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Bethany Sillaman mentioned the mission of her enterprise is easy — Make artwork enjoyable, construct extra marvel and invite others to hitch in.
Sillaman is the proprietor of The Silly Llama Art Studio, which opened Oct. 1 in Madison Village.
Located at 136 W. Main St., The Silly Llama affords artwork lessons, workshops, events and different actions for youngsters and adults.
Participants produce their initiatives with instruction and steerage from Sillaman, a lifelong artist who additionally taught elementary faculty artwork for eight years. In addition, she earned a bachelor’s diploma in high quality arts and a grasp’s diploma in elementary training and educating, each from Ursuline College.
“At The Silly Llama, I try to do a lot of things where you’re exploring your creativity and you feel successful, but it’s not like a paint-by-number kind of thing,” she mentioned.Recent examples of packages have included a spring flowers watercolor workshop, a Taylor Swift artwork celebration that concerned portray and ceramics, and a wind chimes clay workshop.
Sillaman got here up with the thought to launch The Silly Llama Art Studio whereas she was on summer season break final 12 months from her job as an artwork trainer within the Buckeye Schools. The district is predicated in Ashtabula County.
During a few of these summers, Sillaman would train artwork camp at an area arts middle. But in 2025, that middle waited longer than common to contact Sillaman about doing an artwork camp.
“I was like ‘Oh, I don’t know if I want to do it now, it’s too late in the summer,’ ” she mentioned.
As another, Sillaman thought of conducting an artwork camp within the again yard of her Madison Township dwelling. But after she started researching that concept, Sillaman shifted her focus to beginning an artwork studio that she may function year-round and give up educating within the Buckeye district.
“I couldn’t say ‘retire,’ because I’m not at retirement age,” she mentioned.
By establishing an artwork studio, Sillaman believed she may present kids with extra alternatives to be inventive after they’re not in class, as an alternative of spending a lot time captivated by their smartphones.
Sillaman receives help at The Silly Llama from life accomplice, Rhonda Russell. She helps in conducting most of the actions and serves as janitor for the enterprise.
Initially, Sillaman launched The Silly Llama Art Studio as a spot for youths to create artwork. But it didn’t take lengthy earlier than a few of her trainer associates started asking what sort of packages she was going to have for adults.
“And I said, ‘Well, maybe eventually,’ ” And then I assumed that might be foolish (if I waited too lengthy) as a result of I needed to capitalize on (offering actions for adults),” she mentioned.
So Sillaman started offering adults lessons in all probability inside the second month of operations. It began with woodburning lessons.
“(Woodburning as an art form) is different, it appeals to men and women, so that has really been popular,” she mentioned. “We’ve had some adult birthday parties with woodburning.”
The studio then moved into doing grownup clay workshops. In February, it held a panorama portray night time for adults specializing in the model of the late Bob Ross, a widely known artist who hosted a portray instruction present on PBS.
Some of the completely different artwork lessons and actions provided at The Silly Llama embody:
• Workshops for one-day artwork initiatives. These endeavors “allow participants to explore new techniques and create unique artwork all in one session,” the studio’s website said.
• Art events for birthdays or group gatherings, the place visitors have a good time and full a inventive challenge.
• Little Llamas Studio — Preschool kids 18 months and up, together with one grownup, are invited to discover quite a lot of artwork supplies in a enjoyable and interesting surroundings throughout scheduled periods.
• Homeschool and Afterschool Art Clubs — In these multiple-week Art Club lessons, kids meet as soon as per week obtain an in-depth exploration of a selected artwork medium.
Recently, the Afternoon Art Club provided a Tweens/Teens (ages 10-14) Drawing Class.
One of the category members was Gianna Contenza of Perry Township. Gianna, who’s 12 years outdated, mentioned she favored the category as a result of it was not worrying and college students had loads of freedom to show their creativity.
“It helps not being forced into one (narrow) category (of subjects or objects to be drawn),” she mentioned, through the March 3 class.
• Open studio — The Silly Llama affords open-studio hours, that are introduced on its month-to-month occasions calendar. These periods provide folks the chance to work on small private artwork initiatives within the studio, and have entry to The Silly Llama’s provides and supplies.
On the night of March 3, three artists have been engaged on clay initiatives throughout open studio hours at The Silly Llama. Renee Cole of Geneva Township and Kellie Wawrowski of Madison Township have been creating mugs, whereas Cathy Ortiz of Austinburg Township was making wind chimes.
Renee’s daughter, Kaelyn, additionally was concerned with Teens/Tweens drawing class in a separate room on the similar time.
“It’s just a nice place to come and relax and learn something new,” Renee mentioned. “I never really pictured myself as an artist before, but I like learning new things and having fun with my daughter because she enjoys art a lot, and it’s something we can do together.”
Sillaman mentioned The Silly Llama has seen a rise in clients since its opening, because of word-of-mouth promotion from dad and mom of scholars who come to studio, in addition to adults who’ve participated in actions. The studio additionally has gotten loads of repeat enterprise from folks after they made their first go to to the Silly Llama.
In addition, Sillaman mentioned it’s been a rewarding expertise to personal and function an artwork studio the place she will get to hold on her love for educating.
“I’m enjoying it so much because I’m an artist and I love art, and as an art teacher being able to interact with students every day that are always excited for art,” she mentioned.
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