Mary Krohnert - The LivingRoom Community Art Studio

​The LivingRoom Community Art Studio is a registered not for profit that provides people from all walks of life - including those who are most marginalized - with a safe space to make and share art for free.  We believe that everyone is an artist, regardless of age, ability or training, and that when people are given the space, materials and time to come together in order to express themselves and share their skills and stories with one another that they change their lives - and their communities - for the better.  The LivingRoom is located in Oshawa at 149 Simcoe Street South, and is open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10am to 6pm, with Pay-What-You-Can community led workshops occurring every Saturday.  We also arrange private "Closed" Studio time for various community organizations (like groups from the YWCA and Community Living Oshawa/Clarington) upon request, and host special events like concerts, vendor markets, open mic nights and studio chats outside of regular studio hours.  To keep up to date with our activities and special events sign up for The LivingRoom's newsletter and like our Facebook Page.  To get a taste of what the studio offers watch this clip from Channel 12's visit to the Studio.

Mary Krohnert is a professional actor, art therapist and Coordinator for The LivingRoom Community Art Studio Project.  She has spent much of her professional life exploring ways to connect her passions so that she can support and serve audience members and clients alike, with the understanding that voicing one' s experiences of self in the witnessing presence of others can bring about healing and creative growth for all.  Early in her training as an art therapist Mary was introduced to the work of Dr. Janis Timm-Bottos and learned that it was indeed possible to do just that.  Janis teaches in the creative art therapies department at Concordia University where she researches how Community Art Studios (also called Art Hives) encourage community development and over all well being for the individuals and families who make use of them.  After travelling to Montreal in 2013 to study the Art Hive movement with Janis, Mary returned home determined to create a space in Oshawa like those she'd experienced in Montreal.  The LivingRoom Community Art Studio was formed that fall with the support of founding board members Szanne McNutt, Steve Longauer and Carol Vandersanden, with the storefront studio opening in the following fall of 2014 as a pilot project funded by The Ontario Trillium Foundation!  Visit Art Hives to learn more about how they inspired Mary and the LivingRoom project.