Education & Classes in Mint Hill

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.

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.

"What do you want to create?" That is the question posed to each of New Orleans Paint N Party's visitors. During the studio's energetic parties, local artists teach visitors to put brush on canvas, creating colorful projects such as streetcars and city skylines. The staff keeps it simple. They greet each visitor with a presketched canvas and a trove of supplies, including brushes and paints. New Orleans Paint N Party also invites its customers to bring along food and potable beverages; they'll even supply the wine opener, ice bucket, ice pick, and drinking glasses.

The Academic Advantage's academic-enrichment center specializes in foreign-language tutoring, standardized-test preparation, and credit-earning courses. Tutors who matriculated from the country’s most prestigious universities help students grapple with coursework tailored to their unique academic struggles, such as the struggle to do algebra without unscrewing calculator lids to read the answers written on the circuit board. Meticulously trained tutors shepherd students through challenging subject matter, writing progress reports for parents at the end of each session.