After a year of high-quality, mainly virtual offerings, the Art Center of the Bluegrass brings a robust lineup of fall classes and programs to the region. Many perennial favorites will return along with several new and in-depth artistic experiences. The Art Center provides creative opportunities for everyone – all experience levels and ages – to connect people to art, culture, and creativity.
“One of the biggest changes this year involves our signature program, Lunch with the Arts, which is moving from a monthly program to a weekly format in order to showcase even more fascinating and engaging speakers and topics,” says Executive Director Niki Kinkade. Botanical watercolors, the art of bourbon, blending tea, creating comics, investigating forgeries, and much more will be covered this season. This weekly series will run for 13 weeks in the fall and take place on Wednesdays from 12-1 p.m. Each event is $5 and pre-registration is required.
Since building up a regional class-taking audience during the pandemic, online opportunities will also be available this fall for those who want to continue to interact with the Art Center in this way. Three of the Lunch with the Arts events will be virtual as well as two fine art classes. “Through the year and a half of COVID living, we have maintained a rich virtual experience with online classes and field trips, and we wanted to keep that going for folks who can’t physically visit our location,” says Kinkade.
Register for classes
Enhanced fine art classes and professional workshops for artists brings another focus for this fall. Classes taught by renowned artists Sheldon Tapley and Kim VanLandingham, among others, will elevate creative skills for regional artists. Additionally, figure drawing open studio opportunities will be offered for the first time ever at the Art Center in October and November.As in the past, the Art Center remains a beginning creative’s launching pad,” says Director of Programs, Leigh Jefferson. “From wheel-thrown pottery 101 to drawing fundamentals, creating your pet’s portrait, and the signature Starry Night Studio program, guiding students through a painting start to finish, those with little to no experience will be amazed at what they can learn in a short amount of time.”
For those wanting an in-depth and multi-week experience to ignite their creative potential, for the first time the Art Center is offering a journey through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron facilitated by local artist-in-resident, Katherine Updegraff White. Described as “a course in discovering and recovering your creative self,” The Artist’s Way is open to people with all types of creative pursuits – not just visual arts – and provides an engaging and supportive environment for those wishing to go deeper. The program will take place on Mondays, 5-7pm, September 13 to December 6.
Children’s programming is a hallmark of the Art Center, and this year it adds a fall pre-school art class on Fridays for kids ages 3-5 as well as a Mini Masterpieces course for grades K-5, both for 6 weeks each. Homeschool classes are available as well as fine art skill-development classes for ages 11-17. Starry Night Studio for kids is happening monthly, September through December, and Fall Break Camp will take place October 4-8 for grades K-5 and will provide a full day of creative learning between 9am-3pm.
“Our programs this fall give everyone a chance to meld art into their everyday lives. Whether it’s our Pastel Workshop with Sheldon Tapley, Henna with Anna Rose, our Lunch with the Arts Programming, or our Mini Masterpieces class for kids, there is a class for every adult and child in our community to celebrate the artist within,” says Jefferson. “Find the artist within you and come create with us!”
Learn more and register for classes here.
