In my school we actually have a class called Open Studio.
However, in one of my emails to the list I was suggesting
that an afterschool time be set out so that students could
come into the art room in an Open Studio environment and
work on their projects, and compared that to an Art Club
with purpose and not just the making of art(and hence
cutting into your enrollment) in an art club.
As for my class called Open Studio, students are enrolled
through a combination of two things, 1st they must have had
at least 4 art courses (ours our semester courses) and then
be recommended by the art teacher (there are two of us). The
class does have specific projects, themes and issues to work
on, specifically geared to students intending to go on to
college to major in art...with an emphasis on individual
portfolio preparation.
Over the years, with more and more students driving and
working afterschool, my Open Studio hours have been severely
cut. 20 years ago it was not uncommon to have 20 kids
afterschool working on a variety of class assignments. These
students were not engaged in Art Club activities, which took
up additional time on a specific day(s) for specific
community assignments (sets for plays, flyers, posters,
bulletin boards, holiday door decorating,etc).
