Gather your team at the easel for a private atelier art workshop, one of the more distinctive ways to bring painting team building to the San Jose and Bay Area region. In two hours at a working drawing and oil painting studio in Saratoga, your group picks one classical subject and an experienced artist takes everyone through it.
The workshop runs two hours and is priced at $140 per guest for private groups of 6 to 10 guests. No special skills are expected and all levels are welcome, from first-time painters to people who have not picked up charcoal in years. The setting is friendly and supportive, and your studio time includes all the supplies you need to create your artwork.
What's Included
Gather your team at the easel for a private atelier art workshop, one of the more distinctive ways to bring painting team building to the San Jose and Bay Area region. In two hours at a working drawing and oil painting studio in Saratoga, your group picks one classical subject and an experienced artist takes everyone through it.
The workshop runs two hours and is priced at $140 per guest for private groups of 6 to 10 guests. No special skills are expected and all levels are welcome, from first-time painters to people who have not picked up charcoal in years. The setting is friendly and supportive, and your studio time includes all the supplies you need to create your artwork.
What's Included
- Two hours of private instruction for your group in a drawing and oil painting atelier
- Your choice of one subject for the session
- All art materials and equipment, including easels and good lighting
- The professional model fee when your group chooses portrait drawing from life
- Guidance on the specific techniques your group wants to learn
Choose Your Subject
- Alla prima oil painting from still life, materials provided
- Portrait drawing from life with a model, model fee included
- Classical studio drawing from life, materials provided
Atelier instruction is a traditional and highly regarded form of artistic education. Depending on the subject, your session may include drawing with charcoal and chalk, oil painting without solvents, or life drawing with a professional portrait model. You choose the topic, your instructor shows the techniques, and then everyone settles into the work.
Why It Works for Groups
As a team building painting activity, a classical atelier session asks everyone to slow down, look closely and make something by hand. Nobody needs prior skill, so colleagues start on equal footing and learn the same new technique together. With 6 to 10 guests per private workshop, it sits comfortably among team building activities for small groups, and the quiet focus of the studio makes it one of the more relaxing team building activities a team can book.
It is also a natural pick for creative team building activities across the calendar. The workshop suits a team building outing, a Christmas party, a birthday or a bachelorette party, and couples book it as a date idea. For christmas team building or an end of year thank-you, a session of art sends people home relaxed and inspired. Guests are welcome to bring refreshments and food, including catering, to add to the fun.
About the Atelier and Your Instructor
The studio is a small, neatly organized atelier in Historic Saratoga Village, tucked behind the shops on the main downtown street, with walls lined with artwork. It is set up for drawing and oil painting, with easels and good lighting. Your instructor is a realist painter and draftsman who pursued private atelier studies from the mid 1990s in Seattle, Santa Fe, France, Norway and New York City, and who has fifteen years of continuous experience teaching in his own studio.
Most of the studio's students are teens preparing for college and art school, and many students have worked there in small groups for several years at a time. Adults and groups take classes and workshops throughout the year, and the studio also hosts visiting instructors for intensive weekend workshops. In 2025 a museum exhibition in Santa Clara featured 27 of the instructor's original works alongside work by more than 30 current and alumni students. The teaching formula is simple: an ideal studio environment, expert instruction by lecture and demonstration, and a healthy amount of personal space and freedom to work.
What Past Guests Say
A team that held its team building event in the studio praised the great vibe of the space, the teaching and the easy parking. Another guest noted how the instructor builds on the skills you already have and, in a demonstration, slowly shows how to control the medium and be patient with yourself.
How the Session Runs
- Choose your subject when you request a date
- Arrive at the studio and settle in at a prepared easel
- Watch the instructor demonstrate the technique for your subject
- Work on your own piece with guidance from the instructor
Good to Know
- No special skills are expected; all levels are welcome
- Suitable for adults and for kids 12 and older; adult accompaniment is not required
- All art materials and equipment are provided
- You are welcome to bring refreshments and food, including catering
- Past guests mention easy parking
Plan Your Art Workshop
Share your preferred date, group size and subject to check availability. At $140 per guest with all materials included, this private workshop gives your team two focused hours of classical instruction and an artwork made by every guest.
