Heart of the High Plains: Amarillo Art Institute

AMARILLO, Texas (BNN)-- For nearly 20 years, the Amarillo Art Institute has actually influenced, educated, and enriched lives through art on the High Plains. This is performed in a variety of methods to spread out the mission of getting the arts to as lots of people as possible.

The Amarillo Art Institute is a community art school that provides classes, workshops, and camps for novices to specialists.

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" I think among the important things AAI attempts to do is help artists along every step of the way. We have classes for newbies who might have never chosen up a paintbrush prior to and then we stroll them through sort of their journey, so as they start to improve and get much better and some of the pieces that our artists produce are just incredible, I can't think we have people living here in the city that produces this kind of work. However the entire point of where we're going to is likewise to provide memberships for those artists, the ones that grow out of class, they still have a place to work and come, and after that if they wish to take the next action, studios are available they can work out of. We likewise have a community gallery they can show their operate in and type of test the waters in and see if they are an artist that can offer and kind of get more direct exposure in the community," stated Executive Director at the Amarillo Art Institute Rachel Flores.

The non-profit is not connected to a college or school district and Flores said this enables them to teach a wider array of art mediums.

" We have a varied set of media that we teach. We are one of the few places in the area that really teaches weaving, so we have about 15 looms and teach individuals carpets, headscarfs, which example. We likewise teach oil, watercolor, acrylics, pastels, I'm going to attempt to get them all in, drawing, ceramics, and after that encaustic painting, which is painting with beeswax and we just recently added glassblowing and glass fusing," stated Flores.

Flores said that they have actually also had printmaking and jewelry-making in the past and stated when individuals have a concept, they attempt to make it take place.

" If we have the trainer and if we have the interest in the community, we want to bring what the neighborhood wishes to find out to the school," stated Flores.

Flores said those that teach classes at AAI originate from all backgrounds.

" We actually aim to the professionals in their field, so we have people that can teach multiple different media and then we have some that have actually been doing the exact same thing for 30 years and are really good at it and can teach it. We do borrow a little bit, we have some instructors that originate from Amarillo College and WT that kind of teach on the side, it's an excellent sort of extra, to make a little bit more of a distinction in our community, so we have trainers from all over, however most of them are thought about professionals in their field," said Flores.

Flores added that the Yellow City is a center for fine arts.

" I believe we are really fortunate to have the city that we have. There are few of our size that likewise have their own opera, its own symphony, and theater. The amount of culture and art that we get on a day-to-day basis it's incredible we have it in Amarillo. For us, to be a community art school, we're constantly having the ability to work with some actually gifted instructors who are well-known artists in the neighborhood… … I think that just includes an entire another component to the art community supporting each other and uplifting each other, stated Flores.

Kellee Mitchell, an artist who has a class at the Amarillo Art Institute and showcases her art work at the recently renovated Arts in the Sunset said art can be more than just putting brush to canvas.

" You can mix any color from red, yellow, or blue and include a bit of white and get any color in the color wheel and get any color you see on the planet out of those three colors. It's something that is enjoyable, academic, imaginative, inspiring, it's really healthy," stated Mitchell.

Being a non-profit enables AAI to likewise pull funding from grants and things like that to do more for the neighborhood.

" The entire purpose is to serve the whole community therefore not just do we have classes and camps that begin as low as five or 6 years of ages all the way up to 90 years of ages students, but we also supply public events. So shows, exhibitions, artwalks that are actually for everyone and everybody," stated Mitchell.

One of those exhibits that the Amarillo Art Institute will be bringing to the Arts in the Sunset quickly will be Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition this summer season.

" To this day, I don't know how we lucked out a lot in getting it here, however for us to have something so renowned, so historic, be in our brand-new space and sort of kick off what we intend to be years and years of these taking a trip exhibits is simply truly amazing for everyone included," said Flores.

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Flores included that the renovations at Art in the Sunset help expose more individuals in the neighborhood to art.

"More people in our doors, indicates more people are being exposed to art. However among the things that people do not realize is why individuals continue to pursue art when they are proficient at drawing at a young age, or painting, is it's extremely challenging. That is a really challenging thing to simply stroll into a school and say, ‘‘ I want to discover to get better' therefore I think that breaks down some of the barriers when we have some more hours that visitors can just can be found in and just delight in the area and get used to the area, I think it breaks down some of that intimidation and makes the arts feel more available for people," said Flores.

Flores stated the Amarillo Art Institute is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M.
Memberships at the Amarillo Art Institute range from $50 a person to $200 an individual for the whole year, depending upon age and the people involved. Memberships permit access to open studios and usage of the center.

Flores stated the school is open to visitors and you don't have to be a member or go to a class to delight in the school.