- December 20, 2024
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Families crowded around long white tables with yarn and paper plates in hand, ready to make woven bowls. The first free monthly Family Art Night program of the new year was in session at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens on Friday, Jan. 6.
Instructor Linda King has been with the museum since 1998 and teaching Family Art Night for five years. She currently teaches art at St. Brendan Catholic School, where she is also going into her 25th year of teaching.
“Ever since I could hold a pencil, I’ve been drawing,” she said. “I love to draw. Some of my artistic abilities I was gifted at birth.”
The program is usually well-attended and too much for one instructor to manage. King seeks volunteers from local schools to help during class. Because of her affinity for teaching kids, she usually finds past students who are interested in assisting.
For this particular class, Seabreeze High School students — twins Jaylyn and Jaclyn Blue, along with Yara Zaza — were in attendance along with King's grandson Ethan Newburn and his friend Nolan O’Brien.
The friends have been taking art classes at the museum since they were 9 or 10 years old, and are now juniors at Seabreeze, logging in the volunteer hours required to graduate.
Volunteer Calvary Christian Academy student Landon Foster had King as a teacher in middle school.
“By the time the students are in high school, they get pretty busy, so it’s good to have a lot of volunteers,” King said.
Family Art Night gives adults and their children a chance to work together to create a unique art project. Molly Truesdale is visiting from Connecticut for three months and said she will be taking her granddaughter Alaina Truesdale to the art night every month. King is her art teacher at St. Brendan’s.
“I love Mrs. King’s art class,” Alaina said. “She’s creative and smart. I want to be an artist.”
The next Family Art Night is scheduled for 5:30-7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3.