ON TRAHC: Regional Arts and Humanities Council offers 'take and make' art classes for youth

Kamarion Hudson, 7, finishes assembling an elephant with the help of Sara Jayne Burroughs on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Center. TRAHC hosts free Drop-In Art Workshop five times a year.
Kamarion Hudson, 7, finishes assembling an elephant with the help of Sara Jayne Burroughs on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Center. TRAHC hosts free Drop-In Art Workshop five times a year.

The Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council saw a large and steady turnout of parents and children trickling in and out at the annual Drop-in Art Workshop Saturday, Amy Donohoe said.

Donohoe, local artist and member of TRAHC, said she was happy with the outcome and the turnout-as well as excited about Saturday's theme.

"Today we are making tube animals and flower vases out of industrial paper rolls," Donohoe said.

Donohoe's said her fellow coworker, Kay Thomas, is the one who came up with the craft themes for Saturday, which were, as always, geared toward children from ages 4-11.

Thomas, a visual arts teacher, artist and arts integration specialist, took industrial cardboard tubes-like the ones that house industrial paper towel roles-and used a power tool to cut the cardboard down before making a couple of the flower vases and tube animals that the children could use as a model for their
crafts.

"She completely designed our themes today," Donohoe said. "We are also recycling when we do this (workshop)."

For example, Donohoe pointed out a tube elephant, in which the tube held a pair of drawn-on yellowish eyes and a trunk glued onto it's face.

The elephant's blue ears were made from paper plates that had been recycled from a previous classes' project.

photo

AP

Matt Kuchar chips out of the rough onto the fifth green during the second round of the U.S. Open on Friday. Merion’s rough, aside from a few inches near the edges that are mowed lower than the primary, does not have a first cut.

"We try to do a lot of recycling like that," Donohoe said. "That's how we got the paper plate ears for the elephant-by using paper plates that have already been covered in paint."

Snacks were also set out for the children, like cookies, fruit chews and animal crackers-with lemonade to wash the snacks down. After children were done making their vase or tube animal, Donohoe had them stand in a corner for a photos so that TRAHC would have a record of all the fun, neat designs the children came up with for their animals and flower vases.

Siblings Elizabeth, Carlos Jr. and the youngest of the three, D'Angelo, posed for a photo with their tube animals. Carlos Jr. said he made a tube monster. D'Angelo, who was especially shy, would not reveal the inspiration behind his craft, but upon closer inspection, it appeared as though he was trying to emulate his brother in making a
monster.

"I made Sponge Bob," Elizabeth said, grinning ear to ear.

Donohoe said TRAHC artists loves to come up with different themes and projects each time for the
children.

One major benefit is that the workshops are a "make and take," she said. This means that when a groups of children are finished with their creation, TRAHC takes their photos, offers them snacks and lets them take their goodies home with them so that other groups can come in.

"This way it is fair for everyone," she said.

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