This week at the Plymouth Center for the Arts

The dust has hardly settled from 2009 and you’re besieged with questions: What are your plans for the New Year? What are your New Year’s resolutions?

Year after year, it’s the same questions. Can you even remember what your resolution was last year?

This is a time of year for re-evaluation, for reviewing the past and turning an eye inward to determine what it is that we really want in our lives. And the Plymouth Center for the Arts has loads of opportunities for you to do something truly for yourself. Whether you want to try painting for the first time or pick up where you left off 10 years ago, there’s a class for you.

Watercolor allows the artist to experiment with color in a way that can be incredibly gratifying, as a work can often be completed in a sitting. Paint can be applied in loose washes, depositing wide swashes of color, or with a dry-brush technique, highlighting line and composition. When both approaches are combined, the effect is powerful.

There are several instructors at the Plymouth Center for the Arts who teach classes in watercolor. Mary LoPiccolo offers a Wednesday morning class for advanced beginners and beyond. Becky Haletky’s Saturday class focuses on the creation of a unique landscape and is geared to the beginning through intermediate student. Phyllis McDonough’s watercolor class is for the true beginner. Lastly, there are several weekly watercolor classes offered by Andrew Kusmin, a member of the American Watercolor Society, which are intended to take the student from the basics of the medium through advanced techniques. 

Oil painting uses an age-old medium to deliver incredible depth, dimension and light. From landscapes to portraits to still life, there is a plethora of classical subject matter to pursue and several instructors at the Center to guide your artistic journey. Dianne Panarelli Miller offers several classes throughout the week for the beginning through advanced artist. Popular instructor Doro Simone teaches a painting class in which the students decides which medium they prefer, oil or acrylic. Basics are emphasized, with plenty of individual attention.

Developing Your Unique Style, with Elizabeth Geissler, affords the beginning through advanced artist the opportunity to delve into work that leads them to their own artistic vision. This class can be taken weekly on Monday nights or, if you prefer, Geissler is offering two one-day Saturday workshops. Looking to learn to think outside of the box? Sarah Bates Washburn offers several weekly classes in Abstract Expressionism, including the newly added Painting with Monkeys – a Friday evening class for children ages 8-15.

Think drawing may be more your style? John Nutter offers an introduction to pastels class Monday afternoons. Learn the fundamentals of drawing and pastel application through demonstrations and group critiques. David Johnson offers a class titled How to Draw What You See that teaches the student to do just that in an atmosphere guaranteed to build the budding artist’s confidence.

The Plymouth Center for the Arts is offering several new classes this session, from learning to work with polymer clay to handwriting improvement. And new this session, Sarah Moon will be teaching a course in playwriting. The Center offers something for every taste, talent and ability. 

Looking for something fun for the kids to do on Saturdays? There are weekly drop-in classes for ages 7-12 with Paula Turley that are sure to please and give mom and dad a little me time. The Center has you covered over February vacation as well, offering several activities to keep the kids busy.

Still thinking about New Year’s resolutions? This year, do something for yourself. Meet people and make friends, while acquiring a new skill you’ve always wanted to learn. You can do this!

For culture, creativity and fun in one stop, contact the Plymouth Center for the Arts at (508) 746-7222, visit the Web site at www.plymouthguild.org or stop by the Center at 11 North St. The next session begins the week of March 1. Register early, as class sizes are limited. Check out the complete class list on the Web site.

The Plymouth Center for the Arts, at 11 North St., is open six days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4. Gallery admission is free, with fees for some special events. Parking is available on the street and in the public lot across from the Center. Call 508-746-7222 or go to www.plymouthguild.org for more information.