Meet Simone Anthony-Brown of Express Yourself Studio
Meet Simone Anthony-Brown of Express Yourself Studios
1877 Springfield Avenue
Simone Anthony-Brown, an artist, instructor and owner of Express Yourself Studios, LLC, located at 1877 Springfield Avenue in Maplewood. Simone has been inspiring children and adults for 10 years offering art classes, workshops, summer camps, birthday parties and other art events. The idea for Express Yourself Studios was derived from the need to create a work-life balance. A mom of 4 children, Shaylah (23), Brianna (18), Aaron (13) and Mia (7) she and her husband, Rodney decided they would build a business that will be family-oriented and allow for that balance.
Her former tenure in the advertising and publishing fields, holding positions in Media Planning at Young & Rubicam, DMB&B and Deutsch and Sales Development roles at The New York Times, Essence and People has given her the tools to run her art studio and gallery with great success. Simone's mission for the studio is to be an outlet for children and adults to express themselves creatively via classes in the arts. As well as a space where artists are welcome to display their work. Her classes are geared toward self-expression, learning, and the latitude to be broad-minded in the arts.
The breadth of programs offered at Express Yourself Studios is a reflection of Simone's passion which is to foster creativity and community, and infuse young children and adults with some art history education so that participants can leave a class and conduct further exploration and research about a specific genre of art or an artist on their own.
Express Yourself Studios continues to grow and evolve, Simone's future goals are to integrate more options for the Workshops for Seniors program which provides classes for the growing senior adult population as well as expand the studio's Story-time Art workshop offered as an off-site art enrichment class for schools, daycare and childcare centers; current and past clients include Temple B'nai Jeshurun, Applecore Learning Center, Jewish Education Center and Our Lady of Sorrows School. Additionally, she feels strongly that there is growth in corporate events having facilitated several team-building workshops for companies such as Accenture, Celgene Cellular Therapeutics and Investors Bank to name a few.
The Studio recently acknowledged its 10-Year anniversary of the annual "Celebrate Dr. King: Explore the Dream Through Art" Workshop. In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Simone developed the annual community participatory event for families to learn about the history of the Civil Rights Movement through art. The Workshop takes place the third Monday of January, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This year's special event included guest readings of "My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr," by Mayor Victor DeLuca and SOMA Community Coalition on Race Board of Trustee member Erin Scherzer. Additionally adults and children took part in a community canvas project focusing on multiple themes of Peace, Love, Community, and Freedom. The canvases are currently on display at the Maplewood Library (Hilton Branch, 1688 Springfield Avenue).
Simone wants her doors to always be open to new people and ideas. "As the neighborhood is changing, new buildings are going up attracting new residents to Springfield Avenue, we are dedicated to being a creative outlet for everyone and will continue to evolve as the
neighborhood evolves." To learn more about the studio and its offerings, visit http://www.expressyourselfstudiosllc.com.