'It takes you outside of yourself...'

By CASEY COLLIER
“Well, I just think this is the best thing the city has ever done for Franklin,” says Laura Zuniga, Beginner and Intermediate Acrylic instructor at the Bayou Beaux Arts and Dance Program, “because I consider art something that improves your life, improves your outlook on life and gives you pleasure for the rest of your life… if you learn how to make art.”
The rest of the instructors nod in tacit agreement as Zuniga continues, “And the best thing about it is—it takes you outside of yourself. You can’t worry about last week, and you can’t worry about next week. You have to be focused on what you’re doing, and you are enjoying what you are doing.”
All four instructors look at home in the city council chamber, comfortably seated in front of the empty council bench. However, they are not politicians, all are veteran art and dance instructors, so their comfortability in focal situations isn’t altogether surprising—coupled with the fact that City Hall’s second floor is the location for three of the four courses that compile the city’s summer arts program, (dance is offered at the Franklin Senior High auditorium) now it’s clear that what you have, is four relaxed and confident educators, talking about what they love—teaching the Arts.
Seated next to Zuniga, is Jeanne Wattigny, instructor of the Beginner and Intermediate Drawing course.
“Where else can you go for three days, for three hours, and have lessons, all for $20?” Wattigny asks, also a private lesson tutor. “You cannot,” she answers rhetorically. “To not take advantage of this program would be terrible.
“So, I think that’s why we are all here. This is amazing. I think New Iberia should have this. I think Jeanerette should have this. We are the only place that has this!”
The Bayou Arts and Dance Program is supported by grants from Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Louisiana State Arts Council and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation.
This year will be BBADPA’s ninth iteration, and it will also be the ninth year of its locally particular recherché.
According to Arlana Shields, Franklin’s community development director, there are local summer programs available all around our parish, but BBADPA is “unique to Franklin” as it is the parish’s solitary summer arts program.
Supplies are donated, and the students are only asked to bring snacks, if they want them.
The art classes are available to 13-year-olds, and older, and the dance classes are available to five-year-olds, and older.
After familiarly chuckling at the apparent similarities between them, professing the same views as Wattigny and Zuniga, Marissa Verrette, Beginner and Intermediate Portrait instructor, adds that her motivation is the “wow” moment experienced by her students.
“All my students, the ones that take the summer courses here, and the ones I teach at the high school,” she says, “they all start the year off saying, ‘Miss Marissa, I can’t draw anything but stick people.’ And then, by the end of that lesson, they are amazed at what they’ve just done.
“That is what I live off of.”
BBADA’s Dance Instructor LaDaisha Bowles-Webber concurs, “I get to see that progress every summer. I especially want my first-timers to understand that I’m not here to intimidate them, but to encourage them. I want to push them in a way that’s not too forward, but that is going to prepare them for what’s to come in the future.”
Zuniga says it is most rewarding for her to see her summer students come away from her course having finished with pride, two or three paintings each, which they take home, and in some instances, give away to friends and family.
Wattigny says she likes to see the self-confidence that her students develop from learning they can produce something, with technical proficiency. She says it is most evident that this is the case when a student asks her advice on where to procure a specific art supply, after the last class has concluded. “That tells me that they fell in love with something, and they are going to continue,” says Wattigny.
Bowles-Webber offers, “It is courage. Sometimes I’ll get a phone call in the middle of the night asking if it’s ok ‘if we use one of your routines?’ to perform at a pep rally or community event. So, to me, that’s the cherry on top.”
Yet, there are things the instructors would like to see come to pass in future course iterations, maybe even this year’s.
For Bowles-Webber, whose class theme changes every year, structured around the mastery of both provisional and creative choreography, the future would be more complete with summer courses extended to year-round availability.
Verrette joins hands with Bowles-Webber in solidarity and says with zeal, “Yes!”
Verrette’s class focuses on portrait artistry in pencils and ebony. Portrait I deals with proportion, shading, blending and features, while Portrait II brings the students through the recreation of a photograph of their choice.
As for Zuniga, she would simply like to see bigger classes born from increased community participation. Her Beginners Acrylic class introduces materials and color theory, with demonstrations on utility. The intermediate class works with elements and design, also with demonstrations. This year’s theme is rumored to be: fish.
Wattigny’s wish list for the future includes elementally broader access to the program. “I would like to tap into part of the community that might not be able to have this type of exposure to the Arts. There are kids who might not have ever touched a paint brush or a blending stone. There are kids that I think would benefit from having the Arts in their lives, to make their days better,” she says.
Her beginners class works through the basic elements of drawing with focuses on principals, observation and drawing from memory.
The intermediate class works with lighting, perspective and drawing what you see, i.e. still life.
Registration for the summer arts program is taking place during normal business hours in the Tax Department of the City Hall, on the first floor. Dance classes are $20 per person, and art classes are $20 per course. Registration ends Friday, April 13.