Students create their own masterpieces in classes led by local artist Susan Hurwitch.

Many people wish that they could become artists, but don’t know where to begin. In Sarasota, the rich arts scene provides residents with a plethora of opportunities to try different art mediums in supportive and welcoming classroom environments. Local mixed-media artist Susan Hurwitch, originally from Miami, teaches classes and workshops at Creative Liberties, encouraging her students to express their creativity through color and mixed-media art.

A lifelong lover of art, Hurwitch has always had her hand in creative projects, from calligraphy to digital design. In her own work, Hurwitch blends collage and acrylic painting to create vibrant works that are rich in color. “I liked what the painting could do to finish off the piece with a subject that’s part collage but really more enhanced by paint to make it stand out a little bit more,” she says. As a teacher, Hurwitch aims for budding artists to explore both of these methods of creating art. She offers a series of shorter classes as well as one to two-day workshops, allowing students to pick and choose their areas of focus. “The class series is structured to introduce students to the process that I use. The first one is an abstract piece, then the next class gets into more conceptual pieces with a butterfly creation. The third class features florals. While the butterfly class is more structured, the floral class starts to let people get more advanced in creating their own floral composition,” she adds. In the workshops, students learn how to print their own paper for their projects while delving deeper into composition and color. “They will ultimately create a larger-scale floral piece.”

Students can enroll in a bundle of the entire class series, or select individual classes based on their interests. They can also enroll in the two-day workshops, which stand alone from the class series. “One of my goals is to create confidence and help students have fun as opposed to being afraid to put pen to paper. I also want learners to stick with it. Every painting gets to a point where you’re not sure, and I try to help students get over the hump of completing the piece,” she says. “One of my mantras is that there are no mistakes in mixed media. If you really don’t like something, you can just stick a piece of collage paper over it.”

To learn more about and enroll in Susan Hurwitch’s classes and workshops, visit susanhurwitch.com.

Students create their own masterpieces in classes led by local artist Susan Hurwitch.