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The Bumbling Artist Attends Girls’ Night Wreath-Making Workshop at OI

By Laura Jackson Roberts

I stink at arts and crafts.

Lots of people say that, but I offer you the admission in the spirit of frankness. I’m terrible. In elementary school, I glued myself to a desk. In college, my clay pot exploded in the kiln, taking several of the more talented students’ pieces with it. The professor gave me a C out of sheer pity.

painting classOglebay Institute offers a wide array of classes from fine art and traditional crafts to classes for those who just like to get their inner Pinterest on, and even though I live a few houses up from Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center, my fear of embarrassment has kept me from signing up for classes for years. Every season, I look at the offerings and get excited when I see stained glass, watercolors, and black and white photography until my inner art-buffoon quickly reminds me about the time I got trapped in a dark-room, and I chicken out.

Halloween Wreath WorkshopHowever, I’m your Oglebay Institute blogger, and it’s my job to try these
experiences on and see how they fit so that you can do the same thing. I’ve agreed to bumble through the class to give you the courage, perhaps, to do the same.

It’s October 8 at Stifel. I’m already feeling like a putz, not just because I have no talent but also because my two girlfriends can’t make it tonight. Will I have to sit by myself and be the awkward weirdo in the corner? I ask a group if they would mind my joining them. “Have some wine!” they chorus, and quite easily, I’ve been adopted by these lovely women, who are a group of family, friends, and co-workers enjoying a night out. At the front of the room, Ye Olde Alpha has provided appetizers, including chicken skewers, bruschetta, and chips and dip. Attendees have brought their own wine.

Rachel Shipley Workshop
Instructor Rachel Shipley guides students through various arts and crafts projects.

Instructor Rachel Shipley is an art teacher for Ohio County schools, and she’s provided the raw materials for this Halloween wreath-making endeavor: grapevine wreaths, cobwebs, sparkly-bendy things, spiders … anything we might need. I ask her about her method, which seems simple and fun. She says, “I put everything out and then people automatically start to put it together and socialize without kids.” I think the without kids part proves to be the key. Even I can bumble my way through this—it’s idiot-proof.

Well, almost.

Rachel issues a friendly warning about the glue guns. “They will singe your skin.” She’s not kidding—somehow I’ve already glued my forefinger to my thumb. Pretending I’m licking guacamole off my hand, I gnaw them apart. Rachel comes over to our table to give us a bow‑making demonstration, which involves pinching the bow as hard as you can until your hand complains. “When your fingers start to burn, that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing,” she explains, as she produces a perfect bow. Then she gives us a few sage words of advice: “Don’t fight the ribbon.” Maybe that’s my problem: I’m not taking the Zen approach. Rather than creating a Halloween wreath, perhaps I should let the wreath create me.

Or, I could just hot glue this heck out of this thing and hope it holds together until November 1st.

The ladies at the next table get really excited when they attend Girls’ Art Night. Rachel warns me that they’re “the rowdy group,” and they always bring mimosas. Naturally, I want to meet these mimosa people. They rattle off a lengthy list of events they’ve attended: fall wreaths, seashell wreaths, woodburning, Christmas cards.

copper bracelet
Students create cooper bracelets in the jewelry making classes at the Stifel Fine Arts Center.

Oglebay Institute offers an arts and crafts night at least once a month, and the projects often correspond to the season.

After a glass of wine, I decide that my wreath needs to be able to survive a microburst, so I attach every leaf, every web, and every spider leg to the grapevine, and then pour the rest of the melted glue stick around for good measure. I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying myself, and how easy Rachel makes this process. It’s not about skill; it’s about fun, and by the end we’re all so chatty that nobody pays any attention to my artistic talent, or lack thereof.

At home, I put my wreath on the front door. The poor mailman had to look at that thing for over three weeks.

Girls' Night ArtOglebay Institute offers another Girls’ Art Night – Christmas Wreath Workshop on December 3 at 6:30pm. A new season of workshops as well as six and eight week classes begins in January. Topics include watercolor painting, oil painting, handmade greeting cards, wood burning, furniture refinishing, stained glass, jewelry making and more. Visit OIonline.com for the class schedule.

(Note: The author enjoyed the program so much that she came back for more, attending a Christmas Wreath Workshop November 12. It wasn’t even a blog assignment! Way to go, Laura!)

 

OI Brings Theater to Local Schools: Travelling Children’s Show Entertains and Inspires

By Misty Klug

Rumpelstiltskin at Madison School
Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre takes its show on the road to bring inspiration and enrichment to children in Ohio Valley schools.

Each year, Towngate Theatre director Tim Thompson puts together a cast of actors who stage a theatrical production based on a classic children’s story. The production travels to area schools, providing access to performing arts and unique learning opportunities for students and teachers.

This year’s play selection is “Rumpelstiltskin,” a familiar story based on the Brothers Grimm tale. The program includes a 45-minute show followed by a Q & A session with the cast. In advance of the program, teachers are provided with study guides to incorporate lessons into their curriculum and prepare students for the experience. In 2015 the production traveled to 15 schools in four counties – Ohio, Marshall and Brooke in West Virginia and Belmont County in Ohio.

rumpelstiltskin_2015_madison_school_2The show is fast-paced, full of action and includes plenty of audience participation. Children in the audience are assigned “roles.” Some will portray sheep, cows, woodchoppers or townspeople, who respond to cues during the play.

While the shows are always fun for the kids, the goals and benefits of the program are far from just fun and games.

“Our shows are designed to be entertaining and compelling for young children, but they must also impart a moral or lesson,” Thompson said. “Some of the lessons in ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ include the dangers of being greedy, the consequences of lying and the importance of making good choices.”

In addition to teaching life lessons, the program also promotes literacy and stimulates creative thinking.

take-kids-to-the-theaterThompson said study after study has shown that children who are exposed to and are active in the arts usually do better academically, socially and civically. “After all my years teaching, acting and directing, I know for certain that theater makes kids smarter, braver human beings.”

He said that the performing arts promote cooperation and working together for a common goal, enhance problem-solving and critical thinking skills, teach students to be active listeners and how to use spoken, written and visual language to communicate.

“Live theatre ignites a child’s imagination and instills a passion for dreaming. The arts teach lessons beyond facts, celebrate multiple perspectives and illustrate how problems can have more than one solution.”

Rumpelstiltskin at Madison SchoolFor many of the students in the audiences, OI’s traveling children’s show is their first theater experience.

“We are thrilled to introduce as many children as we can to the joy of theater. Sometimes it is that one experience that ignites a passion and a lifelong appreciation for the arts. This may be their first theater experience, but our hope, our goal, is that it won’t be their last.”

In an effort to engage more children and families in theater, a public performance of “Rumpelstiltskin” takes place at 3 p.m. this Saturday, November 7 at Towngate. Tickets are just $8. Everyone is welcome.

The traveling children’s show is only one way that Oglebay Institute brings performing arts opportunities to area youth. A children’s theater season takes place annually at Towngate Theatre. Performing arts classes, workshops and camps are offered year-round. Educational outreach and residency programs are also available, where arts educators are placed in schools to work with students over an extended period of time.