Partnerships We’ve Made in The Community: Imitation Studio
Did you know? Mendo LEAP offers art classes!
Meet Portia Schnieder of Imitation Studio
Community partnerships are a huge part of Mendo LEAP’s identity and values, and our collaboration with Portia Schneider of Imitation Studio is a huge part of what makes our Maker Space so special.
Portia is a professional photographer, art history teacher, and Artist at and Owner of Imitation Studio, which offers art classes and photography services. She has traveled all over the world photographing, working, showing art, observing artifacts from ancient cultures, and viewing art from all eras and regions both locationally like Pompeii and in galleries such as the La Louver.
Portia Schneider teaches art classes at Mendo LEAP and advises for our Maker Space
“I love art, making it, seeing it, sharing it, watching others make it. I want to share that joy with others in our community and make more art.”
What We Do Together
Among her many talents and professional offerings, Portia teaches mobile art classes. To our delight, she comes into Mendo LEAP and uses our Maker Space to teach her classes. Portia also advises us on our Maker Space and is actively helping to design our expanded Maker Space for when we move into a larger facility! It's going to be amazing!
Some of the fun things she has planned for our expansion include:
Art Internships
Summer art camps
An Artist-in-Residency program
Much, much more!
We are so excited to be partnering with her!
How it Started
In classic small-town fashion, Portia went to high school with Jonathan, and our kids go to the same school now. One day, we got to talking and realized that our dreams for the region meshed! Portia has a beautiful passion for "the art of art", the healing aspects of art, the developmental instigators of art, and everything in between. All of that meshed with my passion for play. We saw the overlapping themes and realized we could both be more effective at serving the community together!
We started out together by offering Portia's mobile art classes at Mendo LEAP on Thursday mornings in September 2024. The subsequent request for private art lessons was so abundant that we now contract with Portia to offer private and group art lessons in our Maker Space.
Each art course engages students to:
problem solve
engage with others
increase fine motor skills
gain courage to try something new and take risks
open their imagination
help them follow instructions
lengthen their patience
create independent critical-thinking
become effective communicators
be self-directed and motivated
Something we LOVE about Portia’s art classes…
Portia doesn't just teach people how to paint/draw something. She teaches art theory, art history, mixed media, and 3D art. She creates an adaptable art development plan for the specific child and helps them to achieve their artistic goals, no matter the medium.
Keep an eye out for more classes coming up at Mendo LEAP this spring!
