Event is held once a month at Cultural Center

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Having the opportunity to try new art mediums, techniques and materials is not always an affordable or easy option for most people. Fortunately for residents in and around New York Mills, Art for Lunch provides just that opportunity along with a place to relax, eat lunch and socialize with the community.

The monthly program at the NY Mills Regional Cultural Center began in the spring of 2018 after Cheryl Bannes, artistic director, wanted to offer short workshops based around educating the public on different art media types and techniques.

“I was just trying to look for a short, simple recurring workshop that focused on mainly art material for an art process, so it’s not a full workshop, like spending hours learning water color,” said Bannes. “It’s more learning about the materials. People ask frequently, ‘what’s the difference between soft pastel and oil paste,’ or ‘why would you paint different with watercolor than acrylic,’ that sort of question.

“So that’s what really prompted the whole thing,” she continued. “We talk a lot about the different materials and how they’re used. People don’t want to invest a bunch of money and find out they hate it. This way it’s a short, inexpensive intro and people can decide if they want to continue.”

Bannes said that she has a group of regular attendees that request different media types that they want to learn, which helps her decide each month what to offer. Attendance varies in number, especially depending on what Bannes is teaching that month.

“It’s a struggle sometimes to think of something new every month,” Bannes said. “I’m pretty creative, but after a while if you do this every month, you start repeating stuff some some point,” she laughed. “One fall, we did wool felting, but different techniques in wool felting for about four months because people really liked it and they really liked the material. Wool felting is accessible, people can learn it quickly and I had a big donation of wool felting supplies, so we did ‘fabulous fall felting’ for four months.”

Though coming up with new media types each month can be a struggle for Bannes, she said that she gets requests fairly often for what she might teach next.

“People ask for classes and sometimes it’s a repeat,” she said. “If they really like something, they’ll ask me to do it again and I’m happy to. There’s been a couple things I’ve been asked not to do again, but we still do it. Not every material is everybody’s favorite thing.”

Art for Lunch takes place every second Thursday of the month from 12-1 p.m. at the Cultural Center. A cost of $10 covers materials and drinks and everyone is welcome to bring their lunch to munch on during the program.

“We say 12-1 o’clock, but it frequently goes quite a bit over,” said Bannes. “We socialize a lot. It’s a good way for people to get out, learn something new for a low cost, and meet new people or visit their friends. I like when people bring their friends, when a group comes.”

Bannes has been a teaching artist for over 25 years and finds joy when people discover their own abilities in the new art mediums that they try out. She enjoys the relaxed atmosphere of Art for Lunch as it’s a low-stress, short, and inexpensive way to spend the lunch hour.

“Everyone has said they really enjoy it,” she said. “They like that it’s an easy way to learn a new material and discover something that they just didn’t know. Some people have found a material that they just love and they go home and buy the supplies. Or they find they don’t like it and they’re not going to anymore,” she laughed, “but they wouldn’t have known that if they didn’t come.”

Since the program is held during the day, Bannes said  that she gets a majority of retired participants, especially her regulars.

“They like that some of the techniques we do, they can do with their grandkids, so they feel like it’s something that they can share and that’s important,” she said.

Depending on local business’ lunch policies, not everyone is able to make it to Art for Lunch, which Bannes acknowledged. She commented that there have been several requests for a time later in the day after those still working daytime jobs are off for the day.

“I do get people who tell me, ‘I wish it wasn’t in the middle of the day,’ because they’d like to come, so I might have to start an evening version, ‘Art for Dinner’ or ‘Art for Dessert,’” she said half-joking. “I don’t know, Art for Dessert actually sounds better, I might have to think about that now,” laughed Bannes.

“These classes are fun for me and they’re fun for the participants because they’re short, they’re more relaxed, they’re inexpensive, people don’t feel like they’re spending $50 and then stressed about learning, so it’s fun, short, inexpensive and you learn,” she said. “You come away with something new and relaxed. That would be the big one, because a lot of people are nervous about making art. They shouldn’t be, but they are, and I understand it, so I do my best to make sure everybody is feeling good and relaxed and ready to go. I want people to enjoy art.”