Arts Council looks to future events

The Sanders County Arts Council's Visual Arts Committee met at the Paradise Center Saturday to go over this season's special events and new classes, beginning with a new adult pottery class beginning Feb. 5.

The Arts Council has had pottery classes in the past, but this is the first time the nonprofit organization will offer an extended lesson, said Karen Thorson, president of the Arts Council. Thorson and Ellen Childress, both Plains residents, will be giving the four-week long class, which will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Paradise Center. Thorson will be giving the hand-built side of the instruction while Childress will provide lessons on the pottery wheel. Thorson said they already have five students signed up and have room for only one more. The cost of the class is $35. Anyone interested can go to the Sanders County Arts Council website.

On Saturday, the Visual Arts Committee welcomed new member Paula Nelson, a retired Thompson Falls School teacher, who recently joined the council. The Sanders County Arts Council partners with the Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee, which manages the former school, to hold events at the center and pay for improvements. The two groups also routinely team up to apply for grants that are beneficial to both organizations. Last week, they received a $2,000 grant to get water in the top floor of the center, where painting classes are held.

"It's the first time we've had water up here, so we don't have to go all the way to the basement to clean up," said Thorson, who added they plan to also put a sink into the next room, where drawing and painting classes are held.

The two organizations also worked together to get a grant from the Jerry Metcalf Foundation for $5,000 for two potter's wheels in the ceramics classroom and a pottery kiln. Funds from the Art Council's "Do Your Bidding" fundraiser helped pay for the equipment and the new sink and water access, said Thorson. The preservation committee recently received a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to work with a consultant for plans to expand the buildings and for a handicap accessible lift at the center.

Cinda Gazaway, who heads the Visual Arts Committee, announced the Art Council's spring adult art classes, which will include painting, drawing, pen and ink, pottery, and photography. The Noxon resident is still working on details for the classes, which will be on the Arts Council website. Gazaway said there will probably be around 15 adult classes in April and May.

The Arts Council and Clark Fork Valley Hospital are hosting a reception for the student Art on the Walls exhibition Thursday at 5 p.m. in the hospital lobby. The student exhibit will be up until the end of March.

The council's upcoming events also include the Sound Exchange musical group at the Paradise Center on Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m., Bunkhouse Beans and Bacon, cowboy poetry, at the Elks Lodge in Thompson Falls on March 9 at 5:30 p.m., and O Sole Trio at the Paradise Center on April 12 at 7:30 p.m. In addition, the council is once again having a summer youth arts camp at the center. Details are forthcoming.

Terry Christensen of Plains constructed a 6-1/2-foot tall, 14-inch wide four-sided kiosk for the Arts Council to show residents upcoming events. The kiosk, made of PVC and variegated foam, will be rotated between Plains and Thompson Falls until a second one is constructed. It took Christensen about 20 hours to build the kiosk. Christensen is also working on a roundhouse for the Paradise Center's historic train display.

Ilene Paulsen volunteered to head up the committee for this year's Artists in Paradise event, scheduled for July 18, 19, 20 at the Paradise Center. Arlene Littlefield continues to work on the Art Out and About project, where local artists' work is rotated from nearly a dozen businesses in Thompson Falls, Plains and Hot Springs.