By Sarrah Peters
News Editor
The Gadsden Museum of Art held an opening for its new ArtPlay classroom on Tuesday, May 2.
The new classroom was dedicated a year ago, but had not been finished. Now the room is decorated with interactive exhibits showcasing the styles and works of famous artists. The decorating was done by Jill Edwards, who holds a degree in interior design and is the museum’s new education coordinator.
“She has also increased our education outreach by 100 percent,” said Museum Curator Ray Wetzel. “Where we were going to three schools, we are now going to 15 to 20.”
During the Grand Opening of the new room, museum officials announced its upcoming classes and summer camps.
“We have lots of exciting things coming up this summer,” said Edwards.
The museum is offering two week-long summer camps for different age groups. Summer camp will be held for children in grades 1-4 on July 11-14 and for children in grades 5-7 on July 18-21. Free class hours will be held throughout the summer, for children to drop by and participate. Classes geared towards toddlers will be on Tuesday, with boys on Wednesdays and girls on Thursdays.
The museum, per public request, will begin to offer private art classes starting the second week of June from 3:30-4:30 p.m. The classes will be held every Wednesday.The drawing class will be led by Blake Dodgen, while the painting classes will be led by Ray Wetzel. A basic photography class will be held, as well.
The museum has started to hold “Coffee and Canvas,” a morning class.
The museum is opening two new exhibits today (May 5).
For more information, visit gadsdenmuseum.com or call 256-546-7365.