Believe it or not, you don’t need to be an art prodigy to enjoy painting and the benefits that come with creating art. From improving your mental health to sparking your creativity and enriching your social life, signing up for an adult art class can offer some invaluable benefits.
Here are 5 benefits of trying adult painting classes and other forms of art:
1. Reduce Stress and Improve Your Mental Health
When you create art, especially during an art class, you’re required to focus your attention entirely on one task or subject. While you work on creating a painting or other art form, you lose the ability to think about anything else. Because it’s inherently a mindful activity, it’s an enjoyable and healthy distraction that helps you put everything else on pause.
2. Spark Your Imagination and Creativity
Painting helps you enhance both the analytical (left) and the creative (right) sides of your brain. Both skills are needed for creative work. As you paint, your imagination widens by gathering ideas from various sources, generating thoughts, organizing your artwork, experimenting with methods, and becoming skilled at utilizing hues and materials to create something distinct.
3. Improve Your Memory
When searching for inspiration for our artwork, we often look back at our mental archives — the places we’ve been, mouth-watering meals we’ve experienced, different people we’ve met, and the ups and downs we’ve faced.
The act of delving into our past experiences is a spontaneous response that aids in the generation of ideas. Revisiting these memories and compartments of our minds is a healthy way to exercise the brain and improve memory.
4. Gain a Deeper Appreciation of Art & Culture
By learning, practicing, and discussing art during an adult art class, you’ll gain a much deeper understanding, including styles, techniques, and history. Enjoy works and exhibitions at your favorite art museums with a new lens and appreciation!
5. Have Fun and Expand Your Social Circle
When it comes down to it, participating in an adult painting or art class is just plain fun. Go alone and make new friends with similar interests, and get to know each other as you learn, create, and share together. Bring your partner or friends and enjoy the quality time of laughing and experiencing their perspectives in a new way through their art.
Adult Art Classes in NYC
If you’re in NYC and looking for top-quality art classes as an adult, stop by Manny Cantor Center in the Lower East Side, where you’ll be immersed in an art category of your choice. Join us for thoughtful lessons that will enrich your life, deepen your understanding of the arts, improve your skills, and introduce you to a new community based on diversity, inclusion, and creativity.
The art school at Manny Cantor Center is one of New York City’s premier community art schools, with an expansive selection of classes and workshops to choose from, including:
Sign up for dynamic painting courses in oil, acrylic, or watercolor with our top-rated instructors in our light-filled studio. Select courses teach drawing as part of the painting process. Courses are available for all levels and include instructor demonstrations on specific techniques, guided group lessons, and one-on-one guidance from our instructors.
Students of all levels are invited to join our Adult Ceramics courses, in which burgeoning potters are introduced to the foundations of the medium — from using a pottery wheel to hand-sculpting and glazing — and intermediate students can take rudimentary practices to the next level by learning how to form handles, lids, spouts, and other finishing touches that elevate basic vessel forms.
We’re excited to offer unique classes in silk screen printing, printmaking, drawing, and collage. These courses allow students to bring creative ideas to life through various mediums. All courses are open to students of all levels and instructors will support students in completing unique projects throughout the term. One-on-one instruction, instructor demonstrations, and group lessons provide a supportive environment to learn new techniques, explore, and experiment!
We’re committed to serving the greatest diversity of students, out of our belief that everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, should have the opportunity for self-expression and lifelong learning. Contact us today for the most up-to-date information about art school classes and events. We can’t wait to welcome you!
