GREENFIELD — A new art director will soon lead classes offered through the Greenfield Parks Department.
The job is a dream come true for local artist Rachel Holmes, who has been itching for a way to get back to the classroom after closing her Indie Arts Studio in downtown Greenfield last year, a casualty of an economy crippled by COVID.
“It feels pretty surreal,” said Holmes, a lifelong artist who has lived in Greenfield for most of her 34 years.
Holmes takes over the teaching position vacated by Melanie Richwine, who taught art classes for the parks department at the Patricia Elmore Center for the past 20 years, until the center temporarily closed due to COVID in mid-November.
While Richwine focused on 3D arts like ceramics and stained glass, Holmes plans to focus more on 2D arts like drawing and painting, including sip-and-paint guided painting classes for adults as well as courses geared toward kids. She’s also planning mommy-and-me type classes for parents and toddlers.
Skye Mackenzie, assistant director for the Greenfield Parks Department, said Holmes was an ideal candidate to fill the position.
He hopes classes can restart as soon as it’s safe to reopen the center, which houses the parks department offices, art classrooms, a preschool and the senior center.
“We hope to reopen as soon as it’s safe to do so, hopefully by Easter,” he said.
In the meantime, Holmes has been cleaning up the art rooms and planning her classes.
Teaching comes naturally to Holmes, who has a degree in elementary education. While she enjoys the classroom, she’s spent most of her time the past few years focusing on her art and on raising her son, 6-year-old Elliott, with her husband, Brandan Holmes.
Closing down her Indie Art Studio last August was a heartbreaking decision for the artist-turned-entrepreneur, who opened the business in 2017.
“I struggled with that a lot, but in my small space there was really no way to hold classes safely anymore, and the thought of someone getting sick in my class was something I couldn’t handle thinking about it,” she said.
While Holmes was sad to have closed her studio, she’s excited about the opportunity to teach the public once again, and thinks of her new role at the parks department as the best of both worlds.
“It’s all of the things I loved about the studio — teaching classes and sharing art with others and engaging with kids and adults and their creativity — but it also has the benefit of not having the weight of business ownership,” she said.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of anything more perfect. Everything turned out just the way it was supposed to.”
Holmes said she felt guilt over closing her former studio because she knew there was a need for a creative outlet in the community.
“I think there’s a need for both kids and adults to have more outlets to create and to exercise that right brain a little bit. The thought that I can fill that need again is really exciting,” she said.
“Art in particular is something that is adaptable to every age and experience level, and I love being able to share what I know in a way that will help others feel more comfortable with whatever medium they’ve chosen.”
Mackenzie said arts and crafts have always been a major component of parks and recreation.
“It’s fundamental to the creative development of the community,” he said. “With arts and crafts being removed or reduced from public education, it’s more important than ever to provide those services and foster that development and interest for all ages.”
He hopes to provide a different type of class each month, as soon as classes resume.
Mackenzie said the parks department will launch new software and a new website page in mid-March that will help promote and manage registration for art classes and other parks activities.
