 pm
Cost: $10 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Celebrate the season with creativity in this festive family workshop. Participants will select pre-made ceramic ornaments and learn simple glazing techniques to add color, pattern, and shine. Once fired and ready for pick up in about 1 week, these long lasting keepsakes are perfect for hanging on the tree or giving as handmade gifts.
All ages are welcome.
Cocoa & Clay
Holiday Mug Making Workshop
Sunday, November 30
1-4 pm
Cost: $50 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Create your own ceramic holiday mug in this festive, family-friendly workshop. Using simple clay handbuilding techniques, such as slab construction and coil work, you’ll design and decorate a one-of-a-kind piece that’s perfect for hot cocoa, coffee, or tea. Add seasonal textures, patterns, and personal touches to make your mug your very own. No prior clay experience is needed—just bring your creativity and holiday spirit!
Ages 6+ (Children must attend with an adult).
All materials provided. Choose your glaze and leave it with us to finish and fire. Pick up in approx. 2 weeks.
Merry Mugs
Holiday Mug Making Workshop
Sunday, December 7
1-4 pm
Cost: $50 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Get into the holiday spirit with a creative afternoon of festive artmaking. In this hands-on workshop, students will receive a pre-made ceramic mug, ready to be decorated. Once glazed, mugs will be kiln-fired and ready for pick up approximately one week following the workshop—just in time for sipping cocoa by the tree or gifting your handmade holiday creation!
Ages 6+ (children must attend with an adult). No experience is needed.
Art Deco Ornaments and Cards
Monday, December 22
1-3 pm
Cost: $10 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Add a touch of vintage glamour to your holiday greetings, drawing inspiration from SAM’s exhibition, Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration. In this workshop, participants will design and create stunning holiday ornaments and cards using bold, geometric patterns, metallic accents, and rich jewel tones. Guided by your instructor, explore the hallmarks of the Art Deco style—symmetry, stylized motifs, and luxurious textures—while experimenting with stencils, collage papers, metallic foils, and paint pens.
All ages are welcome.
Holiday Story Lanterns
Tuesday, December 23
1-3 pm
Cost: $10 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Join us for festive art-making fun for the whole family! Design glowing holiday lanterns that celebrate personal stories, traditions, and seasonal imagery, using tissue paper, patterned paper, fabric, and other materials. When lit from within by an LED candle, your finished lantern will glow, revealing the beautiful layers of your mixed-media design and creating a warm holiday decoration.
All ages are welcome.
Weaving Wonders
Monday, December 29
1-3 pm
Cost: $10 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Join us for a cozy, family-friendly workshop where you’ll learn the basics of weaving while creating a festive holiday decoration. Using colorful yarns and ribbons, create a one-of-a-kind woven piece that can be displayed at home or given as a handmade gift. No experience needed. This project is inspired by SAM’s exhibition, Janet Echelman: Radical Softness.
All ages are welcome.
Clay Winter Keepsakes
Tuesday, December 30
1-3 pm
Cost: $10 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Families will sculpt small holiday treasures out of model magic air-dry clay. Once dry, these keepsakes can be used as ornaments, gifts, or table decorations.
All ages are welcome.
SPRING BREAK
Spring into Creativity
Spring Break Open Studios
Tuesday March 18 – Friday March 21
1-4 pm
Join us in all 3 of our studios for FREE Art-making during Spring Break! Create your own one-of-a-kind sneakers and wearable art with Ceramics, Watercolor Painting, and Multi-media projects inspired by our current exhibit Future Now.
Youth Classes
SAM invites students in grades 6-12 to expand their creativity with an art class just for you! The Studios@SAM will provide all materials, and classes are led by professional teaching artists. Check out the offerings below and we’ll see you in the studio!
Ceramics
Paint a Handmade Planter
Lauren Hope Holton
Dec 9
Monday
5:30–7:30 pm
Please join us for a joyful experience in the Linda & Dick Dickinson Ceramics Studio.
We welcome you to take part in this special edition holiday workshop series designed for families. Spend an evening in the ceramics studio painting a unique and handmade planter.
You will be able to take your planter home at the end of the workshop. Just in time to transplant your favorite holiday themed plant!
(Children 8+ ; all minors must be accompanied by an adult)
Mud & Memories: Family Ceramics
Samantha Harthoorn
Linda & Dick Dickinson Ceramics Classroom
Ages 5+
Cost: $165 (Includes 1 Adult + 1 Child) (Members save 10%)
Additional family members can be added for $50 each by calling 941-309-5119. Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Advance registration required.
Pottery Class for Teens (SDA)
Samantha Harthoorn
Cost: $150 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Walk-ins welcome.
Kids Handbuilding
Samantha Harthoorn
Cost: $150 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Sundays
Mar 23, 2025 – Apr 6, 2025
10 am – 12 pm
Come and play with clay! Learn the basics of stoneware clay with projects like pinch pots, tiles, and mini sculptures. Students will create works that they will get to decorate with glazes and once fired will take home. Students will use their own imagination as well as found imagery to create life lasting pieces.
Ages 5-13
Kids Wheel Throwing
Samantha Harthoorn
Not-Yet Members: $150
Please call 941.309.4338 to apply your Member’s discount.
Learn the basics of wheel throwing and glazing in this three part class. Students will use stoneware clay to throw a small vessel on the pottery wheel. Surface decoration and glazing will send them home with a finished piece at the end of the course. Students will be inspired by a history of pot making and learn the basics of color mixing and layering.
Ages 7-13
Paint a Handmade Planter
Lauren Hope Holton
Monday, February 3, 2025
5:30-7:30pm
You will be able to take your planter home at the end of the workshop.
(Children 6+ ; all minors must be accompanied by an adult)
Studio + Digital Arts
Digital Art
Brooks Tracey
Classroom 201
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Tuesdays
October 7-28
5:30-7 pm
Comic Book Intensive Workshop
Patrick Thomas Parnell
Sarah F. Huisking Classroom
Not-Yet Members: $300
Please call 941.309.4338 to apply your Member’s discount.
For Illustrators, Graphic Artists, and Experienced Artists Who Can Draw Ages 16+
This summer at the Sarasota Art Museum, we are offering a workshop specifically designed for artists who already have experience in the visual arts but want to explore a career in comic book creation and sequential storytelling.
Whether you’re aiming for a career at Marvel or DC, looking to work with indie publishers, or dreaming of launching your own creator-owned project, this month-long workshop with Patrick Thomas Parnell can help you move toward your goals.
Patrick is a seasoned comic book illustrator with over 20 years of industry experience. His professional credits include work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mega Man, along with publishing more than 15 titles under his own independent label, Riot Press Productions.
He has taught at prestigious institutions such as Ringling College of Art and Design, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, and State College of Florida, with over 15 years of experience helping students chase their creative dreams.
This workshop will run for 4 weeks, with classes meeting twice a week.
If you have the talent but need help breaking into the industry — whether it’s getting in front of editors or learning how to self-publish — this workshop is for you!
Music
Beatboxing Workshop
S+DA Instructor
Ringling College Museum Campus
Mobile Beat Lab (using phones or tablets)
Feb 26, 2025
Wednesday
5–6:30 pm
Rhyme Writing
Mar 5, 2025
Wednesday
5–6:30 pm
Performance Lab
Mar 12, 2025
Wednesday
5–6:30 pm
Feb. 19
Workshop 1 – Rhythm and Beatbox Basics
Participants will learn the basics of rhythm through various activities and games before learning the foundational elements and sounds of human beatboxing. As a class, the students will practice together learning their first beatbox phrases and then they will have a chance to perform in front of their peers at the end of the course.
Feb. 26
Workshop 2 – Mobile Beat Lab (using phones or tablets)
Participants will learn about rhythm and its association to music creation as well as play some rhythm games before learning the basics of how to compose music on their personal mobile devices using a free app called Bandlab. This lesson will focus on how to use loops and pre recorded audio in the app to construct personalized songs.
March 5
Workshop 3 – Rhyme Writing
Starting with rhythm this workshop teaches the participants a simple four step process on how to write rhymes, understanding the process through the lense of poetry and applying it to the concepts and rhythms of hip hop music.
March 12
Workshop 4 – Performance Lab
Participants would learn the basics of musical performance including how to address an audience, how to project their voice, and how to deliver their lyrics over music, they would then apply these concepts by performing in front of their peers.
Ages 10 & up
Open Studios
After your visit in the museum, stop by to check out the amazing Studios we have at SAM, and make your own art! All materials are included. Kids must be accompanied by their families or caregivers.
Monday,November 25 th: 1 -3 pm: in the Ceramics Studio Room 135
Tuesday, November 26th : 1-3 pm in the Multimedia Studio Room 134
Wednesday, November 27th: 1-3 pm in the Painting & Drawing Studio Room 136
Free for Members
Free with Museum Admission
Pottery Class for Middle School
Samantha Harthoorn
Oct 4 – Oct 25
Fridays
6 – 8 pm
Join our middle school pottery class and dive into the fun world of handbuilding! Learn to craft unique pieces from clay using exciting techniques like pinch pots, coil building, and slab construction. Develop your creativity, make new friends, and take home your very own handmade creations!
Drawing
Cinematic Chiaroscuro:
Spooky Inspired Poster Making
Bailey Ann-Marie Gumienny
Oct 12 – Nov 2
Saturdays
9 am – 12 pm
Develop your artistic skills in this hands-on observational drawing class for creative teens. Explore various media like graphite, charcoal, ink, and color media while learning to capture the world around you with accuracy and style. Through guided exercises, you’ll refine techniques in proportion, perspective, and light, creating a portfolio that showcases your growth. Perfect for those eager to take their drawing skills to the next level and see the world through an artist’s eyes. As we welcome Halloween and the season’s transformation, our art projects will reflect these whimsical and intriguing themes.
Painting
Kids Watercolor Painting
Ringling College Museum Campus
Members: $108
Not-Yet Members: $120
Please call 941.309.4338 to apply your Member’s discount.
April 20 – May 4, 2025
Sunday
1-3 pm
Masterpiece Makers: Kid's Painting Class
Mia Szafranic
3 Sessions
Ringling College Museum Campus
Cost: $105 (Members save 10%)
Members call 941-309-5119 to enroll and redeem your special discount.
Advance registration required.
Sunday
October 19-November 2
1:30-3 pm
Unleash your inner artist in this colorful and creative painting class just for kids! Each week, young painters will explore different techniques, styles, and artists as they create their very own masterpieces. From whimsical landscapes to expressive self-portraits, children will build confidence and skills while having tons of messy, imaginative fun! No experience needed- just a big imagination and a love for art! Ages 6-10. All materials provided
Youth + Family Programs
Weekly Drop-in Art-Making
No registration required
Your Wednesday Playdates
Wednesdays, 10 am-12 pm
Free for Members
Free with Museum Admission
Peggy A. Hall Classroom, 134
Free Second Sundays at SAM
Every Second Sunday of the month, 11 am-4 pm
Peggy A. Hall Classroom, Linda & Dick Dickinson Ceramics Classroom, Sarah F. Huisking Classroom
From 11 am – 4 pm every Second Sunday, The Studios@SAM is open for exploring and hands-on art-ful activities! For families and people of all ages, Open Studios provides drop-in art projects, the chance to explore our art spaces, and the opportunity to meet our Museum Educators and Teaching Artists! If you love making art with us, consider becoming a member!
CAMP
Summer Camp
Registration for Summer Art Camp 2024 begins February 1! Space is limited, so register early.
Summer Art Camp @SAM is a hands-on, creative, and super fun way for kids to spend the summer!
We look forward to welcoming campers ages 7 to 13 years to the museum for an epic summer of exploration, growth, creation, and play. Children must have completed the first grade prior to the start of camp.
Campers will use design-thinking processes to explore contemporary art. Our camps introduce a variety of materials and concepts—evoking curiosity and honing critical thinking—while encouraging individual creativity and self-expression. What better place to learn about art than at the museum? We’ll spend time in the museum galleries, looking and learning about art and artmaking, then create our own masterpieces. Campers will exhibit their works at their own art show! Each week features different themes and projects, so campers will never be bored.
Our Teaching Artists are experienced artists, designers, and educators! Teaching Artists connect concepts behind artwork in the museum, with age-appropriate projects and techniques. Summer Art Camp @SAM teaches kids how to observe, interpret, and tap into their own creativity!
This year’s camp will run weekly from June 3 to July 26, 2024. Camp hours are Monday–Friday: 9 am– 3 pm. Extended care will be available from 3-5 pm.
