Stay-at-Home Order Leads to Innovative Artist Gatherings
For several years, a group of artists have gathered every Thursday evening at Downtown Plano’s Rail Station Studios to paint together. They paint for three hours based on a live model, improving their skills, offering tips to one another and enjoying companionship. But since the pandemic began, the artists have obviously been unable to meet up in-person to paint.
Like so many organizations, the group decided to host virtual meetups. The image of a model is emailed to everyone beforehand, and they hop on Zoom at 6 p.m. every Thursday to paint. At 30-minute intervals, the artists stop to share their work and receive feedback as they normally would if they were in the same room.
“We feel this is an innovative way to continue to practice and improve our artwork under very unexpected circumstances,” Gene Dillard, artist-in-residence at Rail Station Studios, shared.
The Plano group has drawn interest from fellow artists. Out-of-state painters are now requesting to join their group, and they are looking to see how an expanded group might work logistically.
In a time when maintaining a feeling of community is so difficult, the painters provide the hope that we can stay connected – we just have to get a little more creative than we used to.
Participation in the group is limited as the group is still establishing process parameters. Interested artists may send an email requesting more information.
Rail Station Studios >
Rail Station Studios
1013 15th Place #101
Plano, Texas 75074
