Theatre, dance and visual art opportunities are brought to life for families of Southern Utah with the the Family Arts Night Series. ArtsFUSION and SUMA have teamed up to offer free hands-on art activities for parents, children and grandparents.
Arielle Altenburg, a masters student of art education and instructor for the Family Arts Night Series, explained the importance of conducting public art events every week.
“There aren’t many places families can go to participate in hands-on art making activities in the community,” Altenburg said. “It’s also important to us that we do it on a Monday night because in our community that’s the traditionally designated ‘family night.’ By offering these events, we’re able to give families in our community the opportunities to come together and create on family night.”
The Family Arts Night Series is free and open to the public. Art events are hosted every Monday beginning at 6 p.m. With such success from last Spring semester, events in this semester’s series are scheduled even more frequent than before.
This semester’s series is centered around the upcoming holidays. On Monday, Nov. 6, the theme for the evening’s activities was “The Spirit of Giving.” The night began with participants listening to “The Giving Tree” read by Altenburg.
After the reading, participants created “pinch-pots.” The process of making a pinch-pot is an effective way to introduce someone to clay. Participants began making their pinch-pot by rolling the clay into a ball, and then forming and thinning out the walls of the pot by using a pinching motion.
Following the theme of “The Spirit of Giving,” participants were encouraged to think of a friend or family member they wanted to create their pot for. With that friend or family member in mind, participants personalized their pot to reflect the special someone they wanted to gift their artwork to.
Future events for The Family Arts Night Series will be Nov. 16 (Snowflakes), Nov. 20 (Meaning of the Season), Nov. 27 (Holiday Traditions), with the final activity on Dec. 4 (Spending Time Together).
Celebrate the season by participating in The Family Arts Night Series. For more information on this series, as well as other events hosted at SUMA please visit their website.
Story by
Alyssa Brunson
achief2@suunews.com
