Outreach at Charlotte Art League

CAL works with the following organizations:

Goodwill Employment Trainee enjoys art at CAL

Description

The outreach program of the Charlotte Art League is provided by its members for clients of the above organizations. The outreach director and teachers are volunteers. Classes are set up for each group on a weekly basis, and each class runs 90 minutes. Partner organizations provide transportation of the students to the art league. At the art league, there is a small outreach classroom that accommodates about six adults and eight children. The classes are small, but individual attention is a excellent advantage of the limited size.

Current Class Schedule

Tuesday 10:30 a.m.-noon  The Metrolina Association for the Blind

Wednesday 10:00-11:30 a.m.  Goodwill Industries

Teachers and Assistants

Teachers for these classes are CAL members who wish to volunteer their time and knowledge to others who are rarely  provided opportunities to participate in the world of art. These teachers have differing areas of expertise and skills.  A teaching volunteer can be a guest teacher offering one or two classes in his or her special medium, and flexibility in scheduling is possible. Each class uses an assistant and assistants are welcome. Contact Outreach Director Sandra Gray to help with the program.

Outreach Exhibits

Two annual exhibits for outreach are scheduled in the Charlotte Art League Gallery.

In March the Goodwill Exhibit goes on the walls, and there is a large and festive opening on the first Friday (during Gallery Crawl). One of the former participants named the first exhibit ”Color My Dreams,” and this title has been used each year since. The artists from the Goodwill classes attend with their friends and families to see their works professionally displayed and and admired by the public. Sales give 80% to the artist so each artist will know what all artists enjoy when their art is sold. It is the final art lesson of the year.

Art Beyond Sight is an exhibit that is scheduled for October, which is Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month. It is an exhibit that is for or by the visually impaired. Sighted artists are encouraged to enter works that can be touched, heard or sensed in ways other than sight. Artists from the yearly classes for the Metrolina Association for the Blind are also  represented in this show. Again, it is on the first Friday of the month (during Gallery Crawl) and the artists are present, as usual, to receive the public. Students experience the pleasure of having their works admired and purchased.

Sponsors

These outreach programs are sponsored by the partner organizations and the Charlotte Art League. We also use many donations from area artists, both in kind and monetary.

Wish list of supplies for outreach:

  • Small, cheap digital cameras. Maybe when everyone upgrades for Christmas they can donate.
  • Photocopy paper for photos.
  • Volunteers with table saws for cutting up masonite and luan sheets into art-sized pieces for collages and assemblages.
  • Wood scraps from the shop floor.
  • Tablets of paper different sizes and Bristol board and water color tablets are useful. Drawing paper is OK too.
  • Canvas boards below the size of 16X20.
  • Any non-corrugated cardboard, poster board, foam core, packing cardboard, etc.
  • Roll of butcher paper (brown paper for covering the tables)
  • Sewing scraps of all kinds, trim, lace, etc.
  • Old jewelry … cheap glass, wooden or ceramic beads, etc.
  • Rubbermaid bins
  • Acrylic paints and watercolors
  • Brushes
  • Paper
  • Drawing supplies, graphite, charcoal, erasers
  • Large tables  6 long at least
  • Metal supply cabinet
  • Bookshelf
  • Glues
  • Magazines

Contact: Sandra Gray: Outreach Director 704 376 2787