Local Art Lessons- RES

Sometimes I am asked by art-loving students or families to provide resources for additional art lessons outside of the forty minutes per week each RES child receives in school. Here is a list of places nearby that your child (or you!) can take art classes during the school year and summer. Have fun!

Burlington City Arts
BCA Print and Clay Studio

250 Main Street

Burlington,  VT 05401

BCA Center

135 Church Street

Burlington, VT 05401
802-865-7166

 "Burlington City Arts (BCA) has served the cultural and artistic needs of the Greater Burlington area for more 30 years. Our vision is to fuse a dynamic relationship between the arts and community, to nurture creativity and imagination, and to ignite a passion for learning through the arts. We run a range of arts programs from The BCA Center (formerly the Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts) and throughout the city, and have established The BCA Center (formerly the Firehouse Gallery) as one of the few exhibition spaces in the state dedicated to showcasing contemporary art. Coupled with our commitment to accessibility, The BCA Center and BCA’s Print + Clay Studio enable us to present an integrated series of art experiences that help set us apart from other art centers across the country and cement Burlington’s reputation as one of America’s most livable cities for the arts."

Davis Studio

4 Howard Street

Burlington,  VT 045401

(802) 425-2700

"We are committed to creating an atmosphere that fosters the imagination and nurtures creativity. Each student is respected as an artist with his or her own unique style and unlimited potential.
A wide range of classes and camps are offered for students to explore artistic possibilities. We offer a selection of after school and Saturday classes throughout the school year. Additionally, classes are held during weekdays for adults, homeschooled students and preschool families. Camps take place during the summer as well as during school vacations, including Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation and February and April school breaks."

The Shelburne Craft School

64 Harbor Road

Shelburne,  VT 05482

(802) 985-3648

"The Shelburne Craft School’s mission is to inspire individual creativity by providing hands-on education in craft and art.  We believe that working with one’s hands is an essential part of a well-rounded life. We offer opportunities to learn, teach, and develop as artists, artisans, and professionals."

Wingspan Studio

4A Howard Street

Burlington,  VT 05401

(802) 233-7676

"What wingspan does: Faux Painting, Decorative Painting (Interior or Exterior), Faux Finishing, Murals, Custom Fine Art, Venetian Plaster and Stenciling, Marbling, Wood Graining, and specialty Old World Finishes with Plaster, Fresco and Faux Stone."

Other enrichment and summer programs take place even closer to home- Young Rembrandts happens right here at RES, and in the summers Art classes are available at Camel's Hump Middle School.  If you know of other excellent programming I have missed, please feel free to share those in the comments below.

Welcome back! RES

Welcome back RES community!

Things in the Art Room are being unpacked and spruced up for the year. Look, a new sign will greet you.

Every teacher prepares for students by using spray paint to enhance the space, right?

 Everything about the beginning of a new year is exciting, and brings out my inner child- the newly sharpened pencils, the fresh markers, the pointy crayons, the piles of drawing paper awaiting a young artist to transform it.

Oh, the things these will draw!  I can't wait to see it all.

Back-to-school preparations are also like a big holiday, a sort of birthday celebration to all the RES artists, only I open the gift boxes for them.  Box after box...

Yarn, rhinestones, spray paint, and more.

After box...

Glue sticks and markers and tape, oh my!

...of potential!  SO much potential. That is the most wondrous part of getting ready.  What will my students think of this year?  What will they create? What will they teach me?  I can't wait!

Did you or your family make something wonderful this summer?  Please share with me a project you discovered or loved doing.

See you soon!

Break It! Build It! Exhibition at BCA

There is so much art to see in Burlington, but if you have time to get yourself to one more show before summer is out, please get to the Break It! Build It! Exhibition at Burlington City Arts in the Firehouse center on Church Street.

This artwork offers up varying motivation phrases when you pull the handle. Image via BCA's website.

This show features artwork by lots of amazing makers.  I am choosing to not use the word artist here, because several of these folks identify as scientists or engineers instead, but in this show are using that knowledge to create wired-up, beeping, buzzing, motion-sensing little wonders.

When you enter you are greeted by the now-permanent Project Floorish that arrived as part of User Required, a BCA show from last year. A collaboration of several minds, including local marvel John Cohn, it looks like this underfoot at the entrance:

The whole show is inspired by the terrifically popular summer camp program called Break It! Build It! which BCA has been running for many years now. Children arrive for a week of demolishing old machines, toys, and appliances for the purpose of, well, repurposing them. With a little tape and hot glue, things magically turn into fan-and-soda-bottle helicopters, or suitcase apartment/dollhouses. The work the kids do is very wonderful, and many children from this summer's camps have work included in the exhibit. 

It is all very interactive, and will inspire you to play and make something that before simply wasn't. Artists include Christopher Abrams, Colin Brahmstedt, John Cohn, Maxwell Cohn, Eric Hall, Beatriz Herrera, Ken Howell, Jenn Karson (co founder of Vermont Makers along with John Cohn), Keegan Kuvach, and Kristin Rogers. 

This quirky assemblage by Christoper Abrams opens and closes tiny umbrellas while you watch, thanks to motors and wiring hidden underneath.

If you missed the recent Vermont Edition on the Maker Movement here in the Green Mountain State, you can listen to it here on the VPR archive. 

Still want to know more about what the makers, thinkers, artists, and engineering whizzes of Vermont are up to?  Here are a few useful resources:

•The STEAM-e-zine is an online magazine on all things Maker in Vermont. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

•If you feel inspired to make something, on your own or in a class, visit Generator in downtown Burlington under Memorial Auditorium, or visit their website.

•The Vermont FabLab workshop sounds like the most incredible professional development ever, coming this Spring 2015 via UVM, taught by Jenn Karson.