Create a Memor-Zine with Nick | Open Experimental Studio

Saturday, June 7, 2–3:30 pm. – Spatial Poetics I: Memor-Zine with Nick

Reflect on home and explore memory at this relaxed zine making workshop where you'll cut, design, print, and draw in your own mini-booklet based on personal experiences.

Free and open to all--great for families!

LSU College of Art & Design’s 2025 Open Experimental Studio kicks off during Free First Sunday, June 1, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. in Glassell Gallery with open make sessions, a sculpture challenge, and fifteen-minute practice talks with 2025 resident artists Nicholas Roberts and Damien Mitchell.

Designer and Assistant Professor of Industrial Design Damien Mitchell and LSU School of Art MFA ‘26 printmaker Nicholas Roberts will set up open studios in Glassell Gallery, located in the Shaw Center for the Arts, throughout the month of June. From June 1–28, the gallery will offer open studio space for visitors to design and make, scheduled workshops, and collaborative projects that will be facilitated by the artists over their month-long residency.

The gallery will feature a design and sketch station, a mend and repair station, and a cardboard construction station. Damien Mitchell will set up a mend and repair station welcoming participants to learn to creatively mend their own textiles. His tapestry will invite collaborative interventions and welcome found materials to support his own 3D-printed and handcrafted footwear designs. Nicholas Roberts will mine memory and domestic spaces inviting the community to collaboratively construct a life size cardboard fort, materialize and memorialize shared spaces and structures, make zines, and print with Legos. Together, Mitchell and Roberts’ make sessions invite participants to use domestic materials to explore the poetic and industrial through soft and structural design.

Open Experimental Studio seeks not only to activate the gallery but to activate creative experimentation. It offers visitors the opportunity to experiment with artmaking, community building, and contributing their work to the space. The Open Experimental Studio values process over product, experience over outcome, and communing over consuming. It seeks to create a supportive, open space for playful material exploration through making that is open and welcoming to all.

The 2025 Open Experimental Studio is supported by the Charles Lamar Family Foundation.

Special Programming Schedule

Sunday, June 1, 1–5 p.m. Open Experimental Studio Kick Off with Nick and Damien

Design, construct, sketch, and mend as we kick off our four-week open experimental studio residencies. Free and open to all.

1:00-2:00 – Open Make Session

2:00-3:00 – Sculpture Challenge

3:00-3:30 – 15-Minute Artist Talks

3:30-5 – Open Make Session

Thursday, June 5, 4–6 pm. – Family Build Night: Box Fort Building with Nick

Families and friends are invited to this free-build as our life-size fort begins to take shape. Test out our chomp saw and cardboard construction zone. Free and open to all.

Saturday, June 7, 2–3:30 pm. – Spatial Poetics I: Memor-Zine with Nick

Reflect on home and explore memory at this relaxed zine making workshop.

Free and open to all.

Sunday, June 8,1–3 p.m. –Chair Building I: Design & Prototyping with Nick & Damien

Design and prototype a cardboard chair design with Nick and Damien. Both artists will take inspiration from this session to build a collaborative chair together for the closing exhibition reception. Free and open to all.

Wednesday, June 11, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sustainable Tote Design with Damien

Bring a tote to modify or select a tote pattern to create with found and recycled textiles. Free and suggested for 18+. Pre-registration required. Drinks and light refreshments will be served.

Friday, June 13, 5–7 p.m. Drop-in Adult Open Make Night with Nick & Damien

Adults only open make session – Saw cardboard, build furniture, mend and repair, or design a project over drinks and light refreshments.

Saturday, June 14, 2–4 p.m.- Chair Building II - Construction with Nick and Damien

Finish constructing your cardboard chair design with Nick and Damien and add your design to the gallery’s final exhibition. Free and open to all.

Wednesday, June 18, 5–7 p.m. – Drawing Workshop with Damien

Learn the fundamentals of drawing for design include simple techniques for visualizing ideas, drawing everyday objects, and communicating ideas graphically. Suggested for 18+. Free and open to all.

Friday, June 20, 5–7 p.m. Spatial Poetics II: Materialize a Memory with Nick (Adult Session)

Suggested for 18+ This workshop will invite participants to recall a domestic space or object, write a short reflection, and materialize the space or object for our gallery display over drinks and light refreshments. Free.

Saturday, June 21, 2–4 p.m. Lego Printing with Nick

Use your familiar toys in new ways: ink Legos to create a print and add your artwork to a cardboard frame in our gallery.

Sunday, June 22, 2–4 p.m. Spatial Poetics II: Materialize a Memory with Nick (Family Session)

This family-oriented workshop will invite participants to recall a domestic space or object, write a short reflection, and materialize the space or object for our gallery display.

Thursday, June 26, 5–7 p.m. Drop-in Adult Open Make Night with Nick & Damien

Adults only open make session – Saw cardboard, build furniture, mend and repair, or design a project over drinks and light refreshments.

Saturday, June 28, 6–8 p.m. Closing Reception

Celebrate the end of our open studio and view all the projects you created alongside friends, family, and our resident artists. Free and open to all.

About the Resident Artists

Damien Mitchell is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. He is a native of Louisiana who has worked as a multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur in the fields of industrial design and graphic design. He obtained a Bachelor of Industrial Design from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and later a Master of Fine Arts degree from The University of California - Davis. His current work explores the intersection of craft and design technology to increase the accessibility and sustainability of product making. He is dedicated to empowering individuals to become designers by using craft as a tool for creativity and innovation. Learn more about Damien Mitchell

Nicholas Roberts is a visual artist and educator currently pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking at Louisiana State University. He holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Studio Art and Art Education from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Originally from southeastern Pennsylvania, Roberts was raised in a working-class family where identity and home were closely tied to labor. This foundation continues to inform his artistic practice, which explores themes of work, memory, and the construction of self-created spaces. Through intaglio printmaking, oil painting, and sculptural installation, Roberts investigates home as both a physical space and an emotional concept.