Monthly Meetings
Our Artist Guild meetings encourage fellowship between artists with a half hour of socializing and refreshments at 6:00 pm before our program begins at 6:30 pm. The monthly meetings occur the second Monday each month from September – May and are usually held at the Aiken Center for the Arts, located at 122 Laurens Street SW in downtown Aiken. The meetings are free and open to anyone with an interest in art. You do not have to be an artist or Guild member to attend. The presentations feature Guild members and other local artists sharing their experiences in art through demonstrations, fun activities and lectures. We encourage and try to help facilitate ride-sharing and carpooling to our meetings and AAG supported activities.
The current year’s programs include:
🗓 September 14, 2026, 6:00pm
Topic: New Season Potluck/Business Meeting
Aiken Center for the Art
Join us for the beginning of a new season with our annual kick-off
potluck.
If your last name starts with A-R, bring your favorite savory (non-dessert) dish. For last names starting S-Z, bring desserts. As we dine the Board will share the improvements we’ve made to the website, AAG show, and membership. This event is open to
the public and you do not have to be a member to attend, but it is a great time to join the AAG if you haven’t already. If you know someone that may be interested in attending – bring them along. You don’t want to miss it.
🗓 October 12, 2026, 6:00pm
👤 Katherine Courtney
Topic: Art and the Elderly
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
Katherine Courtney is an AAG member, a local artist, and owner of KC Studios, LLC located in the beautiful city of Aiken, SC. After retiring from a career in education she began pursuing her love of art and soon afterward opened her own business so that she could marry her love of education and art instruction. Katherine shares her talents with others by teaching watercolor and other mediums to the elderly in nursing homes in the Aiken area. She currently teaches art to students from 3 to 88. Come hear about her fascinating journey.
🗓 November 9, 2026, 6:00pm
👤 Steve Squillante
Topic: Scratch Board Art
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
South Carolinian Steven Squillante is an award winning artist who began painting in oils at the age of fifteen. His art has focused primarily on wildlife, with an emphasis on birds. In addition to working oil paint, graphite, and ink, he works with Scratchboard. Scratchboard is a subtractive medium that involves an engraving technique to remove a black India ink coating to reveal a white clay layer. Tones, values and shadows are created through varied mark-making. While most of his work remain high-contrast black and white, he often adds transparent inks to the exposed white clay. Many hours are spent on each scratchboard artwork which generally take weeks to months to complete. These are executed on professional grade porcelain clay
boards that are archival and of museum quality, humidity and warp resistant. The finished piece is sprayed with up to 5 coats of UV resistant finish to protect the image. Scratchboards are exhibited as a fine art medium in galleries and museum exhibitions worldwide. They are unique and sought after by collectors.
🗓 December 14, 2026, 6:00pm
Topic: Holiday Party
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
Get ready for an extraordinary evening of celebration, camaraderie, and non-stop laughter at this year’s Annual Holiday Party. Indulge in a delicious meal provided by members of the Guild. The highlight of the night features a custom live performance by our very own AAG Players, guaranteed to keep everyone talking well into the new year.
If your last name starts with A-R, bring your favorite savory (non-dessert) dish. For last names starting S-Z, bring desserts. Don’t be surprised if we have a visitor from the North Pole. It will be a night of fun to remember.
🗓 January 11, 2027, 6:00pm
👤 Catherine Musham
Topic: Interact with Abstract
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
The paint will fly in this demonstration! Using the design elements of color, shape, line and texture, Catherine will guide 3 volunteers (and herself) through the process of an abstract painting. Catherine uses this step-by-step procedure in her classes and it often results in some great abstract art, even for beginners. This will be fun, a bit crazy, and informative. If you’ve ever thought of doing an abstract piece, this demonstration will give you an idea how to star.
🗓 February 8, 2027, 6:00pm
👤 Lee Buratti
Topic: Psanky, Ukranian Egg Art
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
Lee Buratti started writing pysanky 50 years ago. She studied the ancient craft from an atelier in the Ukraine. Since then she has traveled widely and taught egging across the world. She loves not only the process and color and design, but she loves sharing and belonging to a community of people worldwide who see art and creativity as a means of communication and peace. She and her friend, Elizabeth Hart, began sharing the pysanky passion of writing eggs 10 years ago here in Aiken. Lee has some fascinating tales of her adventures. Don’t miss it.
🗓 March 8, 2027, 6:00pm
👤 TBA
Topic: TBA
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
Description coming soon
🗓 April 12, 2027, 6:00pm
👤 Professor Joe Kameen
Topic: Judging Art
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
Come learn from our latest show Judge what judges look for in selecting winners. Professor Joe Kameen is an associate professor of art at the University of South Carolina Aiken, where he teaches painting, drawing, and digital art. He is active in regional art spaces, and has both participated in and judged a number of exhibitions. Joe received his BFA in painting and sculpture from Boston University, and his MFA in painting from Indiana University Bloomington. Kameen’s paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at venues in New York, London, Berlin, and Greece, and his work has also been featured in a variety of publications, such as Friend of the Artist, Emboss Magazine and PIKCHUR Magazine.
🗓 May 10, 2027, 6:00pm
👤 TBA
Topic: Create a Mural night
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
Join us for a vibrant, high-energy evening as we wrap up the season by creating a massive collaborative mural. This isn’t just a regular program night; everyone attending will take a turn adding their own unique brand, signature, or logo directly onto a massive shared canvas. It is going to be a fun, relaxed night as we blend all of our individual creative identities into one collective masterpiece. Just bring your creativity—we have the paint, brushes, and canvas ready. All Guild meetings are open to the public so be sure to invite friends and family to come.
Next year’s programs will be posted when information is available, usually in late summer.
Field Trips
Looking for a fun day trip, or maybe a longer getaway to stimulate or renew your artistic juices? Then this is the committee for you. We need volunteers for the committee and to come up with ideas, to research various art events within driving distance of Aiken, locations and costs, and organize future fields trips.
Our goal is to make at least two small group trips per year led by member volunteers; one local one-day trip and one overnight trip. The costs per trip will depend on the number of participants, transportation and the event.
To volunteer go to the Volunteer section of our Website and sign up.
Details on each field trip will be announced in the AAG Newsletter when registration for the event opens. Here is a brief summary of past and envisioned upcoming trips:
🗓 March 21, 2026, 10am-4pm
📍 Edgefield Pottery lecture, lunch and site visit
Status: FULL
Details:
- Capacity 16 attendees
- Carpool to Edgefield
- Meet for lunch downtown
- Speaker
- Visit pottery site
- $5 per person covers speaker’s lunch and drivers’ gasoline
Attendees responsible for cost of their own lunch
🗓 October 14-15, 2026
📍 Brookgreen Gardens “Sip and Sculpt”, garden tour, group dinner and local field trip
Status: Register at May 11, 2026 Monthly Meeting or call Chris McKeel 803-443-8526
Details:
- Capacity 16 attendees
- Carpool to Murrel’s Inlet on October 14, arrive by 12noon
- $70 per person includes Sip and Sculpt class and Garden Tour
- Hotel room block reserved at Hampton Inn Murrells Inlet, cost $139+tax per room, which may be shared with another participant
- Group dinner at Hot Fish Club paid by individuals
- Morning field trip October 15 to Huntington Beach State Park
- Group lunch at Inlet Crab House paid by individuals
- Return to Aiken after lunch
🗓 March 5, 2027
📍 Charleston First Friday ArtWalk
Status: Watch Newsletter for announcement when registration opens
Details:
- Carpool to Charleston, arrive by noon Friday
- Cost per person TBA
- Individuals book own hotels (group block will be reserved)
- Group dinner paid by individuals
- Local field trip next morning before returning to Aiken
🗓 April 2027
📍 Artfields Festival, Lake City, SC
Status: Watch Newsletter for announcement when registration opens
Details:
- Carpool to Lake City, arrive by noon
- Cost per person TBA
- Individuals book own hotels (group block will be reserved)
- Group dinner paid by individuals
- Local field trip next morning before returning to Aiken
Special Interest Groups
Enjoy membership and build camaraderie with like-minded artists in your favorite special interest group(s). These groups meet on a regular basis and are open to all AAG members, space permitting. Don’t see your interest? You can start your own group.
Friday Paint
🗓 Fridays, 10am-3pm
📍 Aiken Center for the Arts
💲 Cost: $5 per session
👤 Contact: Pat Bartlett, patbartcom@aol.com
or text 703-599-0362
Abstract Group
🗓 Most Mondays at 1pm
📍 Better World Studios
💲 Cost: $5 per studio session
👤 Contact: Catherine Musham, cmusham@aol.com
Art Conversations/Critique
🗓 2nd Tuesday of each month at 10am.
📍 Brooks Gallery, Aiken Center for the Arts
💲 Cost: Free for AAG members, $10 every 4 months for nonmembers (fee split with ACA)
👤 Contact: Pamela Moore, PamelaMooreArt7@aol.com
Library Painting Group
🗓 Wednesdays from Labor Day until Memorial Day
⏰ Morning group: 11am-1:30pm, Afternoon group: 2pm-4:30pm
📍 Aiken County Public Library
💲 Cost: Free
👤 Contact: Janet Robinson at the Library, 803-642-2020