Arts

Slideshow: Painters Flock to Fridley Community Ed Class

A loyal group of mostly retirees convenes on Tuesday mornings, brushes in hand.

By Chris Steller
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January 26, 2011

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J. Diane Savage lived in Fridley for 24 years, serving on the city's planning commission for nearly two decades. She also worked for 30 years as an Anoka County prosecuting attorney. Now she returns to Fridley each week to work on her paintings, many of them depicting scenes in her new neighborhood in Minneapolis.

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John Franklin Van Pilsum, 89, grew up on a farm in Prairie Center, IA, and now lives in Columbia Heights. He has been attending Buchanan's art classes for three years. Two of his paintings—one of a rural scene, another of Stonehenge—hang at the Mayo Memorial Building at the University of Minnesota.

Credit Chris Steller

J. Diane Savage lived in Fridley for 24 years, serving on the city's planning commission for nearly two decades. She also worked for 30 years as an Anoka County prosecuting attorney. Now she returns to Fridley each week to work on her paintings, many of them depicting scenes in her new neighborhood in Minneapolis.

Credit Chris Steller

Some of J. Diane Savage's paintings are of things she used to see when she lived in Fridley. She is currently on the board of directors at Fridley's Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts.

Credit Chris Steller

Earl Spindler of New Brighton said he has "lost track" of how many years he has studied painting with Kathy Buchanan, but they both remember that he started by enrolling in a community ed class in New Brighton, where he lives, before she moved her class to Fridley. His favored subjects: old cars and architecture, especially historic buildings.

Credit Chris Steller

Earl Spindler's paintings, like the colorful row shown here, are currently on exhibit at the Mississippi Branch Library in Fridley.

Credit Chris Steller

Denise Neisz of Coon Rapids is in her third year of taking painting at Fridley Community Education. (Her son attends Fridley schools through open enrollment.) "I just like to paint with color," she said, adding that she also appreciates that the course is in the morning. "My evenings are pretty busy."

Credit Chris Steller

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Kathy Buchanan's community-education courses on drawing and painting attract a dedicated following of local residents who make a weekly ritual of working on their art together.

Related Topics: Community Education, Drawing, Painting Class, and Senior Citizens

What community-education courses have you tried? Tell us in the comments.

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Dorothy Hhargreaves

7:01 pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Gary your getting quite slide show keep up the good work love mom