Twelve days in to the new year, and we’re already swamped with bustling activity! Amazing things are coming, and we’re always in the process of fixing or changing something somewhere.
A new instructor, Gabby Wood, has blessed us with her presence, and setup five months worth of adult and children’s pottery classes. A little bit about her:
Gabrielle Wood is a multi-media artist who specializes in ceramics. Currently residing in
Greeneville TN, Gabby earned her BFA from Florida Atlantic University and her Master in Fine
Arts from Florida International University in Miami. She taught ceramics at the college level for
several years before focusing on her own work. Gabby is now teaching art and pottery to kids
and adults with a focus on hand building techniques. She has an extensive exhibition history,
and has won several awards including the Merit Award for the 62nd All Florida Juried
Competition and Exhibition.
Be on the lookout for those as we get the events setup for tickets and on the calendar. We’re super-excited to be bringing ceramics into the mix here, it has always been a dream to have a full studio available to members, and this is a step in that direction!
Tania Dirks is stepping up her offerings, too! She has switched “Tuesday with Tania” from guided painting to portrait drawing, and offering a “Paint What you love” Thursday afternoon class. Instead of everyone painting the same thing week to week, the format is now a four-week class painting a single painting of your choosing, with guided lessons to progress along!
She will, of course, continue with a monthly “Paint and Sip” event, generally on Fridays.
If you’ve not met Tania, you’re missing out. In her own words:
Hi! My name is Tania and I am an artist residing in Telford TN, originally from the Hudson Valley area of NY. I hold a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where I received the Florence Leaf Award & Grant for achievement, as well as an awarded residency fellowship at Yale University’s -the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art and Music.
I have a long career in the art publishing and continue working in this industry on a freelance basis. Most recently I am regularly teaching and hosting art paint parties at different agritourism locations and maker spaces in East Tennessee. I am married to my creative husband Greg (who is originally from Tennessee) & have one son, Ranger, who is in high school.
We’re happy to have both these talented women offering classes!
Also new this coming year, a retired art therapist (named Wendy!) has booked out a series of free-to-members journaling events, beginning next Friday … we’ll share a more-formal bio on Wendy when we get it! We also just received a huge cache of donated journaling supplies (stamps, punches, paper, etc), so if you are already into journaling, there is a nice supply of extras available as a member perk, and if you are interested in journaling, come on in to one of her classes through February!
Late 2023 we started hosting a chess club, and I’m delighted to report it seems to have taken off quickly. To the point where we need more chess boards on a given night, so we don’t have people waiting for games to play. It is a nice problem to have, and we look forward to continuing to host the Greeneville Chess Club for as long as they desire using the space! Open to all ages and skill levels, 5-9pm on Thursdays. Double-check the calendar to make sure, it is up in the air if it will be weekly or bi-weekly, or otherwise. If it’s on the calendar, we’ll be here.
Blender classes are continuing on through the new year, too. We finished the long-running airplane modeling series, and are working on smaller, more digestible lesson on individual aspects of the software. This coming week, in particular, is materials and shading.
Fiber Arts Fridays (2-5pm) are continuing, and we continue to offer one-off classes on quilting (The Quilting Fool, Jody Palm!), and other fiber things, which we hope to grow enthusiasm for through the year. Those 200 sewing machines in the basement aren’t going to find themselves homes, so we have some work to do!
All in all, we’d just like to say how thankful we are to everyone in the community that pitched in through 2023, and are wandering into 2024 with huge grateful smiles on our faces as we continue to spread the love of arts and creation to anyone we can!