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Art classes of all types and for all ages are available at the Sharon Arts Center’s Winter Session, which will now be offered at their Downtown Gallery in Peterborough, located in Depot Square, as well as at their School of Arts and Craft, 457 Rt. 123, Sharon.

Winter Session classes begin the week of Jan. 16 and continue to open through the beginning of February. The classes run once a week for either 6 or 8 weeks and one-day workshops are available as well. New class sessions begin in March and April.

“Offering classes in our Peterborough Gallery is a new effort to provide an accessible and convenient arts experience for our community while at the same time introducing more people to the wider range of classes offered at our state-of-the-arts facility at Sharon,” says Executive Director Keri Wiederspahn.

Also new for the Winter Session, according to Wiederspahn, is online registration at http://www.sharonarts.org/education/classes-workshops, where a full lineup of classes can be found.

Children as young as 2 1/2 can enjoy offerings in the Young Artist Foundation, where first-time artists just learning to express themselves with their creativity will be given the guidance needed to understand not only how to use certain techniques, tools, and mediums, but how to have fun while learning to observe and work from both life and imagination to create beautiful works of art.

In the Young Artist Foundation, there are “Mommy and Me” classes for ages 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 as well as “Just Me” classes for ages 4 to 5. Ages 4 and up can participate in a morning Youth Drawing Club, which is ideal for young children or homeschoolers who want an exploratory, project-driven class. For ages 6 and older, afterschool clay classes are being offered, as well as painting classes for ages 7 and older. A class in “Illustrating a Story” is offered for ages 8 to 12, along with “Paper-making and Papercrafts” for ages 8 and older and “The Young Pastel Artist” for age 10 and older.

Teenagers can join “Teen Torch,” to be held in 8-week afternoon sessions that will allow students to explore “melting madness” on the torch to create everything from beads and buttons to small vases and sculptures. Teens are also welcome to enter into adult classes that fit their schedule.

Classes and workshops for adults will be offered in morning, afternoon, and evening classes in painting and drawing, clay, mixed media and printmaking, fiber, glass, jewelry and metal, and photography and digital media.

“Our Winter adult classes include newer programs such as Encaustic Painting,” says School director Alexandra Wall, “and we’re happy to be expanding our youth programs. Available as well are our known favorites such as drawing, weaving, watercolor, Creating a Series with Mary Iselin, and a lineup of clay offerings that now entail advanced classes for the more practiced ceramic student.”

• For more information and to register see http://www.sharonarts.org/education/classes-workshops , email register@sharonarts.org, or call (603) 924-7256.

A free Open House at the School of Art and Craft in Sharon will be held on Saturday, Jan. 14 from 10 am to 3 pm. During the Open House interested students will have an opportunity to visit the School, learn about Sharon Arts, meet faculty and staff, and even try out a class. A full Open House schedule can be viewed here.

The Sharon Arts Center School of Art and Craft is pleased to announce the addition of Elizabeth Johansson of Hancock, NH to our faculty this spring. Elizabeth taught basic drawing and still-life

"4 Teapots," Graphite on Paper- Elizabeth Johansson

drawing many years ago at the Sharon Arts Center School. This spring and summer, Elizabeth will be teaching “Drawing the Still Life,” which is offered as a full-day Saturday workshop and can be taken Saturdays May 14 or June 4. She is thrilled to return as a faculty member this year!

“It is an honor to have Elizabeth Johansson return to the Sharon Arts faculty- she’s a real Monadnock treasure,” conveyed School Director Alexandra Wall. “Her exquisite work and her extensive teaching expertise will provide our students with a detailed understanding of more advanced still life drawing techniques, designed for artists looking to refine their skills.”

Elizabeth has been working as a visual artist for the past 30 years. Her drawings and paintings are often based on the still life, although portraits, self-portraits and landscapes are included in the spectrum of her work. Her drawings can be found in the permanent collections of The Currier Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, and the DeCordova Museum.  Johansson’s work has been represented by galleries in Boston and New York, and currently at Clark Gallery in Lincoln, MA. Elizabeth studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Along with working in her studio, Elizabeth has taught for 22 years at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Her classes included Drawing I, Advanced Drawing, Still Life Drawing, and Figure Drawing II, in the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Continuing Education Programs. For several years she taught still life drawing, basic drawing and pastel at Nashua Center for the Arts and also taught young artists at the Currier Art Center in Manchester, NH. Elizabeth resides in Hancock, NH with her husband artist James Aponovich (NH Artist Laureate 2006-10).

"Gold, White, and Red Ribbons," Oil on Canvas- Elizabeth Johansson

“Drawing the Still Life” will focus on understanding the still life, creating a composition, and considering perspective, proportion and spatial relationships. Each artist has their own style and vision; this workshop is designed to build skills and to motivate! There will be plenty of individual attention given to each participant to develop and improve skills as needed.

“It was at the Sharon Arts Center, back in the early 1980′s, in the old building, where I began to teach drawing. So, after more than 20 years teaching drawing and painting outside of the Monadnock area, I am happy to return to teach drawing at the Sharon Arts Center. I am looking forward to presenting the upcoming workshop, “Drawing the Still Life,” expressed Johansson about her new teaching ventures in Sharon. “Sharpen your pencils, get some good paper, and join us for a day of drawing!”

We are eager to help folks in our community by making these opportunities to learn more financially accessible through Sharon Arts Center’s Scholarship Funds. It is our hope that the availability of these funds will help to remove some of the impediments that may exist between our programs and those who wish to participate in them. To that end, we encourage anyone who needs assistance to apply for an SAC Scholarship. For more information about Elizabeth Johansson’s offerings or our scholarship program, please contact our school at (603)924-7256.

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About Sharon Arts

The mission of Sharon Arts Center, a non-profit organization, is to engage the community in the artistic process, to support and serve artists and craftspeople, and to foster the relationship between artists and the community through education, exhibitions, the promotion and sale of art and craft, as well as through special programs and events.

Sharon Arts Center offers a wide variety of art classes and programs in the school facility in Sharon, NH, a Fine Craft Gallery, a Juried Artist Member Gallery, and an Exhibition Gallery at Depot Square.

The Sharon Arts School is located at 457 Route 123 in Sharon, NH. Classes take place Monday-Thursday from 10am-9pm, Fridays from 10am-4pm, and on select weekend days.  The Student Shop is open during school office hours, Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm.

Sharon Arts School is sponsored in part by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, The Bean Foundation, The Susan A. & Donald P. Babson Charitable Foundation, and the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Charitable Foundation.