A series of art classes is coming to The Village Green in collaboration with the Cashiers School of the Arts, starting today at 4 p.m.
The series contains seven weeks with 90-minute-long classes each Wednesday from 4-5:30 p.m. Children ages five to 10 years old participating in the courses will start with an introduction to the arts before diving into a variety of topics from acting to dance and photography.
The series will run through Feb. 16 at the Village Green, and the cost to participate is $50 per child. Scholarships are available for participation.
“It’s exciting, and it’s actually labeled Kids Art Intro, short and sweet,” event organizer Tim Womick said. “The genesis was kind of a dialogue with Ashlie [Mitchell-Lanning, executive director of The Village Green] and we were talking earlier in the summer. January and February usually get quiet up here, so we were mentioning the lack of activities for children and youth in January and February.”
Womick said he was coming off the heels of teaching a Shakespeare class to children with Peter Savage, associate professor of theater at Western Carolina University, and wanted to expand this to other subjects and more children on the plateau.
Savage, who is also a board member for the Cashiers School of the Arts, will be teaching a course during the second week.
“We don’t take liberties, but we call art everything from auto mechanics to macramé,” Womick said. “You can go into everything, and the first art that the children will be studying is the art of politeness using wonderful, handmade, French marionettes.”
Zoom sessions will be taught on posture and voice by instructor Lucy Yates, and Womick calls this a “life foundation.”
The third session, focused on an introduction to painting, will be taught by local artist Beth Townsend. This class will help children identify tools used in creating art, Womick said, as well as mixing colors.
Nick Jaina, who specializes in the Japanese Hitomi style of writing, will be leading the fourth session.
“Some of these people have credentials, they are schooled, and he’s a very open cat,” Womick said. “He has a son, and they do collaborations together. It’s fabulous.”
Danie Beck is a dance instructor who comes to Cashiers from Miami and will be hosting a course during the fifth week of the series.
“She’s a dancer, and she’s going to be working with the kids on movement,” Womick said. “I’m hesitant to use the word dance because it’s really about movement. It goes back to we not being able to get our voice right until our posture is right. We can’t move right until our posture is right.”
A member of the New York Philharmonic, Justin Hines is a percussionist and will be teaching a course during the series. According to his biography on the New York Philharmonic website, Hines is a Broadway musician, having been a part of many Tony Award-winning productions such as “In the Heights,” “Pippin,” “Caroline or Change,” and Disney’s “Tarzan.”
“He’s already got a YouTube thing for kids where they get a wooden spoon and a pepper shaker or a spice mill,” Womick said. “He takes the kids through a symphony in their kitchen.”
Womick said one of the last courses will be focused on the art of cooking, mainly kitchen safety, and another class will feature the art of photography using an iPhone.
Doug Lanning will also teach a course on the art of gardening, and each child will leave with some seeds to plant on their own.
Each class is limited to 15-20 children, depending on the interest for each topic.
The exponential rise in positive COVID cases locally (out of an abundance of caution) has let to the postponement of the beginning of this class until next Wednesday, January 12.
More information can be obtained by emailing event organizer Tim Womick at info@cashiersshakespeare.com.
- By Michael O'Hearn/Crossroads Chronicle