Give your team room to express themselves.
Artist-led creative sketchbook workshops for teams. Every page is personal, and nobody has to share a thing.
Sometimes a color, a song, a familiar image, or a few carefully chosen words is all it takes to slow down and tune in to yourself.
In this guided workshop, each person works in a sketchbook of their own, responding to simple prompts with short writing, collage, and simple drawing. The pages are personal and stay private, so people are free to be honest, playful, and imperfect.
No one needs art experience. There's no right or wrong way to make a page, and artistic perfection is never the goal.
What your team will do
- Respond to gentle prompts with words, color, collage, and simple drawing.
- Fill their own sketchbook pages at their own pace.
- Keep their pages private. Nobody has to show, explain, or share anything.
- Leave with pages that are theirs to keep.
The team shares the time and the experience. What goes on the pages belongs to each person.
What makes this different
It's not a step-by-step craft class, and it's not an icebreaker. Nobody performs, presents, or compares pages. Because the sketchbook is private, people can put down what they actually think and feel, and that's where the freedom comes from.
People who are used to leading get to be beginners alongside everyone else. Every activity can be adapted to your group's size, interests, and comfort level.
Why it works
A real pause in the workday
Making something by hand gives people a break from screens and meetings, and a quiet reset they can feel.
Together, without pressure
The group makes at the same time, guided by the same prompts, and everyone's pages stay their own. Nobody feels like they're being watched or graded.
For managers and team leads
This hour is easy to say yes to. There's no prep for your team and no homework afterward. It works as a staff appreciation gift, a retreat or training-day session, or a pause built into a regular team meeting.
We can shape the length and timing around your schedule, so your people can take the break without it costing you a shift. If you're not sure how it would fit, tell us what your week looks like and we'll suggest options.
Planning a session
Get in touch to talk through your team, your goals, group size, format, materials, and pricing, and we'll shape a session around your people.
About the instructor
Alquemie Arts is led by Karen Spies, an artist with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA from Naropa University. Our approach to art journaling is about personal expression, curiosity, and the freedom to make something honest and imperfect.
We also host events for professionals recovering from corporate burnout. See what's open on Eventbrite.