Art by Appointment Sometimes, we just need a little one-on-one attention! At the Art Center, we offer Art by Appointment, a program where individuals may take lessons from talented local instructors in the medium of their choice. This program works perfectly for beginners who need to establish a good foundation, all the way to the advanced students who need help with a particular technique. Check out our incredible instructors below!
To register for an Art by Appointment lesson, please do the following:
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Check out our
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Our Instructors
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Sherry Bolin - Fiber Arts
Sherry is a renown weaver and has artistic talent in basketry, loom weaving and sewing. Sherry currently is Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association's Art by Appointment Loom Instructor. Rate: $20 per hour Time Minimum: 2 hours |
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Keith Burgess - Landscape in Oils only (Inside or Plein Air)
Keith's formal art education began at Valdosta State University. He continued at Georgia Southwestern State University, where he earned a B.A. Degree. After college, Keith began a long career as a graphic artist/illustrator for a major publishing corporation In Atlanta. Though he set aside painting during the early part of his corporate tenure, the urge to paint again lead him to pursue a fine art career on a serious level in the early 1990's. He then began studying with some of the Nation's top artists, attending classes and workshops in his spare time. In 2003 he left the corporate world to become a full time painter and now resides in the Georgia mountain town of Hiawassee on beautiful Lake Chatuge, where he continues to fulfill his passion for painting. Artist Website: www.keithburgessart.com Rate: $50 per hour Supplies: Student-provided Time Minimum: 3 hours |
Artwork courtesy of Keith Burgess
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Joyce Clair - Watercolor & Alcohol Inks
Joyce began learning transparent watercolor techniques for several years under the instruction of Dr. Morris Green, Maryland College of Art & Design. Dr. Green was a student of watercolor master, Edgar Whitney (1891-1987). Whitney & Green emphasized design, color, calligraphic shapes and a wet-into-wet technique to create a “translation not transcription” of the subject. Joyce was a member in a number of art associations in Maryland and Texas, giving her opportunities to exhibit her work in juried shows and sell her watercolors. In Texas, she organized quarterly exhibits for about 20 artists to raise money for local charities. Watercolor workshops over the years also influenced Joyce. She attended workshops with Frank Webb in Maryland, Zoltan Szabo in Maine, Skip Lawrence in Maryland, and Tom Lynch in Texas. Joyce enjoyed painting landscapes of the northeast, southwest, and the Texas Hill Country where she lived for 15 years before moving to Georgia. Rate: $30 per hour Supply Fee: $15 Time Minimum: 3 hours min. |
Artwork courtesy of Joyce Clair |
Artwork Courtesy of Mel Rothchild |
Melanie Rothchild - Zentangle
Melanie has had a lifelong love of all things "Arts" and a 30 year affiliation with BRMAA. Intending to teach English Lit, she discovered that teaching preschool was her true calling. Teaching the Arts to these young children opened her mind to all the possibilities of early art education. Her motto for teaching art is "it is the process, not the product that is important". Art education is at it's best when it allows students to " mess about" with materials and discover their own medium. Upon retiring, Melanie, a life-long "doodler" discovered ZENTANGLE®! ZENTANGLE® is an art form that is all about the process! Anyone can learn the repetitive patterns that are done with pen and ink....and then transform them into their own individual works of art. ZENTANGLE® is also known as "yoga for the brain" as it's relaxing technique is said to help with focus and memory. Melanie welcomes anyone, at any skill level, into her classes and guarantees a wonderful, satisfying ART experience! Rate: $ 35.00 + $20.00 Supply fee Supplies: Can purchase Introductory Zentangle Kit at the Art Supply Station, located in the Art Center Time Minimum: 2 hours |
Kim Hamby
Drawing & Colored Pencil Kim is a graphite and colored pencil artist living in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia. She discovered her passion for drawing and realism at an early age as a student in an after-school art program. Today, her drawings continue to reflect her fascination with texture, dramatic light, and vibrant color. Kim’s work has been accepted into juried shows such as the Colored Pencil Society of America International Exhibition, the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine International Exhibition on Animals in Art, and the Southern Appalachian Artist Guild National Juried Show. She is a member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association, the Blue Ridge Pencil Artists, the Sautee Nacoochee Community Association and is a Signature Member of both the Colored Pencil Society of America and the Southern Appalachian Artist Guild Adults: $25.00/hr Supplies: $10.00 for lesson Time Minimum: 3 hours Youth: $20.00/hr Time Minimum Per Lesson: 90 minutes (3hr min. total) |
Artwork Courtesy of Kim Hamby
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Marie Luce Van Asten
Pottery (wheel & hand-built) Marie-Luce Van Asten was born in Belgium and lived there for 40 years. Her parents had a home in the country side where they were growing fruit and vegetables but also chickens, pigeons and rabbits, all in an organic and sustainable way. In High School, she decided to take Art Classes as her main focus and then she went to college to become an Art teacher. At that time, we were exposed to a lot of different art disciplines: painting, ceramics, drawing, photography, sculpture, print making as well as scientific design. For her year-end project, she choose to focus on Print Making, a discipline she kept practicing through the early years of her married life. She graduated in Belgium as an Art teacher in 1983. When she arrived in the US in 2001, she found Chastain Art Center in Atlanta where she took wheel classes for 2 years. About that period, she got a full-time job at the Atlanta International School, her new professional life did not allow her to attend the day classes at Chastain anymore so she switched to the evening hand building clay classes. Luce taught the French language at the Atlanta International School in kindergarten and elementary for 15 years and retired in 2016. During recent summers, Luce has been attending workshops at Arrowmont School of Art in Tennessee and at John Campbell Folk School where she has been developing and fine tuning her style. She took classes to improve her figurative sculpture techniques and discovered different surface decoration. Furthermore, with the help of her husband, Dominicus, she is fusing her ceramic pieces with wood. All pieces are hand crafted in Blue Ridge and are one of a kind! She hand-builds the clay pieces using different types of clay depending on the finished piece she wants to create; for each of them they discuss which wood components to use, trying to tell a story through their integration. The wood is used to enhance the piece and to finish it. Adults: $20.00/hr Youth: $10.00/hr Supplies: $15.00 for lesson Time Minimum: 3 hour |
Artwork Courtesy of Marie Luce Van Asten
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Marla McCormick
Acrylic My interest in, and love of, drawing and painting began very early in life and was a daily event until my Fine Art professors convinced me that until I understood “abstract expressionism” I could not consider myself an artist. My Architecture professors thought my attention to detail and accuracy worked just fine, so that’s where I landed for years. I’ve been painting “professionally” for over 25 years now, and don’t plan to stop anytime soon. At first, I casually painted local scenes that attracted my attention and hung them on my wall, but as I started running out of wall space I began entering competitions, which led to participating in art shows, which – eventually – led to teaching. Rate: $35/ hr Supplies: $35 supply fee Time Minimum: 3 hours |
Colleen Sterling
Drawing Colleen Sterling is a professional artist and arts educator with extensive exhibition and teaching experience. In college she was an arts major with a history minor. It has been the latter that has motivated her to explore the historical use of art materials related to the techniques of past masters. In 2008, Colleen began serious study into the traditional techniques of egg tempera painting which she continues to this day, as well as all of the related disciplines for preparing for the use of the medium. To coincide with Colleen's Artist-in-Residence exhibition at the Blue Ridge Mountains Art Center in Blue Ridge, GA, where she will debut her egg tempera paintings, she will offer a day long workshop. Colleen is one of our Instructors at the Art Center that teaches Drawing by appointment. Rate: $35.00/ hr Supplies: Students bring supplies for lesson Time Minimum: 1 hour |
Artwork Courtesy of Colleen Sterling
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ROBYN CZYSCON
Fiber Arts Robyn grew up in a suburb of Chicago. She learned to sew at an early age, raised by a family of sewists. She has been a quilter for more than 20 years. Upon retirement as a corporate secretary, Robyn was gifted a longarm quilt machine from the CPA firm she worked for. Now, she spends many of her days happily quilting in her studio. A member of the Pieceful Mountain Quilt Guild and Misty Mountain Quilt Guild, most of her quilts are gifted to local charities. Robyn is also a member of the local Quilts of Valor Foundation that makes and awards quilts to veterans. Fiber arts have always come naturally to Robyn. She learned to knit in her early 20s and it has been a passion ever since. About 10 years ago, after attending a fiber festival, Robyn became smitten with weaving and spinning. Along with the longarm quilt machine, her studio includes three sewing machines, a serger, two looms and a spinning wheel. She has an affinity for all things fiber arts. Robyn lives in Morganton with her husband, a semi-retired landscape architect. They have two cats that keep them in stitches with their antics. They have a small dye garden and grow vegetables and herbs as well. Rate: $25.00/hr Supplies: varies on project Time Minimum: 2 hour min. |
Artwork Courtesy of Robyn Czyscon
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Vicki Wagoner
Jewelry Making Acrylic Painting with Hands As a hypnotherapist, intuitive and artist, Vicki Wagoner employs a variety of skills to assist participants to discover previously un-tapped gifts of creativity, interpersonal connection and even playfulness, which opens them to previously hidden resources of new ideas and self-expression. She facilitates Heart, Hands and Healing Art; Merlot’s Open Studio; and, Basic Beading Classes. Vicki, her husband, Rick, and dog, Max, live in Blue Ridge, GA. Jewelry Rate: $25.00/hr Supplies: $15 Supply Fee Time Minimum: 2 hour min. Acrylic (with hands) Rate: $30.00/hr Supplies: $15 Supply Fee Time Minimum: 2 hour min. |
Artwork Courtesy of Vicki Wagoner
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