The Hernando County Fine Arts Council is inviting the public to see the final session of their Art Mark Summer Art Classes. This nine-week session of affordable, interactive art classes, scheduled May 31 to July 29, taught a full palette of artistic skills to elementary, middle, and high school students.
This second year of the Art Mark program contained 9 weeks of unique classes for Hernando County students, including drawing, painting, anime, dance, cosplay, culinary, global art, STEAM, and murals. With a limited class size of 15 students, pupils were guaranteed individualized attention in Art Mark classes. Classes were for students ages 5-17 years and were grouped by age levels. An Art Appreciation Day showcase was presented every Friday, allowing students to show off their new skills for family, community, and arts council members.
The council is inviting the community to attend the final Art Appreciation Day of the season. “Each week of classes culminates in an Art Appreciation Day where family, friends, and all appreciators of art are invited to come! We hope you will join us to check out our final Art Appreciation Day, 11 am to noon for elementary kids, 3-4 pm for middle/high schoolers, Friday, July 29, for our Cosplay & Costuming Art Class to see what our students have learned in class. Art Appreciation Day will take place at the Brooksville Welcome Center, 205 E Fort Dade Ave., Brooksville,” said Jessica Knutila, Art Mark teacher and office administrator for the HCFAC. “You will be blown away by what these kids have learned in just a week – plus this is a great opportunity to show support for the Art Mark program and thank a local art teacher!”
This class, according to an Art Mark description, is intended to explore your design style and create yourself as the character you have always dreamed inside. The class is conjointly led by Art Mark Coordinator, Kure MacDonald and Art Mark Student Teacher Aubrey Baker.
Knutila is also an Art Mark teacher. She shared, “I was the assistant teacher for the first day of STEAM Class, and led the Science component of the class with an integrated arts lesson. Along with Nathan Spence of senOiH Glass, we did a live flameworking demo and taught students how to use gravity and heat to make glass art pieces. The kids were extremely receptive to the lessons and so creative! “They loved learning about what metals are incorporated into glass to create certain colors, and especially loved designing their own glass pendants. Middle schoolers and high schoolers made their final pieces on the torch all by themselves.”
Knutila cites Art Mark as an arts program of distinction for young people. “Several classes sold out including Anime Art and Culinary Art Adventures,” she said. “Art Mark’s presenting sponsor was Florida’s Adventure Coast, and it was partially funded by the Cornelia B Foundation. Teachers are paid $20 an hour. This is a great opportunity for art teachers too.”
Art Mark courses included Elements of Drawing & Painting, STEAM Artists Week, Arts in Motion dance classes, Globally Inspired artwork, Anime art, Upcycled Hands, A Muralistic World, Culinary Art Adventures, Character You, and Cosplay Closet.
At the dawn of this year’s program, MacDonald told The Hernando Sun that she saw Art Mark as a component of a larger mission to promote and support the arts in Hernando County. “As a part of our mission to support the arts and artists of Hernando County residents, we saw it only necessary to move forward with planning of Art Mark 2022 Summer Art Classes. As program coordinator again this year, I aimed to offer a summer of inspiring and stimulating art integrated classes for Hernando county students,” she said. “I sought parents, students, local artists, teachers and council members’ input to generate 9-weeks of art education in Hernando County.”
Admission is free for Art Appreciation Day, and no pre registration is required. To request information about next year’s Art Mark program, visit https://www.hernandoarts.org/newsletter. To learn more about the program, visit www.hernandoarts.org/art-mark.
