THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505240169
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
On Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, Devi Anne Moore's Copperstone Circle home is invaded by young artists.
From a custom art studio built into the Hunningdon Lakes home where she lives with her husband, Gordon, and sons, Zeke and George, Moore offers art classes for children and adults.
``Many of the children in my Wednesday class are home school students,'' Moore said. ``I have advertised my classes in the home school newsletter and in the Tidewater Parent magazine. I get students not just from Chesapeake but also from Norfolk, Virginia Beach and even from Knotts Island, N.C.''
By teaching at her home, Moore said she has found an ideal way to continue her career in art while staying at home and being a mother to her two young sons.
``My desire has always been to teach at home,'' she said. ``I love to teach art and nurture creativity in children and adults. This way I am able to do that and still be with my own children.''
She said she offers her students a smattering of art history, instruction in aesthetics and training in the creative process as well as attention to techniques.
Moore develops class projects to stimulate creativity. Some of those include:
Illustrating one of several nursery rhymes including ``Hey, Diddle, Diddle,'' ``Grand Ol' Duke York'' or ``The Woman In the Shoe,'' using only torn colored construction paper.
Making an ``assemblage,'' using materials students have collected for a month. Materials include bits of glass or rock, cardboard, magazine pages, junk jewelry, beads, pieces of wood or anything else that has been discarded or found around the neighborhood or home. The items are then glued onto a board with her students given the choice of making a book cover, a Leonardo Da Vinci-style invention or abstract design/pattern.
Showing students a few examples of classic art paintings and then having them re-interpret them in their own way and in their own style; having them create still life paintings; and having them reproduce Medieval art styles. All of the works based on these innovative ideas eventually found their way at an exhibit that was on display at the Greenbrier public library in April.
``I introduce my students to the same things one gets in college,'' Moore explained. ``But, of course, on their age level. I give them some art history and art terms, and then I try to build up their creativity and confidence. When they finish their works I try to find ways to display them, just like at a student gallery at a college. The exhibit at the Greenbrier library worked very well: It gave my students a chance to display their works and the library people loved the exhibit. I think they were impressed with the level of skill.''
After graduating from Temple University's Tyler School of Art, Moore obtained a master's degree in theology and ministry from Regent University and later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from a joint teacher's program of Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University.
Moore and Chesapeake pastel artist Karen Kinser opened The Art Room, a combination art school and gallery. Unfortunately, the business folded and Moore finally set up home classes after having a special studio/classroom built onto her home.
In between her art classes, Moore creates three-dimensional constructive paintings showing scenes and concepts from the Old Testament's ``Book of Revelations.'' So far she has completed 22, which decorate her cozy Chesapeake home. She has plans for seven more.
In addition, she has created several book covers and the program design for an upcoming Chesapeake ballet, ``Lily and the Gypsies.''
Her interpretive landscapes of the Dead Sea have been displayed at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, and she recently won first place at a juried show sponsored by the Tidewater Artists' Association in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution's traveling art show ``Playing With a Full Deck'' at the Portsmouth Museum. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Devi Anne Moore teaches Meghan Lynch, left, and Janelle Pierce about
art in her Hunningdon Lakes home.
by CNB