Art Studio Teens (12-15)

Our approach

Teens constantly face expectations — from school, family, the world around them. At Nest, art becomes a pressure-free space where they can slow down, explore, and create at their own pace.

Each student starts from what truly interests them. They can choose their own theme, or take an assignment from the teacher if they'd rather have a starting point. The teacher doesn't dictate; they guide, helping turn "I don't know how" into "look what I made".

Learning happens through iteration: a quick sketch, thoughtful feedback, a stronger new version. We teach not just how to draw, but how to use feedback as a creative tool.

What we'll learn

We build real fundamentals, not just projects:

• perspective, proportion and tonal work, using basic forms like the cube, cylinder and sphere
• colour theory and mixing
• composition, light and balance
• drawing from observation and from imagination

We try different materials — markers, coloured pencils, pastels, watercolour, acrylics — so everyone finds what suits them.

Our studio walls always have artwork on them, some classical, some contemporary, so there's always something worth looking at.

About the teacher

Ksenia has been teaching for more than ten years, with students of every age, and she is a working artist herself.

She trained at an art school, then studied Fashion Design at college and university. What stayed with her from those years wasn't the fashion. It was her painting and drawing teachers.

She works mainly in oil painting, sketching and graphic drawing, and takes part in plein air residencies and exhibitions in the Netherlands and Russia.

In class she is warm and well organised. She teaches the academic fundamentals properly, but the lessons are playful, and the point is that each student ends up with a voice of their own.

Ksenia holds a Certificate of Conduct (VOG) issued for working with minors in an educational setting. She teaches in Dutch, English and Russian.

Community and atmosphere

Groups are small, up to ten students, so nobody disappears into the back row.

We spend real time on how to give feedback and how to take it. Students look at each other's work and talk about it, which is usually where the best ideas come from.

Teens do better work when nobody's grading it, so grades stay out of the room entirely.

At the end of the school season we hold a student exhibition in the studio. Everyone picks a piece they're proud of, and we hang it properly.

Who this course is for

Teens aged 12 to 15 who love to draw and want to get better at it.

Ages are a guide rather than a rule. If your teen is close to the boundary, or is sixteen, write to us and we'll tell you which group fits.

Lessons and dates

Block 1 runs on 17, 24 September and 1, 8 October. That's what you're signing up for below.

After that, lessons continue in blocks of four. Block 2 is 22, 29 October and 5, 12 November; Block 3 is 19, 26 November and 3, 10 December. You decide about each one separately, and we'll ask you before it starts.

We follow the Noord-Holland school holidays and public holidays, so there are no lessons on those days.

A missed lesson can't be moved to another date or made up in the other group.

Materials

Materials are included. Later on we may suggest one or two personal items, like a sketchbook your teen keeps and takes home. We'll always say what it is and roughly what it costs before you buy anything, and it stays optional.

Payment

If it turns out not to suit your teen, tell us after the first or second lesson and we refund the lessons left in the block at €24 each.

After that there's still nothing to commit to. You pay for the next block if your teen wants to keep going. Once you start a second block, that block is paid in full.

Later in the season we'll add a monthly subscription for parents who'd rather not think about it each time. It will be optional, and we'll ask you before anything changes.