{"id":20679,"date":"2026-04-26T21:21:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/20679\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T21:21:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:21:32","slug":"calgary-artist-fosters-creative-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/20679\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary artist fosters creative connection\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Calgary artist shares her passion through intimate workshops where participants can learn skills and meet new friends.<\/p>\n

Video: Calgary Journal reporter Faith Naslovar reports on a Calgary artist hoping to build connection through art<\/p>\n

Negrecia D\u2019Souza is the founder of The Growing Studios, which began as craft nights at home with friends but has since grown to welcome the wider community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have friends over, and we would just start making crafts,\u201d said D\u2019Souza. \u201cSomebody wanted to fix something or make something or reupholster something, and we all just teamed together as friends and made that happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As her excitement about teaching grew, she collaborated with Percilla Gutscher, the owner of\u00a0Sammie Cafe<\/a>,\u00a0to accommodate more community members looking to learn something new.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A collection of the freshly printed linocut artwork from a workshop hosted by Negrecia D\u2019Souza at Sammie Cafe in Calgary. PHOTO: FAITH NASLOVAR<\/p>\n

\"\"A workshop participant rolls green ink onto a carved linoleum block, preparing it for printing. PHOTO: FAITH NASLOVAR<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like you did go to your friend\u2019s house and you\u2019re hanging out, and you\u2019re learning a skill, but this friend happens to be an expert in that skill,\u201d said Gutscher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sharing community and skills<\/p>\n

Since November of 2025, D\u2019Souza has been hosting after-hours workshops at Sammie Cafe in Marda Loop, offering an expanding range of classes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From pasta-making to watercolour, she has successfully created an inclusive space for people of all skill levels to connect and create.\u00a0<\/p>\n

D\u2019Souza continues to host workshops at Sammie Cafe and other venues, as well as private birthday and corporate events. <\/p>\n

More information is available on the Growing Studios Showpass<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

Report an Error or Typo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Calgary artist shares her passion through intimate workshops where participants can learn skills and meet new friends.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51,10450,10451,10452,167,10453],"class_list":{"0":"post-20679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-art","10":"tag-crafts","11":"tag-sammie-cafe","12":"tag-yyc","13":"tag-yyc-crafts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}