North Shore Volunteer Spotlight: Katie Schofield

Although most of our volunteers come in every week on a long-term basis, we also have short-term volunteer opportunities available. Wisconsin artist Katie Schofield (pictured on the left above) took advantage of one of those when passing through Chicagoland this spring.

Katie is purveyor of The Cocoonery, an art studio plus community art space in Reedsburg, WI where she leads monthly art/craft workshops.The North Shore studio invites a different artist into the studio each month to introduce a new skill, so back in March Katie stopped by for a day and did a demonstration and workshop on bookbinding. She worked with the artists to create the sketchbooks being used in our Sketchbook Swap with the Chicago studio, which will culminate in a collaborative exhibition at the North Shore studio in September.  

 “I was glad to work with the North Shore artists on a project that is helping them build community with the Chicago studio,” Katie said. The artists really enjoyed the bookbinding process. Emily Aussem reported that “doing the actual work of putting the books together was fun.” Nikole Heusman “liked that we used different materials, like cereal boxes” and noted that Katie did a nice job of showing everyone the steps to make a book. 

If you’re ever in Reedsburg, WI, stop by the Cocoonery and give Katie a high-five for helping us build community through art making. 

Do you have an art skill you’d like to share with our artists through a demonstration? We’re always looking for experts to school us on unique art forms! Get in touch with our Arts Coordinator, John Sharp (jsharp@artsoflife.org) to propose a workshop.