VGCC Offers Decorative Painting Classes In Day, Evening During Summer Term

A new personal enrichment art class, Decorative Painting in Acrylics, will be offered both in days and evenings by Vance-Granville Community College during the summer term, beginning in May.

Different instructors will teach the classes, both on the main campus in Vance County. Lee Brigham, a longtime VGCC art instructor, will teach the day class from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Her class will begin May 22 and will run each Tuesday for 10 weeks. Brigham is a noted Henderson artist whose works hang in personal and public collections around the world.

Becky Keith of Creedmoor will teach the evening class from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. for eight weeks on Tuesdays, May 24-July 24. A laboratory technician at Duke Hospital for 25 years, Keith has painted in oils for 20 years and has studied with master decorative artists for several years.

Decorative painting is also called tole painting. It includes painting on a variety of surfaces, including paper, canvas, metal, cloth, wood and linoleum. Students will learn different techniques of applying paint to these surfaces, creating their own designs with simple brush strokes, Brigham said.

Keith said the technique is also called English country style, and she has used it to decorate wedding and birth announcements, flower pots, mail boxes, furniture and Christmas ornaments.

“I like teaching decorative painting because it is a relaxed style that gives people a sense of accomplishment,” Keith said. Both instructors said people do not have to have an art background or be able to draw to paint in this style.

VGCC encourages interested people to pre-register for the classes by calling the Continuing Education department at (252) 492-2061. Cost of Brigham’s longer day class is $37.50. Keith’s evening class charge is $30.

For a list of needed supplies, students may call Brigham at (252) 492-2061 or Keith at 919-528-0355.

CLOCKS & SHIRTS

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In the first photo,

Lee Brigham wears a blouse and holds a clock, both of which she decorated with the painting technique she will teach in her daytime Decorative Painting class, beginning May 22 on Vance-Granville Community College’s main campus in Vance County.

PAINTING ON WOOD

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In the second photo,

Becky Keith displays a wooden picnic basket she has decorated as an example of what students will learn to do in her evening Decorative Painting class, beginning May 29 at Vance-Granville Community College’s main campus in Vance County.