Over the spring and summer, the Roger Tory Peterson will offer new adult art classes for those 55 years and older. Local artist instructor Robin Zefers Clark will teach two series of six-week watercolor sessions in a classroom at the RTPI headquarters.

The Roger Tory Peterson Institute is expanding its education programming to include a new adult art class offering for adults ages 55 and over this spring and summer.

Through a grant from the Tri-County Arts Council furnished by the state Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, local artist instructor Robin Zefers Clark will teach two series of six-week watercolor sessions in a classroom at the RTPI headquarters, 311 Curtis St., Jamestown.

The first classroom series will take place Mondays between May 6 and June 10 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The second series will begin Monday, July 29 and end Sept. 2, and will also be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Each six-week series will end with a month-long exhibition of the student’s work. There is no fee for the classes and materials will be provided. Students are asked to commit to the full six weeks as much as possible.

Jane Johnson, RTPI director of exhibitions and marketing, and Robin Clark will develop the program based on selected pieces from Roger Tory Peterson’s body of original artwork.

“As we celebrate the 35th anniversary of RTPI in 2019, we also celebrate Roger himself, who was first and foremost an artist, through classes like these and his incredible original paintings and illustrations,” Johnson said. “We are thrilled to welcome students to these sessions and hope to cultivate new and existing artists’ talents.”

Twan Leenders, president of RTPI, will provide the biology and natural history background and information for the students based on the pieces from the Peterson Collection.

Robin Clark received her associate of arts degree from Finger Lakes Community College and a bachelor of science degree in art education from Buffalo State College. She received her masters of science degree from Rochester Institute of Technology, with a major in oil painting and intensive work in graphic design and photographic studies. Clark has had several solo and group exhibitions and has been featured in articles in Country Woman Magazine, The Buffalo News and Focus. Her work has won numerous awards and is featured in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Clark lives in the Allegany mountains of Western New York, where she owns and operates Brookside Studio.

Registration is requested by May 1 by calling 665-2473, ext. 227, or emailing ahudson@rtpi.org. RTPI is fully ADA-compliant with multiple ramp access and an elevator that reaches both floors of the facility.

Robin Z. Clark original

An original artwork by Roger Tory Peterson in a studio in, Old Lyme, Conn.