Home is where the art is: Provo art center offers free creativity kits to public
Employees of Neighborhood Art Center work to put together free art kits for community members. The kits are hung on the window of Pioneer Book in Provo each weekday morning. From left: Ryan Denison, Erica Nelson, Abby Feltis.
The Neighborhood Art Center is provides free art kits for community members by displaying them at Pioneer Book in Provo.
Art museums, art classes and other facilities may be closed right now, but that needn’t stop locals from creating art. That is the idea behind the free art kits that are being put together and given away by the Neighborhood Art Center in Provo.
The center, a nonprofit organization that normally serves as a space where children and families can visit to create artworks, has been closed since the end of March.
“After a couple of weeks of not being able to be in the studio, we decided to put together little kits,” said Tallia Feltis, founder.
Feltis said that she and her employees wanted to create the art kits as something that families can easily grab and do together without having to set up a complicated project at home.
“These are stressful times we are living in, and the last thing we need is the pressure to create something Pinterest-worthy with your kids or be worried about making a mess or having the wrong supplies,” Feltis said. “These free art kits are for creating and connecting without the pressure, a way to give kids a creative outlet without the stress, and a way that we can reach out to the community in this strange time.”
The kits have included various materials, including sketchbooks, stickers, crayons, finger puppet materials, necklace materials and imagination kits with treasures for kids to create whatever they can imagine.
“Art can give us a much-needed break from the stress we have all been feeling over the last few months.”
– Tallia Feltis, Neighborhood Art Center founder
While some of the kits are created for children, there are some geared more for adults, according to Feltis. These include yarn, cross stitch kits, crochet hooks and even no-sew mask kits for people who need face masks during this pandemic. There have also been thank you card kits with cards and stickers.
When Feltis moved back to Provo with her family a few years ago after living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she felt like there was a need for a space like this in the community.
“I was inspired by all the community spaces and arts in Pittsburgh,” she said. “I really missed being able to take my kids to cultural events and a community space where people can gather and create.”
That is when the Neighborhood Art Center was born. Visitors to the center can use paint, screen printing, clay and other materials. There is also tactile, sensory art play for young children.
The Neighborhood Art Center is located in Provo Towne Center, but is closed until it is safe and healthy for the center to be open for employees and patrons, Feltis said. For now, the free art kits are being taken to Pioneer Book, 450 W. Center in Provo. Feltis and her children hang them in the window at the bookstore in the mornings for people to see and take as they walk by.
There are usually classes held in the studio that focus on a different theme every week, such as watercolors, art and nature, science and art, and learning from the masters.
“This summer, we are planning on holding outdoor classes to promote social distancing and are planning on incorporating the outdoors into our lessons through plein air painting (painting outdoors) and drawing and nature art,” Feltis said.
For more information about the Neighborhood Art Center, its classes and when new art kits are set out, follow them on Instagram @neighborhoodartcenter and on their website, http://neighborhoodartcenter.org.
“It is important for children to create art for so many reasons. It helps them express their feelings and emotions, it encourages creative thinking and it helps them with problem solving on a scale that is not intimidating or frustrating,” Feltis said. “And art can give us a much-needed break from the stress we have all been feeling over the last few months.”
