Coweta County, GA Website

The Young Artists of Newnan & Coweta County program began in Newnan/Coweta County more than 40 years ago by Mrs. Bette Hickman, aka - Miss Bette. Mrs. Teri Lewis, aka - Miss Teri,  joined the program in 1999.

The program has always been sponsored by the Coweta County Parks & Recreation Department since its inception.

The Coweta County Board of Commission recognized The Young Artists of Newnan & Coweta County and Miss Bette with a proclamation in March of 2019.

This proclamation was celebrated with the erection of the Outside Art Classroom/Pavilion in April 2022.

When you register for the fall, you are committing to the first semester which will include September, October and November. The second semester will consist of January, February, March and April.

Of course, we will understand if you are not able to complete the semester or the entire Art year. Please let us know ASAP should this happen. 

Please note there is an annual registration fee of $20.00 (non-refundable) and this is paid directly to Miss Teri.

This registration fee is used to purchase items directly related to the Youth Arts Program! 

If you encounter any registration issues, please call Christine Bourque at Coweta Parks & Recreation at 770-683-7275 (ext. 8567).

CURRICULUM/LESSONS

We understand you are entrusting us with your greatest treasure(s) and we do not take this lightly. We also understand what your Young Artists need in an art program from first-hand experience over the past 40+ years. Our curriculum is designed to use the methodology of “Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain” by Dr. Betty Edwards and to enhance each student’s basic drawing ability. They are taught the skills they need to grow in their artistic ability, and providing major benefits outside of the art room.  Published research (citations listed below) has shown students benefit from hands-on art lessons through several ways: increase in attention span, problem-solving skills, and an increase in overall academic achievement. These are just a few important skills art classes have been demonstrated to improve.

Students will be taught using a variety of mediums:

• Pencil
• Ink
• Watercolors
• Acrylic paints
• Paint Pens (oil & acrylic)
• Pastels (chalk & oil)
• Cray pas (wax crayons)
• Watercolor Markers
• Watercolor Pencils

And exploring a variety of materials used, such as - Newsprint/Warm-up Paper, Sketch Paper, Watercolor Paper, Cardstock, Canvas sheets, Canvas Panels, Stretched Canvas, Felt/Tar/Roofing Paper, Wood, Tile (we try to cover as many materials and mediums as possible throughout the entire Art Year).

In addition, students are introduced to a variety of artists (some considered among the “masters” and some less well-known and mostly painters) and their painting styles. We examine the 4 basic lines of sketching, as well as, the contour line and horizon line; color wheel to include the primary colors, secondary colors and a few tertiary colors such as brown. Our adventures will include sketching and painting landscapes, still life(s), abstracts, cubism, and self-portraits. Completing the design process of sketching thumbnails and re-sketching until desired outcome is achieved, following steps with pencil, ink, erasures of pencil, and finally adding color! 

Questions and concerns may be addressed with Miss Teri using the above-mentioned email or texting 678-877-1899. We are looking forward to an amazing year of exploring the ARTS!

Below are just a few research articles on how ART can help children

• Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 1989.
• D. Bowen, et. al., “Learning to Think Critically: A Visual Art Experiment,” Educational Researcher, on the internet at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X13512675.
• J. Greene, et. al., “Arts Education Matters: We Know, We Measured It,” Education Week, on the internet at www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/12/03/13greene.h34.html.
• T. Henry, Study: “Arts Education Has Academic Effect,” USA Today, on the internet at http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2002-05-20-arts.htm.
• R. Harris, “Arts Education and Graduation Rates,” New York Times, on the internet at www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/arts/19arts-ARTSEDUCATIO_BRF.html.
• A. Bolwerk, “How Art Changes Your Brain: Differential Effects of Visual Art Production and Cognitive Art Evaluation on Functional Brain Connectivity,” PLOS One, on the internet at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0101035.