Pleased to meet you

Who are you?

You are an adult feeling a need to create something with your own hands. It’s been awhile since you’ve felt a rush of creativity, and you are tired of scrolling on your phone looking at other people’s work and still feeling stuck and unsure of how or where to start.

What if you had a studio where you could connect with others through experimentation with different art media and finally create that art that you have been yearning to bring alive?

We’ll welcome you exactly where you are, modifying the ways we teach to meet you at you own unique skill level and providing plenty of opportunity for practice and experimentation with new materials and tools. Mistakes are reframed to be noticed with curiosity instead of shame, so that you feel confident to take the risks needed to grow as an artist.

You bring the soul and we’ll supply the instruction, tools, and materials you need to do the work.

Who's Olivia?

Olivia Vavroch is an artist and educator dedicated to building safe, inclusive communities where people of all ages and abilities can connect with others while engaging in the creative process.

Olivia creates in multiple mediums, including stained glass, watercolor, vocal performance, and the written word. Her work originates from the synthesis and imagination of new, unexpected connections between perceptions, concepts, and subjects. Olivia’s work and performances are encompassed by her intentional, playful - at times mischievous - spirit, borne of improvisation and experimentation of technique and media when applying the familiar in unexpected ways to scaffold empathy and engagement with humanity across the boundaries of geography and time.

Bodies of Work:

Historic Cocktail Project, Mixed Media Collage and Paintings on Canvas and Wooden Panels, 2017.
A study of historical cocktails, their visual and written documentation over time, and how the unique combinations of characters, events, stories, and geography, when combined with a human need for connection led to their surprising origins.

Background

Building a creative space to share

Why A Studio to Share?

Established in August 2016 and open to the public in October 2016, Vavroch Glass & Art Studio is inspired by the salons or gatherings held by artists and thinkers to discuss ideas, processes, and finished works of art and exists with the intention of being a space for artists of all abilities and backgrounds to create and connect.

The Studio exists to remove barriers to the creative process and artistic expression through the use of exceptional instruction and creativity-fueled, hands-on learning. Instruction is always tailored to meet the diverse needs of the those ready to learn, regardless of age, ability, or background.

Simply put, if you are interested and are willing to put forth the effort to learn a new skill, we will provide the tools and instruction for you to make it your own.

Why Art Classes?

As a former elementary school special educator, Olivia Vavroch, of Vavroch Glass, noticed that while the children she taught might struggle to express their learning in traditional ways of writing reports, reading and reciting speeches off of notecards, or completing math work out of a text book, the children were always able to express their learning with distinction when given the opportunity to do so with art.

Could a stained glass studio offer classes with tools inclusive of those with varying levels of backgrounds, abilities, and needs? Absolutely.

Vavroch Glass & Art Studio is built upon the idea of rethinking and reinventing of the ways we create and appreciate art and the creative process.

We demonstrate this by being the first stained glass studio in Portland, Oregon, to offer technique workshops for every stage of the stained glass process. Our intention is to engage anyone interested in learning about stained glass to do so at every stage of the process.

Why Art Nouveau?

During the late 1800's and early 1900's, an artistic revolution was taking place. Quality work no longer had to look realistic or depict mythological and religious scenes. Artwork was created with the intention of being observed and appreciated by the greater masses instead of living in private galleries. The subjects of the artwork expanded to include people in everyday life, nature, and abstracts. Salons, or gatherings, were held to bring people together to discuss and reinvent artistic ideas and methods of the day. Artists began to gain recognition for using old mediums in new ways, new methods, including photography and the copper-foil method for stained glass, were invented. Artists associated with the Art Nouveau era include Tiffany, Monet, Mucha, Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir.

In March 2015, Olivia first shared her idea of an Art Nouveau inspired studio space built on reinventing the ways we create and appreciate art and the creative process.

Why One Big Table?

When working with others on creative pieces and projects, Olivia noticed that conversations emerged, thrived, and challenged those sitting around the table to think flexibly and openly. She observed friendships grow and deepen, and saw that when people left the table, they shared a greater level of compassion and acceptance for one other.

What could happen if that opportunity were open to others?
A revolution.