Registration is open now for a new session of arts classes for all ages at ArtPlay, the Birmingham community’s home for arts education.
ArtPlay is part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. ArtPlay’s mission is to connect the community to the arts. Through classes, workshops, summer camps and performances, ArtPlay aims to educate, inspire and nurture creative growth and self-expression in people of all ages by providing innovative arts education programming in a collaborative and holistic environment. ArtPlay also presents shows especially for local school children featuring artists engaged by the ASC.
Through its impressive roster of talented teaching artists, ArtPlay offers everything from family classes for toddlers to dance, acting, sculpture, drawing, music, writing, fabric arts and more, for any age group. Classes are set to begin in early January 2015, and typically meet once a week through April. Fees range from $100-$200. ArtPlay also offers private instruction in a variety of instruments and artistic disciplines through partnerships with local instructors and music organizations. UAB students, faculty, staff and alumni receive discounts. Explore the new classes for January 2015, and call 205-975-4769.
Highlights for the winter/spring session for children include Together Making Music, for ages 1-3 years with guardian. In this 45-minute Saturday morning class, families will learn fun, easy songs paired with simple movements to increase a child’s motor skills and physical development. Children ages 3-5 can jump into Creative Wacky Wonders, a mixed-media art class led by teaching artist Alley Bulka, aka the Wacky Nanny, that focuses on imagination and creation. Beginning ballet students ages 4-6 will be introduced to classical ballet and build their foundation for dance in the Primary Ballet class.
For young teens ages 10-14, ArtPlay offers Hip Hop Dance, which infuses the newest moves with classic hip-hop, breakdancing, and pop and lock steps, and Comic, Character, Creation, which teaches the basics of cartooning from caricatures to comic books. Teens ages 13-18 can focus on creating 3-D works and art installations using found and everyday objects in Sculpture and Art Installation for Teens; each student will create his or her own personal project as well as the group project.
Stand-out classes for adults this session include The Courageous Performer, an acting class that reveals self with trust- and ensemble-building, with teaching artist Dennis McLernon of Theatre UAB; The ABC’s of Screenwriting, which teaches the proper tools to put to ideas to paper, with teaching artist David Roby; The Art of Batik, wax drawing combined with hand painting using dye on fabric, with teaching artist Laura Stacy; and Hand Sewing: A Community Quilt, a quilting class for beginners and veterans alike that fuses research, technique and composition into a richly pieced experience, with teaching artist Lillis Taylor.