Inspired by the iconic tiling found along the daily commute, a Queens-based art initiative is bringing the craft of mosaic-making directly to local residents. <\/p>\n
On the Easel, a mobile art studio run by owner and instructor Justin Kinney, hosts hands-on classes designed to make subway-style mosaic art approachable for the general public.<\/p>\n
Kinney developed the curriculum after observing the detailed mosaic work on subway station walls and realizing the technique could be taught to beginners. <\/p>\n
He invested his available resources into glass tiles, clippers, and adhesives to launch the workshops. Kinney, who describes himself as a \u201cweekend warrior\u201d rather than a formally trained artist with a degree, has been hosting community classes for over a decade, focusing on social interaction and skill-building.<\/p>\n
Creative Outlets in Local Breweries<\/p>\n
Currently, the mosaic workshops operate out of third-party venues in Long Island City. Classes are regularly held at Focal Point Beer Co on 12th Street and The Greats of Craft on Center Boulevard, as well as in Kinney\u2019s personal art studio. <\/p>\n
The setting provides a relaxed environment where participants can step away from the fast pace of the city.<\/p>\n
The approachable nature of the medium is a core part of the business model. Kinney noted that his primary goal is to see people walk in doubting their abilities and leave feeling confident in what they have created. <\/p>\n
For many attendees, the sessions serve as a new avenue for creative expression. Oscar, a participant attending his fifth session, said he initially wanted to explore new creative outlets. \u201cI had no idea what I was getting myself into. It\u2019s been a lot of fun. It was super accessible and Justin has helped us all along the way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inspired by the iconic tiling found along the daily commute, a Queens-based art initiative is bringing the craft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64,116111],"class_list":["post-347682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-videoarticle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}