Forstall Art Center offers workshops by local, regional artists in March

Andy Forstall, event and social media coordinator of Forstall Art Center, said even though the business has been open for a little under 30 years, it’s moved around quite a bit. 

It was started by her grandmother in New Orleans, and her dad bought a part of the business and brought it to Birmingham, where it moved from Five Points South to Homewood to its current location at 215 20th St. S.

Ever since its beginning in Birmingham, Forstall said, the center has had a focus on offering classes and workshops for locals. 

“We have a variety of local, as well as national, teachers we fly in,” Forstall, who is the workshop and class coordinator, said. “We have maybe six teachers a year coming from out of state, but most are from Alabama.”

Spring is a big time for workshops focused on watercolor and “plein air,” a term used for painting outside, Forstall said.  

“We want to provide a space for people to learn and discover new things. You know, a lot of artists get ‘writer’s block’ and having a workshop or taking a class is an excellent way to get back to it. Learning a new technique or returning to the fundamentals is important,” she said.

Although they use the workshops and classes as a way to get more people to check out their store, Forstall said they also want to show their support for local professional artists who teach and have been buying art products from their store for years. 

She said the store sells fine art supplies for a variety of wet and dry mediums, in addition to custom framing options for artwork.

She said she thinks giving the gift of a workshop at Forstall Art Center is a great idea for friends or family members of artists.

“A lot of people want to buy gifts for the artist in their lives. It can be really difficult picking out supplies because you don’t know what kind of supplies they use, you don’t know their favorite colors. … So you’re giving an experience rather than materials, which can be super personable and really fun,” she said. 

Two of the main March workshops, Forstall said, include an oil or acrylic workshop with locally famous artist David Nichols and a watercolor workshop with the well-known Karen Weir. 

Nichols’ workshop will be on Saturday, March 2, and is a six-hour beginner class all about capturing the sense of the subject through the lens of the artist. Weir’s workshop, on Saturday, March 9, is for all artistic levels and will be about how to create your own artistic journal. 

There will be a few more classes added throughout the month, as well, Forstall said.

Learn about more classes and workshops at forstallart.com. Forstall said to book a spot for a class or workshop, call 870-0480.