SOUTH POMFRET — Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, adults and children alike have been looking to creative endeavors to occupy their time and bring them joy.
ArtisTree Community Arts Center and AVA Gallery and Art Center are two of the organizations people have turned to learn new skills or improve on existing ones. Along with teaching students how to throw a clay bowl or mug, the two nonprofit organizations have had to find ways to keep people safe while continuing to offer the hands-on, in-person experience of creating art in one of their many classes.
Traditionally, classes at both organizations have been taught in person, but in response to the pandemic, they’ve introduced virtual programs. There are also reduced-size, in-person classes. Marie Cross ArtisTree’s director of communications, said there has been an uptick in people seeking out their programming now that they have time to explore some new or neglected passions.
“Especially during the pandemic we have found that people seem to be turning toward expressing themselves in art forms more,” Cross said. “Art — in many forms — seems to be a popular extracurricular activity for children and adults.”
For children, ArtisTree offers classes ranging from acrobatics to guitar building, from drawing and painting to stuffed animal design and creation, to a class called “Band in a Box.”
Similarly, AVA has partnered with organizations like the Montshire Museum of Science to offer outdoor classes for youth this fall and hope to do so again in the spring. Kids can also take virtual classes in digital animation and Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator. For its online classes, AVA has teachers Zooming in from Florida and students tuning in from North Dakota, said Nick Gaffney, AVA’s education manager. He’s also been glad to see an increase in access to art and art instructors.
“Whether it’s digital animation on an app on an iPad, or it’s clay on the wheel, or it’s building something crazy using Popsicle sticks and other materials, or just paint and paper, we want to offer ways to exercise those creative muscles,” Gaffney said.