Wake Up Your Spring with Fun Art Classes
Artist Phyllis Steimel talks to a painting class at Waterworks Visual Arts Center. She will offer an all-day workshop on perspective and color.
Getting a little stir crazy? We all are. Beat the winter blues with upcoming classes at Waterworks Visual Art Center (https://www.waterworks.org/).
Jackie Black, the education coordinator at Waterworks, wants to encourage people to come out again and try something new.
“Our fall classes went better than we anticipated, we had a good response,” she says. “Now I’m very excited about spring.”
When Waterworks offered Art R&R in the fall, Jackie says, a special group of women came. They had been wanting to do something during the holidays. “I think they wanted to be together, to visit and have fun.
“The idea for that class was that we need a break and we don’t need to be intimidated by art. … Just get out of the house and do simple art activities.”
Mallory works on her painting project during a class at Waterwork Visual Arts Center in downtown Salisbury.
Classes for ages toddler through adult can brighten up your spring at Waterworks Visual Arts Center.
Fun Way to De-Stress
Jackie will teach the upcoming Art R&R Thursday, Feb. 10, from 6-9 p.m. Participants can draw, paint, color, do creative writing, whatever they want, to de-stress and have fun. Cost is $70 for non-members and $60 for Waterworks members.
In April, Art Pops for adults will be the creation of a Fabergé-style Easter egg, April 7, 6-9; $70 for non-members and $60 for Waterworks members. All materials will be provided. Shirl Hull will show students how to decorate a goose egg in the 1880s style of the famous eggs, with paint, faux jewels, gold leaf and more.
Whimsical Fused Glass is new, coming May 12, 6-9 p.m.; cost is $85 for non-members; $75 for members, with all materials provided.
Jody Danner Walker and her husband have a glass workshop in Winston-Salem. Jackie was walking around the Waterworks gift shop one day and noticed Walker’s work.
Jackie is excited about this one, because new technology makes this kind of glasswork accessible to just about anyone. A lot of people are fascinated by glass making, and this is a new approach. No experience is necessary.
Kids Create
Kids can have fun, too, with upcoming classes and activities, and spring will bring the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Student Art Show, always a huge favorite. It had to be virtual in 2021, but Jackie is planning for live receptions for each group of artists this year, as well as a virtual presentation.
One difference this year is in the junior art pops, which will be the second Saturdays in February, March and April, from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., “It’s a chance for parents to drop the kids off to have fun for a couple hours while they get a short break.”
Junior art pops are for ages 4-14, and the three spring classes can be bundled together to save $15. Otherwise, it’s $30 per class. Each class will be inspired by exhibiting artists.
In February, kids can make a Magical Box of Secrets, inspired by artist Hope Holmes. The children can embellish their boxes with a variety of materials and take them home to keep their treasured secrets in.
Stitch into Spring in March is inspired by artist Katherine Diuguid. Denise Paugh will help children with simple embroidery. No sewing experience is required.
April’s class is a nod to Easter, making clay bunnies with Brenda Gariepy. She’ll help students create a clay bunny which will be painted and then fired in a kiln.
Both instructors teach in Rowan-Salisbury Schools and will be part of the summer arts classes, too.
Toddlers ages 18 months to 3 years will decorate kites with drawings, shapes, colors and stickers in Let’s Go Fly a Kite, Saturday, March 12, 10-11 a.m. An adult must stay with the child during this class. Miss Debbie, Debbie Hoffman, who leads many of the children’s classes, will lead this one.
Adult Classes
Adults have choices, too, starting with Brent Smith’s pottery class, which started Feb. 1 and meets six Tuesdays through March 8, 6-8:30 p.m., with open studio March 12, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; the cost is $190 for the general public; $160 for members of Waterworks. This is always a popular class, with many returning students.
Phyllis Steimel, who was recently featured in a Waterworks exhibit with her daughter, Beth Barger, will lead a master class, Unlocking the Mysteries of Depth and Light, Tuesdays, March 15-April 19; 6-8:30 p.m. Cost is $170 for non-members, $140 for members. Steimel does painting and pastel classes and has taught Artventures classes. During one of those, she was going to take a class outside, but it was raining, so they worked inside with perspective. Jackie says that inspired this class, which will explore depth and how colors change with the light and atmosphere.
Then for something new and different, Shirl Hull will do Gorgeous Garden Art, six Tuesdays, April 26-May 31, 6-8:30 p.m.; cost is $140 for non-members, $125 for non-members. Using found objects and other materials, class members will create a spirit pole or a barn quilt. “People are entertaining more outside these days, and this is a way to brighten up your space and have fun.” Jackie says.
For Artists with Experience
Two all-day workshops are planned in February and March on Saturdays.
Katherine Duiguid will guide participants in a weeds-inspired needle book. Some experience with embroidery is required for the class, which will be Feb. 26, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; cost is $150 for non-members, $135 for members. Everyone should bring a bag lunch, but class materials will be provided
Surrealist Painting — Not Pie in the Sky, will be offered March 26, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., with Ráed Al-Rawi; cost is $100 for non-members, $85 for members. His art was featured in a Waterworks exhibit with paintings of dreamlike landscapes with objects flying over. Bring a bag lunch; this will be a class using acrylic paints to create surreal landscapes.
A student in the Hand and Wheel Pottery class taught by Brent Smith at Waterworks Visual Arts Center.
At Waterworks Visual Arts Center, classes and workshops are geared toward children of all ages where they can create anything they can imagine.
Student Art Show
The student art exhibit starts Feb. 9, with private, independent, charter, and home schools exhibiting through Feb. 25; the live reception will be Feb. 17, 5-6:30 p.m.
Next up will be elementary school students, on exhibit March 2-25, with receptions March 9 and 10 from 5-6:30 p.m. The two days will help accommodate the larger crowd from the elementary schools.
Middle school student artwork will be on display March 30-April 22, with the reception April 7, 5-6:30 p.m.
And the high school artists will have their work on exhibition April 27-May 20, with the reception on March 5, 5-6:30 p.m.
“These exhibits are some of the most well-attended as families come to see artists,” Jackie says. “We plan to have the receptions in person this year.” There will also be a virtual version, as they had in 2021.
The entire family can come out for Free Family Fun Day on May 14 from 10 a.m.-noon. “We will share a variety of art activity stations for families to make and take home,” Jackie says.
Waterworks has all safety and health protocols in place, including managing classes with social distancing.
“People have been coming out and enjoying themselves. Give yourself a break, clear your mind, introduce yourself to new thoughts and new perspectives. Come on out and get artistic,” Jackie says with excitement.
The best way to get involved is to go to https://www.waterworks.org/ or call 704-636-1882.
Piedmont Players at the Norvell
Piedmont Players will present “Miss Nelson is Missing” Feb. 11-12 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 13 at 2:30 p.m. at the Norvell Theater, 135 E. Fisher St.
The class of Room 207 is the worst of the school. From spitballs and screams in the air to the worst pranks imaginable, Miss Nelson is too nice for her own good to put a stop to it. But the class will learn how good they had it when their sweet teacher goes missing and is replaced by the vile Viola Swamp. The children will have to endure punishments and canceled recess in hopes of Miss Nelson’s return.
For tickets, go to https://piedmontplayers.com/show/miss-nelson-is-missing/ or call 704-633-5471.
Lee St Theatre Adjusts Schedule
Due to a Covid, Lee St theatre has moved the performances of “Our Town” to Feb. 11-12. Ticket holders for Feb. 4-5 performances are being moved to those dates.
“Vagina Monologues,” originally scheduled for Feb. 11-12, will now be Feb. 17-18 at 7:30 p.m.
Please call 704-310-5507 (11 a.m.-3 p.m.) or email rod@leestreet.org to confirm your tickets.
Catawba College theater
“The Thanksgiving Play” will be performed at Hedrick Theater, Catawba College, Feb. 24-26, 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 27, 2 p.m.
Watch as a group of liberal artists walk the fine line of political correctness in this fresh, satirical comedy. Armed with progressive lingo and questionably good intentions, they attempt to devise a culturally sensitive Thanksgiving play for local elementary schools. Slowly but surely, the well-meaning plans dissolve into an outrageous send up of PC behavior.
The Thanksgiving Play treads the minefields of appropriation to inject some laughter into activism, apathy and all the assumptions in between.
For tickets, go to https://catawba.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx, call 704-637-4481 Tuesday-Friday 2-5 p.m., or email boxoffice@catawba.edu.
Piedmont Players at the Meroney
Piedmont Players will present “Ragtime,” Feb. 25-26, March 4-5, and March 11-12 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 27, March 6 and March 13 at 2:30 p.m., at the Meroney Theater, 213 S. Main St., Salisbury. For tickets, go to https://piedmontplayers.com/show/ragtime/ or call 704-633-5471.
Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, this is a portrait of early twentieth-century America that tells the story of three families in the pursuit of the American Dream. Together, they confront wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, and hope and despair.
