Summer Art Classes for Kids: Enrollment Under Way at Center Place in Brandon

The schedule for summer workshops at the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association has been released and it features 31 classes, including 10 new offerings.

“We don’t just have art classes,” said Dawn Galia, the center’s executive director. “We’ll still have painting and clay and a lot of different creative offerings but we’ve also included some new classes in dance and circus skills.”

The summer season at Center Place begins for the most part in June and classes are expected to fill up fast.

“People have been calling in February to get our summer schedule,” Galia said. “Our summer classes tend to fill up pretty quickly and we usually take around 20 students per class.”

Attendees this year will receive free summer T-shirts.

“The kids who sign up for three classes, or spend at least $100, get a free T-shirt,” Galia said.

While interested parties can view the class schedule online, “you have to come in to Center Place, sign up and pay in advance,” Galia said. “Or, you can mail in your payments.”

Personal checks are accepted and so, too, Mastercard, VISA and Discover. American Express is not accepted. Prices range from $20 to $90, with most classes in the $30 to $40 range, and Center Place members receive a discount.

Center Place shares space with the Brandon Regional Library in the Sandy Rodriguez Center, at 619 Vonderburg Drive.

Here’s a list of classes by topics. For additional information, including ages of students, dates, times, cost and materials required, visit Center Place online.

• Fun Painting for Children, taught by Greg Manley, features different painting techniques with multiple mediums, including watercolor, tempura and India ink.

• Drawing for Kids, taught by Greg Manley, for new and continuing students, ages 8 to 10.

• Drawing for Kids, taught by Greg Manley, for new and continuing students, ages 11 and up.

• Cruise Around the World, taught by Greg Manley, is offered six different weeks, three days a week, with instruction centered around themes, including “sand art designs, pyramid paintings and Egyptian sculptures” and “paper collage, contour drawings and impressionism watercolor.”

• Pixie Painters, taught by Doreen Donovan, featuring painting projects highlighting “summer fun and traveling, painting on paper and different surfaces.”

• Jump Start for Art, taught by Doreen Donovan, which shows students how to view their surroundings with “an artistic imagination.”

• Mommy & Me, with instructors from The Pottery Place, which each of three weeks features a different pottery project. “Color Crazy” (in June), for example, features red apples, blue birds, green turtles and yellow suns. “Let’s Go!” (in July) features airplanes, tire-shaped boxes and skateboards. “Vacation” (in August) features “sculpt picture frames and our favorite mouse!”

• Kid’s Clay, with instructors from The Pottery Place, includes cool projects for kids by monthly themes. The “Great Outdoors” (in June) features mushroom ringers and tree-stump planters. “Vacation” (in July) features picture frames and a suitcase-shaped box. “Rockin’ “ (in August) features a guitar.

• NEW: Pirates on the Open Seas, taught by Doreen Donovan, features a wooden ship that needs to be painted and a “trip” that needs to be logged.

• Charm, Etiquette and Modeling, taught by Linda Herndon, is billed as “a basic course for self-development, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-motivation and enthusiasm!” Taught are posture, poise, positive attitude, daily grooming, goals, self-introductions, photo poses, nail care, arts and crafts and telephone manners. The “I Love Being Me” fashion show teaches all that such a show entails, including runway, stage and modeling skills. The basic course is required to advance to the second-level training, which involved another set of topics. The basic course is offered in May and June; the level two course in July.

• NEW: Scout Ceramics Workshop for Girls and Boys, with instructors from The Pottery Place, is a two-part workshop designed to meet scouting requirements for the ceramic and clay badge.

• Creative 3-D Creatures Masks, taught by Greg Manley, requires an old shirt or smock and a lot of interest in getting dirty! Class uses papier-mache and paint.

• Cool, Hanging Paper Sculptures, taught by Greg Manley, requires “imagination and creativity” as well as paper materials and props to create recognizable and abstract sculptures.

• Recycled Art Fantasy Sculpture, taught by Greg Manley, uses everyday items, including beads, bottle tops, boxes and buttons, plastic bottles and cardboard.

• Space Art, taught by Greg Manley, provides a hands-on experience with craft materials to create rocket ships, flying saucers, a parachute and a robot.

• Art Mural, taught by Greg Manley, focuses on drawing techniques to create a piece that will be enlarged, transferred and painted on the mural display outside Center Place.

• NEW: R U A Super Hero? Taught by Doreen Donovan, this class will have students painting on an 11-by-4 canvas.

• NEW: Dolly’s Day Out, taught by Doreen Donovan, is open to artist and doll alike as you create a wooden purse for your special friend. Make a storybook to go along with the purse and take both to the class’s last-day tea party.

• NEW: Fairy Tale Fun, taught by Doreen Donovan, involves a fluffy unicorn living in a wooden house that needs paint. You’ll make a wand and a book filled with wishes, adventures and pictures.

• NEW: A Toy Puppy Needs a Home, taught by Doreen Donovan, features the creation of a painted doghouse and a storybook about the puppy who lives there.

• Young Artists Workshop, taught by Karen Marcos, helps the serious and motivated student “take knowledgable steps toward better drawings and paintings.”

• Hip-Hop Dance Class, taught by Leonard Mardis of Leonard’s Academy of Dance, features and easy to learn environment for boys and girls, beginners to advanced.

• Paper Crafting, taught by Susan Saunders, involves crafts with paper and rubber stamps.

• Mad Science, taught by Hurricane Ali, covers in weekly classes, Optical Illusions, Slime, Tantalizing Taste and Harnessing Heat.

• Comic Book Storybook Poster, taught by Greg Manley, explores all that’s involved, including characters, story lines and artistic techniques. Draw with pens and pencils and finish with markers and paints. Craft as well a transformer poster.

• NEW: Circus Skills, taught by Pat Fenda, includes scarf, ball and ring jugglings; plate spinning; and mime.

• Beginning Photography, taught by Niki Carpenter, focuses on traditional black and white shots. Create photograms in a darkroom and construct a working camera from a shoebox. Hand-color photographs as well.

• Art Journaling, taught by Niki Carpenter, uses a traditional art sketchbook to keep ideas, write about life and think with creativity. The art journal teaches art techniques but also how to “creatively chronicle thoughts and lives.” Collage, paint and ink will be used.

• NEW: Little Tiny Tots Dancing, taught by Kim Hall of Kim Hall’s School of Dance.

• NEW: So You Think You Can Dance, Oh Yes You Can! taught by Kim Hall of Kim Hall’s School of Dance.

• NEW: Chance To Dance: For Children With Special Needs, taught by Kim Hall of Kim Hall’s School of Dance.