My Upcoming Class at the Metuchen Senior Center: May 7
The Metuchen Arts Council (which you can find on Facebook) has begun a series of art classes called the Metuchen Arts Exchange, in conjunction with the Westerhoff School and the Senior Center, and I’ll teach an introductory class on woodcarving. I’m pretty sure that I suggested the title of this blog as the title of the class, but they weren’t buying it. The class is an overview of knife safety, basic cuts, how grain works, and the differences between woods. Participants get to take home a wall-mountable key holder, which is useful and thus partially justifies the purchase of dangerous art supplies.
I’ll bring band-aids.
The hardest thing for people learning to carve is how much work it is for their hands. Most of us don’t do manual labor that requires small-motor strength. But if you like the hobby, the strength comes with time. And if you don’t like it after this class, you can learn that for $25 and quit while you’re ahead. That’s why the class is for adults; it’s not that kids are too careless to use knives, it’s just that they don’t have the size and strength they will have later.
The MAX classes are varied; they include everything except classic 2-D art or traditional music lessons. The goal here is to offer experiences in less-known arts. Right now, the Metuchen Arts Council website is down, but once it’s back I’ll post the link. Check them out on Facebook to see what’s up.
Sondra Flite Artworks 