Following a successful first session of Arkansas Craft School Evening Community Classes, Session II will begin Thursday, January 15, 2011, and will run until March 12, 2011. Classes will be held at the Craft School’s main Artisan Studio at 110 East Main Street; conveniently and safely located right off the Square and next door to the Arkansas Craft Guild.
Session II classes will start off on Thursday evenings with Pottery Classes – which will again be taught by local ceramic artist, David Dahlstedt.; and Weaving Classes which will be taught by Terri Van Orman. In addition, a Saturday morning children’s pottery class will be taught by local ceramist Coral McCallister. Evening classes begin at 6:30 p.m. and run until 9:30 p.m. Coral’s Saturday morning class will begin at 9:00 a.m. and run until noon.
David and his wife Becki have been creating their line of decorative and functional ceramic wares produced under the name of Mountain View Pottery for many years. A major foundation grant recently supplied the Craft School with the funds to purchase eight new potter’s wheels, a ceramic kiln and other necessary equipment for a ceramic space at the Craft School. David is looking forward to sharing the skills he has mastered in a lifetime of pottery making with local beginning and intermediate pottery students.
Terri Van Orman is Executive Director of the Arkansas Craft School, and has been teaching weaving since 1991. Many of the area’s weavers had their start in one or more of Terri’s weaving classes; and the Ozark Folk Fiber Guild was also an outgrowth of her early weaving classes – the original brainchild of one-time weaving student, Steve Hickman.
Coral McCallister is an artist whose whimsical animal sculptures and paintings have inspired admiration from fellow artists and collectors alike. She loves kids and their artwork; and seems to have an innate ability for making them feel comfortable with their own creativity and bringing out their adventurous, artistic natures. Her class, entitled “Where the Wild Things Are…”, is appropriate for kids aged 8 – 12.
Fees for Thursday night adult Pottery and Weaving Classes will be $225.00 each, plus materials fees according to the instructor. Fees for Coral’s Saturday morning kid’s class will be $150.00 per child. Scholarships are available to financially qualifying students for both adult evening and Saturday morning kid’s classes. Class registration forms, scholarship applications and further information on these and other class offerings of the Arkansas Craft School may be found on the website: www.arkansascraftschool.org. Students may also sign up for classes by calling Terri Van Orman at (870) 269-8397.
