Go See This: Online art classes with Stacye Leanza

As new members of our Chatham County community, Chatham Park is powering our Go See This series this year because art is an integral part of Chatham County’s identity. They join us in inviting you to Go See This . . .

Stacye Leanza, a long time Chatham resident, artist, and art teacher, is moving bravely into the world of online teaching. With all of her art students now quarantined at home, she thought it would be a good time to try her hand at offering her classes through Zoom.

“I thought of all of my students sequestered at home with fear and anxiety, all needing a way to express these feelings,” says Stacye. “So I thought, ‘I’m doing it, I’m going to go live online.’ It’s something that I’d been thinking of doing for years anyway, so this was finally the motivation to do it.”  

Stacye has always considered herself an artist, even as a little girl. “I’ve been making art all my life. I started doing portraits when I was about 10. I discovered that people got paid to illustrate children’s books when I was a teenager. That catapulted me into going to art school.”

During her early days in Chatham County, Stacye worked for Lyle Estill as an artist’s assistant, helping him fabricate sculptures. Lyle told her that there was a mural society starting up in Siler City, and that they were thinking of hiring a muralist from Florida to come up and do the mural. “But Lyle really wanted to have a local artist do the mural, so he convinced them (the Siler City Mural Society organizers) to hire me,” said Stacye. “That’s what started my mural career.”

After working on several murals in Siler City, Stacye began getting work as an illustrator and art teacher. “I started teaching at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro, starting with a figure drawing class, and then I went quickly into reportage, which is what court reporters do. I now call it sketchbook journaling, which is easier for people to understand. When the ArtsCenter closed at the beginning of March due to the virus, I was about to start teaching a sketchbook journaling class for travelers, which is what I usually do at this time of year for people who go traveling in the summer so they know how to quickly sketch the important stuff they want to remember about their trip.”

Stacye is looking forward to her upcoming online classes, which she hopes will help give people at home an outlet for their stress. “I know how healing it is to do artwork, especially during times like this when there’s lots of anxiety. Art can really help people work through their issues.” 

Stacye will be offering two classes this month, both through Zoom:

• What: Personal Sketchbook Journaling on Our Upside Down World
• When: April 13 – May 4 (4 weeks) on Monday nights from 6:40pm – 8:40pm. Please sign up by Friday, April 10 at 6PM
• Where: Zoom 
• Class description: “We are in uncharted territory now. There is plenty to process, interpret, and express, and many ways to do it. I’ll offer techniques to help you capture the essence of your new world effectively and make some sense of it at the same time. You will create a meaningful, personal chronicle of this chaotic time that you can reflect upon long after it’s over.” Class will include instruction, demo, in-depth discussion, and critique. Most of the artwork will be done outside of class. Students will share their work in an online forum/photo album.
• Cost: $88.79
• For more information, visit: http://www.leanza-art.com/events/new-on-line-class-personal-sketchbook-journaling

 

• What: Figure Drawing Open Studio
• When: April 15 – 29 (3 weeks) on Wednesday nights from 6:40pm – 8:40pm
• Where: Zoom
• Class description: “Virtual *live* life drawing is the latest thing and the next best thing to the real deal. To give us all a chance to get the hang of the tech aspects of it, there will be no instruction for this first 3-week series. We’ll start with quick warm-up gesture drawings, and work up to a one-hour pose. We are lucky to have Mikki Marvel leading us! Aside from being a great model, she is experienced at virtual modeling, including the tech. Participants can share their work at the end of the session. Please note that the model will be clothed, due to on-line streaming rules.”
• Cost: $37.34
• For more information, visit: http://www.leanza-art.com/events/new-on-line-class-figure-drawing-open-studio