September is the start of many new beginnings — a new school year, season and stressors. Over 500 students attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison Wheelhouse Studios’s annual “Free Group Painting: Paintacular,” Monday on the Memorial Union Terrace.
UW-Madison sophomore Yash Firaz said he attended the event because he had no other plans on Labor Day.
“I think we need time before classes start to relax,” Firaz said. “Truthfully I am not the biggest fan of art, but I’m not going to lie, I’m enjoying painting right now.”
Creative consultant, Maddie Baggesstoss, demonstrates water color painting on Memorial Union Terrace, Sept. 1, 2025.
Wheelhouse Studios employees handed out watercolor palettes, brushes and paper for free. Each watercolor paper had a Memorial Union Terrace drawing to be colored, illustrated by a Wheelhouse student employee. Three creative consultants were stationed around the terrace. Each one had their own easel and jumbo-sized version of the illustration to guide participants.
“We’re all working on the same drawing, although I'm not doing the same exact steps,” Maddie Baggesstoss, one of the creative consultants at the event, said. “Mine looks different, to give people an idea. They don't have to follow exactly what [we’re] doing.”
Baggesstoss, a senior studying art education, was one of the student employees guiding the crowd. Baggesstoss has worked for the Wheelhouse Studios since 2023, and said it’s been her “favorite job ever.”
Over 500 participants were painting, according to Wheelhouse Studios Director Candie Waterloo, who started the position six months ago.
“For us, it's about providing some sober activities for students,” Waterloo said. “We've got the audience here, and so it's just providing a space for students to come do something low pressure with friends. But, because the Terrace is a community space, anyone who's here can participate.”
Dee Bracksma (Right) holds up her completed water color painting on Sept. 1, 2025.
Among the non-student participants was Dee Bracksma, who has resided in Madison for 45 years. She was joined by two friends who invited her.
“We had no idea what the exercise was going to be, so it was fun,” Bracksma said. “It was fun to have something predetermined and to focus on.”
Wheelhouse Studios has programming year round, including “Free Art Fridays” for students throughout the school year. Waterloo hopes students take advantage of the programs as the school year gets more stressful.
“[Oftentimes] people come to these things saying, I'm not creative, or I'm not artistic, so I think it's nice just to have the artist a little bit closer to you,” she said.
