Workshops & Listening Sessions
Hands-on creative experiences that invite community members to make, move, reflect, and connect.
A House Unbuilt hosts workshops, open gatherings, and listening sessions that bring artists and community members together through shared creative exploration. These offerings vary throughout the year and may include movement practices, printmaking, ecological storytelling, signal flag activities, guided listening, or public conversations led by AHU or visiting artists.
Listening Sessions provide a facilitated space to share stories, experiences of place, and reflections on water, landscape, and belonging. Workshops create low-barrier opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to engage directly in artmaking and embodied inquiry.
All programs are designed to be free or low-cost, accessible, and participatory—cultivating spaces where community members become not just viewers of art, but active makers, collaborators, and co-thinkers.
Upcoming Offerings
Workshops and sessions are announced seasonally and respond to current residencies, exhibitions, and community partnerships.
Host a Workshop or Listening Session
If you would like to propose a workshop or listening session at the Art & Water Space, please contact:
studiomanager@ahouseunbuilt.com
July 8-10 & August 5-7 | Summer Painting Workshops with Megan Miller
Session One. A great opportunity to start wherever you’re at. Megan will break down how to start a painting, creating positive mindset and dynamic compositions. Finding ways for your paintings to come together with ease. Trees and their various forms and color will be the focus. Beginner to intermediate. Together with Megan, you will practice small paintings and sketches. She will paint a demo and you will have a JOYFUL place to learn. Megan will be working in oil, and other mediums are welcome. *Bringing your own supplies allows you to choose materials that best fit your preferences and needs.
Trees Shapes – Session One
July 8th, 9th, and 10th
9am – 11:30am, Cost $300
Session Two. Missed the first session? No worries. Join in and we will continue to break down the steps of painting with ease and joy. Together with plein air expert Megan Miller, you will talk and learn about cloud formations and how to paint and sketch them. Color studies and composition will be paired with a continued practice of looping mediation into your painting practice. Together with Megan you will talk about what lights your creative fire and how you can paint what you are excited about. *Bringing your own supplies allows you to choose materials that best fit your preferences and needs.
Studying Clouds – Session Two
August 5th, 6th, and 7th
9am – 11:30am, Cost $300
Megan Miller, Landscape Painter and Instructor, grew up in River Falls, Wisconsin where her love for the Midwest landscape began—bundled in snow beneath pine trees, watching the world shift with the seasons. She studied Fine Art and Interior Design at UW-Stout and now paints and teaches from her studio in Stillwater, MN. Her work is rooted in a deep connection to place, inspired by the quiet beauty and memory held in the land. She loves helping students find their unique voice and vision.
The workshops will be held at the Art & Water Space (across from Megan Miller’s painting studio). Ages 16 to 106 are welcome! Come as you are. Email meganmillerfineart@gmail.com to reserve your spot. Class size limited. You will receive a confirmation email that your spot has been reserved and payment information.
August 15 & 29 | Movement Workshops with Victoria Bradford Styrbicki
How Do We Move Through This?
A Movement Workshop Series on Water, Grief, and Collective Repair
How Do We Move Through This? is a participatory movement workshop inviting youth and adults to explore their relationship to water, community, and change through embodied learning. Developed by interdisciplinary artist and choreographer Victoria Bradford Styrbicki, the workshop draws from her semaphore-inspired choreographic framework, in which coded gestures communicate messages that cannot always be spoken aloud.
The workshop introduces students to the idea that water holds memory — of storms, pollution, healing, migration, and care — and that our own bodies also carry stories shaped by our environments. Using simple movement scores, flag-based signaling, and creative improvisation, participants translate feelings such as grief, resilience, fear, and hope into physical form.
Session One | Youth
Saturday, August 15 | 11am – 1pm
Session Two | Adults
Saturday, August 29 | 11am – 1pm
Victoria Bradford Styrbicki (b. 1980)is an interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, and founder of A House Unbuilt, whose work bridges embodied practice, environmental listening, and community-based research. Through large-scale, site-responsive projects rooted in river systems and watershed ecologies, she creates participatory frameworks that connect personal narrative, collective memory, and place.
The workshops will be held at the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization Stormwater Park and Learning Center (MWMO). Email Michelle Spangler: MSpangler@mwmo.org to reserve your spot. Class size limited.
August 29 – October 3 | Guided Meditation with Matt Dooley
Saturdays, 4 – 5pm
Art & Water Space
Join us for a series of guided meditations in the gallery led by artist and yoga teacher Matt Dooley. We will begin with a grounding ceremony, followed by a half-hour sit intended to drop us into the present moment and become witness to our surroundings and who we truly are. Please arrive at least ten minutes early to get settled in. Cushions and chairs will be provided. Free of Charge.
Matt Dooley is an artist, professor, and yoga teacher living in River Falls, Wisconsin. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska and currently works as a professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Over ten years ago, he began studying art and pottery and continues making hand-built ceramic vessels that reference ancient pottery traditions of Asia and the Americas. Through this work, his cartography began to move into the artistic space, creating maps from black powder and clay that highlight the importance of river systems and the destructive nature of humans.
October 10 | Nature Journaling Workshop with Emily Hayne
Join Emily for an introductory nature journaling workshop. During this workshop, explore your relationship with water and learn how to share this story by using words, numbers, and images in a nature journal. Emily believes nature journaling invites people to observe the world with intention, curiosity, and playfulness and she is excited to share this practice with others. Participants should bring a journal and writing utensils (e.g., pencils, pens, markers, and/or watercolors) and they should be prepared to be indoors and outdoors.
- Date and Time: October 10th, 10am – 12pm
- Location: A House Unbuilt Art & Water Space, 321 Main Street S, Suite 204, Stillwater, MN 55082
- Audience: Adults (18+)
- Participants: up to 15
- Fee: Free
Emily Hayne is a researcher, environmental educator, and creative. Emily earned a Ph.D. from the College of Health and Human Development at The Pennsylvania State University. During her studies, Emily explored the different ways nature journaling facilitates relationships between people, nature, and place and how those relationships impact wellbeing. Emily taught pre-K to adults throughout the midwest, and enjoys leading nature-based learning experiences that nurture a sense of place and belonging. Emily works as a naturalist and office coordinator at Belwin Conservancy in Afton, Minnesota.
Email victoria@ahouseunbuilt.com to reserve your spot for Nature Journaling with Emily Hayne. Class size is limited.
PAST WORKSHOPS
May 23 & 24 | Charcoal Pouring Workshop with Resident Artist Kimberly Wetzel
This two-part workshop will cover the the charcoal pouring process and experimental drawing techniques. We will spend the first session learning how to charcoal pour and creating unique textures on paper. The second session will utilize collage techniques to create landscapes out of our charcoal pours. Participants will leave the workshop with several completed pieces.
May 23rd & 24th, 2pm – 4pm
10 participants max, must attend both sessions