Louise Carota says adults don’t often get a chance to have fun with art as they did as children.
A Centretown artist who opened her art gallery last month will offer art courses for adults next year to help them rediscover their artistic talents.
Louise Carota, owner of Spiral Gallery on 73 Aberdeen St. in Little Italy, says about 20 people have showed interest in signing up for the classes.
While there is no shortage of places in Ottawa where children can get training in art, adults have often been forgotten and it’s time they get a second chance, she says.
Carota said many of her expected clients were discouraged at a tender age when their apparently goofy works were criticized and they felt too intimidated to continue with creativity.
“Everyone remembers when they were a little kid how there was some sort of almost traumatic experience that made them stop,” she says.
“There are all kinds of interesting exercises that you can do to get people to rediscover that creative side.”
The artist is perhaps best known in Ottawa for designing a monument honoring Ottawa fire fighters, located outside Ottawa City Hall.
But her love for art started at a young age when she did some paintings while growing up in California. She later studied art for two winters in Rome as a teenager in the 1970s.
She has been creating art ever since, specializing in painting and sculpture.
As she prepares to teach her artistic skills to others, she has been collecting books about arts and bringing them to her new gallery where they hang along with samples of her artworks.
“Remember how you loved doing art as a child?” Carota wrote in a pamphlet she distributes to advertise her services. “With a little encouragement and guidance why not try it again.”
One of her clients, Renee Ladouceur, wants to practice her drawing and painting skills. The 53-year-old resident of Orleans tried the drawing course with her 27-year-old daughter.
“It’s like doing something that’s just for you with no interference; nobody is judging what it is that you are producing,” Ladouceur says. “It really allows you to be very free, which is not something we get a lot of opportunity to do any more.”
She tried to draw a person the last time she was at Spiral Gallery and would like to go back next year to learn how to use water colours.
“It was a wonderful experience,” she says.
Targeting adults of all ages, from teenagers to seniors, Carota will be offering classes in drawing, painting, sculpture and art appreciation skills, such as familiarity with art supplies and stores.
Depending on how many learning levels or units clients sign up for, the cost for one class can range from $25 to $35. One art class has an average length of 90 minutes.
Learners take courses at their own pace, either individually or in small groups covering the same material.
Carota set up her Spiral Gallery in a family house that she revamped to suit the needs of her new business.
After challenges during her house’s renovation as she tried to meet the city’s building standards, she finally opened her art gallery last month.
It has space for a working studio and it is also available for rent by artists who want to hold art shows.
Carota says the Spiral Gallery is also available for use if a group wants to hold an art party drawing together or taking a drawing class together.