A note from Kristin

I guess you could say this began over 10 years ago at the kitchen table, the backyard deck or beneath the grapevines, next to a mud kitchen with my own 2 children. Making art accessible, giving them time to explore and play outside, were my highest parenting priorities. Creating a safe space where they could be messy, barefoot thinkers as they tinkered with their own ideas and learned how to learn. 

One creative space became another as I carved out areas from the corner of the kitchen to a local school garden and church hallway, eventually finding myself as the studio teacher (atelierista) at Room to Grow Preschool for 6 years.

There I worked alongside some amazing early childhood educators and mentors. But it was the children who taught me the most about learning, development and art in practice. I learned how absolutely necessary it was for them to have the time and space to experiment, express themselves and work out what they were absorbing. I learned how they needed repeated exposure to tools and materials to be successful in their creative output. I learned that every time a child walked into the studio they brought with them their own box of skills, previous experiences and ideas waiting to be built upon.

As I continue to forge a path in art education, expanding my reach into the public school system, working with a wider age range of children, I see clearly how necessary creative expression and art truly are. What I hypothesized in my backyard many years ago and studied in a studio hallway was confirmed while teaching middle school art electives in a converted storage room. Children need a safe creative space to experiment, express themselves and work out all that they are absorbing.

Over the years, I have carried this philosophy into every creative space I have had the privilege to build. Today I continue this path in a new vehicle, Wonderflow, and I invite you to take a safe, comfortable and colorful ride with me.

-Kristin Chapman
Studio Teacher @ Wonderflow

This has been in my head for a long time. I have been wanting to build a studio like this… a studio that was a space for real, authentic creativity. A studio that offers an opportunity for exploration and play! A studio that will flourish with every individual that walks through the door to create a thriving creative community. It is starting off tiny but it will grow into something wonderful.