Our Daily Show! Grafton Art Gallery: Drawing for Serious Fun Starts 3-1 w/Meet and Greet
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GRAFTON - The Grafton Art Gallery will host a meet-and-greet ahead of a new “Drawing for Serious Fun” class.
From 1–3 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, 2025, community members are invited to the Grafton Art Gallery at 301 E. Main Street in Grafton for a no-obligation informative meeting about the upcoming drawing classes. Taught by Don Mathenia, the classes are open to adults at any level to enjoy.
“With this class, I’m sure I’ll have people there who I will learn from,” Mathenia said. “I want to learn from people too. Art is never something that’s totally static, never. If it gets to be that, it’s not art anymore.”
The “Drawing for Serious Fun” classes will start on March 10, 2025, and will be held on Mondays and Thursdays. During the meet-and-greet on March 1, Mathenia and Grafton Art Gallery owner Gene Smith will poll attendees to decide what time is best for the classes.
They look forward to meeting interested people and telling them a little more about what to expect. The meet-and-greet will have complimentary refreshments, and all attendees will be entered into a drawing to win a gift certificate and a hat with one of Mathenia’s paintings on it.
Mathenia noted that he is happy to help people with any art project they bring to him, though the focus of the class is drawing. Mathenia and Smith emphasized the importance of drawing as a foundational skill. After teaching junior high and high school art classes for 25 years, Mathenia looks forward to being back in the classroom with students.
“Any kind of painting that involves any even quasi-realism, drawing is the foundational skill. If you can learn to draw, you can learn to paint. That’s the foundation of everything, learning how to balance things out and the eye movement on the piece and that sort of thing,” Mathenia explained. “Perception is the key word because if you can look at it and really understand what you’re looking at, you can draw it. The drawing skill is really in your mind. It's not in your hands. It’s not a tactile thing. The tactile is obviously involved, but that’s not where it comes from.”
Smith said that the Grafton Art Gallery hopes to host more classes going forward. They are currently hosting a “Rules of Abstract Art Workshop” and “Intuitive Painting Workshop” along with the new “Drawing for Serious Fun” classes.
The Grafton Art Gallery opened last year and houses art from many artists around Grafton, including Mayor Mike Morrow, with an emphasis on art by veterans like Morrow and Smith. Smith expressed his excitement to see the gallery grow in the coming years.
“We moved to Grafton almost 20 years ago, and it just seemed like the right place, the right location and the right timing,” he said. “There were a bunch of artists in and around Grafton that we knew of and one thing led to another, and we had some very nice help along the way.”
Smith and Mathenia hope to welcome many people to the meet-and-greet on March 1, where you can learn more about the “Drawing for Serious Fun” classes and get to know some of the artists around Grafton. They look forward to starting the drawing classes on March 10 at the Grafton Art Gallery.
“No two artists specialize in doing the same thing the same way,” Smith added. “They might specialize on the same thing, but they have their own bend. Somebody else being exposed to somebody else’s can only help. It’s been very, very interesting and we’re so looking forward to it.”
For more information about the Grafton Art Gallery or their upcoming classes, visit the official website at GraftonArtGallery.us. Call Jackie Duty at 618-541-9823 with any questions or to reserve your spot in a class.
