Monday, August 18, 2008 11:09 PM CDT
After-school classes at Tarble teach art and life skills to children of all ages
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — From her experiences as a teacher in Chicago, and now as a stepmom of two in Charleston, Tricia Hyder has observed how a passion for art can rub off on kids.
Her stepdaughters, ages 8 and 3, both “want to do art all the time,” she said, noting the oldest already plans to become an art teacher herself one day.
But there’s more to it than seeing a child share your interests, said teachers at Eastern Illinois University’s Tarble Arts Center. They said after-school and summertime art classes not only nurture creativity in children, they also impart valuable life skills.
Hyder, who will facilitate an “exploration of a variety of media” for 4- and 5-year-olds at Tarble, cited the patience and ingenuity required for art.
“This forces them to engage in a different way and use a lot of different problem-solving skills, (and) to realize there are lots of different ways to get to the end result, and that really helps boost their confidence,” Hyder said.
As it has since it opened 1982, Tarble will again offer youth art classes this fall. Each year, Tarble usually hosts three sessions of classes for children — during the spring and summer as well as autumn.
There are also classes for adults, as well as one per session for entire families, said Kit Morice, curator of education at Tarble.
The types of classes vary “depending on the age groups, and also the instructor,” she said. Tarble typically recruits area artists, art teachers and senior art education students to serve as instructors.
There are three general age categories for most sessions: 4 and 5, 6 to 8, and 9 through 16.
Jamie Willis, a veteran art teacher at Mattoon Middle School, will be teaching an “art quilt” class this fall at Tarble for ages 11 and up. “With those classes we really hope to encourage parents and their children working together,” said Morice.
The fees for the classes cover materials and payment of instructors. Tarble Arts Center members receive a discount.
Morice said the youth classes at Tarble “enhance what they’re already getting in the school setting.”
She said Tarble also has equipment, such as a ceramics kiln and pottery wheels, which are not always found in school art classrooms.
And because the classes are taught in an actual art gallery, Morice said students often are inspired by the myriad of painting, sculpture and photography exhibits. Some instructors even ask their students to mimic the pieces on display at Tarble.
“Students are actually able to view some examples, rather than looking at a picture in a book,” said Morice. “It gives them a unique setting in which to study art.”
Hyder said Tarble students are exposed to a wide array of mediums and styles. For example, her fall class will introduce 4- and 5-year-olds to working with glass and clay as well as paint.
Her class for 6- through 8-year-olds, meanwhile, will look at traditional, folk and modern art from around the world.
Morice herself will teach a class about art and architecture for ages 9 to 14, using campus and local buildings as examples. Presumably the newly completed Doudna Fine Arts Center, designed by world renowned architect Antoine Predock, will be one of the stops.
Willis’ art quilt class seeks the participation of children and adults alike and is designed both for novice and advanced quilters. She said pattern-free art quilting is “more like painting with fabric.”
After having taught art in public schools for 18 years and serving as an artist-in-residence for the Illinois Arts Council prior to that, Willis said after-school and summertime art programs develop attributes such as “craftsmanship, doing things well, finishing things, and how to think outside the box” for children of all ages.
“What’s nice about Tarble is the classes are usually smaller, so they get lots more individual attention,” she said.
“And for the student who is really, really interested in art, it’s a follow-up to their school experience. Tarble is really able to build on that.
“It really enriches what they may already know.”
For more information about art classes for children, visit www.eiu.edu/~tarble or call 581-2787.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
PHOTO SLUG: _MonFamTarble1-nw 2col-clr.tif
Nathaniel West/Staff
Instructors say after-school art classes at EIU’s Tarble Arts Center help children learn valuable life skills as well as art.
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