Desire and sometimes a straight edge are all that’s needed to create art.
“A lot of people say, ‘I can’t draw’ or ‘I can’t paint,’” said Anita Carroll, a watercolor teacher at the Leslie Shupe Art School. “All you need is desire.”
“They say, ‘I can’t even draw a straight line.’ I say, ‘We’ve got a ruler. That’s what they are for!’” Carroll added.
The art school, which has provided inexpensive art classes to the community since 1994, offers classes in watercolor, acrylic, oil and drawing twice a year at First Presbyterian Churchin Rogers.
“We can depend on students for these fourclasses,” said Carolyn Lay, who founded the school with her husband, Bill. Ifenough students are interested in another medium and she can find an instructor, she will off er other art classes, such as digital photography, she said.
The church offers the use of its building as a mission to the community, said Lay, who is a member of the church. In the early days, the church also paid for mailing supplies, but Lay pays for those costs now as her contribution to the school.
“None of the teachers belong to the church and most of the students do not,” Lay said. “It’s really a community eff ort.”
Tuition is $20 per personfor each six-week session, which are in May and October. Classes are open to students age 7 and older, from novice to expert. Classes for the younger students are from 10 a.m. to noon. Classes for adults are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Acrylic and oil classes are offered only to those age 12 and older.
The next session begins Oct. 6.
Lay said she tries to keep the classes small so the instructors can handle diff erent ages and levels.
The school offers tuition discounts to encourage families to attend classes together, Lay said. The fi rst member of the family pays the full tuition and each additional family members pays only $5.
All of the tuition money goes to the teachers. Neither the school nor the church receive any profit, Lay said.
A scholarship fund helps supplement the discounted tuition so the teachers receive the full $20 per student. The fund also pays tuition for those who cannot afford it. Money is generated by selling artwork and receiving donations, Lay said.
“It’s been a good thing for me and for the community,” Lay said. “One student came up to me and said ‘I come here because it’s such wonderful therapy.’”
Carroll agreed creating art is relaxing and therapeutic to many people because “you get involved in it and you don’t think of anything else.”
Carroll has taught at the school almost since the beginning and enjoys the interaction with the students, she said. “I see the progress they make and how enthusiastic they are. It makes me feel good. I’ve contributed something and maybe got them started into art,” she said.
The school is named aftera child Lay met in the early 1990s, she said. Leslie Shupe, the daughter of a friend, was taking art classes in town. Lay said the girl, who was age 7 or 8, would bring Lay her drawings. She told Leslie that one day she was going to open an art school and name it after her. A few years later she did, with the permission of Leslie and her parents.
Religion, Pages 6 on 09/22/2012