RTPI is excited to expand our educational programming to include art classes designed for adults aged 55 and up offering during the spring and summer of 2019. Through a grant from the Tri-County Arts Council furnished by the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, local artist and art instructor Robin Zefers Clark will teach two series of watercolor lessons at RTPI, each occurring over a six-week period.
The first series of lessons will take place each Monday between May 6 – June 10 from 10:00 – 11:30am. The second series will begin Monday, July 29 and end on September 2, and will also be from 10:00-11:30am. Each six-week series will end with a month-long exhibition of the student’s work. There is no fee for the classes and all needed materials will be provided. Participants are asked to commit to the full 6 weeks to the extent that this is possible.
Jane Johnson, RTPI’s Director of Exhibitions and Marketing and Robin Clark will develop the program based on selected pieces from Roger Tory Peterson’s body of original artwork. Of this new initiative, Johnson said “As we celebrate the 35th Anniversary of RTPI in 2019, we also celebrate Roger himself, who was first and foremost an artist, through classes like these and his incredible original paintings and illustrations. We are thrilled to welcome students to these sessions and hope to cultivate new and existing artists’ talents!” Twan Leenders, President of RTPI, will provide the biology and natural history background and information for the students based on the pieces from the Peterson Collection.
Mallard Ducks by Robin Z. Clark
Robin Clark received her Associate of Arts degree from Finger Lakes Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education from Buffalo State College. She received her Masters of Science degree from Rochester Institute of Technology, with a major in oil painting and intensive work in graphic design and photographic studies. Robin has had several solo and group exhibitions and has been featured in articles in Country Woman Magazine, The Buffalo News, and Focus. Her work has won numerous awards and is featured in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Robin lives in the pristine Allegany mountains of western New York state, where she she owns and operates Brookside Studio.
This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Tri-County Arts Council.
Space is limited! Please register by May 1st by calling (716) 665-2473 ext. 227 or emailing ahudson@rtpi.org. RTPI is fully ADA compliant with multiple ramp access and an elevator that reaches both floors of the facility.
