Music,
Art, Theater and Dance Educates and Enchants Home School Scholars
and After School Scholars at the Grace Academy of Fine Arts
in Orange Park
Registration is in progress at the Grace Academy of Fine Arts
in its 14th year of providing music and arts instruction for
students pre-school through seniors in High School. The faculty
of the Grace Academy are all proven professionals with outstanding
credentials and they welcome returning students and new students
alike.
Theater
teacher found among paint, brushes, and easels!
What’s different
this year at the Grace Academy is the introduction of theater
classes. It was discovered that the art teacher, Kris Lesak,
also holds a minor in Theatre Art. What better person to teach
theater and to combine those classes with art! For instance,
as the students work toward presenting a Live Nativity in December,
one of the class exercises will be to sketch Mary to introspectively
connect to her. Students will make sketches of their costumes,
props, the manger, and what life was like in Jesus’ day, to
prepare for their roles and outdoor performances on December
21, 22 and 23.
In the spring, students
will produce a Noah’s Ark theme outdoors. The children will
use multiple medias to create their characters’ persona or make
puppets. There will also be an outdoor performance, after all
that’s where the ark was and that’s where children love to be
to express their imaginations!
Capturing
Imagination Tangibly Through Art
Kris Lesak’s art room is ready and amazingly inviting with colorful
paints, pastels, paper, beads and buttons to name a few. There
is a special program for half day kindergarteners on Thursdays
from 12:40-1:40. The rest of the hour long classes for all other
ages begin at 3:20 on various days. This year an extra class
will be taught that begins in October just for 4 year olds who
will create Holiday Art. Adult classes are available and meet
all day one Saturday per month.
Resonating
Music, The Language of Beauty
Much of the program
at Grace Academy is about Music. Private music instruction is
offered in Voice, Piano, Violin, Guitar, Woodwinds, Drums, Trumpet
and Music Composition. Each half hour session costs $17.50.
Locations include Grace Episcopal Church, Orange Park Presbyterian
Church and the Grace Academy of Fine Arts office. Band is also
offered at the Grace Episcopal Day School for grades 4 to 8.
Children’s
Voices Blend Beautifully in the Voices of Grace Children’s Choir
The quality of education
and the performances are of the highest quality. Students in
grades 1 through high school are divided in three groups: Apprentice
Choir, Core Choir and Mastersingers. Dr. James R. Hart, Director
of Grace Academy, outlines that “Each choir provides education
and performance opportunities to some of the best sacred choral
literature in a context of musical, spiritual and ministerial
excellence.” All rehearsals are on Thursday afternoons. Performances
include various Christian worship services, community events,
outreach opportunities and tours.
A
Quality Dance Education with a Christian Perspective
Grace
Academy of Fine Arts will outsource their Dance Program to Destiny
Dance Center this year. Tiffany Willis runs a lovely program
for ages 3 to adult. She holds a B.F.A. from Florida State University.
Classes run approximately $48 per month for one lesson a week.
More information including a schedule of classes may be found
at www.destinydancecenter.com or by calling Tiffany at 904.276.3737.
The studio is located at 2151 Lock Rane Blvd., # 3, in Orange
Park.
Activating the Arts and Connecting to the Grace Academy
All classes, instruction
and Voices of Grace Children’s Choir begin immediately after
Labor Day. Enrollment is limited to class size, and registering
early is recommended. Every effort is made to accommodate students
and if possible, applicants will be accepted year round.
New Arts
Administrator, Debra Smyers, enthusiastically states, “Experiencing
the arts for a child is an innate expression of their imagination,
their minds and souls expressed right down to the inner core
of their very existence. Enrolling your child in an Arts program
is a gift that has everlasting value and memories.”
