Last Spring I took a ceramics class at the 92nd Street Y, some of you may remember the piece I wrote about my experience (here’s looking at you, Mom). If not, here’s a refresher: (Precious Clay Moments). I absolutely loved it – working with my hands, creating pieces that I now drink out of, serve hummus in, and just generally brag about, and spending time in a studio in New York City with people I likely wouldn’t otherwise meet. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard about this furniture painting class over on East 91st Street…

After the initial thrill, I hesitated. Partly because I Googled “what is furniture painting” and it looked out of my league, and partly because this intro class meets once a week (Wednesday nights, 6pm-9pm) for ten weeks. I’m 28-years-old and the most expensive thing I own is a cat after all—who KNOWS where I’ll be in ten weeks! After careful analysis of my last 40 ten-week periods, I decided I was perfectly capable of such commitment and should some opportunity arise like a writing job on my favorite sitcom in Los Angeles before the ten weeks was over, I’d justify it as an “extenuating circumstance.”

So far I’m two classes in and I know without a doubt that I made the right decision (no sitcom job offer yet). The Isabel O’Neil Studio Workshop offers a series of classes in the art of decorative painting. For some, that may conjure up images of their grandmother’s house, which isn’t totally off base, but also isn’t at all comprehensive – decorative painting can be modern and even funky. The studio has been open since 1955 and the classes are structured with laid out lesson plans based on the theory of painting that defines this studio. The intro class covers all of the aspects of preparing the piece, sanding, shellacking, and painting many coats, as well as decorating with striping, antiquing, waxing, and varnishing. You walk in with a useful piece and you walk out with a work of art.

You need to bring a piece of furniture to class to paint. They recommend something “interesting” which I now know means a piece with some level of detail because we’ll be painting our pieces one color and then we’ll use another color to do lines on some of the natural details of the piece. Without that knowledge, I went to Goodwill which I’ve always found to be an “interesting” experience, and got a small bookshelf that I can imagine putting under a low window with plants sitting on top. When I strolled into the studio on the first day with my black spray painted Goodwill piece and saw my painting station prepared and waiting for me with brushes, sandpaper, and other tools all laid out, I knew that this bookshelf and I were going to be a little less rough-around-the-edges when we walked out together in ten weeks.

In all of the classes – art, writing, performing – that I’ve taken in my adult life, the recurring complaint is always that there’s not enough personal attention. Especially when you’re learning something new, this can be tough. This class is the complete opposite. There are six women in the class (including me) and we have one teacher, Casey, plus three to four additional studio people (well, other teachers) that are there to help. What’s more, they truly love what they do and love helping other people with their pieces. “Nora, would you like me to shellac the other side while you do that one so that it dries in time to get the first coat of paint on tonight?” By all means!

Most of the time – if we’re not mixing colors or cleaning our brushes or perusing the painting books in the studio’s library – we’re all at our stations sanding, shellacking, or painting. There is relaxing music playing in the background – last week I blew away the masses when I chimed in, “Is this, by chance, George Winston?” and got it right. There is conversation going on as we all get to know each other – the two friends from Connecticut, the Latin teacher from the Upper West Side, the women with kids the same age. And then there are times when you zone out making brush strokes. Last week, towards the end of the class where we’d sanded, shellacked, and painted all in one day, our teacher said, “Don’t worry, next week will be less hectic.” I can’t help but wonder if we’ll all be taking muscle relaxants at that class.

So after two weeks, this class has hooked me. Stay tuned for another check-in in a couple of weeks.

The Isabel O’Neil Studio Workshop
315 East 91st Street
212-348-4464