Learning curve: Nadine Baum Studios serve as WAC's education wing
Posted on Sunday, October 29, 2006
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A Work of Art
Painting a portrait of the Walton Arts Center's 15-year history.
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- · Learning curve: Nadine Baum Studios serve as WAC's education wing (10-29-2006)
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There was something missing at the Walton Arts Center.
Although the arts center had already hosted several national performing acts, there were no avenues for public participation hoped for by those who designed the facility. A warehouse building located near the intersection of West and Dickson streets provided the answer.
On Sept. 11, 1999, the Nadine Baum Learning Center, now called Nadine Baum Studios, opened with a gala affair. Speakers praised the effect the building would have on the community, a band played and children decorated a car with bright paints.
More than seven years later, Patricia Relph, WAC's arts learning specialist, said the studios are meeting their purpose of helping the community connect with art.
"We're teaching learners of all levels. We want them to get ink on their hands,"Relph said.
Inside the building are five rooms that individually focus on different artistic media. There is a drawing room, a painting room, a metal and woodworking shop, a clay studio, complete with a kiln and glazing room, and a darkroom for processing black-and-white photos.
Each year, Nadine Baum Studio hosts more than 150 arts-learning programs, attended by more than 1,400 patrons.
Professional artists at the studios teach classes for students of all ages. Current classes teach school-aged children and adults alike the proper techniques for making creations from clay. In terms of facilities and the ability to play in clay, the studio is the best around, said Susan Hutchcroft, WAC's studio coordinator and a frequent clay-course instructor. Routinely, students from throughout Northwest Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma and Fort Smith sign up for the classes taught at the studio.
"There just isn't anything like this anywhere where kids can do this. It's something they don't get anywhere else,"she said.
During the studios' annual Art In Action Day, area school children get a full day of hands-on experience in artistic creations.
Classes are also routinely taught to local and regional instructors, and not just those who specialize in the arts. In September, musician Marcia Daft taught a course on incorporating music into math curricula. The idea is to blend arts into existing routines, said Laura Goodwin, WAC's education director.
"One of the most important things we do here is teach the teachers. We want to see arts seamlessly in our everyday lives. When kids take that home, it builds a connection to the arts,"she said.
Master classes are often taught on site, allowing the community to meet and learn from renowned visiting performers. Those who have conducted dance classes in the past include the Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble and Hubbard Street Dance Company. Other classes have focused on painting, puppetry and clay.
"I can see this person on stage, but it's different to be in the room with them,"Relph said.
Another way that the Nadine Baum Studios are used to promote the arts is as a facility for public projects. Several public works were created using the building's ample studio space, including sculptor Hank Kaminsky's World Peace Prayer Fountain, now on display at the Fayetteville Town Center.
Other artists and professional companies also use the facility. Photographer Don House is currently using the darkroom to process prints he took during the 2005 Fayetteville Arts Festival, and TheatreSquared, Fayetteville's first professional theater company, calls Studio Theater home.
Professionals aren't the only ones who can utilize the studios. Everything from individual art projects to wedding receptions have been housed at Nadine Baum Studios. Members of the public can reserve the space, given they pay a usage fee. A nonprofit organization hosting a fund-raiser can book the studio theater for $100 per hour with a four hour minimum reservation. The art studios carry a usage fee of $15 to $60 per hour, depending on the nature of the usage. Those studios must also be rented for a minimum of four hours.
With all of the studios' educational aspects, Relph believes that the arts center is meeting its goal of helping area residents get an arts education.
The day the facility opened, local philanthropist Billie Jo Starr said the new center would be historic for the community.
"It's a dream come true, because we knew what the center was going to do to change people's live,"she was quoted as saying in the Sept. 12, 1999, edition of the Northwest Arkansas Times. And Relph believes that lofty goal has been attained.
"To see that student's day-to-day growth, it just gives me a great sense of pride,"Relph said.
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