Walking through the back gate of Pamela Westbrook’s Capital Heights home is like entering a garden oasis.
Under the sprawling, shady oaks of the neighborhood, you’ll first come upon the white picket fence on the side of her bungalow-style home. Following a small handmade sign that reads “Art studio in back,” step stones lead to a small backyard garden.
Painted planters, decorated pots and even a totem pole dot the flower beds full of colorful blooms and greenery. Set next to an inviting seating area with benches and chairs is the white-paneled workshop.
Art teacher Leslie Hite works on a project at The Journey Lab.
A painted wooden sign hangs above the shop’s purple door frame, reading in multicolored letters, “The Journey Lab.”
The Journey Lab is an arts and crafts studio where Westbrook instructs classes along with fellow teacher Leslie Hite. Both women are artists and former art teachers. Hite was an art teacher at Redemptorist High School for 30 years, and when the school closed, Westbrook invited her to teach in her studio, where Westbrook was already giving private lessons.
“It was a working studio for Pam before this, and she was just incredibly generous because she wanted to include other women that she knew working in the arts,” Hite says.
The studio, with its white walls and kaleidoscopic tile floors, is a respite away from the bustle of everyday life. It’s small but airy, providing a relaxing space to practice art.
What sets them apart from other art workshops, they say, is the variety of classes offered. Westbrook and Hite teach everything from clay-making and sculpting to beading, collage, painting and drawing. They even host workshops on how to dye scarves and leggings. Westbrook specializes in mixed-media collages, while Hite favors pencil work and oil painting.
They met through their mutual passion a few years ago, but today the studio is about more than making art. For them and those they teach, it’s a chance to talk, unwind and connect while creating something lasting in the process.
Hite and Westbrook say teaching a traditionally isolative activity is a gift. By sharing their craft, they’re able to help others who don’t get to relax often—especially Baton Rougeans still looking for creative and therapeutic outlets after last year’s flood.
The backyard studio hosts classes in clay-making, sculpting, beading, collage, painting and drawing.
“I have a lot of ladies who come in here who say, ‘This is the first thing I’ve done for myself since the flood,’” Westbrook says.
The women have an easy rapport. By the way they joke and tease, you’d think they’ve known one another for decades. Westbrook laughs at Hite fumbling with her iPad as she pulls up The Journey Lab’s Facebook page to show off photos of all the different art projects their students have created.
The classes are designed to be intimate, with about five participants in each session. The Journey Lab offers classes three to four nights a week.
Talking over coffee inside the studio, it’s easy to see how spending time learning from them makes students want to return.
“I just like [spending time with] my lady friends,” Westbrook says. “It’s kind of an experiment. At our age, we’re older … it’s sort of a new phase in our life. It’s a journey.” thejourneylab.space
This article was originally published in the December 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.
