Workshops, Classes, & Retreats

For Teen and/or Adult Students

Scroll to view or use the buttons to jump to a section

Coming Soon:

SPRING

MARCH 7-8, 2026

Encaustic
Painting

New Two-Day Workshop

One-Day option also available for Saturday only

Saturday 10 to 5
Sunday 12 to 4

At Firstlight in Cool Springs

What Is Encaustic?

Encaustic paint is an ancient medium composed of beeswax, damar resin and pigments. Worked from a molten state, this versatile paint makes richly colored paintings and is a superb vehicle for mixed media exploration.

The Encaustic workshop introduces you to a variety of mixed media processes. You get the basics of working with this expressive technique: using temperature controlled electric griddles as palettes, heating and fusing layers of wax with heat guns, making homemade encaustic medium, preparing painting surfaces, brush application of paint, creating a variety of encaustic surfaces, mark-making with a variety of tools, image transfer, and incorporating collage elements into your design. It is a weekend of fun and play, expressing yourself in new ways.

Location at Firstlight Art Academy, Brentwood (Cool Springs)
Presented by and in partnership with: Fly Forward Studios

Some personal materials you’ll need to bring:

A variety of collage elements and photo-copied or laser-printed images (NO INKJET prints or copies) – small, high-contrast images are the easiest to begin with. Some suggestions for collage materials include: papers (scraps are excellent) such as tissue, magazine images, newspaper, old prints/drawings, photographs, lightweight fabrics and thin scrapbooking papers. When selecting collage elements, look for materials that are somewhat permeable. Color, composition, texture, translucency and individual exploration will be emphasized as you transform your collage and image transfer elements into your own piece of art!

Supplies included

All the rest of the supplies needed for encaustic will be provided for you, and are included in the cost of the workshop. Just be sure to bring any special items from home that you have been saving and would like to use in some form of artistic application, such as the above suggested list.

 

11 hours Of creativity

Adults & Teens
One day or Two

Saturday, March 7
10 am to 5 pm

Sunday, March 8
12 to 4 pm

 

Encaustic Workshop

$225 for Full Workshop ($150 for Saturday only) – includes all supplies and materials except for personal items (see above).

Please note that the link above will take you to the Fly Forward Studio Website for registration.

CREATIVE GROUPS

MARCH-JULY

 

MARCH 30 – JULY 6

WORKING ARTIST INITIATIVE

MONDAY

6:30-8:00

Brentwood, TN 

next door to Firstlight

 

APRIL 6 – JUNE 29 

OnO Society Creative

Monday

6:30-8:30

Brentwood, TN

next door to Firstlight

 

Art Journaling

Do you enjoy journaling?  Ready to add imagery and visual artistry to your text?  The beauty of art journaling is that it is a safe place to freely explore and discover new things.  We blend the love for aesthetics and order and bring it into a living space.  Learn techniques, such as organizing a calendar into beautiful pages, to collage processes, to painting, drawing and expressing emotion through color and texture. Record your ideas in a book for your next painting or larger artwork. This is part 3 of 3 paper themed summer classes. Each class is a stand alone, or can be paired in the series.
 
 

Location at Firstlight Art Academy, Brentwood (Cool Springs)
Presented by and in partnership with: Fly Forward Studios

Please bring a sack lunch or eat before you arrive.

All Supplies Included.

A variety of hot teas will be available during the workshop.

 

5-Hour Workshop

ADULTS & Teens

Saturday, August 9

12 pm to 5 pm 

 

Journaling Workshop

$125 – includes all supplies and materials.

March 13-15

creative
Restorative
retreat

In Culleoka, TN,

about an hour south of Nashville

Please Note Location Change

 

Silent directed creative retreat

MARCH 13-15

SOUL CARE RETREAT CENTER

CULLEOKA, TN

STILL SPOTS LEFT

 

 

Join us for a weekend of creative inspiration and meditative silence as we create space to connect with self, God and nature. We will begin our retreat Friday evening and conclude on Sunday before lunch time. Please dress comfortably on Saturday. We will be doing creative projects and the grounds are open and available to explore, so please dress accordingly. You will meet with Jennie for Spiritual Direction twice during the weekend. Please note: We need the names, street addresses and email addresses of 3 people who champion you creatively and will commit to supporting you while you are on retreat. I will contact them listing specific ways they can lock arms with you.  Please ask them first before filling the registration form out. Please have their information in front of you when you register. 

Presented by and in partnership with: Fly Forward Studios

Please note that the link above will take you to the Fly Forward Studio Website for registration.

Jennie Schut, instructor

Jennie Schut is an award-winning artist, author of Waking Up Grey: An Exploration of Creative Awakening and certified Enneagram Applications Professional. She is the founder of Fly Forward, an organization that aids creative and spiritual exploration, awakening and flourishing through educational materials, small groups, retreats, workshops, individual art instruction, creative direction and leadership training. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Middle Tennessee State University and a certificate in Spiritual Direction from Selah Center for Spiritual Formation. She is currently working on certification in the Somatic Enneagram.  She works primarily with oils and encaustic, a wax-based medium.

Jennie has been an instructor at Firstlight for several years.