Art Attack

Art Attack

Amateur artists have included such big names as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, singer Tony Bennett and actor Anthony Quinn. They're considered amateurs because they didn't make their living by painting. But the quality of their work was often highly professional. Churchill had a retrospective show of his work at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the works of the others have also been publicly exhibited.

One of the best-known amateur artists in the 20th-century was United States retired farmer Anna Mary Robertson Moses, who painted under the name Grandma Moses. Although she had no formal art training, her paintings were critically acclaimed and have been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe.

For beginners, there are kits with materials and instructions - as you'll probably have seen. Kits vary from oils and brushes to those for painting by numbers - a hobby closer to handicraft than doing original art. There are also kits for decoupage, collage, the making of mobiles, wood-block printing, and other art forms.

Most communities offer courses for both adults and children who want to learn to paint. Senior citizen centres and day care centres for the aged, disabled and those recovering from addictions provide art courses for enjoyment and therapy. Many colleges accept part-time students in art and art history - see TCD and the National College of Art and Design - and night courses are abundantly available as well.

Decoupage, an art form that originated in France during the 17th century, involves cutting out designs and patterned materials and fastening them permanently to some surface. A big appeal of decoupage is the ability to turn plain but useful items into beautiful works of folk art, as this writer has seen recently at German Christmas craft fairs.

Collage, a 20th-century offshoot of decoupage, uses the techniques of decoupage within the limits of a frame to create a piece of artwork. Pablo Picasso was one of the first painters to use the technique, combining paints with other materials on canvas.

Amateur sculptors also can find purchase materials and instruction books if they're trying to improve their skill before, or perhaps during, an evening course. Beginners usually start with clay before going on to materials such as stone or wood. Others like to use other, untraditional materials, including soap, scrap metal, wax, vegetables, or bread dough, to make sculptures.

Music and Theatre

Enthusiasts can make both a pastime and, sometimes, a second vocation of music. They may learn to play a musical instrument for pleasure, but there are many opportunities for talented people to participate in chamber music concerts, community orchestras, or other groups. Singers join choral organizations and form duets, quartets, or other small groups for public performances. Well-known barbershop quartets are put together by people who enjoy music as a hobby. And, of course, some big rock groups got their start by meeting and playing together in night school or part-time music classes. Others, having enjoyed the pleasure of learning to play, switch to collecting musical instruments, sheet music, or albums.

Local theatre groups offer an outlet for amateurs of diverse talents. And besides acting, there's always a need for set designers and builders, lighting specialists, costumers, directors, and stage managers. Some theatre groups - especially in Europe - stage annual pageants, Christmas plays, or Passion plays. For example, the actors who appear in the Passion play at Oberammergau, Germany, are well-trained amateurs who occupy themselves with their other pay-cheque work during the ten years between performances. Again, as an alternative to, or after taking part in productions, people may make a hobby of attending performances, collecting programmes and reading plays.

Local theatres usually have extensive programmes of lunch and evening-time talks by well-known playwrights, critics and actors. So too have cinemas. The two best organisations in this regard are the (National) Abbey Theatre in Dublin and the Irish Film Centre, also in the capital. If you're interested, contact the latter and they'll put you on their mailing list so you won't miss any of the talks.

The opportunities to have fun and learn loads are endless in the Arts sector. We suggest you fiddle about with the Nightcourses.com search engine - tap in the activity you're most interested in and see what's the most convenient and most interesting course for you. Have an arty time now!