COMMUNITY STUDIOS
The AS220 Community Studios are currently open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays from 10AM to 8 PM. There are different levels of access to our spaces depending on your membership level - please see our membership options below!
Community Studios is an art + design program for adults ages 18 and up looking to learn, practice, and grow their skills as artists. We are committed to providing programming that centers Black and Brown people, those who are formerly incarcerated, parents, and anyone else who has limited access to the arts, for whatever reason.
Our facilities include a printshop, fabrication lab, media arts studio, darkroom, visual arts studio, and an apparel design studio. We offer affordable access to equipment and education in the areas of printmaking, visual arts, music, woodworking, media, photography, apparel, maker technology, and more.
The AS220 Community Studios are located at AS220’s Mercantile Block building, 131 Washington Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Our Printshop, Fab Lab, Media Arts Lab, and staff offices are located here. The entrance is located at the rear of the building on Lucie Way. The Darkroom is located a few blocks away at AS220’s Empire Street Complex, 115 Empire Street in downtown Providence.
FREE CLUB220 MEETUPS
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Based Stitches: A Sewing Primer
A sewing group to teach you how to use and care for a sewing machine, exploration of tools, sewing feet, materials, needle sizes & weights, matching fabric to needles, the importance of hand sewing, finishing stitches. online and in-person sewing resources. This club is for mostly very-beginners or early sewists of any gender, make or model. Participants can bring their own portable sewing machine if they don't want to use the ones on hand.
Instructor:
My name is Keri Marion. I've been altering my clothes my whole life for a variety of reasons - I started using a sewing machine to make and repair clothing and household items in the 90s, and started developing my own wardrobe in the aughts. I love to repurpose materials like bedsheets or vintage linens. More than anything, though, I very much dislike to spend unnecessary money and time on preventable issues, so I like to maintain my machines and tools to have them continue to serve me dutifully.
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Political Comics
Learn how to create political or non-fiction comics from start to finish. They will use oral history, research and personal memory as a basis to narrate and share compelling real-life stories. Participants will also learn comic techniques including character design, panelling, inking, colour theory and lettering. Traditional methods (pencil and ink) will be used, students will have the opportunity to digitize their work at the end. No drawing experience necessary!
Instructor:
Dr Lakshmi Bose is an independent artist and former lecturer in political sociology at the University of Cambridge, where she remains a consultant at the Hannah Arendt Consortium on Crisis and Political Transformation. She works across a variety of mediums, including theatre, film, and visual arts to foster nuanced public conversations around philosophy, politics, and social transformation. She also writes and illustrates non-fiction political comics based on her original research on revolution.
BECOME A MEMBER
CURRENT WORKSHOPS
PURCHASE SUPPLIES
PRINTSHOP
The AS220 Community Printshop offers affordable public access to printmaking workshops, equipment, and space in the areas of silkscreen, letterpress, offset, intaglio, relief printing, monotype, and bookbinding.
MEDIA ARTS
The Media Arts Studio offers affordable public access to workshops, equipment, and space related to photography, audio and video production, and computer / web applications.
FAB LAB
The Fab Lab offers affordable public access to workshops, tools, and space related to digital and traditional fabrication and making including laser cutting, vinyl cutting, CNC routing, 3D printing, and woodworking.
DARKROOM
