MAKEart studios

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MAKEart studios A small, home art studio in Downers Grove. MAKE provides high quality art instruction + workshops

Make is a small studio that provides art instruction and workshops taught in small groups. Taught by art educator and professional artist, Heather Klausa, she encourages young and old to make time to create and uses her home studio as a meeting space. Whether you are interested in improving your technique, learning a new skill, tackling a pinterest project, or simply looking for a space to relax from a long week, MAKEart Studios is a great place to start.

WATERCOLOR STUDIOWatercolor without the pressure, from MAKEart Studios.A monthly watercolor class for adults who want to...
09/13/2026

WATERCOLOR STUDIO
Watercolor without the pressure, from MAKEart Studios.

A monthly watercolor class for adults who want to relax, build watercolor skills, and not worry quite so much about it looking like everyone else’s.

We’ll skip the pressure of drawing by starting with a lightly traced composition, then use watercolor to make it your own. I’ll teach technique along the way, but there’s plenty of room for interpretation.

September = end-of-summer 🍅

SEPTEMBER 22 · 9–11am
Tiny group at MAKEart Studios

SEPTEMBER 23 · 12:30–2:30pm
Small group at Bubbly Side of Life

$38 · all supplies included · beginners welcome

Same idea, new subject each month.

Registration at makeartstudios.com

Board Game Design was four days of big ideas, tiny pieces, changing the rules, testing them out, realizing the rules mad...
09/03/2026

Board Game Design was four days of big ideas, tiny pieces, changing the rules, testing them out, realizing the rules made absolutely no sense, changing them again… and then testing again.

Honestly, pretty accurate game design.

One of my favorite Summer Studios.

Apparently the natural next step after becoming an internet celebrity is being painted by a table full of women in subur...
09/03/2026

Apparently the natural next step after becoming an internet celebrity is being painted by a table full of women in suburban Illinois.

This morning’s No Pressure class was all about gouache and our extremely qualified model was Jimothy, the oddly proportioned Seattle raccoon who went viral this summer

We spent the morning getting to know a medium that lives somewhere between watercolor and acrylic. We played with how much water to use, how gouache layers, what happens when you go back into dried paint, and when it’s better to just leave the brushstrokes alone.

08/23/2026

Sometimes the work isn’t coming up with more ideas. It’s deciding which ones are worth following.

A little of what that looked like during Myth Makers last week.

This week, the Pocket Gallery became theirs.Ten artists came together to put on their very own show. choosing and exhibi...
08/16/2026

This week, the Pocket Gallery became theirs.

Ten artists came together to put on their very own show. choosing and exhibition around the phrase, AFTER DARK. Changing role from curator to artist, tween and teens started creating.

They made artwork, pivoted when the lights went out, solved problems, considered how their individual pieces worked together, and learned that putting on an exhibition involves a whole lot more than making the art.

It was a very different kind of week at MAKEart, and exactly what I hoped the Pocket Gallery Residency could be.

AFTER DARK is now on view in the Pocket Gallery. 🌙

08/15/2026

Artist ages 7-12 spent the week inventing things that have never existed before.

For Myth Makers, each artist invented a creature from the ground up, thinking about its anatomy, habitat, behavior, adaptations, and the real animals that might have influenced it.

Then we brought them into three dimensions.

Armatures, clay, fur, feathers, horns, teeth, eyeballs, led to many interpretations.

Part science. Part mythology. A whole lot of imagination.

Giving imagination a little structure this week.Mythology gives us the starting point. Science gives us new ways to thin...
08/13/2026

Giving imagination a little structure this week.

Mythology gives us the starting point. Science gives us new ways to think and ask questions. Art gives us a way to explore all of it.

We’re right in the messy middle of Myth Makers, and I’m loving where their ideas are heading.

Today’s Pocket Gallery Residency: After Dark. Literally.After just establishing our future shoe’s theme to be “After Dar...
08/11/2026

Today’s Pocket Gallery Residency: After Dark. Literally.

After just establishing our future shoe’s theme to be “After Dark” - The power went out. We gave flashlight-powered art making a solid try before I finally waved the white flag.

The theme immersion was perhaps a little too successful.

One of my favorite things to watch is what happens when students become interested in the same thing at the same time.
06/16/2026

One of my favorite things to watch is what happens when students become interested in the same thing at the same time.

Yesterday, the studio was taken over by pirates.During workshops, we’re often making more than art.We’re making stories,...
06/09/2026

Yesterday, the studio was taken over by pirates.

During workshops, we’re often making more than art.

We’re making stories, characters, worlds, and excuses to keep creating long after the workshop is over.

This week’s pirates left with treasure maps, treasure chests, and plenty of ideas for what happens next.
Along the way, artists created pirate names, designed personal marks, and invented entire worlds from a sheet of paper and a little imagination.

My favorite part was seeing how different the adventures became. Given the same starting point, no two pirates ended up in the same place.

Which is exactly how it should be. My greatest joy is hearing about how the making and playing continued at home afterwards.

Address

4943 Highland Avenue
Downers Grove, IL
60515

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 9:30pm
Wednesday 8pm - 10pm
Thursday 3pm - 9pm

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