“I believe that creativity is a life skill that we need to problem-solve and to live our lives,” says arts educator Colleen Fitzsimmons-Wiviott. This summer, she’s teaming up with local children’s store Honeycomb (1641 Tower Grove) to foster kids’ creativity through small-group art classes.
The first Buzz Art series—set for June 17, June 24, and July 1—will focus on the foundations of art: “Line, Shape, Color!” Fitzsimmons-Wiviott will offer a morning class for kids ages 3–5 that includes singing a welcome song, reading a book by artist and author Hervé Tullet, and engaging in an open-ended artmaking activity. In the afternoon, she will lead a class for older kids (ages 6–9) that includes a warmup sketching activity, a mindfulness exercise, and time for artmaking.
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In July, she will lead another three-week series on the theme “Community Connections” that we take a look at how art and community go together. Those classes will take place on July 15, 22, and 29.
Zoë Kaemmerer, who co-owns Honeycomb with Angela Giancola, says they are excited to be able to resume events after a hiatus due to the pandemic. “Our concept for Honeycomb is a shop and play space,” says Kaemmerer, where “kids and adults can play [and] test out toys and other items that we sell in the store.”
When Fitzsimmons-Wiviott reached out to Kaemmerer and Giancola this past spring to propose the classes, they were thrilled. With the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, they were already thinking about adding summer events, including an art class.
Fitzsimmons-Wiviott has been a customer at Honeycomb since her son was born two years ago. She recently spent four years as associate educator of Youth and Family Learning at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she pioneered an online version of the organization’s popular Wee Wednesday program (watch the videos here) during the pandemic. So, the collaboration was a natural fit.
“There’s nothing more rewarding to me than helping a child discover their own creative process,” Fitzsimmons-Wiviott says, noting that there’s no right or wrong way to make art. Both with her son and with the students she works with, her goal is to help them express themselves as they learn to flex their creative muscles.
Buzz Art is $69 per child for each three-week series, and individual classes from the series may be booked for $25 each depending on availability. Enrollment is limited to six children per session so that proper COVID-19 measures can be maintained, and spaces are filling up. Learn more and register on Honeycomb’s website.
