New Instructors Join the Carnegie Faculty

The Carnegie Arts Center is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Ries and Daniel Bruggeman to their faculty!  Elizabeth Ries will begin teaching dance classes for children ages 2-15 and Story Time Yoga for ages 3-5 in early September, and Daniel Bruggeman will begin teaching beginning to advanced piano for children and adults ages 6 and up in mid August.

Elizabeth Ries is an experienced teacher and performer from Lancashire, England.  She received her diploma in Dance form Merseyside Dance ad Drama Centre as well as a Diploma in Musical Theater from Trinity College, London.  Ries has studied under ballet legends Wayne Sleep and Natasha Lisakova, and has also studied at the famous Pineapple Studios in London.  Ries has performed in Broadway’s 42nd Street and Buddy Holly.  Ries is also a certified yoga instructor, and specializes in yoga classes for children.  After starting a family, Ries shifted her focus from performing to teaching.  Ries enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion for dance with her students, and educates her students on the importance of a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Daniel Bruggeman is currently working on his Doctorate of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Kansas.  He received his Master’s of Music from the University of Kansas, and he received his Bachelor’s of Music from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.  Bruggeman studied at the International Academy of Music in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 2008, and is presently studying and performing at the Adam Gyorgy Castle Academy in Pomaz, Hungary.  Bruggeman will return from Hungary to begin teaching at the Carnegie Arts Center in August.  Bruggeman is excited to teach piano lessons at the Carnegie Arts Center.

To enroll in dance classes or music lessons, please contact the Carnegie Arts Center - 913.651.0765.

Lemon-Aid for the Carnegie Arts Center

Monday afternoon heralded the opening of the Carnegie Arts Center’s lemonade stand fundraiser.  The project, which has been dubbed “Lemon-Aid,” was organized by staff and volunteers of the Carnegie Arts Center to raise funds to help purchase class supplies.  The lemonade stand was manned by students of the Carnegie Arts Center and was supervised by staff and volunteers.

From 4:00pm to 7:00pm the students held their brightly colored signs high in the hopes of attracting more customers.  In three hours, the four students and volunteers who worked the lemonade stand sold many gallons of lemonade to the people of Leavenworth.

The lemonade stand will also be open from 4:00-7:00pm on July 19 and 26.  Everyone is encouraged to stop by to quench their thirst!  Lemonade is 25 cents per cup, and donations are also accepted.

Top:  Ayana and Apollos Weissenfluh hold their signs high to draw in customers for the lemonade stand.  Both Ayana and Apollos have participated in art and music classes at the Carnegie Arts Center for several years, and they were excited to help out.

Bottom:  Drew Klemp gives the lemonade stand a thumbs up.  The Klemps are active supporters of the Carnegie Arts Center, and Drew and his sister have taken music lessons and art classes at the Carnegie for many years. 

In less than a month, a new painting exhibit will open at the Carnegie Arts Center.  The exhibit, which features the recent works of artist Zak Barnes, will be on display at the Carnegie Arts Center from August 13 until September 3, with an opening reception on Friday, August 13, from 6:00-8:00pm.

Artist Zak Barnes was born and raised in Kansas, and feels a deep connection to the prairie landscape and the people of Kansas.  The people and the land are the base and anchor of Barnes’s work, and his strongest influences are his immediate environment and life experience.  Barnes paints in both the studio and out in the landscape, and says “I find fulfillment in the rhythm of my days out in the open […] working with the elements.  There is a physical as well as mental work in the process, so that it becomes a meditation and a practice.”

The Carnegie’s exhibit of Barnes’s paintings includes landscapes, figurative works, and abstracts.  These paintings were created in the past year, and this is the first time any of them have been exhibited to the public.  Barnes’s paintings will be on display for a limited time only, and everyone is encouraged to attend the opening reception on Friday, August 13, from 6:00-8:00pm.  The opening reception is free and open to the public, and will be catered by Denise Bowie of Random Acts of Baking.

Top: Macho Flower Garden, 2010, oil on canvas, 50in x 60in

Bottom: Untitled Abstract, 2010, oil on canvas

Music and Stories and Art, Oh My!

For the past two weeks, mornings at the Carnegie Arts Center have been filled with the sounds of jingling bells, mini maracas, giggles, and song.  Twelve children ages 3-5 participated in this summer’s Tot Mini-Camp, where they participated in Musikgarten© and art classes.  The music portion of the camp was taught by Briana Janas.  Janas, who is studying music and theater at the University of Saint Mary, has been interning at the Carnegie Arts Center for several months, and is also the assistant theater teacher.  After their musical start to their mornings, the kids headed to the art room for art class.  Art instructor Marcia Nodland began by reading a story to the kids, who then created art projects that were based on the stories.  On the last day of class, Nodland and the students created paper aquariums full of brightly colored fish after reading A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.

More music, dance, and art classes for children and adults will be offered this fall.  For a complete list of classes offered at the Carnegie Arts Center this fall click here.

Top:  Briana Janas (left) lead the music portion of the Carnegie Arts Center’s Tot Mini-Camp, where the kids and their moms learned simple songs and played percussive musical instruments. 

Center:  Marcia Nodland reads a story to her class before they start their art lesson.  Nodland is a retired school teacher and has been teaching children's art classes at the Carnegie for one year.

Bottom:  Children created aquariums of brightly colored fish on the last day of Tot Mini-Camp at the Carnegie Arts Center.  The project was based on the book A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.

The Carnegie Arts Center is looking for a few good musicians!  Our current teachers are almost completely booked,

and we wish to add two new instructors to our faculty beginning in mid to late July to prepare for the 2010-2011 school year.

For more information on teaching at the Carnegie Arts Center, click here.

Make lemonade!  Inspired by the old, citrusy adage, students from the Carnegie Arts Center will be running a lemonade stand at the Carnegie Arts Center beginning in July.  Members of the Carnegie Arts Center’s board of directors and faculty will assist the students in their endeavor.

The lemonade stand will be open on July 12, 19, and 26, from 4:00pm until 7:00pm, and Leavenworth residents are encouraged to take a detour down 5th Street on their way home from work to support the Carnegie Arts Center and its students.

The Carnegie Arts Center is located on the corner of 5th and Walnut Streets near downtown Leavenworth.