Education & Classes in Clemmons

Raised by a mother who believed in each person's innate artistic abilities, accomplished brush master Tina Steele Penn harnesses that sentiment, a lifelong love of art, and a fascination with color to guide others toward their inner Monets. Within her two studios, she crafts a welcoming atmosphere where artists of all skill levels can tap into their imaginations and unleash creativity and imprisoned winged dragons. Her classes and workshops encourage students to delve into media such as acrylic, watercolor, and oil paints, whereas her private sessions guide pupils toward their individual goals through one-on-one guidance.

Open to ages 14 and up and running August 9 through August 13, the jazz workshop teaches the basics of jazz theory, introduces improvisation, and explores the standards of the jazz repertoire. For one week, students spend 3.5 hours each day practicing skills that will serve them later in life because the streets are littered with unaccompanied rhythm sections. This jazz camp teaches all instruments that are normally taught by the academy, including voice, flute, violin, and all of the standard toot, bop, and wail producers. Everything learned comes together Friday evening on Jazz Night, when the whole gang gets together for an auditory exhibition of blue-tinted music.

Approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for flight instruction, Burlington Aviation helps aspiring aviators to take to the skies. The outfit rigorously cares for a fleet of six aircraft. Students can rent aircraft for logging aerial hours under the watchful eye of an experienced, professional flight instructor. Burlington Airport does not have a control tower, meaning students spend less time waiting on tower clearance to take off and land and more time trying to fly higher than a pet griffin.

If the floorboards at Nan's School of Dance could talk, they would speak kindly of the tapping toes and pointed feet that have graced their surfaces for more than 30 years. In 1975, owner Nan Smith began teaching students in Yadkinville and later opened a dance studio in Greensboro in 1982. Twenty years later, Nan passed the torch and ancient family sweat towel to her oldest daughter, Jennifer Grinwis, who runs the studio with the same passion for teaching dance and instilling self-discipline, poise, and self-esteem.

Talented dance instructors lead students of all age levels in disciplines such as ballet, jazz, tap, and hip-hop. Patrons can also sign up to for a Kenpo karate class with resident martial-arts guru Mike Carr or get hips swinging and calories spontaneously combusting with Zumba classes infused with Latin dance moves.

Sisters and native Charlotteans Neha Negandhi and Monika Shah didn’t let respective stints in Seattle and Alaska keep them away from their hometown arts scene. Inspired by similar BYOB painting sessions seen during their travels, they harnessed their diverse experiences with event management and Alaskan train tours to open their own studio, where they encourage students of all artistic levels to tap into their inimitable creativity just as they did. Joined by an impressive cast of local artists, the sisters unfurl a calendar stocked with a barrage of painting options, allowing students to portray a sailboat with an impressionistic mast or a seahorse wearing a gilded saddle.

An accomplished ceramics artist and painter—who also enjoys restoring old photographs and playing the bagpipes—Timmy Hord shares her vast artistic expertise in her studio and classroom, located inside Art in the Dairy. Furnished with pottery wheels, Timmy’s studio hosts both wheel-throwing and hand-building personalized classes, during which students are guided through the process of making their own beautiful and functional decorative clay works.