As artist Justine Scott started her presentation at the Lake Ray Roberts Rotary Club on Sept. 2, she handed out small cards with images and letters sketched onto them.
For once, she said, she was asking the people before her to stay inside the lines for a reason.
“We are most potently alive when we’re using our hands, our bodies, our voices, to connect with our [surroundings],” she said. “When you’re singing in church, for instance; when you’re dancing two-step … with your favorite person, when you [paint], … that’s the kind of thing that makes me present, that grounds me.”
Scott, who is part of the Pilot Point Community Arts nonprofit board, believes in the value of arts education.
“An education in the creative arts gives us the skills we need to express ourselves,” she said.
As she spoke, the Rotarians took watercolor paint and filled in their square, with Scott’s other request being that they leave no white space.
“You’re looking at a little cardstock, a little piece of watercolor paper with potentially something that is obvious or potentially something that is not, shape-wise,” Scott said. “It is your opportunity to color this … and even pattern it, if you’d like, to your heart’s delight.”
The other board members for the nonprofit are Cindy Kennedy, Bonnie Ambrose, Linda Bullwinkle, Janice Sheppard, Phyllis Wilson, Kelsey Neyman and Randy Killham.
“What is the Pilot Point Community Arts’ mission?” Scott said. “It is to inspire, to promote and to celebrate the creative and performing arts in Pilot Point and in the surrounding community, and we want to do that by offering accessible artistic experiences and by empowering local artists.”
The program’s fine arts classes begin Monday at $40 total for 10 sessions.
“They’ll do a showcase of the things they’ve created or the things they’ve learned on Dec. 6,” Scott said. “We will also, as a nonprofit, produce a ‘Christmas Carol’ radio show at the Garage Door Theater in December.”
Scott celebrated the Rotarians as they brought their pieces of the joint creation forward.
“Let’s celebrate what we’re creating, what we are building together, how we are celebrating each other,” Scott said.
