New instructor gets to work with RCAC students
Margaret Beaden, a native of Canton, Ga., is a new art instructor at Rockmart Cultural Arts Center.
Leigh Hulsey, art director, said Bearden was one of the featured artists in local exhibits during the past several years.
“She has done projects with her students that are amazing,” Hulsey said in announcing Bearden’s “Art Lessons for Kids” classes.
Bearden, who moved to Rockmart in 2008, obtained her B. F. A. from the University of West Georgia in 2006 in Art Education. She also taught Visual Art to Kindergarten to 5th grade students for 10 years at Euharlee Elementary School.
After moving into a loft apartment in Downtown Rockmart, she said she “fell in love with this small town.”
Later, she and her husband purchased a home here. The couple plans to remain and raise their daughter in this community.
She offers her students a variety of fun, creative experiences using many kinds of artistic mediums. At the RCAC art camp this summer, she taught students how to create claymation videos, how to make kaleidoscopes, and how to make paint rockets.
Bearden is now hosting Saturday morning art classes from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Rockmart Cultural Arts Center for students – ages 7 and up.
Students can make something new each week or choose something that most appeals to them.
They are now involved in Sew-Along, Craft-Along and PaintAlong classes. On Saturday, Aug. 13, she taught students how to sew a stuffed minion from felt.
On Aug 20, the class was to use Duct Tape to craft pouches or purs- es.
During another class, she was to show students how to create an acrylic painting of a dragon eye. The cost for each class is $15 including supplies.
Bearden said she is not a teacher who sits behind a desk or stays at the front of the room.
“I enjoy sitting down and creating right alongside my students,” she said. “It is fun for me and helps me get to know them better.”
Her favorite moments in teaching are when she sees a student has taken something she has introduced to them and create something different.
“I like to ignite that creative fire in my students,” she said.
Bearden does not believe art should be taken too seriously. She feels that if students enjoy making something, no matter what it is, or how it looks, they should continue to use the creative outlet.
“I believe there is art in everything and anything can be art,” she said.
Her favorite medium is found and recycled objects.
During 2015, her students at Euharlee Elementary helped complete an 8 by 12 foot mural of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night using plastic caps from bottles.
“Trash never looked so beautiful, and it was an amazing experience for the students,” she said.
For more information on classes available at the Rockmart Cultural Center, email rcac@rockmart-ga.gov.