Coyee Langston works on a winter landscape in preparation for her art classes coming to the 6th Cavalry Museum.Get creative
To sign up for art classes or paint and sip parties, call the 6th Cavalry Museum at 706-861-2860. The museum is located at 6 Barnhardt Circle in Fort Oglethorpe next door to the Catoosa Performance Learning Center. Executive Director Chris McKeever said the museum is open to hosting birthday parties either in the second-floor community room or on the adjacent polo field, and artist Coyee Langston said they can incorporate instructor-led painting.
The 6th Cavalry Museum in Fort Oglethorpe is launching several types of art classes.
Art instructor Coyee Langston, of East Brainerd, said she opted to begin offering classes at the museum after discussing it with fellow artist Durinda Cheek, who lives in Fort Oglethorpe and is a 6th Cavalry Museum board member. Langston and Cheek will co-teach the sessions.
The first is an art class for children ages 6-10. The theme is “Winter Landscapes” and the classes will meet Jan. 23 and 30 and Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon.
“We will be painting on canvas,” Langston said. “We already have eight children signed up. It is $75 for three sessions and includes all your supplies. Part of the class profits go to the 6th Cavalry Museum.”
The pair is also offering paint parties for adults on the fourth Thursday from 6-8 p.m.
The adult painting parties are titled “Painting with a Purpose” and launch Thursday, Jan. 28. The cost includes a 16-by-20-inch canvas that each patron will paint that evening and can take home with them. The adults are welcome to bring a snack and beverage of their choice, including wine, said museum Executive Director Chris McKeever, though the parties will be catered by LaFayette’s Ivy Cottage Restaurant.
McKeever said the community art classes are a win-win for the community and the museum, as they will draw more people who may not have been to the museum before.
“Most elementary schools do not have an art program and very often don’t have it in middle school either,” added McKeever. “This is a huge benefit to the community to let kids come in for art classes. People are calling in saying, ‘There’s no art classes for kids in the area and we are so glad you are doing this.'”
Students will use acrylics and canvas as well as oil pastels and watercolors on paper.
“Art is an extension of you personally and it’s a creative outlet often not tapped into with children, and it sharpens their creative thinking skills, eye-hand coordination and math skills,” said Langston. “There is all kinds of research on the benefit of art. A lot of kids love coming to the art class. It’s therapy and downtime. You are not judged based on scores. You are an individual.”
Langston grew up in a household filled with artists in East Ridge. She attended Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn., on an art scholarship, ultimately obtaining her Bachelor of Art in Fine Arts from UTC.
“I’ve been painting my whole life,” she said. “My dad was a professional artist from Rock Spring: Sidd Shipp. He did a lot of prints of scenes of Chickamauga such as Lee and Gordon Mills and Cove Methodist Church.”
Langston has owned the Art House in East Ridge for 20-plus years. She not only paints abstract expressionism and realistic work, she said, but also began operating Langston Photography in 2000.
Editor’s note
A previous submitted calendar entry incorrectly listed the dates for the art classes.