Drawing out the inner artist

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal Mar 11, 2009

What reaction do a bunch of grown-ups have when they get together to chip rock, mix cement, and dye shirts?

"Fun!" said Ann Witherwax, who teaches classes on Mosaics and Tie Dye for club Ed. "That is almost always the response I see and hear - Wow, I actually did this. Sometimes you draw out an artistic ability you didn't know was there."

Drawing out that inner artist is a mission for Witherwax. The Hunt resident is trained as an art teacher and graphic artist. She teaches children through adults. When I asked about her favorite medium, she hesitated.

"I'm not sure how to answer that - I teach lot of mediums," she said. "But my purpose is to establish creative thinking skills. That is more than making artists - I want them to learn to think creatively."

Witherwax accomplishes this by using art to show there is more than one way to tackle a problem. Her art classes go beyond creating art for art's sake.

"I believe that through teaching art we can train our brains to find many avenues to solve a problem, to build something, to create a piece of art," she said. "As adults, we tend not to do that. Anybody is capable of doing anything. There is more than one way to solve a problem. Using our creative thinking skills, we can tackle anything."

This spring Witherwax is teaching classes in tie dying, mosaics, and garden pavers. These diverse mediums require the student to make choices that draw out the inner person. Creating a tie dye shirt, for example, requires the student to select from a palette of color. With garden pavers, students can embed tiles or stones or even bottle caps, or write words and phrases on polished stone. The finished paver can be one of several in a garden path, or sit alone as a decoration inside or out.

Every piece comes out completely different, which is fine with Witherwax.

"You cannot mass produce tie dye or pavers," she said. "There are a lot of techniques that get different results, and in each project you end up with a wearable or usable piece of art."

For Witherwax, art is more about process than product.

"That letting out of energy that comes with doing art is very healthy, it is relaxing and a release of creativity. There are so many positive results when people allow themselves to go there."

"Going there" requires no artistic ability.

"I feel like God has blessed me with the ability to inspire people to be creative and do their art in very non-judgmental way," she said. "I want everyone's art to be theirs, not like mine."

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Ann Witherwax will teach classes on Tie Dye on March 28 and April 4, and a class on Garden Pavers on April 18. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com.