Take a moment to breathe at our weekly Art-making Meet-up event, where we explore and create in the museum space.
Let go of stress and connect with your creative self by making art with us each week. We take our inspiration from artworks in the museum, studying color, light, and figuration before taking our vision and turning it into individual expressions of creativity. Examples of activities you can engage in include paper marbling, outdoor watercolor painting, drawing with Camera Lucidas and more!
University students of all majors and experience-levels can drop-in anytime from 2– 4pm every Friday. Art-making Meet-up is ongoing this semester January 30–May 1 with a break Friday, March 20 for Spring Break.
Chelsea Staub, the main workshop facilitator, is currently a master’s student in Art History at UT and the 2025-2026 Williford Fellow at the Blanton Museum of Art.
Anything that engages your creative mind — the ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagine new ways to communicate — is good for you.”
Girija Kaimal, NPR LIFE KIT
Research on the Psychological Benefits of Making Art and Museum Visits:
Creating art and visiting a museum improves wellness! According to the National College Health Assessment from a fall 2023 study, 56.6% of UT students feel isolated due to loneliness, while 41.4% of students have trouble staying focused in the present moment, lacking in mindfulness.[1] For mental health, at least 32.7% of UT students have been diagnosed with a mental health condition — 25.6% suffering with anxiety and 20.2% with depression.[2]
Research shows that visiting art museums can help reduce stress levels. In October 2025, The Guardian reported a recent study that viewing original artworks in a museum or gallery calms the body as “art positively influences the immune, hormone and nervous systems all at once.”[3]
According to research incorporated in a 2020 NPR article, making art has the capacity to lower stress and anxiety, while simultaneously allowing for deep focus and fostering a sense of hope.[4]
By visiting the Blanton Museum and making art, students will have the space to momentarily escape academic stressors. Viewing and creating art can lower anxiety, depression, stress, and loneliness on a weekly basis. Join us to breathe, to create, and to see the world in a beautiful light.
[1] “National College Health Assessment (NCHA) | Healthyhorns.” Accessed December 1, 2025. healthyhorns.utexas.edu/national-college-health-assessment.html
Healthy Horns Data Report: “Data source is 2023 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA III). FIELD DATES: OCTOBER 8-NOVEMBER 12, 2023. Total of 2,478 respondents for a web survey among University of Texas at Austin students. Note: Graduate student category includes graduate and professional students”. https://www.healthyhorns.utexas.edu/docs/IssuesBrief_PsychologicalWellbeing_2024.pdf
[2] “National College Health Assessment (NCHA) | Healthyhorns.” Accessed December 1, 2025. https://www.healthyhorns.utexas.edu/national-college-health-assessment.html. continues to show that visiting art museums can help reduce Healthy Horns Data Report: https://www.healthyhorns.utexas.edu/docs/IssuesBrief_MentalHealth_2024.pdf
[3] Gregory, Andrew, and Andrew Gregory Health editor. “Picture of Health: Going to Art Galleries Can Improve Wellbeing, Study Reveals.” Society. The Guardian, October 28, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/28/picture-of-health-going-to-art-galleries-can-improve-wellbeing-study-reveals.
[14 Gharib, Malaka. “Feeling Artsy? Here’s How Making Art Helps Your Brain.” Life Kit. NPR, January 11, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/11/795010044/feeling-artsy-heres-how-making-art-helps-your-brain.