ARTS COUNCIL DOUBLES NUMBER OF ARTS CLASSES BEING OFFERED THIS SUMMER

If you want to learn to be a comedian, to turn yard-sale furniture into works of art or to make masks out of clay, the arts classes are available this summer.

The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri is the largest provider of summer arts classes in the region. The organization is doubling its offerings this year and expanding its schedule from one month to two. Among the offerings are classes in Stone Sculpture, Chalk Muraling, Ceramics, Clay & Masks, and Paper Making and Book Making.

New classes this year include:

* Children's Choir (Stephanie Fridley, instructor).

* Expressive Drawing (Malgorzata Stepak, instructor).

* Theater Set Design (Crain Thomas, instructor).

* Watercolor/Printmaking (Judy Barks-Westrich, instructor)

* Orff Instruments (Pam Dumey, instructor).

On July 28, students in the Children's Choir, Orff Instruments and Theatre classes will combine for a performance at Rose Theater. Shannon Felker's theater students will give performances of "Cupid in Command" and "The Merry Month of May."

More than 600 students attended the Arts Council classes last summer. North says most of those students are from Cape Girardeau and Jackson, with a few coming from Perryville, Sikeston and Southern Illinois.

"We want to expand next year so some of the programs will be held in Jackson," says Daniel North, executive director of the Arts Council.

Most of the Arts Council classes are for children. However, classes in Watercolor and Printmaking are for adults.

Fees are $60 for a one-week class and $100 for a two-week class. Some scholarships are available and will be awarded on the basis of need. The scholarships are possible thanks to grants from Target and from Ervin Metalsmiths, North says.

In past years, most of the Arts Council classes were held at Southeast. A few classes still will be held on the campus this year, but others will be offered at Clippard School and downtown -- either at the Arts Council itself or at Courthouse Park.

Students in the Mural Painting class this year will paint their own mural over the mural currently on the west side of the Arts Council building, and also will paint a mural inside on the walls of the Lorimier Gallery.

Classes already are about half full, North said.

Phone 334-9233 for information or to register. Registration also can be done at the organization's website, artscouncilsemo.org

Needful Things, an antiques and consignment store in downtown Cape Girardeau, is sponsoring a series of art classes this summer in its downstairs Brick Street Gallery. In a class called Funky Furniture, instructor Rosetta Colley will show students how to transform yard-sale furniture into something unique. The class beginning June 5 has sections for ages 6-10 and for ages 11-adult.

Later in June, Colley will teach classes titled The Great T-Shirt Experience and Photo Design. In July, she will teach classes called Experimental Paint and Environmental Collage & Mosaics. Each class has sections for ages 6-10 and 11-adult except Photo Design, which is for ages 12-adult only. Fees range from $60-80.

The gallery is located at 200 Broadway. Phone 332-1339 for more information.

Also available again this year is the Horizons program offered through Southeast Missouri State University. Arts offerings range from a class in learning how to perform comedy taught by Dacia Charlesworth to a number of pottery classes led by Amy Kephart. Ellen and Dennis Seyer will teach sections of all-day theater classes providing students instruction in the technical and creative aspects of a stage performance.

All the Horizons classes are taught by professors and instructors at Southeast. Fees range from $89 to $165.

Phone the Office of Continuing Education at 986-6879 for more information.