By Nathaniel Ford :: February 29, 2024
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TOPSFIELD – There’s nothing sketchy about this bunch. In fact, they are all fine, upstanding citizens interested in perfecting their art, raising funds for charity, or both.
At a free community event known as Sketchathon, Slow River Studio on Main street hosts a periodic fun day for charity. The most recent was on February 17.
Slow River Studio is owned by Jess Yurwitz, an Essex resident with over 30 years of teaching experience.
Yurwitz taught middle school art, high school English, and then became a high school principal at New Liberty Innovation School in Salem before opening Slow River Studio in 2019.
And, Yurwitz says, she did it with a goal in mind.
“There’s lots of opportunities for kids, but there are almost none for adults, especially for an adult who is just starting out,” she said.
Many children are exposed to art in school, where they take art classes throughout elementary, middle, and even high school.
For adults, most of the classes offered are advanced and for people who already take art.
One of these adults is Liz Valentine, who has taken 10 classes at the studio with many different teachers. She has also attended every Sketchathon.
“Everybody is so friendly, and everybody is so encouraging. They meet you where you’re at, whether you’re a beginner or advanced. There is a lot of individual attention to where your level is,” she said.
Providing adults, particularly beginners, with a place to create art was the reason for opening the studio. Now, they have 42 classes every week, and almost 350 students attend from all over the area.
Since relocating to their Topsfield studio over a year ago, they have been hosting the Sketchathon event twice annually. This one was their fourth.
The studio is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the event, and there are four three-hour shifts to sign up for. Around 100 people attend each Sketchathon, and approximately $4,000 is raised.
The money earned this time went to Future Forward for Haiti, which builds schools and provides meals for the students.
Huntley Skinner, 70 of Wenham, is a board member for the nonprofit, and she is a student at Slow River.
“I got to know the studio and built a nice relationship with the community. I told them I do this [Future Forward for Haiti], and they said it would fit great with the Sketchathon,” said Skinner.
Skinner is in charge of the nonprofit’s Packathon in the North Shore, a two-day event where they pack rice, beans, and vitamins to send to Haiti. They prepare between 50,000 and 100,000 meals for the communities they support.
The money earned at Sketchathon through the purchasing of artwork is donated to the charity.
Once a sketch is finished, it is stuck to the wall and can be bought by anyone. The art that fills the walls of the studio is left up for the entire month of February.
All different types of work are created. Attendees sit down at large tables, and the day is filled with conversation, laughter, and plenty of art created.
“There’s a lot of energy around art, and everyone is having a good time with it. It really captures the fun aspects of art,” said Mel McFrazier, a student from Hamilton, who has taken five classes at Slow River.
McFrazier is the mother of two daughters: 9-year-old Elsa and 7-year-old Nico. They have come to every Sketchathon, and Nico has been the youngest to attend every one.
She consistently creates the most sketches, making over 20 this year. She puts all of her work in one row on the studio wall, creating a gallery of her own.
Sketchathon is an opportunity for studio teachers, students from different classes, and community members who do not typically take classes at Slow River Studio to create art together in one room.
“The best part of Sketchathon for me is that I get to see all of the students in one place. I miss the students,” said Yurwitz. “I see them for my class, and then they move on to a different teacher, and I don’t see them anymore.”
Nathaniel Ford is a journalism student at Endicott College
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