Workshops devoted to Artistic Remedies // VIDEO

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Austin Bennett’s art workshops are a far cry from paint by numbers.

“I’m focusing more on individual perspective,” said Bennett, who recently launched Artistic Remedies, a company with a mission to provide a creative outlet for residents and visitors in Panama City Beach. “We’re all creative, but every time I ask somebody, ‘what’s your definition of art?’ they always generalize it. I’m trying to kind of redefine art as pure expression.”

The New York native moved to Panama City in 2003 and has used art as a means of therapy throughout his life, especially during hard times.

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“I wanted to emulate that art is a remedy; it can help you,” Bennett said. “I was always in need of help from others with the flux of my life and I wanted to finally just try to start helping other people.”

Bennett hosts several workshops a week at the Zen Garden Market & Cafe in Panama City Beach and guarantees no two pieces will look alike at the end of the three-hour session. During the workshops, he serves as a facilitator to guide patrons through the creative process and explain an array of art forms including photo matting and collage, stencils and transfers, chalks and charcoals, acrylic paints taping and pinstriping and melted wax.

“At core, that’s why I developed this company, to help people reconnect with themselves,” Bennett said. “It’s a way to express yourself without the constraints of some teacher saying that’s right or wrong or someone hovering over your shoulder giving their own piece of mind.”

Unable to afford a store front to launch his business, Bennett instead partnered with Zen Garden to host workshops in the outside garden on Monday, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. “Date night” sessions are also offered by reservation from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“I wanted to go to somewhere that already had the inspiration available, so I stopped in here by chance and I walked the grounds,” Bennett said, adding that along with the market and cafe Zen Garden also hosts yoga classes. “I felt like art was almost the missing piece.”

The three-hour workshop is $35, $25 for children, and includes a 16 x 20- inch wood or stretched canvas and unlimited access to art supplies. Additional canvases can be purchased for $15, and wine and refreshments are provided.

“We all kind of help each other,” Bennett said of the workshops. “It’s just a positive place.”