Release Your Inner Artist at Walters Cultural Arts Center
Is your child destined to be the next Picasso? Does she display the same passion as Misty Copeland or Ginger Rogers? Maybe he’s determined to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Lloyd Webber or Lin-Manuel Miranda?
If so, you need to get that kid to the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro, a deep well of creative and artistic resources for people of all ages. Whether it’s a family friendly opera, a dance performance by BodyVox or a summer camp focused on painting, theater or writing, the Walters has you covered, and then some.
You don’t have to wait for an event or class to flex your artistic muscles, though. Drop in to a weekly Family Art Night and for $5 each (free for kids under age 3), you and your kids can participate in a painting, clay or mixed media art project. Every Thursday evening, volunteer staff members are on hand, along with all the art supplies you might need to help you create your very own masterpiece.
When my thirteen-year-old son and I checked it out in March, we got to create a collage using pictures from magazines, tissue paper, cardboard shreds, markers, oil pastels and more. Some kids got right to work on their creation while others took time planning their piece, and some just sketched or worked on a drawing, already in progress.
The room had a quiet buzz of creative energy with the ten or so artists at work. Sometimes, though, the class is much more crowded. According to volunteer staff member Alice Hill, sculpture nights are their most popular, and when a Girl or Boy Scout troop shows up, seats can be hard to come by. So if you want to participate, get there a little early! There is no pre-registration and the classroom holds a maximum of twenty participants.
The Walters Cultural Arts Center is located on the corner of SE 5th Avenue and Main Street in downtown Hillsboro. Even the building is a work of art, with hand-quarried red rock surrounding the exterior. Check out the website and you might be as surprised as I was at the abundance of high-quality cultural and artistic offerings available for people of all ages!