CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Tessellations and optical illusions will be the focus of Art with Katherine at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library this Saturday.
Former teacher Katherine Smith will have two classes: fourth through sixth graders from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and seventh through ninth graders from 1 to 3 p.m., all in the craft area. Now working in advertising, Smith decided to keep teaching on a volunteer basis because she still loves helping young people learn about art.
“I really want them to get out of the house and do something fun,” she said. “I want them to learn something they didn’t know before.”
While the subjects will vary in future classes, which are scheduled for every other Saturday, this weekend she hopes to impart the simplicity of optical illusions in art.
The fourth through sixth graders will hear about the origins of the style and how it broke into the mainstream art scene while learning how to create it themselves. Inspired by the work of M.C. Escher – known for his images of endless stairs and impossible perspectives. The seventh through ninth graders will venture into the world of tessellations. Tessellations are created by tiling shapes in patterns to fill up a frame, with no overlap or gaps between them.
“It’s really not that complicated when you break it down,” Smith said.
Smith studied art in college and received a master’s degree for art education and museum studies and now focuses on her advertising designs and freelance work. While she sold some ceramics and jewelry in the past, she now just creates art for herself. She said she does most of her pieces in mixed media, usually trying things that she knows can be taught in a classroom. For instance, she is currently using pages out of old books and going over them with oil pastels.