For anyone who’s ever wanted to take an art class but didn’t think they had the time or talent, the Petaluma Arts Center has a solution.
Likewise, for established artists looking to explore something new or brush up on skills they haven’t used in a while, Petaluma Arts Center’s upcoming summer intensive has something for them too.
The Petaluma Arts Center presents the inaugural PAC Academy, with 43 workshops, classes and lectures over 14 days. (Petaluma Arts Center)
The Petaluma Arts Center presents the inaugural PAC Academy, with 43 workshops, classes and lectures over 14 days. (Petaluma Arts Center)
The Petaluma Arts Center presents the inaugural PAC Academy, with 43 workshops, classes and lectures over 14 days. (Petaluma Arts Center)
The Petaluma Arts Center presents the inaugural PAC Academy, with 43 workshops, classes and lectures over 14 days. (Petaluma Arts Center)
The Petaluma Arts Center presents the inaugural PAC Academy, with 43 workshops, classes and lectures over 14 days. (Petaluma Arts Center)
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The Petaluma Arts Center presents the inaugural PAC Academy, with 43 workshops, classes and lectures over 14 days. (Petaluma Arts Center)
Launching June 15 and lasting through June 28, the first-ever PAC Academy is two weeks of lectures, workshops and creative experiences taught by local professionals. It will be open to both PAC members and the general public. With a total of 43 options, including both in-person and online events, the PAC Academy is the brainchild of Executive Director Dorreen Aviv and former Program Manager Maggie Parr, and serves as a test run for what they hope will become a cornerstone of Petaluma’s thriving cultural scene.
“We wanted to bring more classes to the community, and create more access to our educational programming, and this is one of the ways we’re doing it,” said Aviv, a Marin native who took on the role of executive director in September of last year. In noting that having a place people can be creative and connect is important for a community, she added, “We’ve seen how art creates wonderful dialogue and opens up people to new ideas and new ways of thinking, and the point of an organization like ours is to offer as much access as possible, to as diverse a group of people as possible.”
For employee-turned-board member Maggie Parr — during whose tenure as program manager the PAC Academy was conceived — it’s also an opportunity to help local teachers and artists find ways to share their expertise. This is especially important with so many academic institutions, locally and nationally, shutting down their arts programs.
“PAC Academy is definitely a response to that,” Parr said, “though we also did a survey of our stakeholders and discovered that what they wanted, really more than anything else, was more classes, whether it was for professional reasons or enrichment purposes.”
With a curriculum built from the passions and interests of the instructors that Parr and Aviv vetted through proposals, PAC Academy’s goal is to offer something for everybody, adults and children, artists and arts appreciators, beginners or seasoned creators.
“It’s definitely an inaugural effort,” Parr said. “We put out a call for teachers and we got a wide range, which is what we wanted, and we’ll learn from this and see what people respond to, enjoy the most, and we’ll go from there. We also want to connect our local artists with our local audiences. And there really are so many amazing, talented, bright artists involved.”
Parr herself will be teaching, offering a class on the basics of oil painting and another on how to draw like an “imagineer,” the title for artists employed at Disney, where Parr used to design theme parks. If that sounds intimidating, Parr wants to be clear that anyone at any level in their craft is welcome.
“The most common response I get when I tell people I’m an artist is, ‘I can’t even draw a stick figure,’ which is always surprising because not only can anybody can draw a stick figure, but I truly believe anyone can learn to draw anything,” she said, “Art isn’t this mysterious thing that only some people can do. It’s just that only some people get training.”
With so many art schools closing, and training becoming harder to get, artists have been forced to find new ways to educate one another, something Parr thinks may be a silver lining.
“It’s certainly breaking down barriers,” she said. “These days there are all kinds of ways to be an artist, not just one particular way. It’s pretty much infinite.”
PAC Academy’s broad array of subjects certainly supports that perspective. Highlights include a workshop on drawing clothed figures led by Chuck S. Pyle, a Father’s Day class on “The Art of Comics” taught by Sarah Maloney, and a “Paint Your Pet” workshop by Hannah Day.
“I want to take that one,” Aviv said, having always wanted to paint her dog.
“I want to take all of them,” Parr concurred.
Assuming others are just as excited, the long-term hope is for PAC Academy to become an annual event, and maybe even offer certification, scholarships and artistic residencies at some point in the future. For now, the goal is to generate as much engagement as possible, ideally through attendance. Interested individuals can also volunteer, and sponsorship opportunities for businesses are available.
“We’ll always take donations for materials and supplies,” Parr added, while pointing out that Petaluma Arts Center is not just about the fine arts, but can be a space for performance, music, literature and more.
“It feels like we’re always having to justify it in our society, but the arts are vital to our physical and mental health,” said Parr, “and it’s no secret that Petaluma is a creative community with a lot of artists. We need to celebrate that.”
And for anyone who thinks art isn’t for them?
“You might be surprised,” Aviv concluded, “so come find out.”