Making Magic from the Mess: The Art of Creating Beauty from Anything in Life - Winter 2025

Location:
Arts Wayland Gallery
35 Andrew Ave., Wayland MA 01778

Instructor: Isabel Zhang

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Cancellation Policy

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Description: 

Life is messy. So is art, paint spills, paper torn, plans that don’t go as expected. Does your child know that messy can still be magical?
In this hands-on workshop, they’ll explore how to create beauty from whatever life brings, on the canvas and beyond it. They’ll explore what it means to create, not complain and to find gold in the cracks.

Rooted in neuroscience and social-emotional learning, this workshop helps children strengthen the brain pathways for resilience, confidence, and creativity. Through guided art challenges, storytelling, and reflection, they discover that mistakes and messes are not failures. They are opportunities for creativity and possibilities. 

Each child walks away with a tangible creation and a deeper truth: They are the artist of their own life, powerful, capable, and free to create beauty from anything that comes their way.

The workshop brings out explicitly the tangible connections between “art is life” and “life is art.” Children learn to transform everyday life into a masterpiece. They learn that there are no mistakes, only masterpieces waiting to be created and found. 

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A tailored bio specific to this workshop series: 

Isabel Zhang is a firm believer that art is not just what we create, it’s how we live. Our life is our own unique masterpiece. A published peer-reviewed research author in The Journal of Nutrition as well as Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Isabel has also co-authored an Amazon #1 best-selling book specifically benefiting Hayden’s Ray, a nonprofit organization in Arkansas USA. She self published, authored, and illustrated a children’s book “Icky Colors in My Food”, aiming specifically to educate and spark healthy conversations with young kids about healthy nutrition and toxic food dyes.

Her love for art was apparent at a young age, from sewing clothes for her dolls to her sketches and writings, to internships in art museums (The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Rubin Museum of Art) in New York City. Today, Isabel continues to nurture her love for the arts through writing, sketching, acrylic painting, watercolor painting, and dancing, weaving those creative endeavors into her work with children. Isabel is a firm believer that art can open minds, build empathy, and tell the story of the human experience that perhaps human language cannot encapsulate.

Any and all learning can be exponentiated when it is research-based. In this workshop series, Isabel integrates neuroscience, psychology, social emotional intelligence and leadership with art to strengthen empathy, confidence, focus, and resilience. Foundation to any youth programming by Isabel is the intentional highlights from the CASEL 5 for social emotional competences: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. In the end, it’s not about what we know, but how we navigate life’s challenges, with awareness and heart. These are the life tools Isabel wants every child to carry. Isabel is firmly committed to creating partnerships with parents so as to not have the lessons learned each week stay in isolation, instead that they lead to growth and expansion for all children. 

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Testimonies

"The content is good and is giving him positive ideas of situations. 
He is talking more about positive enforcement. 
He is able to label his situation and emotions. 
He is getting more mature with all of this. 
Good topic and can positively impact in the long-term. 
I flag your email. Even myself I am learning!" - Elias' mother

"I have been very happy with the way Andrew is reacting to the classes. He’s been more thoughtful and every time I ask him what he thinks about the program - he’s been very positive! He’s been of main focuses for me with Andrew has been around taking responsibility and making sure he stay honest and keeps his word. I think he’s been doing much better lately!" - Andrew's father