Holiday Keepsakes
Holiday Keepsakes is a hands-on workshop about creating personalized hanging artworks for religious or secular holiday gift giving. Participants will use mini-canvases as foundations, decorating them with paper, paint, ribbon, cord, beads, found objects, and other collage materials. Personal photographs and mementos can also be incorporated, giving them a new life as distinctive ornaments or keepsakes.
The class welcomes all experience levels and requires no prior artistic experience. Registration includes the consumable supplies provided in class, while participants may bring additional personal materials to make their projects more individual.
When: December 13
Showtimes: 1:00–5:00 p.m.
Venue: Pyramid Atlantic Art Center
Tickets: $122
Registration: Registration closes December 6, 2026.
Materials: The registration fee includes a $16 materials fee covering mini-canvases, adhesives, and additional collage materials. Participants may also bring favorite photographs or copies no larger than 3 by 5 inches, along with optional small found objects such as buttons, jewelry, beads, and charms. Favorite papers and collage materials, including old holiday cards, are also welcome.
Experience level: All levels are welcome, and no previous experience is necessary.
Instructor: Sharon Robinson is a Washington, D.C.-area mixed-media, collage, and assemblage artist. Before becoming a full-time artist in 1999, she earned a master’s degree in city planning from MIT and spent 20 years working in urban transit and development on the West Coast. Her experience also includes mural making, teaching, gallery management, and arts-program administration.
Instructor background: Robinson has exhibited extensively on both coasts and teaches mixed-media classes at the Smithsonian, the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, and Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. She serves on the boards of Pyramid Atlantic, the Mount Rainier, Maryland Arts Commission, and SCRAP-USA, a network of nonprofit creative-reuse centers.
Instructor website: More information about Sharon Robinson’s work is available at www.therobinsonstudio.com.
Participant feedback: A past participant praised the workshop for teaching creative ways to work with unconventional materials.