Lifelong Learning

Community classes beat winter blahs

Thom and Ann Johnston are among the students who have learned to make jewelry in Katy Lamm-Rogers’ class at the NWACC Bella Vista Center.
Thom and Ann Johnston are among the students who have learned to make jewelry in Katy Lamm-Rogers’ class at the NWACC Bella Vista Center.

For 30 years, Thom Johnston’s job required precision and detail.

But after retiring from his career as an optician, Johnston felt called to a higher - and more creative - purpose. He started making beaded rosaries for those in need, including troops stationed in Afghanistan.

“He had just started making jewelry and wanted to make sure he was on the right track” when he and wife Ann enrolled in a NorthWest Arkansas Community College class at the Bella Vista Center. Katy Lamm-Rogers, the instructor, has been teaching at the Bella Vista Center for nearly half the time it’s been open.

“I think that making jewelry is a really good hobby for people to learn as they get older,” the former Kansan says. “It taxes your brain, and it’s good for your fine motor skills. Besides, as you get older, you need to keep learning things.”

The NWACC Bella Vista Center is just one of the places in Northwest Arkansas where adults can seek “personal enrichment and skill development,” says Jean Anderson, its director. The center opened in 2004, and she says about 300 students come through the doors every semester.

Fayetteville Adult & Community Education is likely the granddaddy of the programs in the region, says Kathy Spigarelli, its director, dating back to 1965. Like the other programs, offerings range from art to ballroom dancing to computers, foreign languages and adult ballet, a roster driven by demand and availability of instructors.

“A lot of what we do is find someone who has a passionabout a subject and a love for teaching, and we ask them to share that expertise and that passion,” explains Andersonfrom the Bella Vista Center. “That’s kind of how we go about putting a course into our offerings.”

Not everyone who attends classes at the Bella Vista Center is retired, Anderson points out, and Ann Johnston is a perfect example. Although her husband is retired, she’s still working - but she’s also a big fan of the community education classes.

“I’ve always loved making jewelry, but I learn by doing,” Johnston explains. “She showed us the technique, then had us practice right there.

That hands-on practice made the class special.”

Lamm-Rogers says half the fun for her is seeing what her students make.

“Some of them are very symmetrical and precise, and some of them just throw caution to the wind,” she says with a chuckle.

Johnston says that perfectly describes the difference between her work and her husband’s.

“Thom has a real eye for design,” she says. “He does beautiful, classic things. He’s also an artist, so he does have that eye for art in the construction, and he’s very methodical in his approach.

I like to put colors together that people don’t expect, and I’m kind of whimsical, so it’s a good mix.”

One of the best aspects of the class for Johnston was that she didn’t have to approach it methodically.

“Katy brings everything you need, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

But Johnston warns that once that first order of beads is purchased, there’s no turning back.

“It’s addictive,” she says.

And she wants would-be students to know that “once you have the desire, trust that the talent will come. The talent comes with the desire.”

Whats Up, Pages 17 on 01/11/2013

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