About this Event
🎨 Join our weekly painting class to explore your inner self and creativity in a supportive and inspiring environment. No prior art experience necessary - these weekly classes are perfect for all! Space is limited. Reserve your spot now! ✨
Event Details:
⏰ Dates & Time:
New weekly class series begin on the dates and times shown above. We have classes on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Check our schedule for specific dates/holidays during each series.
🗓️ Duration of series: 4-weeks or 8-weeks.
📍Location: In-studio classes are held at our painting studio in Glen Park, SF at 300 Chenery Street. Most classes can also be taken online via Zoom.
🧑🏽🎨What is intuitive painting? In our painting, there is a lot of permission to explore and create. This is not a typical ‘art’ class in which you will learn techniques and methods of painting; instead you will be expertly guided to tap in and listen to your intuition and paint from your heart. We learn to pay attention to our own intuitive voice that is free from beliefs and concepts. In this way paintings happen spontaneously, unplanned and unexpected!
🖌️ All materials provided (high quality paint, brushes, paper, smocks) - just bring yourself! Our experienced facilitators will guide those new to intuitive painting and/or new to painting at home.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"I've been painting at the studio (both virtual and in-person) for less than a year and have received so many gifts already as a result of the process. It's POWERFUL. It's beyond putting paint to paper. It has changed my outlook both in class and out in the wider world.
Claudia lovingly guides you towards your own intuition so that you can re-learn to trust your instinct and remember what feels good. Then you paint it. It's play, it's meeting the dark parts of you with love, it's coming home to yourself.
It's hard to put the experience into words. You should try it for yourself, everyone gets something different in each class. You will have fun painting -- it's about the experience of creating rather than an end product. And that's so freeing. It takes the pressure off. We don't do much in life just for ourselves, just for the joy of existing. It feels great not to "produce" and just to be. And to have a welcoming, safe space to do that through art. Sometimes we paint things that we couldn't speak with words." - Megan B.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"I don't know where to start really -- this place is magical. I came across the painting studio after going down a rabbit hole on google titled "how to get out of my head and back into my art." Not only has this experience given me back the childlike joy from putting color on paper, but it has allowed me to face the challenges that come up when you're a perfectionist, or your mind is scattered, or you just don't know where to go next and you want to stop.
If you've never painted before, if you are an experienced artist, or if you are just curious, this place is for you. They have 4 and 8 week classes where you get to watch yourself unfold, or try their once a month drop-in class, where you get guidance from CCE team members." - Sabrina K.
About us
Established in 1999, the painting studio is a lively place filled with light, color, and the warmth of a community sharing a space in which to explore the creative process. The Center for Creative Exploration is a nonprofit organization that values freedom of expression with brush in hand and beyond. We are committed to creating a sense of community in our painting studio where people feel comfortable to be themselves in whatever way they choose. We are committed to providing an affirming, welcoming, and accessible studio for all people through co-creation and open communication.
We offer weekly adult classes, community classes, workshops, retreats and kids/family classes. Check out our upcoming events here!
🖌️ For additional information on intuitive painting and our studio, please visit our website or email [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram & Facebook for glimpses of the studio, painter stories, and updates on new classes!
Our teachers
Claudia Erzinger is a teacher and the Executive Director at The Center for Creative Exploration. She first found her way to CCE in 2000, painting with Barbara Kaufman, one of the school’s founders, and has been teaching the intuitive painting process since 2006. Her approach is deeply shaped by years of study with Michele Cassou, founder ofthe Point Zero painting method, as well as a lifelong devotion to healing, presence, and deep listening.
For most of her adult life, Claudia has worked as a hospice nurse, walking closely with people through some of life’s most tender and profound moments. Her path has also included the study of meditation, Buddhism, yoga, and soul-centered inquiry. Claudia brings a quiet depth, warmth, and spaciousness to her work, supporting painters in listening inward, trusting the unknown, and discovering what wants to emerge through the creative process.
Maria Freebairn-Smith is a teacher and Outreach Director at The Center for Creative Exploration, and one of the original founders of the CCE community. She has been painting and teaching the intuitive painting process for over 30 years and participated in the first teacher training for The Painting Experience with Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley.
Maria’s life and work have long been devoted to creativity, learning, and community. Alongside helping shape CCE, she has supported children and families through educational and arts-based programs, including Drawbridge and The Open Circle Cooperative Preschool in San Francisco. Later, while raising her family in Sonoma County, she founded The Creative Parenting Center and helped establish Sunridge, a Waldorf-inspired charter school.
Drawing from a lifetime of exploration in body, breath, creativity, and human development, Maria brings a grounded and deeply attentive presence to her teaching, supporting painters in listening inward and trusting their own process.
Erika Jenssen is a Bay Area native who has engaged in process painting since 2001 when she attended a workshop at Esalen with Stewart Cubley. Over the years, during her career in Public Health, she returned again and again to process painting for self discovery, rejuvenation, and to return to her spiritual center. In 2023, she began training to facilitate and teach this intuitive process, and will complete a Practicum Program with the Painting Experience this year. She is delighted to be offering process painting at the Women's Cancer Resource Center in Berkeley, at retreats, and at The Center for Creative Exploration.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Center for Creative Exploration, 300 Chenery Street, San Francisco, United States
USD 250.00
