Odyssey Art Centers

Welcome

Linda's Corner

Artifact

Getting Involved

Artrepreneur

Try This

Odyssey on the Move

Student Snapshot

Odyssey Interactive

Update

Worth a Look

Thank You

Vol I Issue 4

LINDA'S CORNER I believe creativity is a gift that is given to each person. It is part of what makes us human. This is a significant set of statements, because many people wrongly believe that they do not possess the ability to be creative, artistic, right-brained, etc. Choose your descriptive for this trait. It is quite possible that these unbelievers just didn't have their artistic sides nurtured. It is the Odyssey Art Center's mission to encourage both creativity and learning in the student through different, but integrally important venues. These venues include workshops in various media, as well as by bringing museums to the classes via videos, books and posters. This allows a unique atmosphere where students find experimentation safe; the freedom to choose, or explore personal perception of what is being created; and where individual passion is significant. It is possible and ultimately important for parents to nurture creativity in their children. The Odyssey model of combining the right elements -- including encouraging a complete understanding of the subject, persuading the child to look at a subject from different perspectives, and support the love of creating which is so natural for children. This sets the children up for success. A child who has a successful experience, will strive harder. This success will carry over into other areas of life. [email us here]

ARTIFACTS The theme of this first issue of Odyssey Artifacts has tried to embrace the spirit of what Odyssey is all about. To use the old cliche, talk is cheap! So this column will serve up some real tidbits of what past students remembered about their Odyssey experiences. Read on! (top of page)

WELCOME TO ODYSSEY ARTIFACTS!

Kids
In the Studio
The great mummy contest
Making jewelry from the tombs
The Clones and the Clones coming out party
Outdoor sketching
Making a Caulder Circus and donating it to the childrens's ward at Phelps Hospital
Making pre–Columbian masks
Making a future city
The Greek Myths
Sending drawings to soldiers in the Gulfwar and being visited by an army captain when it was over
Making a Statue of Libert stitchery

Adults
On Cruises, Canyon Ranch & Studio
The initial fear of creating was placated by the way that the class was run. It made them feel comfortable to express
Fauve Landscapes Paintings and how much fun they were
Sunlit Path
Landscapes of the Mind
Jewels of the Sea
Positive encouragement

If you have fond memories, share them with us and your fellow students! Also if you have kept in touch with fellow students, let us know their whereabouts. We'd love to keep in touch with them. (top of page)

GETTING INVOLVED IN LOCAL COMMUNITY Odyssey Art Centers encourages community involvement. Linda truly has a soft spot for local libraries. They are a local resource for everyone in the family. They are centers from which learning springs; and a place where adventures can be had, right in our own back yards. In fact, the New York Times cited the Warner Library in Tarrytown as having one of the best art book collections in Westchester County. Linda has a long standing relationship with Warner Library and once a year, in April, she puts an art show of her students work in their gallery. All Odyssey Art Centers are asked to contribute to local libraries. Contributions are often financial, but can also be materials such as books. (top of page)

ARTREPRENEUR Who hasn't dreamed of kissing corporate America goodbye at one time or another? How often do we dream of being in control of our own destinies? For the four current owner/instructors of Odyssey Art Center franchises, those dreams have become reality. Currently there are three Odyssey Art Center franchisees -- located in Briarcliff Manor, Fleetwood, and South Salem, in addition to Linda's original center. There has been no shortage of business for these new centers. There is such a high percentage rate of return students that Linda expects that all four centers will have waiting lists in the fall. In addition, the summer program was so successful that many children from this program will be entering the year-round program on a priority basis. Interest from prospective new students grows all the time.

Why have these fledgling new entrepreneurs fared so well? It's not so complicated. You take a passion for teaching and art, add a little commitment, and mix with a unique and well thought out framework and business plan, put together by Linda Perlmutter. Don't forget, Linda has been working and reworking the ingredients of this recipe of success for over twenty years. Current American culture is ripe for the services that Odyssey Art Centers have to offer. In fact, Franchise Magazine recently published an article about franchises which will do well in the nineties. Two of the top characteristics of successful nineties franchises are businesses who cater to activities/education recreation for children, as well as businesses that can be run within the home. Odyssey Art Centers combine the best of both. You will be hearing more about the Odyssey franchises in future issues of Artifacts. If you're interested in finding out whether opening an Odyssey Art Center is for you, please give Linda a call at (914) 631-7148. (top of page)

TRY THIS! Use Mother Nature's colors when you seem stuck in a certain color scheme. Pick a rock or a shell that appeals to you. Wet it. The colors become more alive. Duplicate those colors and do an abstract painting with them. Chances are, you'll discover a new color which appeals to you, or a color combination you hadn't thought of before.(top of page)

ODYSSEY ON THE MOVE Were you aware that Odyssey has become a moveable feast? Odyssey Art Centers have been given the high honor of delivering their gift of creativity to visitors at both Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, as well as on Cunard Cruise Lines! The four current Odyssey owners and instructors have all taught at Canyon Ranch and have gotten rave reviews...The Ranch provides guests who attend classes with watercolor kits, brushes and professional 140 pound Arches watercolor paper, or clayboard. A demonstration is given, but participants are encouraged to take the demo as a general recipe, and make it their own by using their own colors, shapes, etc. Guests who have never painted before are thrilled to discover how much fun painting is. (top of page)

STUDENT PORTRAIT Laura Phillippo, age 18 is starting as a freshman art major at SUNY Purchase in the fall of 1997. She was also accepted at NYU, Parsons School of Design, SUNY New Paltz and Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She attended classes with us for eight years from age six to fourteen. She says, "Linda's classes are very much responsible for my love of art. Watercolors have always been my favorite medium, and I'm sure it was Linda's passion for watercolor that influenced me."
Two and a half years ago when Linda Perlmutter injured her rotator cuff and needed extensive surgery to repair it, Laura became her assistant. She says "When I helped out in her classes a few years later, I saw a side of art that I hadn't seen before. It was back in that studio that I fell in love once again -- only this time, it was teaching art. That experience is the reason I am pursuing a career in art." (top of page)

ODYSSEY INTERACTIVE We welcome your comments, suggestions and questions. For this flagship issue, we thought it would be nice to include comments given by one of the four Odyssey Art Center owners and instructors and a past OAC student. Laura Phillippo is this issue's featured "Student Portrait", and Joanne Ponzo is Odyssey's newest center owner. "I loved being introduced to all the different facets of art, from drawing and painting basics, to scupture and design, to art history. I later realized how important these things, as well as many, many other things I learned had become to my personal development. Linda doesn't just teach art. She trains children to become disciplined and creative young artists. It is indeed an opportunity that every child should be lucky enough to experience.
"Being a part of the Odyssey Art Centers has not only been a rewarding career choice. It has been an exciting adventure! Through the Odyssey program, the student's art is as individual as the student is. Linda has created the perfect fine arts program which has become a starting point in which my love for children, art and the way I view the world become connected." -- Joanne Ponzo (top of page)

Please write or email us.

ODYSSEY UPDATE Children's classes for 1997/1998 will focus on the Medieval period. Projects will include making banners with family crests, sculpting gargoyles, making illuminated letters, chess games and unicorn stitcheries, coats of arms, crowns and castles. The year will culminate with a medieval tournament and feast.

CONGRATULATIONS TO TOM & KIMBERLY DUNN ON THE BIRTH OF THEIR SON, RYAN ON JULY 5, 1997!

Carol Hickey will be teaching watercolors in the Black Sea on Cunard's Vistafjord from September 13-25, 1997. Linda will be teaching watercolors at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts during the weekend of Friday, October 24 through Saturday, October 25, 1997.

Holidays & Schedules:
No classes- Rosh Hashonah Wednesday, September 1-2, 1997
Yom Kippur - Friday, October 10, 1997
Columbus Day - Monday, October 13, 1997
Thanksgiving - Wednesday, November 26, 1997
Other dates vary with each franchise. Feel free to call if unsure.
(top of page)

WORTH A LOOK Kimberly Dunn will be showing her watercolors for the month of September at Club Fit, Briarcliff. Carol Hickey is currently showing her watercolors at the Library of Sarah L. College, Bronxville. The exhibit will continue until August 15th. The Metropolitan Museum of Art currently showing photographs of Georgia O'Keefe (one of our Summer Artists of the Week), until October 5, 1997 and has on permanent display a fabulous collection of knights' armor which shouldn't be missed. (top of page)

ODYSSEY ON CABLE Beginning October 8, 1997, Linda and Odyssey will be going Hollywood...or Westchester, rather. She will be appearing on Media One Cable System's. Check back here in early October, or your local listing for the channel. Tune in for Linda's unique watercolor style! (top of page)